karabooo says:
... I'm a little confused about how treating wounds works and how it can lead to losing HP ...
It is the most confusing part of this game, but adds an interesting element.
As the
Rules say:
Rules says:
Hit Dice
You have 1 Hit Die (d6) + extra hit dice equal to your CON. Roll all your hit dice and
keep a number equal to your level to determine your HP.
This is probably not the confusing part, but let's summarise:
So, at Level 1, you only ever keep the 1 best die, no matter how many you get to roll. Rolling more only increases your odds of getting a high number.
This is your current HP, not your max, there is no, 'max'.
Gronk rolled a
1, but, fortunately, that only means that he
starts low on HP for some reason, not that he is permanently weak.
There may come a time when your Level is higher than the number of Hit Dice you roll, which will make it more important to try to increase your CON or find 'healers' to get those missing dice that you get to keep.
Rules says:
Healing
When you rest and consume a ration/waterskin/wineskin, you may re-roll your HP. If you are attended by a healer, roll an extra hit die.
As written, you
re-roll your HP. So the number can be lower. The rules don't dictate how this works, so various GMs rule this in various ways (it is always a good idea to talk to one's GM about how they run things:).
We have ruled that there may be times —like when you have complete safety and all the time you need, or a very special healer, or something— where you can choose to keep your old value if you roll worse. But otherwise we follow the rules and keep the new value, whatever it is.
Think of it like this: You get hurt during an exciting and adrenaline-fueled fight. Later you rest and have someone take a look at your wounds, you take off your shirt and the crude dressing you ripped from the hem, and find —once the adrenaline has worn off— that your wounds are worse than you thought, that you are in a very bad condition and need immediate care. There are countless real-world stories of people getting stabbed or shot and not realizing till later, when they look down and see the wound/knife sticking out, then they suddenly fall over.
You can always choose not to risk re-rolling if you are still above acceptable levels. Either you are just 'not looking, in case it is bad', or we don't think too much about it in the fiction.
Being Hardy means that if you are ever below 6 HP you will always benefit from 'Healing' as you can't roll lower than a 7.