How To Get Temporary Hit Points?

[Tibbaerrohwen]

I'm interested in knowing, how many different way can you get temporary hit points?

I know the Stone Power feat (ToB) give temporary hit points equal to 1-5 (x2). The Vigor psionic power (ExPH) gives you 5 temporary hit points.

There are a couple of spells that do it as well, but what else?

What are quick ways (Move/Free/Swift/Immediate actions) to gain temporary hit points?

Thanks.

[Hirax]

You don't want us to list spells, right? Rage gets you more hit points and requires no action to use, other than it needing to be your turn.

[legomaster00156]

Quickened Bear's Endurance. We may go, now.

[Randomguy]

Vampiric touch. The minor shapeshift reserve feat.

[deuxhero]

Share Vigor with your psycrystal and use share pain on it.

For extra lulz, give your crystal feats that give you passive bonuses (Dragonic Aura, ToB stances, some incarnum stuff)

[Tibbaerrohwen]

You don't want us to list spells, right? Rage gets you more hit points and requires no action to use, other than it needing to be your turn.


Quickened Bear's Endurance. We may go, now.

Listing spells is fine, if they can be cast as a move/free/swift or immediate action without the use of metamagic feats.

The issue with both Bears Endurance and Rage is that they raise your Con; they do not provide "temporary hit points" but hit points that are temporary. The difference being that when your Con drops back down you've still suffered actual damage rather than the damage being soaked up but temporary hit point.

[jiriku]

The amulet of tears (MIC 70) grants temporary hit points as a swift action.

[Curmudgeon]

Vampiric touch.
Important note: Vampiric Touch grants temporary hit points equal to the total damage dealt on your attack. Since it's a weaponlike spell, you can add precision damage (sneak attack, sudden strike, skirmish) and you'll get a lot more temporary HP.

[Feytalist]

Important note: Vampiric Touch grants temporary hit points equal to the total damage dealt on your attack. Since it's a weaponlike spell, you can add precision damage (sneak attack, sudden strike, skirmish) and you'll get a lot more temporary HP.

That I never realised. And that's a great idea.

Guess I should read the spell descriptions more attentively, heh.

[candycorn]

That I never realised. And that's a great idea.

Guess I should read the spell descriptions more attentively, heh.

Power attack also helps it. Immensely.

[Curmudgeon]

Power attack also helps it. Immensely.
I don't think "immensely" applies if you have to first hit with an unarmed strike or a natural attack, and then you're limited to a 1:1 ratio.
You can’t add the bonus from Power Attack to the damage dealt with a light weapon (except with unarmed strikes or natural weapon attacks), even though the penalty on attack rolls still applies. A touch attack, when your body is charged with a spell, counts as being armed with a light weapon, but touch attacks aren't listed as an exception to the "you can't add" Power Attack rule. So you have to hit regular AC unarmed or with a natural attack.

[supermonkeyjoe]

just a note that Vigor is 5hp per PP spent, at 20PP that's a handy 100 extra hp

[candycorn]

I don't think "immensely" applies if you have to first hit with an unarmed strike or a natural attack, and then you're limited to a 1:1 ratio. A touch attack, when your body is charged with a spell, counts as being armed with a light weapon, but touch attacks aren't listed as an exception to the "you can't add" Power Attack rule. So you have to hit regular AC unarmed or with a natural attack.

Typically, power attack synergizes with other things, including:
Leap attack.
Duskblade's Arcane Channeling.

With the above, the spell can be delivered through a 2 handed weapon, allowing for power attack to have a 1:2 ratio.

Alternately, holding the charge, allows leap attack to make it a 1:2 ratio.

There are other ways to make power attack more effective with vampiric touch. Those are left as an exercise to the reader.

That said, Craven is another good one with this spell.


just a note that Vigor is 5hp per PP spent, at 20PP that's a handy 100 extra hp

Overchannel it for 3 more pp, use talented feat to negate the damage.
Share it with your psycrystal, and you each get 115 hp.
Use Share Pain, and now each vigor is effectively 230 hp.

