Vampiric Draining
Version 0.28: This article may not be up to date for the latest stable release of Crawl.
 Vampiric Draining
| |
|---|---|
| Level | 3 |
| School1 | Necromancy |
| Source(s) | Book of Debilitation Book of Necromancy |
| Casting noise | 3 |
| Spell noise | 0 |
| Power Cap | 100 |
| Range | 1 |
| Hated By | Elyvilon The Shining One Zin |
| Flags | Dir or target, Not self |
| Steals the life of an adjacent living creature and grants it to the caster. |
| Spell Details | |
|---|---|
| Damage Formula | 2d(6 + power/14) |
| Max Damage | 2-40 Negative Energy |
| Max Power | 200 |
| Range | 1 |
| Targeting | Touch |
| To-hit | |
| Special | Ignores AC, SH, and EV |
Vampiric Draining is a level 3 Necromancy spell which deals negative energy damage to an adjacent monster and heals you for half the damage dealt. This spell can only be cast effectively on natural or plant monsters. Casting it on constructs or monsters with life protection will do nothing.
Bear in mind that the spell can only be cast in melee range; strong monsters can often injure you for more than you are healed. Still, it has fairly high damage output and utility for a 3rd level spell, and it can be used by bloodless Vampires and Deep Dwarves for healing.
Necromancers begin with this spell in their libraries.
Strategy
- Summoned monsters take no damage from this spell.
History
- Prior to 0.28, the spell couldn't drain HP from plants.
- In 0.27, the damage formula was changed from
2d5 + 1d(power/7)to2d(6 + power/14). - Prior to 0.26, the spell's damage was limited by the healing the player could receive. So the spell was useless when the player was at full health. Also, the player couldn't heal more than half the difference between their max HP and their current HP.
- Prior to 0.23, it was possible to drain temporary monsters created via Sticks to Snakes or the Ratskin cloak.
- Prior to 0.17, attempting to drain an undead or demonic creature would injure the caster for
2d39/2 + 9HP. It was possible to die by casting Vampiric Draining on a tile with an invisible demon on it. - Prior to 0.13, there was a bug which prevented you from healing to full health.
