Codex Belli - Hit Point Rules

Hit Point Rules

Although the Codex Belli itself doesn't specify any rules for counting hits, two variants have become widely accepted at German events. These variants differ only in how many hit points an unarmoured combatant (e.g. someone wearing a gambeson, padded vest, or no armour at all) starts out with.

Some groups prefer setting that default to a single hit point, which leads to shorter battles and strongly favours chainmail, which grants the wearer one additional hit point, or plate armour, which grants the wearer two or more hit points, usually depending on whether it is a half-plate or full plate.

The other common variant is giving unarmoured combatants three hit points, which lowers the advantage of heavy armour, especially in longer battles where armoured combatants often tire out faster than unarmoured ones because of the added weight of metal armour.

Generally any hit counts as a single hit and deducts one of the victim's "lives" or "hit points", usually resulting in death in case of the single-hit variant. Some variations count hits with a projectile, such as an arrow or crossbow bolt, twice because the added range gives the victim more time to react than when having to deal with a melee attacker.

Sometimes, especially in training battles, trainees with little prior experience or who haven't been in a many-against-many combat before are granted an additional hit point. Combinations of these rules rarely result in a total amount of hit points greater than six using the triple-hit rule or four using the single-hit rule.