Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Novacat Sep 24, 2014 20:09:17	In my reading of the rules for hit points, it seems like the intent is for players to track current HP, rather than tracking damage taken. My question, then, is how that is meant to interact with effects that reduce maximum HP.   A PC is at full health at 50 HP. He gets hit for 5 damage, bringing him to 45 out of 50. Then his maximum HP is reduced by 10. Is he then at 35 of 40, or 40 of 40?   Then he's hit with a Greater Restoration spell. Does he regain the lost HP, or stay injured?
#2 AaronOfBarbaria Sep 24, 2014 21:06:15	Are there any effects which reduce maximum HP by an amount other than the damage they just inflicted? I don't remember seeing any.   Because I am going to assume that there aren't any, and your example is thereby one that shouldn't even happen, I will answer as to how I think things work in regards to actual Life Drain attacks from monsters I know that have them.   Step by Step how I think it works: A wraith hits a PC and does 21 damage. The player notes their current HP as 21 less than before that hit. The player then makes a saving throw to see if they are reducing their maximum HP, and they fail so they are. The player notes their maximum HP as being temporarily 21 less than normal - meaning if they were at maximum hit points before being hit that they are again at maximum hit points, despite that being 21 less than previously. The player with a reduced maximum hit point total is targeted by greater restoration to end the effect reducing their maximum HP. The player notes their maximum HP as returning to normal.   Since greater restoration doesn't restore any hit points, the player is still at a current hit point total of that is reduced by the 21 damage the wraith dealt them.
#3 Llenlleawg Sep 25, 2014 3:14:30	Aaron has this right.   If, perchance, there were some attack or effect that reduced maximum HP without causing damage (Novacat's example above), then yes, current hit points would have to be reduced so as to be no more than maximum. So, if for some reason a PC with 45 current hit points were hit by an effect reducing his maximum hit points to 40, his current hit points would also be reduced to 40. If a spell were to restore his maximum hit points, his current hit points would remain at the current (reduced) state, unless the spell also explicitly provided healing.