An invocation that allows one to cast the spell "False Life" without material components or a spell slot at will. And each use of the spell lasts an hour, and has a casting time of one action.
My question is, can this spell be stacked upon itself? Because if so, this repeated casting can go up to 600 consecutive castings of a 1d4+4 temporary hit point spell.
The two ways to run it which I think are reasonable is.
1) If you were out of combat and the Warlock takes damage assume she has 8 temp hp. 2) If you were out of combat and the Warlock takes damage, roll the 1d4+4 on the spot.
1 assumes the warlock understand the effect and casts it until it's as strong as possible. While 2 doesn't make any such assumption and it's always assumed to be on but the Warlock probably can't "tell" what number they rolled. I personally like the narrative that the player and the character not the same entity. The player has more knowledge about the world then the character does. This is how feats like Lucky work. The character isn't invoking the feat, the player is or any other similar ability.
Warlocks can take an eldritch invocation and cast it without using a spell slot. So they’re the exception to the rule, they can spam it as if it was a cantrip.
Talk to your DM though. It is possible to keep casting every 6 seconds until you roll max.
In the last campaign I was in, we had a fiendlock. We just hand-waved that he started all encounters with full temp hp rather than make him roll until it was maxxed.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Sorry to burst all of your bubbles (on this post from two years ago, lol) but RAW it still does take an Action to cast.
I know that's kind of a bummer, but it's true.
It does not take a spell slot, and it can indeed be cast "at will," BUT, you cannot ignore that actually CASTING it (however often you like, or whenever you like) does have a casting time of 1 Action. It won't cost you a spell slot. You can cast it whenever you like, at will. But to do so requires an Action.
If you're in combat and want to cast it, you have to wait for your turn and spend your Action (its casting time) to freely cast it on yourself without cost of a spell slot. If it had the casting time of 1 Reaction, you could cast it whenever your Reaction was available. But it's not a Reaction spell, so you wait until you have an Action available.
As far as rolling it to hit max temp HP, you (RAW) don't spend that Action rolling as often as you'd like until hitting a total of 8. You spend your Action to cast it once that turn, take whatever you get, and do whatever else you want that isn't also an Action. On your next turn, you can cast it again and replace its value with a new value, but that costs another Action.
Keep in mind, you also can't upcast it, RAW. Only as a first level spell.
Tl;dr: It's not nearly as spammable as everyone wants it to be, and it takes your Action at will to cast.
We are talking about out of combat, where you can spend all the actions you want without consequence. In combat, yes you would be correct.
This. The idea is you top off your temp hp before a fight, so you have a bit of a pad when you take your first damage. You don't actually cast it in combat.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Pretty sure most if not all DMs will just let you have the max +8 hp. The alternative is slowing down the session with the warlock casting false life until they hit a max roll and recasting whenever the duration is half expired. Just have a chat with your DM and I am sure he or she will just let you have the +8 hp permanently as long as you keep the invocation. Just state that your character will recast false life every 30 minutes or so while they are out of combat.
Pretty sure most if not all DMs will just let you have the max +8 hp. The alternative is slowing down the session with the warlock casting false life until they hit a max roll and recasting whenever the duration is half expired. Just have a chat with your DM and I am sure he or she will just let you have the +8 hp permanently as long as you keep the invocation. Just state that your character will recast false life every 30 minutes or so while they are out of combat.
This is how my group does it.
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Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
I had assumed you'd be casting it during combat, unless it was looking like combat was clearly imminent. It hadn't occurred to me to just keep casting it all day while walking around. That makes a huge difference!
but why would you walk around casting that spell over and over? it just doesn't make sense. unless you were extremely paranoid, you would only cast it at the start of combat. it's not like in real life you would wear a bulletproof vest to a party just because. the point of d&d is to act like you are your character. unless you want to make your character extremely paranoid, you would only cast false life when you knew there was a battle coming.
but why would you walk around casting that spell over and over? it just doesn't make sense. unless you were extremely paranoid, you would only cast it at the start of combat. it's not like in real life you would wear a bulletproof vest to a party just because. the point of d&d is to act like you are your character. unless you want to make your character extremely paranoid, you would only cast false life when you knew there was a battle coming.
I would cast it every morning in the shower, just on general principle. It takes on average about 24 seconds to spin up to maximum and doesn't interfere with my movement, so I can dance in the shower while casting it. Believe me, during a dungeon crawl, I would care even more about making sure it was always up and always at max.
If I was shot at half as often as my D&D character is attacked, I would wear a bulletproof vest every moment of my life. You could maybe make this argument for time spent hanging around in a city, but in a dungeon or out in the wild, it seems very reasonable. Do you accept a fighter walking around all day in the blistering heat wearing 65 lb. plate mail, but not a caster stopping for 6 seconds every hour to wave their hand around?
The one place this would not make sense is if a long rest was interrupted. Then you should assume that the caster does not have false life up and running.
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An invocation that allows one to cast the spell "False Life" without material components or a spell slot at will. And each use of the spell lasts an hour, and has a casting time of one action.
