I've been searching for an hour and haven't found an answer. I was wondering how temp hp works in regards to physical appearance and pain. When you lose hp you might get cut or bruised/bloody. If you have full hp and lose some temp hp, does anything happen to you physically/visually?
Example: I was playing a Warlock (named weird al) and wanted to convince a commoner I was invulnerable. So I cast false life on myself bringing myself to 7 temp hp (rolled a 3 on the d4 +4) and handed them a dagger and told them to stab me. At most they would be able to do 4 piercing damage. After the attack I would still be at full health plus some left over temp hp.
Would my character (weird al) bleed/feel any pain? Would the dagger even touch him? Or would the dagger go through their chest, then come out clean?
Unfortunately, there isn't one answer. It is a DM call as to how they want to describe hit point loss.
"Hit points represent a combination of physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck. Creatures with more hit points are more difficult to kill. Those with fewer hit points are more fragile.
A creature's current hit points (usually just called hit points) can be any number from the creature's hit point maximum down to 0. This number changes frequently as a creature takes damage or receives healing.
Whenever a creature takes damage, that damage is subtracted from its hit points. The loss of hit points has no effect on a creature's capabilities until the creature drops to 0 hit points."
"Some spells and special abilities confer temporary hit points to a creature. Temporary hit points aren't actual hit points; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of hit points that protect you from injury."
Hit points are a generalization representing "physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck". How hit points are divided among these categories is up the DM and how these might be visible to another creature are also up to the DM. Temporary hit points are a "pool of hit points that protect you from injury." Whether a creature with temporary hit points looks any different from a creature without them is up to the DM. Whether the loss of temporary hit points is visible in some way or not is also up to the DM.
Personally, in the context you describe, I would tend to rule that the temporary hit points are not visible or perceptible to another creature. On the other hand, if you let someone walk up to you place a dagger against your skin and shove it in then I'd be torn in how to rule the outcome. I think I would tend to rule that the dagger would be deflected or redirected in some way such that it couldn't hurt you as long as you have the temporary hit points. However, the mechanics of temporary hit points are not described - so how to rule it depends on each individual DM. Bottom line with a question like this is to ask your DM how they want to run it.
No effect on physical health. It depends on its source, but it might be something like a magic ward or just make you feel safer/luckier, etc. The player and/or DM can decide how it looks.
It would depend on the source. In the case of your False Life example, I’d probably describe damage that only hits temp HP as a cut that doesn’t bleed and instantly heals.
HP in general is an abstraction, as David42 said. Technically speaking, a character losing HP isn't actually getting bruised/cut for every attack they suffer; but it generally is easier to think about it that way. I usually just cart blanche say that temp HP is kinda like a magic ward that bubbles around someone until it's chewed through. Of course, that description can and will change based on which creature has it, the circumstances, etc
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
HP is essentially plot armor. It’s the narrative strength or power of the character. A character like One Punch Man, for instance, would have infinite hitpoints. He’s undefeatable. That’s kind of the entire point of the manga.
Inasmuch as pain and wounds actually dramatically affect the physical performance of any creature, HP loss doesn’t reflect any realistic idea of injury, except of the most superficial variety - injuries that don’t have any functional effect on the individual. Those very minor nicks and cuts reflect loss of luck, morale, or stamina more than anything else. A creature with close to no hitpoints could be actually physically injured in a manner that absolutely prevents it from avoiding another attack (“Another one of those, and I’m a goner!”), or maybe it was always physically outmatched, and it’s just run out of luck.
Convincing the commoner that you’re invulnerable is a Deception check, regardless of the actual game mechanics related to hitpoints or temp HP.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
I've been searching for an hour and haven't found an answer. I was wondering how temp hp works in regards to physical appearance and pain. When you lose hp you might get cut or bruised/bloody. If you have full hp and lose some temp hp, does anything happen to you physically/visually?
Example: I was playing a Warlock (named weird al) and wanted to convince a commoner I was invulnerable. So I cast false life on myself bringing myself to 7 temp hp (rolled a 3 on the d4 +4) and handed them a dagger and told them to stab me. At most they would be able to do 4 piercing damage. After the attack I would still be at full health plus some left over temp hp.
Would my character (weird al) bleed/feel any pain? Would the dagger even touch him? Or would the dagger go through their chest, then come out clean?
Unfortunately, there isn't one answer. It is a DM call as to how they want to describe hit point loss.
"Hit points represent a combination of physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck. Creatures with more hit points are more difficult to kill. Those with fewer hit points are more fragile.
A creature's current hit points (usually just called hit points) can be any number from the creature's hit point maximum down to 0. This number changes frequently as a creature takes damage or receives healing.
Whenever a creature takes damage, that damage is subtracted from its hit points. The loss of hit points has no effect on a creature's capabilities until the creature drops to 0 hit points."
"Some spells and special abilities confer temporary hit points to a creature. Temporary hit points aren't actual hit points; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of hit points that protect you from injury."
Hit points are a generalization representing "physical and mental durability, the will to live, and luck". How hit points are divided among these categories is up the DM and how these might be visible to another creature are also up to the DM. Temporary hit points are a "pool of hit points that protect you from injury." Whether a creature with temporary hit points looks any different from a creature without them is up to the DM. Whether the loss of temporary hit points is visible in some way or not is also up to the DM.
Personally, in the context you describe, I would tend to rule that the temporary hit points are not visible or perceptible to another creature. On the other hand, if you let someone walk up to you place a dagger against your skin and shove it in then I'd be torn in how to rule the outcome. I think I would tend to rule that the dagger would be deflected or redirected in some way such that it couldn't hurt you as long as you have the temporary hit points. However, the mechanics of temporary hit points are not described - so how to rule it depends on each individual DM. Bottom line with a question like this is to ask your DM how they want to run it.
No effect on physical health. It depends on its source, but it might be something like a magic ward or just make you feel safer/luckier, etc. The player and/or DM can decide how it looks.
It would depend on the source. In the case of your False Life example, I’d probably describe damage that only hits temp HP as a cut that doesn’t bleed and instantly heals.
HP in general is an abstraction, as David42 said. Technically speaking, a character losing HP isn't actually getting bruised/cut for every attack they suffer; but it generally is easier to think about it that way. I usually just cart blanche say that temp HP is kinda like a magic ward that bubbles around someone until it's chewed through. Of course, that description can and will change based on which creature has it, the circumstances, etc
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
HP is essentially plot armor. It’s the narrative strength or power of the character. A character like One Punch Man, for instance, would have infinite hitpoints. He’s undefeatable. That’s kind of the entire point of the manga.
Inasmuch as pain and wounds actually dramatically affect the physical performance of any creature, HP loss doesn’t reflect any realistic idea of injury, except of the most superficial variety - injuries that don’t have any functional effect on the individual. Those very minor nicks and cuts reflect loss of luck, morale, or stamina more than anything else. A creature with close to no hitpoints could be actually physically injured in a manner that absolutely prevents it from avoiding another attack (“Another one of those, and I’m a goner!”), or maybe it was always physically outmatched, and it’s just run out of luck.
Convincing the commoner that you’re invulnerable is a Deception check, regardless of the actual game mechanics related to hitpoints or temp HP.