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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 6820370" data-attributes="member: 37579">Uncertain if you're talking about generic bardic-esque inspiration or more warlord inspring healing, but either way the above isn't a particularly good example. You're using the instance of a magical wizard countering unnatural fear caused by a ring wraith or bolstering the confidence of an entire army of common soldiers and conscripted farmers to justify a warlord inspiring a single heroic character. Gandalf doesn't even do anything, and just seems to possess a magical aura of courage. It's a better paladin description than warlord. Temporary hit points don't make a lot of sense in a hp = energy/luck system. But they work just fine in a hp = meat system since, not being hp, they can be energy/luck.Personally, I reject the meat/luck division and argue the nature of hit points is instead entirely dependant on the source and nature of the damage being inflicted. (But, in my game, I lean towards meat and have adjusted healing as a result, removing overnight healing. But I'm not above describing player skill as reducing a fatal blow into a scratch.)Similarly, the nature of temporary hp is dependant on the source. Magic is, well, magic, so it can be unnatural vigor,ignoring of wounds, or even rapid healing of inflicted injuries. Inspirational temporary hit points are funkier but work; as they're a different pool, the DM knows they need to describe the blow differently. I love warlords granting temporary hit points, because it works with the conventions and tropes of the role so much better than healing.You give the big inspirational speech before a battle or rally allies between skirmishes in a prolonged fight. You don't give your big speech to just one person occasionally in the middle of a fight or mostly at the end. But the nature or healing in D&D (4e excluded) focuses on healing after battles. Especially in 5e when combat healing is reduced. The warlord that heals would typically give their big inspiring speeches after the fight, topping everyone off. "Is anyone down? You're half? Let me inspire you a little." Which really, really doesn't match what warlords should be doing, as portrayed in cinema. Or even how they were portrayed in 4e, since they'd seldom use their encounter heals outside of an encounter, as short rests handled healing between combats.  Temporary healing encourages warlords to rally allies prior to combat and give those speeches. It encourages them to act like commanders and generals. And it encourages them to use their powers during the fight rather than at the end.</blockquote>

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