Would the Life Transference spell be unbalanced if it ignored resistance and immunity?





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I want to create a Abjuration wizard (PHB, p. 115-116) that uses the Life Transference spell (XGtE, p. 160) and the Arcane Ward feature to heal people, but I've heard people saying Life Transference is bad due to how it interacts with resistance (half the damage taken = half the healing).



That is pretty relevant for me, because of the Spell Resistance feature that Abjuration wizards get at 14th level.



What if Life Transference worked like the Overchannel feature from the School of Evocation wizard (PHB, p. 118): necrotic damage that ignores resistance and immunity?



I believe that would be very thematically appropriate considering the fact that it is a self-sacrifice spell. I know that this is all up to the DM, but I want to know: Would that be unbalanced? Could that somehow be exploited?










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  • $begingroup$
    Just to clarify: what you're proposing is allowing the spell to fully ignore the spellcaster's possible Necrotic Resistance, meaning the spell would deal full damage to the spellcaster even if they have resistance, and therefore heal the normal amount to their target? Or are you proposing allowing the healing to be equal to 4x the damage in the scenario where the spellcaster has resistance?
    $endgroup$
    – Xirema
    4 hours ago












  • $begingroup$
    The first option, just ignore necrotic resistance fully and always heal the normal amount. I believe it is only appropriate considering it is a self sacrifice.
    $endgroup$
    – Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
    3 hours ago








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Could you clarify something? I'm not sure how Arcane Ward is involved in this process. How are you using it to heal people?
    $endgroup$
    – Gandalfmeansme
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance.
    $endgroup$
    – V2Blast
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    The Arcane Ward takes the damage instead of me, it's basically similar to having temporary hit points. That way I can basically trasform the hit points of the ward (say the ward takes 10 damage) into double the amount of hit points to someone else (in this case 20) without taking any damage myself.
    $endgroup$
    – Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
    3 hours ago




















5












$begingroup$


I want to create a Abjuration wizard (PHB, p. 115-116) that uses the Life Transference spell (XGtE, p. 160) and the Arcane Ward feature to heal people, but I've heard people saying Life Transference is bad due to how it interacts with resistance (half the damage taken = half the healing).



That is pretty relevant for me, because of the Spell Resistance feature that Abjuration wizards get at 14th level.



What if Life Transference worked like the Overchannel feature from the School of Evocation wizard (PHB, p. 118): necrotic damage that ignores resistance and immunity?



I believe that would be very thematically appropriate considering the fact that it is a self-sacrifice spell. I know that this is all up to the DM, but I want to know: Would that be unbalanced? Could that somehow be exploited?










share|improve this question









New contributor




Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.







$endgroup$












  • $begingroup$
    Just to clarify: what you're proposing is allowing the spell to fully ignore the spellcaster's possible Necrotic Resistance, meaning the spell would deal full damage to the spellcaster even if they have resistance, and therefore heal the normal amount to their target? Or are you proposing allowing the healing to be equal to 4x the damage in the scenario where the spellcaster has resistance?
    $endgroup$
    – Xirema
    4 hours ago












  • $begingroup$
    The first option, just ignore necrotic resistance fully and always heal the normal amount. I believe it is only appropriate considering it is a self sacrifice.
    $endgroup$
    – Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
    3 hours ago








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Could you clarify something? I'm not sure how Arcane Ward is involved in this process. How are you using it to heal people?
    $endgroup$
    – Gandalfmeansme
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance.
    $endgroup$
    – V2Blast
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    The Arcane Ward takes the damage instead of me, it's basically similar to having temporary hit points. That way I can basically trasform the hit points of the ward (say the ward takes 10 damage) into double the amount of hit points to someone else (in this case 20) without taking any damage myself.
    $endgroup$
    – Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
    3 hours ago
















5












5








5





$begingroup$


I want to create a Abjuration wizard (PHB, p. 115-116) that uses the Life Transference spell (XGtE, p. 160) and the Arcane Ward feature to heal people, but I've heard people saying Life Transference is bad due to how it interacts with resistance (half the damage taken = half the healing).



That is pretty relevant for me, because of the Spell Resistance feature that Abjuration wizards get at 14th level.



What if Life Transference worked like the Overchannel feature from the School of Evocation wizard (PHB, p. 118): necrotic damage that ignores resistance and immunity?



