D&D 5E Blood Spear -- Do you only gain life from certain targets?

[Christopher6689]

Trying to determine whether any target who is reduced to 0hp by the spear adds 2d6 temporary hp, or whether this only applies to certain targets. For example, would reducing an undead target to 0hp allow the player to add 2d6 temporary hp, or does the fact that it is undead prevent this from applying since the spear "drains life from those it kills and transfers that life to its wielder"? The description ("When you hit with a melee attack using this magic spear and reduce the target to 0 hit points, you gain 2d6 temporary hit points") seems to indicate that any target, without qualification, reduced to 0hp will add 2d6, but logic may dictate otherwise...

 

[Benjamin Olson]

First off, clearly between the facts that the undead have hit points and that the necromantic spell False Life provides temporary HP, undead beings and the like have some facsimile of life, fairly represented by hit points or temporary hit points. The Blood Spear steals that. If it said "drains the life of living creatures" we would have a bit of "fluff" that I would read as having a rules impact, but if the issue is only whether "life" can be drained from the undead I see no reason why, within the ludonarrative conceits of how hit points and temporary hit points are handled in the came, it can't.

Secondly, as someone whose been rocking the thing for 20 or so sessions I've got to say that a particular character's particular weapon landing the specific killing blow (when not already having the temp HP) is such a streaky affair I would be very irked if suddenly the DM threw additional rules on it, and the DM would be irritated if there was one more random thing he had to remember to adjudicate.

 

[Charlaquin]

First off, clearly between the facts that the undead have hit points and that the necromantic spell False Life provides temporary HP, undead beings and the like have some facsimile of life, fairly represented by hit points or temporary hit points. The Blood Spear steals that. If it said "drains the life of living creatures" we would have a bit of "fluff" that I would read as having a rules impact, but if the issue is only whether "life" can be drained from the undead I see no reason why, within the ludonarrative conceits of how hit points and temporary hit points are handled in the came, it can't.

Secondly, as someone whose been rocking the thing for 20 or so sessions I've got to say that a particular character's particular weapon landing the specific killing blow (when not already having the temp HP) is such a streaky affair I would be very irked if suddenly the DM threw additional rules on it, and the DM would be irritated if there was one more random thing he had to remember to adjudicate.

I think limiting it to creatures is a reasonable restriction. Otherwise you could hypothetically gain temp HP by stabbing a teacup.

 

[touc]

The weapon has come up before in context of whether you could kill squirrels for the benefit.

Given the nature of the weapon and its tie to barbarians, at my table (1) no one tried this cheese and (2) I restricted it to worthy foes (those who can hit back). Otherwise, undead fit the bill. It's not draining life force but instead rewarding the wielder with a "shield" for engaging in carnage.

 

[NotAYakk]

Yes, I'd limit it by the max HP of the creature you kill.

This deals with squirrels. You get 0 temp HP from them (as they are a creature with less than 1 HP). They don't have enough life to steal.

Secondly, as someone whose been rocking the thing for 20 or so sessions I've got to say that a particular character's particular weapon landing the specific killing blow (when not already having the temp HP) is such a streaky affair I would be very irked if suddenly the DM threw additional rules on it, and the DM would be irritated if there was one more random thing he had to remember to adjudicate.

Yes, the blood spear killing blow requirement is really challenging to harvest benefit from.

I'm just saying that a DM restricting it to non-undead is within the wording of the weapon.

And as rare as the temporary HP are, making it a bit less rare isn't going to really matter, honestly. It is a +2 spear with a quirky rare benefit (barring abuse like bag-of-squirrels).