Temporary hit points and Heroism

[visitor]

Am I reading this correctly?

PHB page 198 says: (Temporary Hit Points) Healing can't restore temporary hit points, and they can't be added together. If you have temporary hit points and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep the ones you have or gain the new ones. For example, if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.

The target of the spell Heroism gains temporary hit points equal to your spellcasting ability modifier at the start of each of its turns.


So (for starting characters), the target of Heroism would get like 3 temporary hit points, replenished each round for the duration of the spell, but no more than that.

Seems like a rather nominal benefit.

[xyianth]

You are reading it correctly, though you also gain immunity to fear, which isn't trivial. At early levels, the temp hp can help you survive an extra hit or two. At later levels, the fear immunity is probably it's most useful aspect.

[Giant2005]

It is pretty powerful, it is effectively giving you 3 (Or more) points of regeneration each turn.
When you have that layered on with a decent AC and some kind of resistance, that regeneration becomes hugely powerful to the point where you would be virtually indestructible at low levels with it running.

[Chronos]

It's not quite as good as 3 regeneration: Suppose, for instance, you're up against an enemy that does an average of 6 damage, and has a 50% chance to hit each round. Against such an enemy, regeneration would keep up with the damage you're taking, plus or minus the vagaries of the random numbers. With the temporary HP, though, half the time they'll go to waste, and half the time the enemy will get 3 damage through to your real HP. They can't apply from one round to the next to even out irregularities, like regeneration can.

That said, though, it's still pretty good.

[Gritmonger]

So, rather than 3 regeneration, it is an ablative universal 3DR each round.