I believe that would be very thematically appropriate considering the fact that it is a self-sacrifice spell. I know that this is all up to the DM, but I want to know: Would that be unbalanced? Could that somehow be exploited?










share|improve this question









New contributor




Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.







$endgroup$




I want to create a Abjuration wizard (PHB, p. 115-116) that uses the Life Transference spell (XGtE, p. 160) and the Arcane Ward feature to heal people, but I've heard people saying Life Transference is bad due to how it interacts with resistance (half the damage taken = half the healing).



That is pretty relevant for me, because of the Spell Resistance feature that Abjuration wizards get at 14th level.



What if Life Transference worked like the Overchannel feature from the School of Evocation wizard (PHB, p. 118): necrotic damage that ignores resistance and immunity?



I believe that would be very thematically appropriate considering the fact that it is a self-sacrifice spell. I know that this is all up to the DM, but I want to know: Would that be unbalanced? Could that somehow be exploited?







dnd-5e spells balance wizard house-rules






share|improve this question









New contributor




Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.











share|improve this question









New contributor




Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









share|improve this question




share|improve this question








edited 3 hours ago









V2Blast

27.5k597167




27.5k597167






New contributor




Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.









asked 4 hours ago









Gabriel Irabel Cirilo CorsoGabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso

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New contributor




Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.





New contributor





Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.






Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso is a new contributor to this site. Take care in asking for clarification, commenting, and answering.
Check out our Code of Conduct.












  • $begingroup$
    Just to clarify: what you're proposing is allowing the spell to fully ignore the spellcaster's possible Necrotic Resistance, meaning the spell would deal full damage to the spellcaster even if they have resistance, and therefore heal the normal amount to their target? Or are you proposing allowing the healing to be equal to 4x the damage in the scenario where the spellcaster has resistance?
    $endgroup$
    – Xirema
    4 hours ago












  • $begingroup$
    The first option, just ignore necrotic resistance fully and always heal the normal amount. I believe it is only appropriate considering it is a self sacrifice.
    $endgroup$
    – Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
    3 hours ago








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Could you clarify something? I'm not sure how Arcane Ward is involved in this process. How are you using it to heal people?
    $endgroup$
    – Gandalfmeansme
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance.
    $endgroup$
    – V2Blast
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    The Arcane Ward takes the damage instead of me, it's basically similar to having temporary hit points. That way I can basically trasform the hit points of the ward (say the ward takes 10 damage) into double the amount of hit points to someone else (in this case 20) without taking any damage myself.
    $endgroup$
    – Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
    3 hours ago




















  • $begingroup$
    Just to clarify: what you're proposing is allowing the spell to fully ignore the spellcaster's possible Necrotic Resistance, meaning the spell would deal full damage to the spellcaster even if they have resistance, and therefore heal the normal amount to their target? Or are you proposing allowing the healing to be equal to 4x the damage in the scenario where the spellcaster has resistance?
    $endgroup$
    – Xirema
    4 hours ago












  • $begingroup$
    The first option, just ignore necrotic resistance fully and always heal the normal amount. I believe it is only appropriate considering it is a self sacrifice.
    $endgroup$
    – Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
    3 hours ago








  • 1




    $begingroup$
    Could you clarify something? I'm not sure how Arcane Ward is involved in this process. How are you using it to heal people?
    $endgroup$
    – Gandalfmeansme
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance.
    $endgroup$
    – V2Blast
    3 hours ago










  • $begingroup$
    The Arcane Ward takes the damage instead of me, it's basically similar to having temporary hit points. That way I can basically trasform the hit points of the ward (say the ward takes 10 damage) into double the amount of hit points to someone else (in this case 20) without taking any damage myself.
    $endgroup$
    – Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
    3 hours ago


















$begingroup$
Just to clarify: what you're proposing is allowing the spell to fully ignore the spellcaster's possible Necrotic Resistance, meaning the spell would deal full damage to the spellcaster even if they have resistance, and therefore heal the normal amount to their target? Or are you proposing allowing the healing to be equal to 4x the damage in the scenario where the spellcaster has resistance?
$endgroup$
– Xirema
4 hours ago






