D&D 4E Cats vs Commoners, 4e Style

[Runestar]

There are monsters in the MM and other released products that grant temporary hit points and there has already been a ruling that minions can gain temporary HP. I'm not sure if it was in the FAQ, errata, or in just a CS response.

The issue was not so much of whether they can get temp hp, but whether they actually benefit from them or not, since technically, minions die when struck.

 

[Jhaelen]

There are monsters in the MM and other released products that grant temporary hit points and there has already been a ruling that minions can gain temporary HP. I'm not sure if it was in the FAQ, errata, or in just a CS response.

AFAIK, the 'ruling' was mentioned in a post by a WotC designer. Imho, there's never been something I'd consider an official ruling (and even if there was, I'd probably go with my own ruling, i.e. that temporary hp either do nothing for minions or turn them from one-hit kills into two-hit kills).

 

[Lord Sessadore]

On a similar note, I think my new neighbors are gnomes. I saw this in their backyard last night.
<really strange picture>

That ... that can't be real. I am in denial.

Though if it is real, kudos to you for catching it on film! (Or transistors, at least)

 

[Intrope]

The issue was not so much of whether they can get temp hp, but whether they actually benefit from them or not, since technically, minions die when struck.

Actually, minions don't have any special rules--except for not taking damage from a miss. So, adding temp hit points to a minion should work as normal. Given that most temp hit point effects are fairly small, that won't help them too much (having 5 hit points isn't much better than 1 most of the time). But every once in a while, a minion with temp hp will actually survive a hit.

 

[DracoSuave]

And don't be knocking rats-out-of-a-bag either.

DO IT REEPICHEEP!

 

[Runestar]

So, adding temp hit points to a minion should work as normal.

There was a clause in the MM which stated that minions die when struck, rather than die when taking damage. So in theory, if you could hit them for zero damage (as may be the case if using a low-powered fire damage power vs a minion with fire resistance, they still die.

While it does seem contrary to that H1 adventure involving a controller with the ability to grant temp hp and minions, one might wonder which is in error here? The encounter, or aforementioned rule?