if you somehow end up in a position of 0hp but have temp hp, do you fall unconscious? Has this come up before?Please explain how you got into that situation.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) November 7, 2017
Strength Before Death + Fighting Spirit. Strength Before Death says you fall unconscious if you have 0 hp when it ends & the rule on temp hp in the PH says what happens with 0 hp.
— Jeremy Crawford (@JeremyECrawford) November 7, 2017
Related question…
If you drop to 0, but then receive temporary hit points, does taking damage still cause you to take automatic Death Saving Throw failures? Or do the temporary hit points need to be depleted first?
It seems like it boils down to what counts as “taking” damage. If all of the damage you would receive is negated (Damage Reduction, Immunity, etc), arguably you don’t “take” any of it.
But temporary hit points don’t negate damage, they just absorb it. You arguably still “take” the damage, because damage is still beomg done, it’s just being done to whatever force is protecting you, rather than being done to your body itself.
You usually use up temporary hp before your actual hp, it is possible to find yourself in a situation that all you have left is the temporary hp, in which case I will let you use your temp hp till the spell or condition that gave them to you ends. Simply put you better get some healing fast.
What if you’re unconscious already and are given temporary HP. Would that stabilize you? bring you conscious? protect (at least temporarily) from auto-failing death saves from being hit?
It doesn’t stabilize you — you still make DS as appropriate because THP are not HP.
It doesn’t bring you to consciousness — you must have at least 1hp (not THP) to do that.
It *does*, however, then buffer you against auto-fails on DS from damage (falling, getting hit, etc.).