Hit dice

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"HD" redirects here. For the obsolete player race, see Hill Dwarf

Hit dice (or HD) is roughly equivalent to a monster's experience level; it is not the same as hit points. Hit dice affects a monster's magic resistance, spellpower, experience value, accuracy, etc., as well as what a monster polymorphs into and whether it will be affected by things like Mephitic Cloud and darts.

Monster melee to hit is 18+HD*(1.5, or 2.5 for monsters with the Fighter flag). Beam to hit is 12*HD.

The player can temporarily reduce monsters' HD by draining them (weapons of draining, certain other negative energy-based attacks), or by malmutating them (casting Irradiate or Yara's Violent Unravelling, or hitting them with the Plutonium Sword).

Some examples: hobgoblins and most other D:1 monsters have 1 HD, ogres have 5, ancient liches have 27. Cerebov only has 21, despite its fearsome spells. The highest-HD monsters are orbs of fire at 30: this is why they deal so much damage with their spells.