Temp CON damage. How many HP should this character lose?

[reveal]

A character in our campaign has a 6 CON (-2 Mod). Each level he's been taking a -2 to his HP rolls. Last session he took 2 points of temp CON damage. Going from 6 to 4 in CON brought his down to -3. The DM ruled that he lost 1 HP per level for a total of 8 points (we're 8th level).

After the session I told the DM I didn't think the character should have lost any HP. It seemed to me that the character was being punished for HP he never really earned. I looked up the ruling and it's not very clear.

How would you guys have done it? Do you lose HP regardless of your current CON mod?

 

[youspoonybard]

DM's right.

Fear con damage.

 

[AuraSeer]

The DM is correct. Each time your Con modifier drops by 1, you lose 1 hit point per HD.

It doesn't matter whether the modifier was originally positive, negative, or zero. The effect is always the same.

 

[dcollins]

Yes, according to 3.0 DMG p. 72, the DM's ruling was correct. (You really wouldn't want the alternative, tracking all hp gained at every level and adjusting each individually, anyway.)

The only limitation is that full hit points can't drop to less than 1 per level. So at the point where your Con-adjusted full hit points hit 8, you then can't lose anymore from Con loss.

 

[iwatt]

dcollins said:

The only limitation is that full hit points can't drop to less than 1 per level.

I don't have my books, can anybody tell me were this is? My character got hit by a Naga's poison (+15 Fort Save, DC 19 2d8 Con, guess what I rolled ) The sting did 16 hps of dmage, and a wooping 13 points of Con dmg. I dropped from Con 16 to Con 3 (+3 to -4) translating to 7hp per level. I'm an 11 level cleric with a wooping 117 hps (1 barbarian level, a lot of hero points used up rerolling hp's in my d8s). That liitle hit (against AC 30 by the way ) took out 93 hps. I would of dropped to negative hp's, but we ruled I could enter a rage right that instant (I got stung by an AoO on my move) for the extra hp whiler i downed some potions. If I'd known the above I could have cast a cure seriousd on myself.

 

[youspoonybard]

3.5 PHB under "Constitution". Page 9.

 

[iwatt]

Thanks. We haven't converted yet though, so is this a 3.0 rule as well?

 

[Caliban]

Thanks. We haven't converted yet though, so is this a 3.0 rule as well?

Yes.

 

[iwatt]

Excellent. In the heat of the moment it's hard to rememeber every little rule. I'v returned from near death with about 6 hp more

 

[dcollins]

I don't have my books, can anybody tell me were this is?... a wooping 13 points of Con dmg. I dropped from Con 16 to Con 3 (+3 to -4) translating to 7hp per level. I'm an 11 level cleric with a wooping 117 hps...

You'll notice I put the page reference above: 3.0 DMG p. 72 -- second column, first paragraph.

However, it wouldn't do you any good in this situation (unless there's more information you left out). Max hp of 117, with -7 Con modifier per level, makes your max hp 117 - 7*11 = 117 - 77 = 40 -- and that's way above the minimum of 1*11 = 11. Properly ruled, your max hp drop to 40 and all other damage is then taken off that to find your current hp score.

Note the important difference between "full hit point score" and "current hit point score" in this rule. Con damage and its limit apply only to the former.