Randomizing HPs (syncing HP and HPmax)

[SDShannonS]

I'm having some trouble figuring out an effective way to randomize HPs for several instances of an otherwise identical token.

For example, say I've got 6 boars, each possessing 2d8+9 HPs. A token created from a statblock (via Imper1um's conversion macro) might read "hp 18 (2d8+9)" which is fine if I want each boar to have exactly average hit points. But if I want them to have a range of hit points, say 2d8+9 for example, how do I get each token to be created with a hp total somewhere within that range without doing it manually for each token?

If I change the HP field to read [r:2d8+9], that works great except that the HPmax field remains static. If the HPmax field is randomized then the two fields are generating separate random numbers when they should be sync'd at creation. I tried syncing them by setting HP to HPmax (knowing that it will get overwritten the first time the creature takes damage) but they continue to generate separate random numbers.

I suppose I could create a new macro that prompts for the HP formula, generates a random number from that formula, and then overwrites both the HP and HPmax fields of all selected tokens with the new value but that seems like quite an inelegant solution.

Is there any value I can put into the HP and/or HPmax fields that will do what I'm looking for here?


Shannon

[Azhrei]

I suppose I could create a new macro that prompts for the HP formula, generates a random number from that formula, and then overwrites both the HP and HPmax fields of all selected tokens with the new value but that seems like quite an inelegant solution.

Modify the Statblock2Token macro instead then. When it pulls out the HP, have it generate a random value by using Wiki: eval().

Otherwise, your solution (a separate macro) sounds just fine.

Another option is to just ignore it. GMs have enough other paperwork and number crunching to worry about that worrying about NPCs is a waste of time, IMO.

[SDShannonS]

Yeah, I ended up doing a separate macro which actually works out for the best, I think. That way, I can apply it when I want to (like when creating a lot of duplicate tokens) but not on ALL instances of a new token (like a specific NPC, for example). It's a little kludgey, but it works. =o)