Can you use Vampiric Touch or similar spells on your own pets/familiars/etc? Seen similar questions while googling but not this one. Pretty sure the answer is yes, but wanted to make sure there wasn't a rule I was forgetting about or something. Animate Dead, Find Familiar, etc.
The spell specifies "a creature within your reach," not a "hostile creature," so, you absolutely can target a pet or familiar. Whether or not it's useful to do so is another matter, but it is absolutely a legal option from my perspective.
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Formerly Devan Avalon.
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When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again.
There are no negative hitpoints for this type of creature, meaning that if you deal 15 points of damage to your bat you gain 1 hp - all for a 3rd level spell slot. Some of the pact of the chain options have more hitpoints all the way up to 10 - that means at maximum you could gain 10 HP but this requires being a warlock and therefore using one of your precious spell slots at max level. As a reminder, each time that you do this, it costs 10 gold to summon another (with the exception of the temporary one in the new class options UA for druids - who don't get vampiric touch). Your DM could decide that your familiar doesn't like this type of abuse and will start ignoring commands. Also, much of the appeal of this spell is that it does both damage and healing.
Using vampiric touch on a a familiar seems like a spectacularly bad way to gain a handful of hp.
Edit: I guess a necromancer might be evil enough to use this spell on its minions, or maybe summoned demons. But I wouldn't expect this out of any non-evil characters.
There are no negative hitpoints for this type of creature, meaning that if you deal 15 points of damage to your bat you gain 1 hp - all for a 3rd level spell slot.
Technically if that's the way it's ruled - then you would gain back 0hp. Vampiric Touch heals you for half the damage dealt. It deals 1 damage so you heal 1/2 round down = 0 hp.
Whoops. Correct. I missed the “half” the first time reading.
That makes this spell even worse for its healing. You are getting half of 3d6 healing (5.25 on average) from a third level slot? Why throw resources away?
Whoops. Correct. I missed the “half” the first time reading.
That makes this spell even worse for its healing. You are getting half of 3d6 healing (5.25 on average) from a third level slot? Why throw resources away?
Well you get to use the attack multiple times (up to 10) for that slot.
When the familiar drops to 0 hit points, it disappears, leaving behind no physical form. It reappears after you cast this spell again.
There are no negative hitpoints for this type of creature, meaning that if you deal 15 points of damage to your bat you gain 1 hp - all for a 3rd level spell slot. Some of the pact of the chain options have more hitpoints all the way up to 10 - that means at maximum you could gain 10 HP but this requires being a warlock and therefore using one of your precious spell slots at max level. As a reminder, each time that you do this, it costs 10 gold to summon another (with the exception of the temporary one in the new class options UA for druids - who don't get vampiric touch). Your DM could decide that your familiar doesn't like this type of abuse and will start ignoring commands. Also, much of the appeal of this spell is that it does both damage and healing.
Using vampiric touch on a a familiar seems like a spectacularly bad way to gain a handful of hp.
Edit: I guess a necromancer might be evil enough to use this spell on its minions, or maybe summoned demons. But I wouldn't expect this out of any non-evil characters.
You get back half of what you dealt, not half of what the creature ended up taking.
Would make a good DM spell for a villain to call in prisoner orcs or something and constantly healing himself by leeching off the lifeforce of the innocent by retreating and making the prisoners fight the PC's until you're back at full hp. (Retreat would definitely need to be a teleportation, though)
"Why not just send the prisoners to fight alongside you and boost your action economy?"
You can deal damage to take an enemy into minus hitpoints. It does not "stay" at minus hit points (resets to 0) but the damage is indeed dealt over the 0 (this is part if the rule for player characters as if a monsters deals damage to take you below your 0 equal to your maximum health, you instantly die. Technically this applies to all hit point damage, it is only as a matter of convenience and expediency that in battle the enemies die at 0 - but this is DM discretion not the ruling on how damage/hit points work.
So, you still deal "10 damage" even if the creature only had 2 hp left. Therefore you still heal 5 hp.
