Making Vampiric Touch More Fun

[Warpiglet]

(Just a note, the base damage range of vampiric touch is 3-18, not 3-16.)

The problem with the above is that it's focused on maximizing healing. But because vampiric touch grants healing instead of temp hit points, it's not useful unless you're injured. So to get 20 hit points off the first kill, you first have to take 20 points of damage! And each time you take damage, that's a Con save to maintain concentration. Fail and you lose the spell.

If you want to make vampiric touch your bread-and-butter spell... have you considered proposing some fixes to the spell itself? It's up to your DM, of course, but my suggestion would be:

• Increase the base damage by 1d6.
• Any healing above your maximum converts to temporary hit points, which stack with each other and last until the spell ends.
• Damage which is absorbed by the temporary hit points doesn't count when making saves to maintain concentration. If the temp hit points absorb all of the damage, you don't have to make the save.

That might or might not be enough to bring the spell up to par, but it would at least make it worth trying.

I agree...it is hard to make it effectively on par with other attacks.

If you went into the fight hurt it could have some benefit. Or, if you were really hurt, I suppose you could target a mook! That is pretty sinister...sneak up on a goblin and absorb its life! But pretty circumstantial, I agree. Oh well...

as to concentration, I will eventually take resilient (CON) or warcaster though have need of many other feats/ASIs to do the melee warlock. In the end, I might be better off eldritch smiting and forgetting concentration!

will also be taking shield spells for occasional use. could see burning one to keep something up. we will see how it plays out....

 

[Gavin O.]

One interesting thing you can do with Vampiric touch is attack with your bare hand, which makes it an interesting option for Grapple Builds. With the feat Shield Master, you can grapple someone and shove them prone in one turn, after which you can use your vampiric touch at advantage on them every turn to recover the damage you'll take from being in melee. If you pre-cast Vampiric Touch you can do this without the Warcaster feat, though it's better to have it. Only problem is warlocks aren't often known for having high athletics checks.