Vampiric Touch is a 3rd-level necromancy spell for Warlocks and Wizards (Sorcerers too in the 2024 rules). Make a melee spell attack against a creature within your reach. On a hit it takes 3d6 necrotic damage and you regain hit points equal to half the necrotic damage dealt. For up to 1 minute (concentration), you can use your action on each of your turns to make the attack again. Each slot level above 3rd adds 1d6.
Vampiric Touch is a melee attack you can repeat for a minute, and each hit heals you. The first attack comes with the casting. After that, every turn you can spend your action on another touch without using another slot.
The numbers are modest. A hit deals 10.5 damage on average and heals about 5. A 5th-level wizard's Fire Bolt deals 2d10 (11 on average) at 120 feet with no slot and no concentration. What Vampiric Touch adds is the healing, a damage type that few living creatures resist, and damage that grows when you upcast.
That makes it a better pick for Warlocks than Wizards. A Warlock's Pact Magic slots are always cast at their highest level, so from Warlock level 9 every casting deals 5d6. A Wizard has to spend a 5th-level slot to get the same result.
The catch is range. You have to be in melee, usually in light armor with a d6 or d8 hit die, and every hit you take tests your concentration.
| Property | Value |
|---|---|
| Level | 3 |
| School | Necromancy |
| Casting Time | 1 action |
| Range | Self |
| Components | V, S |
| Material | None |
| Duration | Up to 1 minute |
| Concentration | Yes |
| Ritual | No |
| Save/Attack | Melee spell attack |
| Classes | Warlock, Wizard |
| Metric | Assessment |
|---|---|
| Slot Efficiency | Fair at 3rd level. Better upcast, and best for Warlocks who upcast for free. |
| Action Economy | Costs your action every turn, the same as a cantrip, but each hit also heals you. |
| Opportunity Cost | Concentration, a 3rd-level slot that could cast Fireball or Counterspell, and standing in melee. |
When worth the slot: Long fights against a single tough creature without necrotic resistance, when you need healing and can afford to be in melee.
When NOT worth the slot: Short fights, undead enemies, or when a control spell would end the threat.
| Slot | Damage | Average damage | Average healing |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3rd | 3d6 | 10.5 | 5 |
| 4th | 4d6 | 14 | 6.75 |
| 5th | 5d6 | 17.5 | 8.5 |
| 6th | 6d6 | 21 | 10.25 |
Healing averages account for rounding down half the damage.
Why it works: It's an attack roll. Big, slow creatures with low AC, like an ogre (AC 11), get hit much more often than an armored knight (AC 18).
This avoids the mistake of: Missing three turns in a row against plate armor.
Why it works: The repeat attack isn't casting a spell. On a later turn you can cast Misty Step as a bonus action, teleport next to the target, and still make the Vampiric Touch attack with your action. This works under both the 2014 bonus-action rule and the 2024 one-slot-per-turn rule.
This avoids the mistake of: Walking through opportunity attacks to reach your target.
Why it works: The value comes from repeating the attack. A two-round fight gets you one or two hits. A long fight against a single brute gets you many.
This avoids the mistake of: Spending a 3rd-level slot for one touch.
Why it works: Each later attack can target any creature within your reach. The 2024 text says so directly. If the first target falls, touch the next one.
This avoids the mistake of: Thinking the spell ends when the first target dies.
Why it's bad: The repeat attack is its own action, not the Attack action. Extra Attack and similar features don't add more touches.
Do this instead: One touch per turn.
Why it's bad: Many undead are immune or resistant to necrotic damage. Immunity means no damage and no healing.
Do this instead: Check the stat block. Zombies and skeletons have no necrotic resistance in either edition; wraiths, specters, and mummies are immune.
Why it's bad: Healing can't raise you above your hit point maximum. If you're at full HP, the healing is wasted.
Do this instead: Cast it when you're hurt, or treat it as a damage spell until you are.
Why it's bad: You regain half the necrotic damage dealt, after resistance. Against a resistant target, a 10-damage roll deals 5 and heals 2.
Do this instead: Switch to a different spell against resistant creatures.
The 2024 Player's Handbook keeps Vampiric Touch as a level 3 necromancy spell with a 1-action casting time, Self range, V and S components, concentration up to 1 minute, 3d6 necrotic damage, healing equal to half the necrotic damage dealt, and +1d6 per slot level above 3.
Two changes. First, Sorcerers can now learn it. The 2024 class list is Sorcerer, Warlock, and Wizard. Second, the repeat attack is now a Magic action, and the text says you can target the same creature or a different one. The 2014 version says only that you make the attack again as an action.
The 2024 Twinned Spell only works on spells that can target an additional creature when upcast, so it doesn't apply to Vampiric Touch.
You make a melee spell attack against a creature within reach. On a hit it takes 3d6 necrotic damage and you regain half that much. For up to 1 minute, while you concentrate, you can use your action each turn to make the attack again.
Half the necrotic damage dealt, rounded down. At 3rd level that's about 5 hit points per hit. If the target resists necrotic damage, you heal half of the reduced damage. If it's immune, you heal nothing.
No. Casting it and each later attack both use your action. Your bonus action is free for something else, like Misty Step.
No. The repeat attack is a separate action, not the Attack action, so Extra Attack doesn't apply.
Yes. Each attack targets a creature within your reach. The 2024 version says outright that you can target the same creature or a different one.
It depends on the creature. Zombies and skeletons take full damage. Wraiths, specters, mummies, shadows, and ghosts are immune to necrotic damage, and wights resist it.
Yes, for up to 1 minute. If you lose concentration, you lose the repeat attack.
It's fair at 3rd level and stronger for Warlocks, whose slots upcast automatically. Its damage at 3rd level is close to a cantrip's, so the reason to cast it is the healing over a long fight against a target with no necrotic resistance.
Citations: SRD 5.1 (2014 rules), SRD 5.2.1 (2024 rules)
Includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, licensed under CC BY 4.0.
This page includes material from the System Reference Document 5.1 and 5.2.1 by Wizards of the Coast LLC, available under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. Loreify is not affiliated with Wizards of the Coast.
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