Yeah for legacy effects! It always used to be a melee spell which did negative/untyped damage (chill of the grave) in most editions, but only repelled undead and didn't hurt them. Melee spells are just super rough for most spell casters to use, so I'm kinda grateful it's ranged.

XXX

when it says that the hand holds on does that mean that it holds them in place kind of like grappling? im not entirely sure

So...does chill touch prevent mythic traits from working? Or specifically the kinds that say they regain hit points. Seems crazy powerful for a cantrip to be able to stop a phase 2 of a fight. 

and basic rules

“..and it can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn.”

what if you die before then? You don’t have another turn...  I assume the spell doesn’t then last forever.(there are other spell effects with this wording... is there a general rule for this?)

5

Yeah

Quote from Darelf >>

“..and it can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn.”

what if you die before then? You don’t have another turn...  I assume the spell doesn’t then last forever.(there are other spell effects with this wording... is there a general rule for this?)

 The spell's duration is 1 round, so it ends anyway after the initiative count goes past where the dead caster's turn would have been.

Quote from Karew >>

Possibly the most mis-named spell in the game:

Chill — Doesn't deal cold damage, deals necrotic damage instead

Touch — Isn't a melee/touch attack, instead it's a ranged spell

 Right? Honestly, it's just Force Choke for D&D. Could be called Spectral Grasp. That would work with the name, for what it does and such.

I used this on a Demon Lord and I think it may have significantly shortened the fight.

Quote from Darelf >>

“..and it can't regain hit points until the start of your next turn.”

what if you die before then? You don’t have another turn...  I assume the spell doesn’t then last forever.(there are other spell effects with this wording... is there a general rule for this?)

 The Dead don't lose Initiative Order.

Thank you!! Just used this!!

According to the Sage Advice compendium, it prevents all regeneration effects! That's a cool way to defeat a troll if you don't have radiant damage available (or fire- doesn't fire work too?) 

Wild shape is not temp HP or a gaining of hp, your hp is replaced by that of your wild shape. For the duration.

It used to be a touch spell, but went unused in the old days when Wizards were Magic Users and had 1d4 hit points.  So they changed it to ranged, then made beefier wizards...

g h o s t l y  h a n d . . .

It seems to me that this cantrip would have a significant impact on most creatures apart from the 1d8 necrotic damage on a hit.  

The appearance of a "ghostly, skeletal" hand reaching out to grab you would scare the cr*p out of any lower or even mid-level creature, other than a fellow Wizard that would possibly recognize the spell for what it is.  I would count it at the very least as a major distraction, even if the attack roll missed.  And if the attack roll hit, the fact that the target creature has a ghost skeleton hand clinging to it would render any attacks or spell casting difficult at best.

Quote from Karew >>

Possibly the most mis-named spell in the game:

Chill — Doesn't deal cold damage, deals necrotic damage instead

Touch — Isn't a melee/touch attack, instead it's a ranged spell

 It's called chill touch because it chills the soul.  That's why it deals necrotic damage.  And it says touch because the spell says "you create a ghostly, skeletal hand in the space of a creature within range."  Another explanation, you "assail it with the chill of the grave."  

Quote from spacewit >>

Does Chill Touch shut down a troll's regeneration?

 Yes, because the spell prevents a creature from regaining hit points until the start of your next turn.  It doesn't matter how a creature regains hit points, the creature can't regain them due to this spell.  I casted chill touch on a gray slaad in Waterdeep:  Dungeon of The Mad Mage while also crushing it with a bigby's hand.  The chill touch allowed us to kill it more quickly, as the other party members could deal damage to it without it being able to heal.  The bigby's hand was grappling the slaad, which prevented it from slashing at me and other ranged characters.  This forced it to stay close to the tanky characters, and farther away from the ranged spellcasters, which is really helpful.