So I was thinking about how hit points fade away from spells like Bear's Endurance and rage effect. They are not temporary, and thus do not go away first, but how do you handle the disappearence of the added con bonus?
If I have a level 3 fighter with 28 hit points and no damage (28/28).
And then the wizard casts bear's endurance on the fighter for an added 6 hit points. (34/34).
Then the ogre hits the fighter a couple times for 29 damage. (5/34).
Now, if the bear's endurance wears off during the fight, does the fighter fall unconscious (-1/28) or is the fighter still at 5 hp (5/28).
If it's the former case, it seems like high level barbarians would be extremely rare, for if they ever fall unconscious while raging they will die instantly as they stop raging and lose their con bonuses.
|
If it's the former case, it seems like high level barbarians would be extremely rare, for if they ever fall unconscious while raging they will die instantly as they stop raging and lose their con bonuses.
It's true, which explains this line in the Core Rulebook:
A barbarian can end her rage as a free action and is fatigued after rage for a number of rounds equal to 2 times the number of rounds spent in the rage. A barbarian cannot enter a new rage while fatigued or exhausted but can otherwise enter rage multiple times during a single encounter or combat. If a barbarian falls unconscious, her rage immediately ends, placing her in peril of death.
As for your question, the fighter would be unconscious. The damage is not 'healed' when bear's endurance goes away, which is the main difference between it and temporary hit points.
Let's assume two different fighters, both with 28 hit points. One receives false life, bumping his hit points to 34. The other receives Bear's Endurance, also bumping his hit points to 34.
Both of them take 29 points of damage. The fighter who had false life has nothing to really worry about, the 6 hit points he gained were temporary and went on top of his normal hit points. So no matter how much time passes (assuming no more damage taken) he'll still be at 5 of his 28 normal hit points.
The other fighter, on the other hand, has his constitution increased for a small period of time, giving him an effective bonus to his hit points. When it ends, the con will go back to normal, also lowering his normal hit points. The damage on him will stay the same, 29 points of damage, but because his hit points drop back to 28 he'll be unconscious at -1.
I always say to just keep a running total of damage -- that's what stays constant as your HP total changes from Constitution changes and other effects.
The exception is temporary HP. If you get temporary HP, put them in a separate place and use them, 1-to-1, to negate any additional damage you take. Then add any remaining damage up as normal.
RPG Superstar 2010 Top 16
|
The hit points go away. In a D&D 3.5 "Sage Advice" column, WotC suggested that raging barbarians who are knocked unconscious should still be raging, to avoid just this kind of tragedy. But that's silly.
Yes, high-level Barbarians have a threat of dying when they step out of rage. (That's perfectly aligned with heroic literature, of course.)
One poster recently suggested that temporary hit points should be replaced with non-lethal damage. (You'd want to restrict this to damage taken while raging, to prevent a wounded 10th-level Barbarian from raging for a round, and converting 20 points of real damage into non-lethal, rapidly-evaporating damage.)
So I was thinking about how hit points fade away from spells like Bear's Endurance and rage effect. They are not temporary, and thus do not go away first, but how do you handle the disappearence of the added con bonus?
If I have a level 3 fighter with 28 hit points and no damage (28/28).
And then the wizard casts bear's endurance on the fighter for an added 6 hit points. (34/34).
Then the ogre hits the fighter a couple times for 29 damage. (5/34).
Now, if the bear's endurance wears off during the fight, does the fighter fall unconscious (-1/28) or is the fighter still at 5 hp (5/28).If it's the former case, it seems like high level barbarians would be extremely rare, for if they ever fall unconscious while raging they will die instantly as they stop raging and lose their con bonuses.
I always think of these changes in Con causing changes in your maximum hit points. Your guy the fighter took a total of 29 damage. That's a given. While his maximum hp was 34 under the spell's effect, he was fine. When the spell wore off, his hit point total was reduced to -1 because his new max hp was 28 and he'd taken 29 damage. It's why I'm always cautious about using spells or abilities to boost Con and then take damage; it's potentially a problem if someone dispels the bear's endurance, for example.