Quote from because1 >>

does this affect the caster

 

 If the caster stands in the area of effect, yes.

Can multiple people cast it at once and help each other with the affect?

Like the spell is a cloud of noxious sleeping gas and if more of that gas is added at the same time, it become more potent and more people sleep?

Quote from BirdMonk >>

Can multiple people cast it at once and help each other with the affect?

Like the spell is a cloud of noxious sleeping gas and if more of that gas is added at the same time, it become more potent and more people sleep?

Not really, you will have to apply the spells individually, wich would allow you to put a a bigger number of low hp npcs to sleep. You can not combine it to put a single high hp npc to sleep.

This spell can be very useful against creatures that have magic resistance but not a lot of hitpoints, like imps, because there's no saving throw.

I remember when these spells rolled for hit dice and not hit points, thus you didnt have to wade through a fight before hopefully having the spell work.

at low levels literally the only way to counter is silence

My grandma ate my goldfish

Casting Word is:

Arcanus Hibernacium

Frankly I think it makes more sense if it's current HP because the weaker you are, the more susceptible you would be to a spell like this, you know?

LOLOLOL. I’ve played a zealot and that’s hilarious. 

Yeah, as a guy who's played a Totem Barbarian to 20, just getting through the HP is going to take longer than most combats, ha ha.

Quote from BirdMonk >>

Can multiple people cast it at once and help each other with the affect?

Like the spell is a cloud of noxious sleeping gas and if more of that gas is added at the same time, it become more potent and more people sleep?

 No and yes.   The spells don’t stack, so as mentioned before you can’t combine to take out a large hp foe, but you could put to sleep additional low hp foes because the ones already asleep are unconscious and there for not affected, so it would start in thh the e next highest ho creature in the area.

Quote from because1 >>

does this affect the caster

 

 If he is in the area of effect, can be affected, and has less hit points them others in the area of effect, then yes he could put himself to sleep.

I have seen NPCs and players cast it and put their allies to sleep thinking they had more ho then the foes.

If there is an elf in the range of this spell and it has the lowest hit points, is their hit point total subtracted once even though the spell fails, or does the spell fail completely because the lowest health creature that isn’t unconscious is always going to be the elf that can’t be put to sleep?

Do "current hit points" include temporary hit points as well or does this mean just the current hp number without the temporary hit points? Thank you!

i'd say ignore the elf entirly

wrong.

Quote from big_gay_jack >>

So let’s, for ease sake, say you’re fighting 5 enemies, who’ve each taken some damage, which has removed some of their maximum 20 hp. You roll your 5d8 and you’re incredibly lucky, your total result is a 40. This is how the spell would go:

Bandit no. 3 has 5 HP - he’s asleep, your total is now 35. 
Bandit no. 5 has 8 HP - she’s asleep, your total is now 27. 
Bandit no. 1 has 13 HP - he’s asleep, your total is now 14. 
Bandit no. 4 has 15 HP - he’s not effected by the sleep spell. As this guy had the next lowest health in the lineup, the spell won’t effect anyone else targeted, because everyone else has higher health than him. 

I find this spell works way too seldom as written.  Going forward I'm going to try doubling the dice for the base and higher levels.

If that's  too strong, I may switch the d8's to d12's and add a single die to base and upper levels.

The spell should do the thing it says it does (it should feel magical) and I have never seen it work as intended, even against low level targets.

Quote from KrakenFan69 >>

Quote from big_gay_jack >>

So let’s, for ease sake, say you’re fighting 5 enemies, who’ve each taken some damage, which has removed some of their maximum 20 hp. You roll your 5d8 and you’re incredibly lucky, your total result is a 40. This is how the spell would go:

Bandit no. 3 has 5 HP - he’s asleep, your total is now 35. 
Bandit no. 5 has 8 HP - she’s asleep, your total is now 27. 
Bandit no. 1 has 13 HP - he’s asleep, your total is now 14. 
Bandit no. 4 has 15 HP - he’s not effected by the sleep spell. As this guy had the next lowest health in the lineup, the spell won’t effect anyone else targeted, because everyone else has higher health than him. 

 This makes total sense to me.   However, I haven't played sine 2e and am curious about the 1 minute duration.    Could you perhaps explain how that would look in the scenario you described for the unconscious creatures as they come back around and rejoin the fray?

A round is 6 seconds
Your party continues fighting Bandit 4 and Bandit 2 who were not affected.
At the end of your next turn 6 seconds have past.
Your party continues fighting Bandit 4 and Bandit 2 who were not affected.
At the end of your next turn 12 seconds have past.
Continue for a total of 10 rounds and at the end of that turn 1 minute has passed and they wake up.
If you did nothing to them, they are prone from sleeping and have to use half their movement to stand.
If you bound them without waking them they awake restrained.
If you defeat the other two in less than 10 rounds, your DM may break initiative and role play the events while sleeping like "It's been 4 rounds since they fell asleep. You have 36 seconds before they awake. What do you do?"