Warlock's Curse stacking THP & maybe BRV also

[Xris Robin]

I'd say it stacks. It almost has too, because the Starlocks To-Hit bonus Boon certainly does stack.

 

[CapnZapp]

Don't let temp hp stack, ever.

It's far too easy to kill of a dozen minions and thus get abusive amounts of temp hp if you do.

It's a really bad idea to listen to CS replies too, by the way. You are sure to get a much higher quality of replies posting here at ENWorld for example.

 

[jorrit]

Don't let temp hp stack, ever.

It's far too easy to kill of a dozen minions and thus get abusive amounts of temp hp if you do.

Well the Battlerager fighter gets temp HP equal to the constitution modifier which is added on top of the temp HP that he already has; everytime he hits something with a power that has the 'invigorating' keyword. However, this is limited to 'once per turn' so you can't really get lots of temporary HP in a single round that way.

My son uses it for his fighter and while it is nice it is certainly not unbalancing.

Greetings,

 

[CapnZapp]

I'd say it stacks. It almost has too, because the Starlocks To-Hit bonus Boon certainly does stack.

No.

The Star Warlock boon is something completely different from temp hp.

It's is designed to stack, while temp hp isn't. Simple.

The difference is that temp hp is a general feature which you can get from various sources as well as the fact it's designed and balanced by the assumption you only get a small helping at a time.

The Star Boon is a very special bonus which doesn't have to worry about you getting it from somewhere else, plus it's already from the beginning clearly designed with larger bonuses in mind. Evidently, even if you get a whopping +20 that will only mean you're about to auto-hit with a Daily once.

This is far less unbalancing than you getting heaps of temporary hit points, something that effectively make you invulnerable to damage for a short period of time.

So you're comparing apples and oranges. There is no sound reason why one Boon should be the same as any random other Boon.

 

[Plane Sailing]

I'd say it stacks. It almost has too, because the Starlocks To-Hit bonus Boon certainly does stack.

If you thought that was the case, presumably you would also allow feylocks to teleport further if several of their cursed guys got topped at once?

Personally I don't think that it necessarily follows at all - since the temp hp you do get will stick around to the end of the encounter (unlike the starlock who has to use this to-hit bonus before the end of his next turn or lose it)

 

[Jhaelen]

Don't let temp hp stack, ever.

This. So far every instance where it appeared that there was temp hp stacking involved was clarified and/or errataed.

 

[Xris Robin]

If you thought that was the case, presumably you would also allow feylocks to teleport further if several of their cursed guys got topped at once?

Personally I don't think that it necessarily follows at all - since the temp hp you do get will stick around to the end of the encounter (unlike the starlock who has to use this to-hit bonus before the end of his next turn or lose it)

Yes, especially since not only the Starlock, but the Darklock explicitly stacks. And the Darklock's Darkspiral Aura sticks around until end of encounter or he uses it too.

Also, while I said 'stack', I don't really consider this a case of Temp HP stacking. More like the pact boon being "gain X Temp HP per cursed enemy killed". Or that enemies die all at the same time. When you have Temp HPs, you can't gain more unless it's a higher amount, and then it replaces. But I consider gaining it like this to be gaining it all at once, not one at a time.

If 3 enemies die, instead of getting say, 5 Temp HPs three times, I simply get 15 once. Actually at level 1, I'd be getting 3 Temp HP instead of 1, so I hardly consider it broken, at least early on. If I have the feat, that's be 12 Temp HP, which is only 2 more than our Battlerager Dwarf usually has. I dunno, I guess I just don't see you gaining enough to make a difference. I suppose it might be broken at higher levels, but I haven't played at them enough to know. How often do you kill enemies in huge groups usually?

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

Yeah, at high levels it could be a bit broken. Imagine a 20th level warlock. It isn't hard at all to imagine 3 or 4 cursed enemies going down to an AoE at that level in one shot, resulting in 80 TempHP? That is a LOT of temp hit points... Of course at 20th level the hit points run like water too, though usually it is the MONSTERS that are taking mega damage. Just one of those things, you could go either way and I doubt it will break things TOO much. Though IMHO the more conservative interpretation feels like its more likely to work smoothly in all cases.

 

[Xris Robin]

I suppose I'm really just bothered by how weak the Pact Boon is at heroic levels then. 1 Temp HP at level 1? It does start ramping up in usefulness as you level, but my highest character (a Ranger) is only level 6, so I suppose I don't know how higher level play works very well.

 

[shadowoflameth]

either way, the THP from your curse is limited by your level. Even if you kill dozens of cursed foes at once, you can't get more than the ability is capable of bestowing.

Likewise, if you have more than one ability giving you THP, they will not stack unless they both says that they can. Even if they do, these abilities as written, always (hopefully) have a limit of their own that will prevent the abuse from being too maddening.