Duration of Temporary HPs, Eberron Edition

[Obryn]

It may just be the way my games are played/run but how often do you really have two separate encounters without a short rest in between?

Also the only way temp hp stacks is with a special fighter build, and they don't even stack that much.

I think a better question is whether or not a short rest is compulsory. If one PC takes it, does everyone else have to?

For Kol Korran's boon, lets say everyone has taken an Extended Rest. The 6th level Cleric uses two heals, and he gives two characters Surge+2d6+5 temporary HPs. He takes a short rest while those two work out or explore half-heartedly or something. He does it to two more party members, takes another short rest and hits himself with it. Maybe he re-hits the Fighter if he rolled low, but it's probably not worth it.

Now the party is fresh, and each one probably has over 20 temporary HPs going into their first battle. This represents a significant percentage of their HPs - over 25%, and possibly up to 50% - at the cost of a single healing surge each. (And an extra 15-20 minutes, which is hardly ever a big deal if they just spent 8 hours resting.)


Don't get me wrong - I would nerf the hell out of this in the unlikely event a PC ever tries it. But it's far from impossible.

-O

 

[WalterKovacs]

It would be interesting anyway. I have some character's that, perhaps, would intentionally choose to, for example, avoid taking a rest in order to keep their temporary hit points. Being unable to recharge their encounter powers would be a bit costly (or they would have had to be ultra conservative in their previous encounter and use little or no encounter powers). I think that's a fair trade off.

Certain effects sort of need to be the 'until rest', such as the 'at the start of the day ...' type powers like the restful bedroll and the like, although I think those clearly point that out.

In the example above ... the party is preemptively getting the healing they would get in battle. It gives them access to more healing than normal (a cleric wouldn't have 5 heals of that 'level' in the same encounter). On the other hand, unless everyone loses all the thp, after the fight [unless someone used no encounter powers, or decided to not recharge them] they'd lose the rest of the thp, potentially making it a bit of a waste. In terms of surges spent, it merely moves the healing to earlier (which does have an impact in terms of actions spent and the like), but they are still spending surges.

That would probably work at the start of the day ... however it would be unlikely to work in between encounters. The party having 20 minutes, in which at least some of the party is continuing to draw attention by 'not resting'. It's a situation that invites the DM to spring an attack on the party.

 

[Meeble]

I don't really see PC's getting the temp hit points prior to the next combat as really being that big of an issue. As I see it, two of the main "costs" of getting this hit point buffer have to be paid regardless of when the power is used.

1.) The power is used (until a rest/extended rest)
2.) A Healing surge is used (until an extended rest)

That leaves the third and (IMO) least significant cost of "actions spent" unpaid... but I feel like this would only be a minor advantage. At the most the players are getting a couple of free actions before a fight starts, and the amount of Hit Points gained would really not be an issue unless the party is in a situation where a member could feasibly be burned down from full HP to zero in a surprise round. (If that's the case, the party is probably in for a helluva fight regardless.)

Regardless, the more this power is used outside of combat, the less it can be used during combat... where a situation might come up that makes it more advantageous to have those temp hp on a character you would not have expected beforehand.

 

[MarkB]

It would be interesting anyway. I have some character's that, perhaps, would intentionally choose to, for example, avoid taking a rest in order to keep their temporary hit points. Being unable to recharge their encounter powers would be a bit costly (or they would have had to be ultra conservative in their previous encounter and use little or no encounter powers). I think that's a fair trade off.

I think it'd be likely to be a net loss for the PCs, personally. Once you get past the early levels, encounter powers are the majority of your firepower through a combat. Choosing to forego them - either through not using them or not recharging them for the next encounter - will make the PCs less effective, extending the duration of the encounter and increasing the number of hit points they expend during it. Even an extra 20 HPs each may not compensate for that, especially since they can't preserve them through multiple encounters unless they avoid actually taking damage - which negates their usefulness in any case.