The most optimized Temporary Health Point build by 14?

[Citadel97501]

Hello all, I was just wondering what you find to be the most optimized temporary health point build by level 14? Now I understand this comes in two flavors IE self buffing and party buffing, and I am willing to hear opinions on either. I am saying by level 14 since that is a much more common level area than a full level 20 build.

[noob]

Hello all, I was just wondering what you find to be the most optimized temporary health point build by level 14? Now I understand this comes in two flavors IE self buffing and party buffing, and I am willing to hear opinions on either. I am saying by level 14 since that is a much more common level area than a full level 20 build.

Be a fullcaster and take minor shapeshifting and gain your hit dice in temporary hit points as a swift action so you can do that each turn in addition to other stuff.
Over the long term you block a lot more damage than by having a lot of temp hp the morning.

[hymer]

Would you consider wild shape hit points as temporary hit points for this purpose?

Edit: partially shadowmonk'ed.

[noob]

Would you consider wild shape hit points as temporary hit points for this purpose?

Edit: partially shadowmonk'ed.

minor shapeshift have nothing to do with wild shape and gives temporary hit points while wild shape makes you regain hit points as a night rest up to your normal hit points.
did you know that wild shaping in a form with more con does not increase your maximum hit points?(and wild shaping a shape with less con does not decrease your maximum hit points) in fact the only effect wild shape have on your hit points is healing as a full night rest.
Read the alter self, polymorph, polymorph any object spell line and you will see that they do not have the right to change your maximum hit points and wild shape works like polymorph.

[Arkhios]

minor shapeshift have nothing to do with wild shape and gives temporary hit points while wild shape makes you regain hit points as a night rest up to your normal hit points.
did you know that wild shaping in a form with more con does not increase your maximum hit points?(and wild shaping a shape with less con does not decrease your maximum hit points) in fact the only effect wild shape have on your hit points is healing as a full night rest.
Read the polymorph spell line and you will see that they do not have the right to change your maximum hit points.

What's this minor shapeshift you're talking about? Are you absolutely certain you're responding with correct edition in mind? :smallconfused:

[noob]

What's this minor shapeshift you're talking about? Are you absolutely certain you're responding with correct edition in mind? :smallconfused:

Oh sorry.
Then the best thp spam build is probably either a single class warlock or abjuration wizard.
since wild shape hit points are just not the same thing(for example it can get you killed by power word kill)

[Crucius]

The tricky part is that temporary hitpoints don't stack, so the 'build' would be to find the best source of temporary hit points (me thinks that is going to be armor of agathys), add to that monsieur abjuration wizard and some nifty wildshapes with a boatload of hp (technically not temp hp of course). Getting damage resistance from somewhere goes a long way as well but that of course is not really temporary hit points (although they do last longer that way).

[nickl_2000]

So temp HP. I personally believe that the best ways to get it are

1) Aid, possibly upcast
2) Fiend Warlock
3) Whispers bard

Really, if you were to do a Level 1 or 2 Hexblade/Level 4 Paladin/Level 6+ College Whispers Bard you can a very solid build with Melee, really good AC (plus the shield spell), smiting, and really good spell casting. Maybe not the best, but it would certainly work and it would come online fairly quickly.




Alternately, just be an EB spamming fiendlock with the fiendish vigor invocation you will get temp HP for days (false life during non-combat, and even more every time you kill someone).

[CheddarChampion]

Gnome Abjurer 13 / Fiend Warlock 1 or Abjurer 12 / Fiend Warlock 2:
Abjurer gets you Arcane Ward which stacks with THP (27 to 31).
Warlock gets you Armor of Agathys - you can cast this with wizard spell slots.
Fiend pact gets you a bit of THP when you down a foe (3 or 4).
Str (8/9), Dex 14, Con 13, Int 16, Wis 10, Cha 14
Resilient (Con), Inspiring Leader, and boost Int.

The extra Abjurer level gets you 7th level spell slots - 35 AoA THP instead of 30.
The extra Warlock level gets you invocations: fiendish vigor and armor of shadows.
Fiendish vigor lets you cast false life until you get 8 THP out of combat.
Armor of shadows can quickly recharge your arcane ward (2 HP / 6 seconds).

With 13/1 you get ~30 AW HP and 35 THP from AoA, but you can't do it all day.
With 12/2 you get ~28 AW HP and 30 THP from AoA, and easy recharging.
16 THP from inspiring leader for you and the party in either case.

[NaughtyTiger]

So temp HP. I personally believe that the best ways to get it are

1) Aid, possibly upcast
2) Fiend Warlock
3) Whispers bard

Aid is real HP, not Temp HP.
so it stacks, and it can be healed...


my vote is Frost Giant soul sorc -> recharge your armor of agythus temp HP + Con bonus on top of that.

[BigPixie]

AoA lock (1), Bearbarian (3), and Abjurer wiz (10). AKA buttload of THP.

