I am trying to work out how this magic item works in regards to Temporary Hitpoints:

Shield of Fellowship

Property:  When you gain temporary hit points, you can transfer those temporary hit points + 3 additional temporary hit points to an adjacent ally as a free action. The hit points you transfer to an ally cannot be transferred again in any way.


I am working on a Battlerager Fighter, which means lots of opportunities to gain Temporary HP.  There's three scenarios I have a question about:

1.  I have 5 Temp HP.  Then I gain 6 Temp HP.  I know I can transfer 9 Temp HP to my ally as a free action.  Do I keep the 5 Temp HP myself?  I don't think so, but I wanted to check.

2.  I have 5 Temp HP.  I use a power that will let me gain 5 Temp HP.  Can I transfer those to an ally as 8 Temp HP?  Or does the 'use the higher as your total' rule mean no?

3.  I have 5 Temp HP.  I use a power that will let me gain 4 Temp HP.  Can I transfer those to an ally as 8 Temp HP?  Or does the 'use the higher as your total' rule mean no?

From what I understand, the power deals with temp hp you have just gained.

#1 The power does nothing to your starting points, only those gained.

#2 Transfer 8 (you redirect the gain to someone else, so the 'use the higher as your total' rule checks them not you.

#3 NO! It only works on the new gain, so you COULD transfer the 4 + 3 for 7.

  Rules as written it would seem that the new THPs are gained first (and overwrite the old ones) before the transfer takes place, so you wouldn't have any THPs afterward in the first case. (The 5 are overwritten by the 6, then the transfer takes place.) This would also imply that you can perform the transfer in the second case since you can choose which 5 to keep (and keep the new one) and transfer that. On the other hand, you wouldn't be able to transfer anything in the third case since you didn't actually gain any.

  Rules as intended, however, is probably that "the temporary hit points you would gain get transferred", so you simply apply the THPs to an ally without affecting (or checking against) your own.

  You might want to post this in the 4E Rules forum over on the WotC site though. Someone may already have brought this up, and if not, there's still a better chance of getting a researched clarification. (  http://community.wizards.com/forums/103456  )

I agree with elecgraystone, and Syrris' interpretation about rules-as-intended.

Keep in mind the premises of the item:

This is a shield, so used primarily by Defenders and Leaders. The PC using it has chosen to use their Arms slot item for something to help their friends, not themselves.

This is a level 15 Uncommon item. There are other alternative items with impressive abilities.

The number of Temp HP we're talking here is pretty small for level 15+, short of certain synergy you might get if the Leaders in your party have strong Temp HP powers. A bonus of +3 is further pretty small regardless of how many THP the theoretical power provides. Keep in mind your fighter at level 15 would have at least 99 real HP.

Whatever action is being used to grant the user of the shield those THP, is an action that in most cases might have otherwise been spent on doing something beneficial for that ally in the first place. Economy of actions. Your power that gives you 5 THP let's say is a Minor action -- you could have had a minor action power that gave a direct boost to that ally's defenses instead, or some kind of attack booster, etc.

The ally must be adjacent, which is typically either dangerous in itself (presuming at least one of you is engaged with an enemy) or at the very least somewhat inconvenient.

Under normal intended uses, I can't see the most liberal interpretation being a problem to the game.


As a Battlerager however, there becomes the game issue of making yourself into something of an off-leader, effectively throwing bubbles of THP all around with Free actions, as you yourself gain THP as essentially free actions with Invigorating powers plus however many other THP-related things you do. You could further push the envelope if you had optimized your character to be an unending source of massive THP.


I would advise a GM concerned about that to consider the numbers actually being involved, and whether it is really a bad thing for the game in question. And if they were still unhappy with the prospects, it's easy to houserule that the shield's property only works either once per round, or only when the THP received are from an outside source, or something of the sort.