Do temporary hit points stack?

[Pielorinho]

Pretty straightforward. As an example, a druid cast's Bear's Heart on a group (each ally gains 10d4 temporary HP). Next round, a cleric casts aid on one member of the group (person gains 1d8+ temporary hp). Do the aid temp hp stack with the bear's heart temp hp?

Daniel

 

[Aluvial]

I think they do... In fact that quesiton just came up a minute ago.... here.

Look near the bottom for the relevent section on Temp HP from the SRD.

Aluvial

 

[Pielorinho]

Actually, reading that thread is what prompted the question (along with an instance of this in last night's game). I read the quote from the SRD several times, but do not see anything indicating whether temp HP stack in it.

I'm inclined either to rule that they don't stack, or to restrict effects that grant temp HP to those from the core rules.

Daniel

 

[AGGEMAM]

I would agree that temporary hit point gained from different sources should not stack. Not that the rules says anything about it, one way or the other, but it would seems logical to include a paragraph in the temporary hp section if they did.

 

[Saepiroth]

Most temporary hit points fade away after a certain amount of time, so letting them stack should be reasonably balanced; noone will go hoofing around with 10,000 hits.

I personally think they should stack, though I can't really form a convincing argument either way.

 

[Darkness]

Most temporary hit points fade away after a certain amount of time, so letting them stack should be reasonably balanced; noone will go hoofing around with 10,000 hits.

Not from temporary hps, anyway.

- Broken shambling mound / shocker lizard combo Darkness

 

[AGGEMAM]

- Broken shambling mound / shocker lizard combo Darkness

Or even worse druid and shambling mound companion takes a few weeks vacation on the elemental plane of electricity, comes back and rule the world.

 

[The Souljourner]

Temporary hitpoints stack. Why? Because the rules don't say they don't. Obviously effects from the same spell don't stack, since there is an explicit rule about that, but other than that... if you get temporary hitpoints from two different spells, they stack.

-The Souljourner

 

[Pielorinho]

Most temporary hit points fade away after a certain amount of time, so letting them stack should be reasonably balanced; noone will go hoofing around with 10,000 hits.

I personally think they should stack, though I can't really form a convincing argument either way.

I can't form a convincing rules-based argument either way, either, but there is a balanced-based argument. Characters who know that they have a big battle coming up can activate many different temp-hp (psionic power, bear's heart, aid, etc.) and gain a ridiculous number of hit points going into that battle. I as a DM don't like that much at all, and I don't want it to work. If they do stack, I'll end up ruling that only core powers (plus the PsiHB) that grant temp hp are available, as a way to limit the cheese.

Daniel

 

[dm4ever]

temporary hit points

I recently sent a letter to wizards concerning that very thing, (Questions@wizards.com) and the response from them was that temporary do stack!