[Ritorix]

One option for party HP boosting is the Inspiring Leader feat on a divine soul sorcerer.

At 14, the feat is giving 19 THP each to 6 creatures. That's +114THP every rest.

Another option is to upcast Aid to level 7. That's 30 real HP to 3 creatures. +90HP.
Upcast at level 6 for the other half of your party. That's 25 HP for them. +75P.
Extend metamagic will let them last all day.

So your party will each have between 44 and 49 boosted HP while you hover over the battle on eagle's wings like the angel you are. At the extreme end, you will have given out 279 HP buffer to the group before a fight even starts.

[Chronos]

If you're using Armor of Agathys, you probably don't want other sources of THP, since if you used them, you'd have to give up your AoA. Instead, you want other things that are like THP, but not quite, so they stack with them, like the Aid spell and the abjurer's ward.

If you're using the abjurer's ward, then you want some way to cast a non-cantrip abjuration spell at will, to recharge it. The two best ways are either the warlock invocation Armor of Shadows (Mage Armor at will), or be a Deep Gnome and take the Deep Gnome Magic feat (among other abilities, Nondetection at will).

Aid unfortunately isn't on either the warlock or wizard spell list. But you can pick it up by being from Ravnica, and taking either the Boros or Selesnya background.

This is also perhaps the one build where Blade Ward just might be worthwhile: You want people to hit you, to trigger Armor of Agathys, but you'd prefer that they do less damage when they do. And you're going to be doing enough damage with AoA that it almost won't matter that you're wasting your actions.

[RSP]

Long Death Monk gets tHPs on downing enemies. As does Fiend Warlock.

If strictly looking at tHP as your bar, Fiend Warlock with AoA, Fiendish Resilience and Inspirational Leader is probably your best bet for access to tHP. Though, obviously, tHP never stack so this is just ways to continually get new tHP.

[Contrast]

I'm not really sure what you're looking for as I don't think any build is invested enough in THP to consider that the main thing their build does.

That said if you always want everyone to have THP, be a glamour bard with Inspiring Leader. I'm playing one at the moment and the main problem is usually people having too many THP so I can't get full use out of my bardic inspiration.

[rbstr]

Yeah, Glamour Bard with Inspiring leader is giving you the most THP in a day. At level 14 you're talking ~18-19 after every rest and then 11 for every party member with a bonus action, 4-5 times per rest. It's far and away the most possible in a practical manner.

The Artillerist can put out 1d8+int THP with every bonus action.
Celestial Warlock basically gets Inspiring Leader at level 10 getting 14-15 THP every rest and giving party mates 9-10. Plus they've got AoA
Fiend's THP on kill is a lot less than most of these options, but it is resource free.
All warlocks can grab false life at will. Not a lot but a small buffer.

Barbarian with a lot of Charisma and Inspiring leader could make a lot of use of THP. Or a Cavalier using Warding Maneuver.

[Rukelnikov]

my vote is Frost Giant soul sorc -> recharge your armor of agythus temp HP + Con bonus on top of that.

Not the first time I read this, but are your sure this works? My understanding is that the extra temp HP for AoA only happens when you actually cast AoA.

[Dr. Cliché]

Would you count the Abjurer Wizard's Arcane Ward as temporary hp?

(I know it's not technically temporary hp, but it seems very similar flavour wise.)

[noob]

Would you count the Abjurer Wizard's Arcane Ward as temporary hp?

(I know it's not technically temporary hp, but it seems very similar flavour wise.)

it is closer to being temp hp than the pool from having a new shape since the latter makes you more vulnerable to power word kill unlike the former.

[Vogie]

For Personal:

Primeval Guardian Ranger Gains THP every round while in their guardian form. Throw in Moon Wild Shape or Barbarian levels and you can really go to town.
An Abjuration Wizard with a 2 level dip in Warlock will be able to cast Mage Armor at will, allowing them to refill their Ward really quickly out of combat, alongside being able to automatically gain 8 THP from Fiendish Vigor invocation. And if it's a Fiend Lock, you also would gain THP when killing a target.


For Group THP:

Caster - A celestial warlock will give the entire party THP of half level+Charisma mod at the end of each rest. If you add Inspiring Leader, you can also refresh it, allowing you to give it twice per short or long rest.
Non-Caster - A Tundra Herald Barbarian with 2+ level dip in Shepherd Druid. You'll give everyone in your Storm Aura THP each time you spend a Bonus action while you rage. You also can summon a Bear Spirit, even while raging, to give everyone in the Spirit Aura 5+Druid level THP and a rage-esque advantage on Strength checks and Strength saving throws.

[sophontteks]

No one mentioned the glamour bard?

He can give his whole party scaling temp hp as a bonus action using inspiration every round. Other classes can give this kind of bonus per encounter. Only glamour can replenish it every single round without wasting an action. And its off a plentiful short rest resource too!