aboyd
Explorer
Ah. The way I'm reading that section is, "any time the temporary HP cause the character's total HP to exceed the normal HP." In other words, any time a character has even a single hit point beyond the normal max, they are in danger. Thus, a 3rd level character with 15 HP and 5 HP from the positive energy will have to make these "hope I don't explode" rolls.No, because you can only explode if the temporary hp gained from the PEP's effect exceed your normal maximum hp. Thus, 15 hp man can only explode when he has more than 15 temporary hp. If the PEP's effect never stacks with itself, then he can never gain more than 5 temp hp, and thus is never in danger of exploding.
Again, just IMHO, since the wording of the section is ambiguous enough to lead me to conclude that was the RAW meaning, I feel pretty OK with the interpretation. Happily, this again means that the section causes no troubles in my campaign. But again, if that isn't desirable for others and they feel that they must follow a more difficult interpretation, then they must. I certainly wouldn't object to different interpretations, especially considering we're talking about using a 3.0 manual in a 3.5 game (or at least, I think that's what we're talking about). Once you try to use a 3.0 rule in a 3.5 campaign, all bets are off. The DM ought to be empowered to resolve discrepancies however he or she wishes.