| CloudCobra |
| 1 person marked this as FAQ candidate. |
You guys did have a FAQ about this a while back...
Temporary Hit Points: Do temporary hit point from the same source stack?
No. Generally, effects do not stack if they are from the same source (Core Rulebook page 208, Combining Magical Effects).
Although temporary hit points are not a "bonus," the principle still applies.
This prevents a creature with energy drain (which grants the creature 5 temporary hit points when used) from draining an entire village of
100 people in order to gain 500 temporary hit points before the PCs arrive to fight it.
Temporary hit points from different sources (such as an aid spell, a use of energy drain, and a vampiric touch spell) still stack with each other.
However, my group and I have run into a snag; I need your input.
What exactly do you mean by "source?"
Are we talking 1 divine source, 1 special abilities source, and 1 arcane source stack, in general?
Can a Trait be a source?
Is an individual Player class a source?
Are different arcane spells each considered a separate source, or does that invoke the Combining Magical Effects rule again (unless the spell says otherwise)?
For instance, would this work?
Level 20 Wizard
TRAIT = Soul Eater (10)
TRAIT = Sun-Blessed (20)
TRAIT = Divine Deceiver (30)
Lvl 2 = False Life (20)
Lvl 3 = Vampiric Touch (60)
Lvl 3 = Vampiric Hunger (120)
Lvl 4 = Death Knell Aura (8)
Lvl 5 = Feast on Fear (100)
Lvl 6 = Lash of the Astradaemon (10)
| CloudCobra |
If we're only dealing with general categories of divine, special abilities and arcane there isn't really much we can do:
Source 1: We can either get a Wand of Aid (CL 10) or a Drinking Horn of Bottomless Valor.
Source 2: Cast Undead Anatomy II, turn yourself into a Vampire and go to town using Blood Drain.
(Yes, it would stack but I don't think you get an additional 5 temp. hp with each drain attempt)
Source 3: Any other arcane spell previously listed.
So we have 1d8+10 temp. hp from Aid, let's say 18 for ease sake.
Also 5 temp. hp from Blood Drain.
And finally 120 temp. hp from Vampiric Hunger (at max hp/HD)/
That's only 143 temp. hp. Is this right, or is this a little underwhelming?
| Byakko |
Same source refers to a single power or spell.
For example, two different arcane spells which grant temporarily hit points will stack, as long as they aren't the exact same spell.
There are two cases where you will(should) see table variation:
1) whether a spell-like/supernatural ability which mimics a spell will stack with the actual spell. But this situation rarely comes up
2) whether similar spells stack; for example, False Life and Greater False Life. Most players aren't bold enough to try to argue for this one, from what I've seen.
| kyrt-ryder |
Anything that's not a repetition of the same thing stacks.
As an example, Vampiric Touch, Aid, False Life and Death Knell all provide an independent source of Temporary HP.
Were you to cast any of the above again while the first pool is still in existence, the better casting sticks to you. [Say you cast False Life in the morning for 12 HP and cast it again in the afternoon after that 12 has been depleted to 2. The greater False Life overrides the lesser.