Vampiric Touch ruling question.

[Yagyujubei]

so the text calls it a melee spell attack, and then says "Until the spell ends you can make the attack again on each of your turns as an action"

how does this interact with Extra attacks? since you're using your action to make an attack, would your extra ones proc? or would you be able to proc flurry of blows after?

[Kornaki]

We had a similar thread about flame blade earlier

http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?368410-Flame-Blade-Fighter

The upshot is that by RAW you are not making an Attack action, you are using an action to make an attack which is not the same thing, but it introduces some awkward things (like having a sword in your hand that you apparently aren't capable of swinging for an opportunity attack) so different DMs might rule differently.

[ambartanen]

I was wondering the same thing but it seems to me the intention is that you get to use the spell once per round including the round you initially cast it on. I am not quite sure about that last bit though.

As for the balance of houseruling it- 3d6 seems on par with a heavy weapon hit for 2d6+4. Still, a monk hitting three times a round with this spell would be dealing 32ish damage and healing for half that which is quite significant- effectively combines the damage of the best attack spells and best healing spells available at that level but you can do it every round. There isn't any way to add an ability modifier to necrotic damage, is there?

[hymer]

I was wondering the same thing but it seems to me the intention is that you get to use the spell once per round including the round you initially cast it on. I am not quite sure about that last bit though.

For what it's worth, I read it the same way.

[Yagyujubei]

I was wondering the same thing but it seems to me the intention is that you get to use the spell once per round including the round you initially cast it on. I am not quite sure about that last bit though.

As for the balance of houseruling it- 3d6 seems on par with a heavy weapon hit for 2d6+4. Still, a monk hitting three times a round with this spell would be dealing 32ish damage and healing for half that which is quite significant- effectively combines the damage of the best attack spells and best healing spells available at that level but you can do it every round. There isn't any way to add an ability modifier to necrotic damage, is there?

well i wasn't thinking that you could use the spell multiple times, but more like.....as your action you get your attack which is now vampiric touch, and then you can get your second attack which would be normal, or you could activate flurry of blows as a bonus.

[ambartanen]

The spell text very carefully words it so the attack uses up an action without it being an attack action. The PHB seems very carefully worded overall so I assume it's intentional.

[Valpire]

The spell text very carefully words it so the attack uses up an action without it being an attack action. The PHB seems very carefully worded overall so I assume it's intentional.

the only way you can use it multiple times is with quicken spell from (min lvl 3 Sorcerer) to make it a bonus action to cast then take your action to attack again.

[Person_Man]

You can use Vampiric Touch as an Action until the spell ends. It doesn't interact with Extra Attack, Flurry of Blows, Two Weapon Fighting, etc, because it is not an "Attack Action." Its a spell.