Contingency Healing

[Furby076]

So here is a question.

Let's say a cleric has the spell Contigency - Heal ready. The terms "When I reach negative hit points I am healed".

Here are the assumptions:
Heal will return 150 HP
Max HP: 200
Current HP: 20
Damage to be taken in the next attack: 50

So the player get's attacked and would naturally be dropped to -30 HP. Contingency Heal kicks in, but is the player already dead or does he benefit from it?

I think he would benefit from it, saying that to get to -30, the player needs to go through -1, -2, -3, -4....-10, -11, -12, etc et all. This make it so the instant (micro-fraction of a second) the player gets to -1 Heal kicks in, and gives him the hit points. Since the player would have been at -30, and heal gives 150, the player is at 120.

Are there any rules supporting or denying this? My DM says you go INSTANTLY (with nothing in between) from 20 to -30 HP.

 

[Infiniti2000]

So the player get's attacked and would naturally be dropped to -30 HP. Contingency Heal kicks in, but is the player already dead or does he benefit from it?

He does not benefit from it. You go from 20 to Dead, just like your DM says. Once you reach -10 or lower, you're dead and the heal will have no effect. There's no such thing as "having -30 hit points for the purposes of contingency" without being dead. You certainly don't go from 20 to 19 to 18 . . ..

 

[FEADIN]

He reaches negative hp -30 and the heal arrives but he is dead.
All is in the wording for Contingency to be helpful

 

[Furby076]

Is there rules supporting this.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Sure:

Damage reduces a target’s current hit points.

So, your hit points are 20-50=-30. It's not 20-1-1-1-1-1...-1 = 19,18,17,...-30.

If the character’s hit points drop to -10 or lower, he’s dead.

At -30, you're dead.

Target: Creature touched

Being dead, you are no longer a creature.

Dead characters cannot benefit from normal or magical healing, but they can be restored to life via magic.

QED.

 

[Sejs]

Just reword the Contingency to something like "When I'm subject to an attack that would kill me" rather than bringing negative hitpoints into the situation.

 

[Furby076]

This is what I am arguing:
Current HP 10
Damage to be taken 30

10,9,8...-1, (contingency heal kicks in), 150 (still 19 points to be taken) brining the person to 131.

I am saying the person never actually reaches -10. That is why I am looking for rules support (in either direction).

 

[FEADIN]

You suppose that you go 10,9,8, etc....
The rules don't say so, they say you take 30hp damage, if you go past -9 you're dead.

 

[dvvega]

Actually the rules support the theory that you take damage it is removed form your hit points immediately.

It doesn't support the theory that each hit point of damage reduces your hit points by 1 with a pause in between each point loss.

Citing the rules (from d20 SRD under combat).

Damage reduces a target’s current hit points.

and

When your hit point total reaches 0, you’re disabled. When it reaches -1, you’re dying. When it gets to -10, you’re dead.

It does not say each hit point of damage reduces your current hit points one at a time. It just says it reduces the current hit points.

And in addition if you REALLY want a contingency healing there is a much better spell (I think its in Forgotten Realms somewhere) that is a specific contingency heal but better (7th level I think).

D

 

[Delemental]

Nowhere in the rules does it say that damage is taken incrementally. It's taken all at once. If you take 30 points of damage, then you take 30 points of damage; you don't take 1 point of damage 30 times.

Regardless of what you find in the books, your DM has already made the call.

You're better phrasing the Contingency better. Something like "When I am about to be subjected to an attack that would either kill me or render me incapacitated due to physical damage, Heal me" like Sejs suggested. THis has the advantage of not only avoiding the question of how damage is inflicted, but also puts the contingency into non-metagame terms. Some DM's are sticklers that a Contingency should be phrased the way a character would say it, not a player. The concept of "negative hit points" has no meaning for your cleric character.

Out of curiosity, how is your cleric getting a Contingency spell? The easiest explanation is a multiclass Wizard 11/Cleric 11, though that would make you epic-level. Unless you're talking about the Craft Contingent Spell feat from Complete Arcane...