$begingroup$
Just to clarify: what you're proposing is allowing the spell to fully ignore the spellcaster's possible Necrotic Resistance, meaning the spell would deal full damage to the spellcaster even if they have resistance, and therefore heal the normal amount to their target? Or are you proposing allowing the healing to be equal to 4x the damage in the scenario where the spellcaster has resistance?
$endgroup$
– Xirema
4 hours ago














$begingroup$
The first option, just ignore necrotic resistance fully and always heal the normal amount. I believe it is only appropriate considering it is a self sacrifice.
$endgroup$
– Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
3 hours ago






$begingroup$
The first option, just ignore necrotic resistance fully and always heal the normal amount. I believe it is only appropriate considering it is a self sacrifice.
$endgroup$
– Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
3 hours ago






1




1




$begingroup$
Could you clarify something? I'm not sure how Arcane Ward is involved in this process. How are you using it to heal people?
$endgroup$
– Gandalfmeansme
3 hours ago




$begingroup$
Could you clarify something? I'm not sure how Arcane Ward is involved in this process. How are you using it to heal people?
$endgroup$
– Gandalfmeansme
3 hours ago












$begingroup$
Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance.
$endgroup$
– V2Blast
3 hours ago




$begingroup$
Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already, and check out the help center for more guidance.
$endgroup$
– V2Blast
3 hours ago












$begingroup$
The Arcane Ward takes the damage instead of me, it's basically similar to having temporary hit points. That way I can basically trasform the hit points of the ward (say the ward takes 10 damage) into double the amount of hit points to someone else (in this case 20) without taking any damage myself.
$endgroup$
– Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
3 hours ago






$begingroup$
The Arcane Ward takes the damage instead of me, it's basically similar to having temporary hit points. That way I can basically trasform the hit points of the ward (say the ward takes 10 damage) into double the amount of hit points to someone else (in this case 20) without taking any damage myself.
$endgroup$
– Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso
3 hours ago












2 Answers
2






active

oldest

votes


















2












$begingroup$

This is perfectly reasonable



Of course, it'll come down to what your DM says, since this is not Rules-as-Written. But Life Transference already has a quite substantial opportunity cost associated with it, and all this change does is revert to the mean, so to speak: instead of the feature being weaker for Abjuration Wizards, it's instead normal strength.



So if I were DM, I'd be perfectly fine allowing this. The few possible exploits are things that would be exploitable for non-abjuration wizards anyways, so I can't even think of what might constitute an exploit particular to this combo.






share|improve this answer









$endgroup$













  • $begingroup$
    The OP specifically mentioned the exploit they intend to use - fuelling Life Transference with Arcane Ward.
    $endgroup$
    – Miniman
    1 hour ago



















1












$begingroup$

This would not be imbalanced.



The features like Spell Resistance and Inured to Undeath (both for wizards) are perfectly fine on all other characters, and life transference works as intended on most other characters.



The question, therefore, is "does having both Spell Resistance and life transference work as intended on a character with both make it overpowered", and I think the simple answer is no, because the combination of the two doesn't make the spell or the feature any more powerful, only removes the detriment to bring it back to level with all other characters.






share|improve this answer









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    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes








    2 Answers
    2






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    2












    $begingroup$

    This is perfectly reasonable



    Of course, it'll come down to what your DM says, since this is not Rules-as-Written. But Life Transference already has a quite substantial opportunity cost associated with it, and all this change does is revert to the mean, so to speak: instead of the feature being weaker for Abjuration Wizards, it's instead normal strength.



    So if I were DM, I'd be perfectly fine allowing this. The few possible exploits are things that would be exploitable for non-abjuration wizards anyways, so I can't even think of what might constitute an exploit particular to this combo.






    share|improve this answer









    $endgroup$













    • $begingroup$
      The OP specifically mentioned the exploit they intend to use - fuelling Life Transference with Arcane Ward.
      $endgroup$
      – Miniman
      1 hour ago
















    2












    $begingroup$

    This is perfectly reasonable



    Of course, it'll come down to what your DM says, since this is not Rules-as-Written. But Life Transference already has a quite substantial opportunity cost associated with it, and all this change does is revert to the mean, so to speak: instead of the feature being weaker for Abjuration Wizards, it's instead normal strength.



