Question about the aid spell.

[Celebrim]

The aid spell blesses the target and gives it 1d8 temporary hit points. Suppose you are the target of multiple aid spells. The morale bonus for being blessed does not stack, but what about the temporary hit points?

Up until now I would have assumed that they did, since I'd never seen anything to suggest otherwise. However, the Lantern Archon (and several other celestials) have the ability to cast aid at will. Given that the aid spell lasts minutes, this means that the lowly Lantern Archon (CR 2) can come into a fight pumped up with (on average) 135 temporary hit points. After 6 rounds of blasting the characters with rays (hittng with probably more than half of its 12 attacks), it would have lost on avg. 27 temporary hit points from spell experation, meaning that it had 108 hit points to spell before it was even hurt. At which point it could teleport away, and rince and repeat. While I have no problem with celestials being mega-tough (I think they should be), I do have a problem with the assessment of CR if in fact temporary hit points do stack. Imagine a team of 4 Lantern Archon's (CR at most 6) doing this. (One Lantern Archon could concievably start a fight with 405 temporary hit points.)

The situation with more potent celestials is even worse.

I've seen no erratta on this, so I can only assume that either there is something I'm missing or most people don't expect thier players to fight archons.

 

[Arundl]

No, the temporary hit points from two castings of the Aid spell (or multiple castings of any other spell) would not stack. This is clarified in teh D&D Rules FAQ. You can find it on the wizards web site. Just search for temporary hit points in the .pdf file.

 

[Celebrim]

Thanks. That clarifies things immensely.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Check the PH, page 153 and 154, for details of how spells operate with one another, including the same spell. Note that two Aid spells will [edit] not [/edit] allow you to stack the temporary hit points, but the second spell is still there. When the first Aid ends, the second is still in effect.

 

[hong]

Originally posted by Dr. Zoom

Note that two Aid spells will allow you to stack the temporary hit points

I think you left a "not" out there. The relevant bit on p.153 of the PHB is: "In cases where two or more identical spells are operating in the same area, but at different strengths, only the best one applies." Which would apply to multiple castings of the aid spell.

This doesn't stop castings of _different_ spells resulting in extra temporary hp. Eg you could have an aid spell cast on you, and then you might cast vampiric touch on someone, and the temp hp from these spells would stack.

 

[Dr. Zoom]

Thanks hong, I did leave out the "not." I fixed it with an edit tag.

Sometimes my train of thought goes faster than my fingers.