Temporary hit point questions came up in my last session, so I decided to put in a little research to cover everything that I could think of. Here the research I complete on this topic & I even taught myself a few things. Let me know if you have any more questions, Or you think I’ve got something wrong – hopefully not, but were all human! If I get more, ill add them to the page.
NB: Research has come from various different places and I have done my best to verify the answers. I’m happy to update if incorrect.
What are Temporary Hit Points?
Temporary hit points aren’t actual hit points; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of hit points that protect you from injury. When you have temporary hit points and take damage, the temporary hit points are lost first, and any left over damage carries over to your normal hit points. You get them from various spell effects like Heroism and feats like Inspiring Leader.
Do Temporary Hit Points Stack?
If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22. (PHB 198)
Can Temp HP bring you back from being unconscious?
If you have 0 hit points, receiving temporary hit points doesn’t restore you to consciousness or stabilize you. They can still absorb damage directed at you while you’re in that state, but only true healing can save you.
If you gain Temp HP while unconscious and you get healed while still having them, you will have them when you awaken.
Example: A player is unconscious (0 HP) and ‘gains’ 10 Temp HP. They then get healed for 5 HP. The player then has 5 hp plus the 10 Temp HP buffer.
What about Wild Shape?
Ok, there are a couple of possibilities here. Let’s look at them separately…
A) If I have 10 Temp HP and I Wild Shape, do I take these with me?
Yes. Temp HP are not real HP, so it’s sort of like Rage that carries over from one form to the next. This is also true for status effect, such as poisoned, paralyzed and so on, unless the new form has some sort of immunity to that status effect.
B) What about if I’m in Wild Shape mode and I receive Temp HP’s?
If you’re a bear and someone gives you Temp HP, the bear will get the temp HP. Once you leave bear state (presuming they haven’t been used in taking damage), you will retain them if you choose to revert back. This is also true for status effects, such as poisoned, paralyzed and so on, unless the original form has some sort of immunity to that status effect.
If we have them at the end of one session, do we have them at the start of the next session?
Unless a feature that grants you temporary hit points has a duration, they last until they’re depleted or you finish a long rest. So, yes!
What about spells such as Sleep or Power Word Kill?
Hit points and temporary hit points are never added together so in regards to spells that ask for a HP count, only normal HP’s count. There is no ‘total HP count.’ So, No Temp HP cannot ‘push’ you above the HP count for various spells.
What about Concentration?
If you’re concentrating on a spell and you take damage, but it only takes Temp HP’s, you still have to roll a concentration save.
Temporary HP vs A Vampire Bite (or Spectre Life Drain)
Sometimes an attack, in this case we are using a Vampire Bite, can deal additional damage to someone with Temporary Hit Points. It’s a tricky one so bear with me. Let’s say your current and maximum HP is 20 and you also have 20 temporary HP from some spell or effect. A vampire then bites you and you take 5 piercing damage plus 10 necrotic damage, as per below.
So, as you have Temporary Hit Points, they soak up damage first, so you now have 20 normal HP and 5 Temporary HP, but then the next sentence of the bite damage kicks in. This is the part that states;’ The target’s hit point maximum is reduced by an amount equal to the necrotic damage taken.’ and your maximum HP’s gets reduced to by 10 HPs (the necrotic damage) to 10.
This means you are left with the following: 5 temporary Hit points and 10 normal Hit points, with a maximum HP’s of 10. The reasoning is your maximum HP drops below your current HP, your current HP must immediately drop with it. This is because current HP can never exceed max HP.
So even through the vampires bite only did 15 damage by the roll of the dice, it actually caused 25 damage. Nasty eh! Better get the hell outta there and not get hit by that Strahd looking fella again.
Healing and Temp HP
Healing cannot restore lost Temporary HP’s. Only ‘new’ temporary HP’s can replace lost Temporary HP’s.
Lycanthropy (orother status effects) and Temp HP
A bite from a werewolf can cause (DC 12 Con Saving Throw from the MM) Lycanthropy, but what about if it hits Temporary HP’s first? I’m not sure if there is an exact RAW ruling, but a hit is a hit and it doesn’t matter if the Temp HP’s are hit or normal HP’s, the chance of contracting the disease is the same. I would also argue that the same would be true to other status effects such as poison, paralyzed, stunned, or anything else that could come from an attack.
Edit 18/03/19: *If I have 10 temporary hit points and I take 30 damage from an attack while concentrating on a spell, what is the DC of the Constitution save to maintain my concentration?
The DC is 15 in that case. When temporary hit points absorb damage for you, you’re still taking damage, just not to your real hit points.
Hope the answers to some of these topics about Temporary Hit Points help.
UNT.
David (https://twitter.com/Tyrennii)
*from the Sage Advice Column
Other Articles:
DM Disappointment: Players Don’t Follow the Story?
Be a Better Role Player (pt.1) – What Your DM Wants From You
Session 0
DM Hints: Beefing Up Combat
Tips for New Players
Be a Better Role Player (pt.2) – What your fellow players want from you
New Years DMing Resolutions
The DM's Book of Challenges 