Plant Banner - THP "Renewal"

[Rydia420lol]

Looking at the Plant Banner skill, I'm not sure how to interpret this.

"All allies within a 30-foot burst immediately gain a number of temporary Hit Points equal to half your Intelligence modifier. *These temporary Hit Points* last for 1 round; each time an ally starts their turn within the burst, *these Hit Points* are renewed for another round."

Many people seem to think the amount of THP received after the initial burst is replenished each round if they stay in range, but the way it is written I'm not so sure. It says "these hit points," referring to the hit points received in the initial burst, "last for 1 round"; then again "these hit points" (presumably the same hit points received from the initial burst) are "renewed for an additional round."

If they replenish every single round, this ability is absolutely busted in my mind; for comparison, look at the Wood Kineticist Aura Junction, which grants 1 THP/round in their 10' aura at level 5, scaling up to 2 THP at level 10 and 3 THP at level 15.

[Mellored]

IMO, it happens every round.

Keep in mind, you can't use Banner tag abilities with your banner planted. It can also be easily removed by enemies, or destroyed.

It's a risky thing to do, so it should give a good reward.

I do agree the wording could be cleaner.

[Rydia420lol]

It's definitely a decision to plant it, but it's just unclear in my mind what the intention was, given how much higher and faster it scales than any other similar ability.

I'm guessing the option for enemies to destroy your banner will go away, since it basically just ruins the class (and destroys their fun entirely), and especially since there is nothing indicating what would destroy it. Does it have HP/AC? Not sure there is any other weakness like that in all of the other classes? For instance, I don't believe there are any rules stating that Thaumaturge Esoterica can be destroyed.

Just my 2c, Commander is super interesting, but I'm definitely looking forward to the final version and clarifications on some of these things.

[Finoan]

It is temp HP equal to half of your INT modifier.

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We are talking about 2 to 3 temp HP.

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For the entire level 1 - 20 campaign.

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And as far as I can tell, that is the only benefit that Plant Banner gives.

Everything else in that rather large block of rules text is restrictions and detriments and risks.

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Yes. It is ambiguous.

But one interpretation clearly does not pass the Ambiguous Rules rule.

[Rydia420lol]

It scales up at level 5 to full INT mod (so 4-5) and to Level+Int mod at level 15 (so 20-26). For a level 1 Feat and for 1 action.

It also makes your aura 40' burst instead of 30' emanation, keeps your hands empty if you want to wield 2h weapon, and is from an RP perspective just pretty sweet/cinematic.

4 THP/round at will for your entire party is just massive imo, and is at level 5 almost 2x better than a Kineticist aura junction (which is a huge investment in comparison).

[Mellored]

It could use a middle step between 5 and 20 THP.

Int + half level at level at level 10.

[pH unbalanced]

Ran a table tonight with a Commander 1 (party was mixed lvl 1 and 2).

The temp hps from Plant Banner easily soaked up about half the damage dealt through 3 fights -- it basically wiped out one enemy group's 1d4 AoE attack (which went off multiple times, but to no practical effect due to the banner).

Yeah, the scalability is suspect, but I came away really impressed with it.