    So if I were DM, I'd be perfectly fine allowing this. The few possible exploits are things that would be exploitable for non-abjuration wizards anyways, so I can't even think of what might constitute an exploit particular to this combo.






    share|improve this answer









    $endgroup$













    • $begingroup$
      The OP specifically mentioned the exploit they intend to use - fuelling Life Transference with Arcane Ward.
      $endgroup$
      – Miniman
      1 hour ago














    2












    2








    2





    $begingroup$

    This is perfectly reasonable



    Of course, it'll come down to what your DM says, since this is not Rules-as-Written. But Life Transference already has a quite substantial opportunity cost associated with it, and all this change does is revert to the mean, so to speak: instead of the feature being weaker for Abjuration Wizards, it's instead normal strength.



    So if I were DM, I'd be perfectly fine allowing this. The few possible exploits are things that would be exploitable for non-abjuration wizards anyways, so I can't even think of what might constitute an exploit particular to this combo.






    share|improve this answer









    $endgroup$



    This is perfectly reasonable



    Of course, it'll come down to what your DM says, since this is not Rules-as-Written. But Life Transference already has a quite substantial opportunity cost associated with it, and all this change does is revert to the mean, so to speak: instead of the feature being weaker for Abjuration Wizards, it's instead normal strength.



    So if I were DM, I'd be perfectly fine allowing this. The few possible exploits are things that would be exploitable for non-abjuration wizards anyways, so I can't even think of what might constitute an exploit particular to this combo.







    share|improve this answer












    share|improve this answer



    share|improve this answer










    answered 3 hours ago









    XiremaXirema

    24.4k269144




    24.4k269144












    • $begingroup$
      The OP specifically mentioned the exploit they intend to use - fuelling Life Transference with Arcane Ward.
      $endgroup$
      – Miniman
      1 hour ago


















    • $begingroup$
      The OP specifically mentioned the exploit they intend to use - fuelling Life Transference with Arcane Ward.
      $endgroup$
      – Miniman
      1 hour ago
















    $begingroup$
    The OP specifically mentioned the exploit they intend to use - fuelling Life Transference with Arcane Ward.
    $endgroup$
    – Miniman
    1 hour ago




    $begingroup$
    The OP specifically mentioned the exploit they intend to use - fuelling Life Transference with Arcane Ward.
    $endgroup$
    – Miniman
    1 hour ago













    1












    $begingroup$

    This would not be imbalanced.



    The features like Spell Resistance and Inured to Undeath (both for wizards) are perfectly fine on all other characters, and life transference works as intended on most other characters.



    The question, therefore, is "does having both Spell Resistance and life transference work as intended on a character with both make it overpowered", and I think the simple answer is no, because the combination of the two doesn't make the spell or the feature any more powerful, only removes the detriment to bring it back to level with all other characters.






    share|improve this answer









    $endgroup$


















      1












      $begingroup$

      This would not be imbalanced.



      The features like Spell Resistance and Inured to Undeath (both for wizards) are perfectly fine on all other characters, and life transference works as intended on most other characters.



      The question, therefore, is "does having both Spell Resistance and life transference work as intended on a character with both make it overpowered", and I think the simple answer is no, because the combination of the two doesn't make the spell or the feature any more powerful, only removes the detriment to bring it back to level with all other characters.






      share|improve this answer









      $endgroup$
















        1












        1








        1





        $begingroup$

        This would not be imbalanced.



        The features like Spell Resistance and Inured to Undeath (both for wizards) are perfectly fine on all other characters, and life transference works as intended on most other characters.



        The question, therefore, is "does having both Spell Resistance and life transference work as intended on a character with both make it overpowered", and I think the simple answer is no, because the combination of the two doesn't make the spell or the feature any more powerful, only removes the detriment to bring it back to level with all other characters.






        share|improve this answer









        $endgroup$



        This would not be imbalanced.



        The features like Spell Resistance and Inured to Undeath (both for wizards) are perfectly fine on all other characters, and life transference works as intended on most other characters.



        The question, therefore, is "does having both Spell Resistance and life transference work as intended on a character with both make it overpowered", and I think the simple answer is no, because the combination of the two doesn't make the spell or the feature any more powerful, only removes the detriment to bring it back to level with all other characters.







        share|improve this answer












        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer










        answered 3 hours ago









        Blake SteelBlake Steel

        4,6591952




        4,6591952






















            Gabriel Irabel Cirilo Corso is a new contributor. Be nice, and check out our Code of Conduct.










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