Temporary hit points

[Number47]

The FAQ says that temporary hit points don't stack. Okay. So what happens to them? Nearly every effect that doesn't stack, overlaps. In other words, if your +4 Str enhancement is dispelled, your +3 Str enhancement is still there to kick in.

However, this doesn't make much sense for temp. hit points. If you have +7 temp. hit points from one spell, and another spell grants +5 temp. hit points, then you get the +5 when the +7 disappears? In this case, that would mean basically the same thing as stacking as long as you took 7 hit points of damage.

When the one is used up, does it open the door for the other one to protect (like Protection from Elements + Resist Elements)? Does the second casting somehow just get denied? If so, what happens if the first spell was dispelled?

Can somebody please make sense out of temporary hit points supposedly not stacking but in practical application they do anyway?

 

[Hypersmurf]

Think of temporary hit points as being like a "Protection from Elements : Damage" spell.

If you have Protection from Elements and Resist Elements up at the same time, and get hit for 6 points of fire damage in one round, then Protection from Elements absorbs 6 and Resist Elements absorbs 6... but they're the same 6.

In the next round, if you get hit for 13 points, PfE absorbs 6 of them and is dispelled. RE absorbs 12 of them. But 6 of the points it absorbs are the same 6 the PfE took, so you take a point of damage.

If you have 30 hit points, with one spell granting 5 temporary hit points and another granting 7, you have an effective total of 37. If the second spell is dispelled (area dispel magic, say), then the first is still in effect, and your effective total drops to 35.

When both spells are up, if you are hit for two points of damage, then your effective total drops to 35. If you were hit for three, it drops to 34. In this case, both spells are now granting you 4 temporary hit points. If you are hit for 3 more points, your effective total drops to 31 - the 3 points came off both spells at the same time.

Does that make sense?

-Hyp.

 

[Number47]

It makes sense, but I disagree with your interpretation of different Elements protection. I don't read into it all that the lesser spell gets weakened as the more powerful spell absorbs damage. I simply read it that the lesser spell is repressed while the more powerful spell is active.