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This confuses me a little because that would suggest a target with resistances to necrotic would take less damage but the healing wouldn’t be reduced because it’s damage dealt not taken.
But everywhere I’ve seen this point raised has said resistance does reduce the healing too which suggests it’s reliant on damage taken not dealt.
This confuses me a little because that would suggest a target with resistances to necrotic would take less damage but the healing wouldn’t be reduced because it’s damage dealt not taken.
But everywhere I’ve seen this point raised has said resistance does reduce the healing too which suggests it’s reliant on damage taken not dealt.
I interpret it as being reliant on damage taken, but a character at 2 HP can still take more than 2 damage. It's just that any damage taken can't reduce HP below 0. If characters were incapable of taking more damage than they have HP, the rules about massive damage instantly killing characters would be completely non-functional.
In general, your HP is reduced by the damage you take, with the caveat that your HP can't go below 0. That doesn't mean you don't take the extra damage, just that the extra damage doesn't keep reducing your HP.
I'm summon the snake, cast Vampiric Touch, dealing a bit of Damage, i gain HP and then let the snake vanish before it reaches 0 HP and destroys the staff.
Then i summon the snake again, now she has again full HP, and so on... Vampiric Touch lasts a minute, so i can make this up to ten times, each Time Half of 3W6 Damage as HP
I'm summon the snake, cast Vampiric Touch, dealing a bit of Damage, i gain HP and then let the snake vanish before it reaches 0 HP and destroys the staff.
Then i summon the snake again, now she has again full HP, and so on... Vampiric Touch lasts a minute, so i can make this up to ten times, each Time Half of 3W6 Damage as HP
Staff of the Python requires your Action to convert it into a snake. Attacking with Vampiric Touch also requires your Action. You would only be able to alternate them and heal 5 times.
You could use it 10 times if you had Haste on you from someone else I guess. <-- Incorrect.
I'm summon the snake, cast Vampiric Touch, dealing a bit of Damage, i gain HP and then let the snake vanish before it reaches 0 HP and destroys the staff.
Then i summon the snake again, now she has again full HP, and so on... Vampiric Touch lasts a minute, so i can make this up to ten times, each Time Half of 3W6 Damage as HP
Staff of the Python requires your Action to convert it into a snake. Attacking with Vampiric Touch also requires your Action. You would only be able to alternate them and heal 5 times.
You could use it 10 times if you had Haste on you from someone else I guess.
The extra action granted by haste is limited and neither spell attack nor command word is an option.
The Staff of the Python can only be attuned by a Cleric Druid or Warlock. Out of those only Warlocks get Vampiric Touch. (Death / Grave domain Clerics do also)
If a Wizard wanted to heal from a python that way - they'd need another member of the party to use the staff - and they could use it 10 times with that method - since each player has their own action.
Can you use Vampiric Touch or similar spells on your own pets/familiars/etc? Seen similar questions while googling but not this one. Pretty sure the answer is yes, but wanted to make sure there wasn't a rule I was forgetting about or something. Animate Dead, Find Familiar, etc.
Sure, I think you could. Doesn't seem too useful, but it's a legal option.
When you’re in desperate need of health....
when you’re starving to death.....
the family pet is the first to go.
Blank
The spell specifies "a creature within your reach," not a "hostile creature," so, you absolutely can target a pet or familiar. Whether or not it's useful to do so is another matter, but it is absolutely a legal option from my perspective.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
There are no negative hitpoints for this type of creature, meaning that if you deal 15 points of damage to your bat you gain 1 hp - all for a 3rd level spell slot. Some of the pact of the chain options have more hitpoints all the way up to 10 - that means at maximum you could gain 10 HP but this requires being a warlock and therefore using one of your precious spell slots at max level. As a reminder, each time that you do this, it costs 10 gold to summon another (with the exception of the temporary one in the new class options UA for druids - who don't get vampiric touch). Your DM could decide that your familiar doesn't like this type of abuse and will start ignoring commands. Also, much of the appeal of this spell is that it does both damage and healing.
Using vampiric touch on a a familiar seems like a spectacularly bad way to gain a handful of hp.
