Vampiric Touch has long been a weak spell in 5e, with several different houserule ideas, most of which are straight buffs. I thought to try a different direction by adding a new niche, giving the spellcaster access to a form of grapple that they can be good at.
The flavor is that the necrotic energy binds the person to you, preventing their escape as you suck their life away.
Vampiric Touch
The touch of your shadow-wreathed hand binds another's life force to you, allowing you to siphon it and heal your wounds. Perform a grapple against a creature within your reach. At the end of each of your turns, an opponent grappled by you takes 3d6 necrotic damage, and you regain hit points equal to half the amount of necrotic damage dealt.
While this spell is active, you may replace strength with your spellcasting modifier for any grapple check.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 3rd.
The flavor is that the necrotic energy binds the person to you, preventing their escape as you suck their life away.
Vampiric Touch
The touch of your shadow-wreathed hand binds another's life force to you, allowing you to siphon it and heal your wounds. Perform a grapple against a creature within your reach. At the end of each of your turns, an opponent grappled by you takes 3d6 necrotic damage, and you regain hit points equal to half the amount of necrotic damage dealt.
While this spell is active, you may replace strength with your spellcasting modifier for any grapple check.
At Higher Levels. When you cast this spell using a spell slot of 4th level or higher, the damage increases by 1d6 for each slot level above 3rd.
