You have learned to notice the hidden strain in others — the twitch beneath composure, the tremor behind a lie, the place where feeling pulls harder than the mask can hide. In battle, that same instinct lets you seize a living thread of vitality and drag it where it hurts most.
You gain the following benefits:
When speaking with a creature, you can tell when a topic, name, object, or event provokes a stronger emotional reaction than the creature intends to show, even if its face, voice, and body remain controlled. This does not reveal its thoughts or force honesty, but it can tell you when you have touched on something meaningful, sensitive, or personally important.
In addition, once per long rest, you can use your action to target one creature you can see within 60 feet and one other hostile creature you can see within 60 feet. The first target must make a Charisma saving throw.
For every 20 hit points the first target is currently missing, it takes a 1d4 penalty to this saving throw.
On a failed save, the first target takes 2d8 necrotic damage. This damage increases to 4d8 at 5th level, 6d8 at 11th level, and 8d8 at 17th level.
The second hostile creature gains temporary hit points equal to half the damage dealt.
If there is no valid second hostile target, you instead gain temporary hit points equal to half the amount that would normally be transferred. These temporary hit points follow all normal rules for temporary hit points, except they do not disappear when you finish a long rest.
Constructs automatically succeed on this saving throw, though you can still sense their emotional reactions if they have them.
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