Edit: I guess a necromancer might be evil enough to use this spell on its minions, or maybe summoned demons. But I wouldn't expect this out of any non-evil characters.
Technically if that's the way it's ruled - then you would gain back 0hp. Vampiric Touch heals you for half the damage dealt. It deals 1 damage so you heal 1/2 round down = 0 hp.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
Whoops. Correct. I missed the “half” the first time reading.
That makes this spell even worse for its healing. You are getting half of 3d6 healing (5.25 on average) from a third level slot? Why throw resources away?
Well you get to use the attack multiple times (up to 10) for that slot.
You get back half of what you dealt, not half of what the creature ended up taking.
Would make a good DM spell for a villain to call in prisoner orcs or something and constantly healing himself by leeching off the lifeforce of the innocent by retreating and making the prisoners fight the PC's until you're back at full hp. (Retreat would definitely need to be a teleportation, though)
"Why not just send the prisoners to fight alongside you and boost your action economy?"
Because you're evil, mwahahahaha!
To clarify:
You can deal damage to take an enemy into minus hitpoints. It does not "stay" at minus hit points (resets to 0) but the damage is indeed dealt over the 0 (this is part if the rule for player characters as if a monsters deals damage to take you below your 0 equal to your maximum health, you instantly die. Technically this applies to all hit point damage, it is only as a matter of convenience and expediency that in battle the enemies die at 0 - but this is DM discretion not the ruling on how damage/hit points work.
So, you still deal "10 damage" even if the creature only had 2 hp left. Therefore you still heal 5 hp.
Click ✨ HERE ✨ For My Youtube Videos featuring Guides, Tips & Tricks for using D&D Beyond.
Need help with Homebrew? Check out ✨ this FAQ/Guide thread ✨ by IamSposta.
This confuses me a little because that would suggest a target with resistances to necrotic would take less damage but the healing wouldn’t be reduced because it’s damage dealt not taken.
But everywhere I’ve seen this point raised has said resistance does reduce the healing too which suggests it’s reliant on damage taken not dealt.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
I interpret it as being reliant on damage taken, but a character at 2 HP can still take more than 2 damage. It's just that any damage taken can't reduce HP below 0. If characters were incapable of taking more damage than they have HP, the rules about massive damage instantly killing characters would be completely non-functional.
In general, your HP is reduced by the damage you take, with the caveat that your HP can't go below 0. That doesn't mean you don't take the extra damage, just that the extra damage doesn't keep reducing your HP.
Sorry, bad english, not my first language.
And if I use a "Staff of the Python"?
I'm summon the snake, cast Vampiric Touch, dealing a bit of Damage, i gain HP and then let the snake vanish before it reaches 0 HP and destroys the staff.
Then i summon the snake again, now she has again full HP, and so on...
Vampiric Touch lasts a minute, so i can make this up to ten times, each Time Half of 3W6 Damage as HP
Am i wrong or could this work out?
Staff of the Python requires your Action to convert it into a snake. Attacking with Vampiric Touch also requires your Action. You would only be able to alternate them and heal 5 times.
You could use it 10 times if you had Haste on you from someone else I guess.<-- Incorrect.Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
The extra action granted by haste is limited and neither spell attack nor command word is an option.
I always get thrown by the Use An Object action and magic items...
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
OK, then only 5 Times, but having 7,5x D6 healing by the cost of one level-3-spell sounds nice, more If you are a Wizard without much healing Options.
The Staff of the Python can only be attuned by a Cleric Druid or Warlock. Out of those only Warlocks get Vampiric Touch. (Death / Grave domain Clerics do also)
If a Wizard wanted to heal from a python that way - they'd need another member of the party to use the staff - and they could use it 10 times with that method - since each player has their own action.
Mega Yahtzee Thread:
Highest 41: brocker2001 (#11,285).
Yahtzee of 2's: Emmber (#36,161).
Lowest 9: JoeltheWalrus (#312), Emmber (#12,505) and Dertinus (#20,953).
Sorry, somehow wrong class written. I meant warlock.