Vampiric Touch

Level 3 Necromancy spell available to Warlocks and Wizards. 3d6 Necrotic on touch and you heal for half of it, and then you can do it again every turn for ten turns without spending another slot. It is free sustain, if you are brave enough to be in melee.

Spell description: Touch an enemy to siphon their life force and regain half as many Hit Points. For 10 turns, you can use Vampiric Touch again without expending an additional Spell Slot.

Spell properties

• Range: Melee: 1.5m (5ft)
• Duration: 10 turns
• Concentration spell
• Damage: 3d6 Necrotic
• Attack type: Melee spell Attack Roll
• Conditions applied: Vampiric Touch
• Cost: Action + Spell Slot
• Recharge: Per action

Spell upcasting

Casting Vampiric Touch at a higher level deals an extra 1d6 Necrotic damage for each spell slot level above the 3rd.

How to obtain Vampiric Touch

• Warlock, Wizard at Class level 5

Source item: Scroll of Vampiric Touch

When to cast Vampiric Touch

One slot, ten castings, and every one of them heals you. On paper that is the most efficient sustain a Wizard has, and the free recast structure means a long fight costs you nothing extra.

The problem is written on the card. It is Touch range, which means your Wizard has to stand in melee for ten turns to get the value, and a Wizard standing in melee for ten turns is a dead Wizard. The spell fights its own class.

So it belongs on someone who was going to be there anyway: a Hexblade-style Warlock, a Wizard with Shadow Blade and armour proficiency, or anything multiclassed into a body that can take a punch. In those builds it is genuinely good.

It is Concentration, and you are taking hits, so it will break. Which is the real verdict here: an efficient spell in a build that can hold it, and a trap in the one that usually has it.