Armor of Agathys - can you "recharge it"?

[Ancalagon]

Hello

Armor of Agathy can be a neat spell if you get more than one use out of it. Say you're a level 5 hexblade with a level 3 slot armor of agathys on (15 temp HP). You are fighting orcs. You get hit once, take 7 points of damage and BLAM enemy takes 15. You get hit again for another 7 points of damage, and kapow, the foe takes 15 points of damage. You win the fight

There is now only 1 HP left - so you can have one more foe get hit for 15 points of damage, and then the jig is up. So I wondered "can this be recharged" - keep the good times rolling. After all, warlocks have several ways of generating temp HP, and armor of agathys is a good, but not great, spell, and "stretching" really would help.

An initial read of the spell indicates no. The relevant bit is "while you have these hit points" (emphasis added). But then I started wondering... what does that even mean? How does this work?

Say that as above, there is on 1 hp left on Armor of Agathys and the warlock gains more 6 temp hp (say with the use of fiendish vigor). We know that temp HP doesn't stack - so the temp hp total is now 6. But what happened to that 1 hp left from Agathys, the "these hit points"? Has it been removed, i.e. is the spell gone?

If armor of agathys is still up, what happened to that last 1 hp? Where is it? Is it "floating" on top? Is it the "last" to be removed? If you get hit for 4 hp and now have 2 hp left, is armor of agathys still on?

Thanks!

 

[jgsugden]

I believe we have Sage Advice on this that reminds us that when we get new temp Hit Points, we get to choose which temp hp we want - our old value or the new value. If we select the new value and the old value was AoA Temp HP, we lose the benefit of the AoA unless the new Temp HP come from AoA.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

Say that as above, there is on 1 hp left on Armor of Agathys and the warlock gains more 6 temp hp (say with the use of fiendish vigor). We know that temp HP doesn't stack - so the temp hp total is now 6. But what happened to that 1 hp left from Agathys, the "these hit points"? Has it been removed, i.e. is the spell gone?

That would be my understanding of the rules as written. The new spell effect supersedes the old, therefore the new temporary hit points replace the "these hit points". If you want to recharge armor of Agathys, I highly recommend casting armor of Agathys again.

 

[Tony Vargas]

The relevant bit is "while you have these hit points" (emphasis added). But then I started wondering... what does that even mean? How does this work?

Say that as above, there is on 1 hp left on Armor of Agathys and the warlock gains more 6 temp hp (say with the use of fiendish vigor). We know that temp HP doesn't stack - so the temp hp total is now 6. But what happened to that 1 hp left from Agathys, the "these hit points"? Has it been removed, i.e. is the spell gone?

Yes. When you receive a second set of temp hps, you can decide to take them, or to keep the ones you already have. Generally you take the higher, in this case you might not, to keep the spell running until the next hit.

 

[Caliban]

Hello

Armor of Agathy can be a neat spell if you get more than one use out of it. Say you're a level 5 hexblade with a level 3 slot armor of agathys on (15 temp HP). You are fighting orcs. You get hit once, take 7 points of damage and BLAM enemy takes 15. You get hit again for another 7 points of damage, and kapow, the foe takes 15 points of damage. You win the fight

There is now only 1 HP left - so you can have one more foe get hit for 15 points of damage, and then the jig is up. So I wondered "can this be recharged" - keep the good times rolling. After all, warlocks have several ways of generating temp HP, and armor of agathys is a good, but not great, spell, and "stretching" really would help.

An initial read of the spell indicates no. The relevant bit is "while you have these hit points" (emphasis added). But then I started wondering... what does that even mean? How does this work?

Say that as above, there is on 1 hp left on Armor of Agathys and the warlock gains more 6 temp hp (say with the use of fiendish vigor). We know that temp HP doesn't stack - so the temp hp total is now 6. But what happened to that 1 hp left from Agathys, the "these hit points"? Has it been removed, i.e. is the spell gone?

If armor of agathys is still up, what happened to that last 1 hp? Where is it? Is it "floating" on top? Is it the "last" to be removed? If you get hit for 4 hp and now have 2 hp left, is armor of agathys still on?

Thanks!

Per the Temp HP rules in the PHB, temp HP never stack. When you get new ones, you have to decide if you want to keep your current Temp HP, or replace them with the new Temp HP.

If you replace the Temp HP from Armor of Agathys with those from another source, the spell ends.

If you want to get more use out of Armor of Agathys, you need to look into ways of mitigating the damage so that you lose the temp HP at a slower rate.

Methods I've used: 1st level is fighter for heavy armor and then take the Heavy Armor Master feat for DR 3/magic, judicious use of the Blade Ward cantrip (lasts until the end of your next turn), be a goliath (Stone's Endurance to reduce damage by 1d12+con every short rest), at higher levels Investiture of Stone for Resistance to non-magical B/P/S damage.

If you can team up with a 6th level+ abjuration wizard they can reduce damage on you. A lore bard can use Cutting Words to reduce the damage on a hit, etc.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Yeah, I think the only way to get more Armor of Agathys is to cast Armor of Agathys.

It’s pretty solid if you can’t get out of melee, for whatever reason, but if you’re keeping at ranged distance, its utility does decrease.

But heck, as it stands, I’ve already got a player I’ve had to tell no less than three times that it doesn’t last for eight hours. I assume he’s conflating it with Mage Armor. It's starting to drive me up a wall.

 

[Ancalagon]

Yeah, I think the only way to get more Armor of Agathys is to cast Armor of Agathys.

It’s pretty solid if you can’t get out of melee, for whatever reason, but if you’re keeping at ranged distance, its utility does decrease.

But heck, as it stands, I’ve already got a player I’ve had to tell no less than three times that it doesn’t last for eight hours. I assume he’s conflating it with Mage Armor. It's starting to drive me up a wall.

This would be for a melee character, ie a hexblade.

The no concentration aspect is very nice and so is 1 hour... but it's definitely not all day long.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

That is pretty darn clever. I've yet to see a heavy armor warlock, but now I'm tempted to try one out myself.

Methods I've used: 1st level is fighter for heavy armor and then take the Heavy Armor Master feat for DR 3/magic, judicious use of the Blade Ward cantrip (lasts until the end of your next turn), be a goliath (Stone's Endurance to reduce damage by 1d12+con every short rest), at higher levels Investiture of Stone for Resistance to non-magical B/P/S damage.

 

[Ralif Redhammer]

Ahh...all the warlocks I've DMed for have been ranged casters, so I tend to forget about the Hexblade. I should've said "can't or don't want to get out of melee."

This would be for a melee character, ie a hexblade.

The no concentration aspect is very nice and so is 1 hour... but it's definitely not all day long.

 

[Caliban]

That is pretty darn clever. I've yet to see a heavy armor warlock, but now I'm tempted to try one out myself.

I really enjoy playing "tank-locks". I've play 4 or 5 variants on them by now. They do require more micromanagement than a regular fighter as you juggle defensive tactics (Armor of Agathys and Blade Ward) and offensive tactics (Hex, action surge, etc.), but you can absorb an amazing amount of damage at low to mid levels. (I think they lose out to high AC paladins at high levels in the tank department - things just hit too hard for your damage mitigation to deal with.)