[Runestar]

Typically, power attack synergizes with other things, including:
Leap attack.
Duskblade's Arcane Channeling.

With the above, the spell can be delivered through a 2 handed weapon, allowing for power attack to have a 1:2 ratio.

The extra damage is dealt through the weapon, not vampiric touch (which is a rider-on effect), thus it would not improve the damage of vampiric touch nor increase the temp hp granted by said spell. :smalltongue:

The monomorph spells (those polymorph subschool spells like dragonshape from PHB2) grant temp hp in addition to letting you shapechange as a swift action, though they are difficult to access outside of a wizard.

http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/ex/20060501a&page=5

[Vowtz]

What are quick ways (Move/Free/Swift/Immediate actions) to gain temporary hit points?Complete Mage feat:

MINOR SHAPESHIFT [RESERVE]

Benefit: As long as you have a polymorph spell of 4th level
or higher available to cast, you can spend a swift action to
grant yourself one of the following benefits:
...
Vigor: Temporary hit points equal to your HD.
...

[candycorn]

I was going for "powerful". Especially since, with psionics, it's easy to get the standard action to manifest vigor.


The extra damage is dealt through the weapon, not vampiric touch (which is a rider-on effect), thus it would not improve the damage of vampiric touch nor increase the temp hp granted by said spell. :smalltongue:

Casting, holding the charge, then touch attacking with unarmed strike/natural weapon + leap attack next action is still a valid use, and will yield 1:2 on power attacks.

Add on Craven, and if you're full BAB, you can be doing quadruple your HD as bonus damage, before getting into the precision. Other classes can further increase damage of power attack. See: Ubercharger.

[Dusk Eclipse]

False life spell gives 1d10+ CL (maximum 10) temporary hit points as a standard action and lasts 1 hour per level. A command word item might be interesting or perhaps one with a swift activation and the cost won't be exorbitantly high as you only need CL 10 to get the most out of it.

[Alefiend]

If you're playing right, all hit points are temporary hit points. :smallamused:

[ericgrau]

False life spell gives 1d10+ CL (maximum 10) temporary hit points as a standard action and lasts 1 hour per level. A command word item might be interesting or perhaps one with a swift activation and the cost won't be exorbitantly high as you only need CL 10 to get the most out of it.
Swift activation isn't necessary since it lasts hours per level, though it can be quickened as easily as bear's endurance.

[Novawurmson]

If you're playing right, all hit points are temporary hit points. :smallamused:

+1 internets

[candycorn]

If you're playing right, all hit points are temporary hit points. :smallamused:

Playing right is a wizard with a 6 Con, the Frail flaw, and the Quick trait?

[Coidzor]

Typically, power attack synergizes with other things, including:
Leap attack.
Duskblade's Arcane Channeling.

With the above, the spell can be delivered through a 2 handed weapon, allowing for power attack to have a 1:2 ratio.

Alternately, holding the charge, allows leap attack to make it a 1:2 ratio.

There are other ways to make power attack more effective with vampiric touch. Those are left as an exercise to the reader.

That said, Craven is another good one with this spell.



Overchannel it for 3 more pp, use talented feat to negate the damage.
Share it with your psycrystal, and you each get 115 hp.
Use Share Pain, and now each vigor is effectively 230 hp.


Important note: Vampiric Touch grants temporary hit points equal to the total damage dealt on your attack. Since it's a weaponlike spell, you can add precision damage (sneak attack, sudden strike, skirmish) and you'll get a lot more temporary HP.

I'm in my happy place now.

Though, that reminds me, what's the deal with Temp HP from multiple sources again? Separate pools of temp HP based upon source that have the largest one take all of the damage at once until it gets completely depleted by an attack and then goes on to the next largest?

[Curmudgeon]

The deal is that temporary HP from different sources stack together, but that's all the details that the rules provide. The general principle is that the "controller" of effects gets to determine other details. If they're your temp HP then presumably you control the details, so I would use up the HP due to expire soonest first, then on to the next based on when the effects end.