Life Transference - Xanathers

[JacktheRabbit]

Is it accurate to assume that if you are resistant to nercrotic damage then from a healing prospective this spell is half as effective as it would normally be and if you are vulnerable to necrotic damage it would be twice as effective?

Was thinking of using it in a situation where a big boss has what appears to be some rather pointless cultist worshippers alongside him as lackies. Battle wise they are not worth the parties attention until later in the battle when one of the cultists, who has made himself vulnerable to nercrotic damage kills himself by casting this spell but at the same time heals the big boss (this is assuming purely average rolls) for about 72 health.

 

[Harzel]

I would say yes, except that I would rule that the healing is limited to 2x the HP of the cultist. (You can't transfer more life than you have.)

 

[Hawk Diesel]

If you are the DM and want the effect to work like this, there is no one that can tell you no. The mechanics of classes, spells, feats, all that stuff are for the player characters to maintain mechanical balance within the party. The DM is not beholden to these mechanics, especially when it serves as an interesting challenge, to surprise the players, or creates interesting narrative effects.

 

[Enevhar Aldarion]

If the spell description does not specifically say this, then by RAW, no it would not work. But if you want to make it work that way, as DM you have the power to do so.

 

[JacktheRabbit]

If the spell description does not specifically say this, then by RAW, no it would not work. But if you want to make it work that way, as DM you have the power to do so.

What do you mean? The spell says you take necrotic damage. Necrotic resistance or vulnerability directly determines how much damage you take in this situation and the spell clearly says the spell heals twice the damage the spell inflicts on the caster.

 

[Valmarius]

This seems like a perfectly legitimate tactic for the cultists, and I think your ruling works fine. The healed amount is specified as being twice the damage taken, not rolled.

 

[ClaytonCross]

If the spell description does not specifically say this, then by RAW, no it would not work. But if you want to make it work that way, as DM you have the power to do so.

Actually its confirmed that it applies by Jeremy Crawford since it the spell does not suspend resistance or immunity and its healing is based on the damage received not the number rolled on the dice.

 

[ClaytonCross]

I would say yes, except that I would rule that the healing is limited to 2x the HP of the cultist. (You can't transfer more life than you have.)

Actually, I believe that is already built into the spell and D&D 5e design as hit points are not tracked into negative scores. You take hits after 0 you lose a death save, You take critical hits after 0 you lose two death saves, you take a single hit after 0 that would be more than your maximum hit points you instantly die, but you don't track negative hit points. Since the spell says they heal twice the damage you take and you don't take negative damage then its capped by the max damage a character can take up to 0.

Someone can correct me but I looked at PHB p.197 "Dropping to 0 Hit points"

 

[ClaytonCross]

Is it accurate to assume that if you are resistant to nercrotic damage then from a healing prospective this spell is half as effective as it would normally be and if you are vulnerable to necrotic damage it would be twice as effective?

Was thinking of using it in a situation where a big boss has what appears to be some rather pointless cultist worshippers alongside him as lackies. Battle wise they are not worth the parties attention until later in the battle when one of the cultists, who has made himself vulnerable to nercrotic damage kills himself by casting this spell but at the same time heals the big boss (this is assuming purely average rolls) for about 72 health.

Everything I can see says this will work ... infact if your necrotic "cultist" is a 5 cleric/ 3 sorcerer average 36.5 HP without con bonus (Cleric for the spell, Sorcer for meta magic) then uses the Empower Spell meta magic to re-roll (since it is a damage roll) and maximize the roll as much as possible, but it would be maxed at the damage it can do up to but not exceeding the character current hit points x2. So instead of an average roll of 18 (as a 3rd level spell) it would average 21. So you could have 20-21 hp nps and justify them killing themselves for an automatic 40-42 HP heal to your boss. Rolling it could end up with some lower roles but you still can't go higher than their max health. Most of these NPCs will need to use "the ritual" twice to finish the job but as a GM if you want to say, they succeed in killing them selves it would make for an interesting encounter. Also, you can increase it to a level 9 spell but it starts to strain belief that level 17 Cleric/Sorcerers wouldn't just kill you instead. It seems like a desperate measure kind of thing. A level 5 cleric average 26 HP would not generally kill themselves ether without two tries. So controlling level and or number of them can control the damage/healing they can do. Also, if the party drops AoE damage on them and reduces their health they reduce the damage these npc can do to themselves/heal the "leader" with.

 

[Harzel]

Everything I can see says this will work ... infact if your necrotic "cultist" is a 5 cleric/ 3 sorcerer average 36.5 HP without con bonus (Cleric for the spell, Sorcer for meta magic) then uses the Empower Spell meta magic to re-roll (since it is a damage roll) and maximize the roll as much as possible, but it would be maxed at the damage it can do up to but not exceeding the character current hit points x2. So instead of an average roll of 18 (as a 3rd level spell) it would average 21. So you could have 20-21 hp nps and justify them killing themselves for an automatic 40-42 HP heal to your boss. Rolling it could end up with some lower roles but you still can't go higher than their max health. Most of these NPCs will need to use "the ritual" twice to finish the job but as a GM if you want to say, they succeed in killing them selves it would make for an interesting encounter. Also, you can increase it to a level 9 spell but it starts to strain belief that level 17 Cleric/Sorcerers wouldn't just kill you instead. It seems like a desperate measure kind of thing. A level 5 cleric average 26 HP would not generally kill themselves ether without two tries. So controlling level and or number of them can control the damage/healing they can do. Also, if the party drops AoE damage on them and reduces their health they reduce the damage these npc can do to themselves/heal the "leader" with.

Yes, with the note that NPCs with PC-class-like features need not (and in the MM, etc., generally do not) have the same HP as an equivalently leveled PC would. In the MM, etc., NPCs generally have higher HD/HP than would a PC with the same class-level features.