My question is, can this spell be stacked upon itself? Because if so, this repeated casting can go up to 600 consecutive castings of a 1d4+4 temporary hit point spell.
Temporary hit points don't stack. Whenever you get more, you decide whether to keep the old ones or take the new ones.
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Okay, thanks for clearing that up!
Talk to your DM though. It is possible to keep casting every 6 seconds until you roll max.
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The interpretation that I've seen of that Invocation is it gives a Warlock the max HP because the Warlock can keep casting it until they roll a 4.
Professional computer geek
The two ways to run it which I think are reasonable is.
1) If you were out of combat and the Warlock takes damage assume she has 8 temp hp.
2) If you were out of combat and the Warlock takes damage, roll the 1d4+4 on the spot.
1 assumes the warlock understand the effect and casts it until it's as strong as possible. While 2 doesn't make any such assumption and it's always assumed to be on but the Warlock probably can't "tell" what number they rolled.
I personally like the narrative that the player and the character not the same entity. The player has more knowledge about the world then the character does. This is how feats like Lucky work. The character isn't invoking the feat, the player is or any other similar ability.
I understand this like:
Its a lvl 1 Spell, so it fills a slot when casted. So there is no spam possible, cuz you dont have unlimited slots. Am I right or wrong?
Warlocks can take an eldritch invocation and cast it without using a spell slot. So they’re the exception to the rule, they can spam it as if it was a cantrip.
Professional computer geek
This is awesome! Thanks Tim!
In the last campaign I was in, we had a fiendlock. We just hand-waved that he started all encounters with full temp hp rather than make him roll until it was maxxed.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Sorry to burst all of your bubbles (on this post from two years ago, lol) but RAW it still does take an Action to cast.
I know that's kind of a bummer, but it's true.
It does not take a spell slot, and it can indeed be cast "at will," BUT, you cannot ignore that actually CASTING it (however often you like, or whenever you like) does have a casting time of 1 Action. It won't cost you a spell slot. You can cast it whenever you like, at will. But to do so requires an Action.
If you're in combat and want to cast it, you have to wait for your turn and spend your Action (its casting time) to freely cast it on yourself without cost of a spell slot. If it had the casting time of 1 Reaction, you could cast it whenever your Reaction was available. But it's not a Reaction spell, so you wait until you have an Action available.
As far as rolling it to hit max temp HP, you (RAW) don't spend that Action rolling as often as you'd like until hitting a total of 8. You spend your Action to cast it once that turn, take whatever you get, and do whatever else you want that isn't also an Action. On your next turn, you can cast it again and replace its value with a new value, but that costs another Action.
Keep in mind, you also can't upcast it, RAW. Only as a first level spell.
Tl;dr: It's not nearly as spammable as everyone wants it to be, and it takes your Action at will to cast.
We are talking about out of combat, where you can spend all the actions you want without consequence. In combat, yes you would be correct.
if I edit a message, most of the time it's because of grammar. The rest of the time I'll put "Edit:" at the bottom.
This. The idea is you top off your temp hp before a fight, so you have a bit of a pad when you take your first damage. You don't actually cast it in combat.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Pretty sure most if not all DMs will just let you have the max +8 hp. The alternative is slowing down the session with the warlock casting false life until they hit a max roll and recasting whenever the duration is half expired. Just have a chat with your DM and I am sure he or she will just let you have the +8 hp permanently as long as you keep the invocation. Just state that your character will recast false life every 30 minutes or so while they are out of combat.
This is how my group does it.
Any time an unfathomably powerful entity sweeps in and offers godlike rewards in return for just a few teensy favors, it’s a scam. Unless it’s me. I’d never lie to you, reader dearest.
Tasha
Wow, okay, I guess I missed the point of it then!
I had assumed you'd be casting it during combat, unless it was looking like combat was clearly imminent. It hadn't occurred to me to just keep casting it all day while walking around. That makes a huge difference!
Thanks for the info!
but why would you walk around casting that spell over and over? it just doesn't make sense. unless you were extremely paranoid, you would only cast it at the start of combat. it's not like in real life you would wear a bulletproof vest to a party just because. the point of d&d is to act like you are your character. unless you want to make your character extremely paranoid, you would only cast false life when you knew there was a battle coming.
I would cast it every morning in the shower, just on general principle. It takes on average about 24 seconds to spin up to maximum and doesn't interfere with my movement, so I can dance in the shower while casting it. Believe me, during a dungeon crawl, I would care even more about making sure it was always up and always at max.
If I was shot at half as often as my D&D character is attacked, I would wear a bulletproof vest every moment of my life. You could maybe make this argument for time spent hanging around in a city, but in a dungeon or out in the wild, it seems very reasonable. Do you accept a fighter walking around all day in the blistering heat wearing 65 lb. plate mail, but not a caster stopping for 6 seconds every hour to wave their hand around?
The one place this would not make sense is if a long rest was interrupted. Then you should assume that the caster does not have false life up and running.