D&D: Five Magic Spells Perfect for Handing Out Temporary Hit Points
Temporary hit points are like healing but you don’t have to get hurt. Here are five ways to get some in D&D.
When it comes to healing in D&D there are two schools of thought. The first is that healing is reactive, and you should top up your allies who are lowest on hit points. The second school of thought is a little more horrific. And it’s wait until your friends are bleeding out before you patch ’em up a little.
And that one is a little more common than you’d think. After all, healing doesn’t care if you’re at 0 hit points or -12. It gets you back on your feet just as easily as if you’d been at 1 hit point. But what if I told you there was a third option?
Temporary hit points! It’s proactive healing. You don’t even have to get hurt. And with these five spells, a little temporary HP is at your fingertips.
Heroism
Let’s start with what is arguably one of the best healing spells in the game. Heroism not only makes your friend immune to fear, but it also gives them temporary hit points equal to your spellcasting modifier at the start of each turn. That’s like a free top up without you having to do anything. And you can add more targets for every spell slot of a higher level.
False Life
False Life is one of the more obscure spells out there. It gives you 1d4 + 4 temporary hit points. It’s weird because it takes a full action. It’s not that many at first glance. But–it also lasts for an hour and doesn’t take your concentration slot. Especially as you get to higher levels, temporary HP can be great for a gish. Or if you just want to be the Wizard with more effective HP than the Barbarian at 1st level.
Armor of Agathys
A favorite spell of hexblades and anyone else with access to Warlock spells. So, paladins and bards who multiclass, mostly. This spell gets you 5 temporary hit points per spell level, and deals 5 damage per spell level whenever you get hit by a melee attack. Armor of Agathys lasts an hour and doesn’t take your concentration. Making it another great way to buff yourself if you’re casting spells but also being in melee.
Aid
This spell sort of relies on the fact that every hit point is temporary. Because it’s sort of the same but a little longer lasting. Aid increases the hit point maximum and current hit point total of up to three creatures you choose by 5. So it’s like temporary hit points, but they stick around for eight hours.
And for a second level spell to effectively give everyone another d10 hit points? That’s pretty good. Those hit points will be a little less temporary than most, but the good news is they’ll stack.
Heroes’ Feast
Courtesy of D&D Hero’s Feast Cookbook
Same with Heroes’ Feast, which is like Aid but for 6th level casters. It’ll make your friends hardier and immune to fear and poison for a day. What more could you want?
Happy Adventuring!
