Swords & Wizardry House Rules: Hit Points, Healing, and Death

Because there are only four players in my current campaign, I am using a variety of house rules that make their characters a little less fragile and extend the period in which they can adventure before needing to rest.

1. Starting Hit Points. In character creation, you start out with the maximum possible number of hit points at first level. So, for example, a first-level fighter who did not have a constitution-related hit point modifier, would have 8 hit points at first level, because fighters roll 1d8 for hit points each level. Hit points are rolled normally for each subsequent level.*
2. Liquid Courage. Once per day, any adventurer may drink a bottle of wine, flagon of beer, horn of mead, or flask of hard liquor to regain 1d6 hit points. Hit points are abstract; they reflect not only physical health, but morale, sanity, and stamina. Basically, you take a belt to steady your nerves, deaden the pain, and soldier on under trying circumstances.
3. Unconsciousness. For most, zero hit points is unconsciousness and below that is death. Not for you. For each level, adventurers may go one hit point below zero and still remain unconscious. For example, at first level, zero to negative one hit points merely results in unconsciousness; if a first-level adventurer goes below that, he is dead and can only be raised by powerful magic (e.g. a raise dead or wish spell).
4. Bedrest. Provided that you sleep a full eight hours per night out of your armor, you ordinarily regain one hit point per day. But if you are in a civilized or fortified location—such as a city, town, village, castle, or keep—you regain one to three hit points from a night's bedrest instead.

* Rangers are an exception, because they have two hit dice at first level (2d8). They receive the maximum value of one of these two hit dice at first level; the second hit die must be rolled normally.

N.B. I've borrowed most of these house rules from someone else, though I sometimes modify them to suit my own taste. The Liquid Courage rule is derived from an ODD74 commenter rabindranath72's a-flagon-of-wine house rule. The Unconsciousness and Bedrest rules are taken in whole are part from Jimm Johnson's excellent Planet Eris house rules.