When I started looking at Operation Whitebox WWII I liked the mid-power level, d10 hit points gave my character a bit more resilience. It is always an important consideration, how do you make an adventure survivable for a single character, but challenging. I want a sense of threat if a firefight starts, but a chance to take on more than a single nazi sentry at once.
One option is to notch the hit points up to 1d10 per level. Another would be to start at 2nd level.
2nd level is attractive. It means no rule changes at all. The down side is that WWII Operation Whitebox only uses levels 1-5. If I am starting at 2nd level it creates two wrinkles. The first is that it means there would be no progression until I had enough experience for 3rd level. 3000 exp or so is a big ask. It can create a feeling of being a bit static.
Starting at 2nd would mean my character would have 2d6 hit points, an average of 7.
Choosing the 1d10 hit dice option means an average hit points of 5 or 6. Which is more ‘realistic’, or should I say less fantastic, than starting at 2nd level, assuming you are not going to try and take down the entire Waffen-SS single handed.
You do get to start at level one, which means that first leveling up is can happen after 1500 exp. That is a lot faster, and more likely than trying to earn 3000.
This game will come up again as I solve more of the problems.