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I started thinking about a variant of a melee attack cantrip like booming blade that would allow you to regain some lost health. The cantrip I came up with is this:

Evocation cantrip
Casting time: 1 Action
Range: 5 feet
Components: V, M (a weapon)
Duration: Instantaneous

As part of the action used to cast this spell, you must make a melee attack with a weapon against one creature within the spell's range, otherwise the spell fails.

On a hit, the target suffers the attack's normal effects, plus 1d4 necrotic damage. The target makes a Constitution saving throw against your spell save DC. On a failure, you heal for an amount equal to the necrotic damage dealt. On a success, nothing else happens.

The spell's damage increases as you reach higher levels.

The necrotic damage increases by 1d4 when you reach 5th level, for a total of 2d4 damage. This damage increases by 1d4 at 11th level and again at 17th level.

The issue with this cantrip is that the DMG (p. 284) clearly says that a cantrip shouldn't offer healing.

So the question is if

  • a low extra damage/healing output,
  • a Constitution saving throw
  • and the possible addendum of resolving the weapon attack damage first, as to prevent the PC from abusing it on wildlife and easy targets

are enough to make it balanced?

Someone_Evil
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CrazyRabit
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    Please don't edit with updates after answers come in. You can see this meta on how to ask a good homebrew question. – NotArch Apr 30 '19 at 18:21
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    Also, welcome to RPG.SE! Take the tour if you haven't already and see the help center if you need more guidance. Good Luck and Happy Gaming! – Someone_Evil Apr 30 '19 at 18:21
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    What class or classes would you give it to? – Benjamin Olson Apr 30 '19 at 22:11
  • I've tried to reword this to match the definition of another cantrip like booming blade, and I made it an evocation cantrip (since that's what this is, I believe). You should probably clarify what classes this is for though. –  Apr 30 '19 at 22:32
  • Would you consider adding in some negative effect to help balance it? I'd suggest something like -1 to max HP per use recovered at a rate of +1 max HP per long rest to impact the viable frequency of use. Alternatively adding in some flavor text about a mouth forming on the handle as a conduit and including a risk along with the healing (eg "caster must also make a constitution saving throw. On failure takes 1d4 piercing damage.") makes use of the spell a less clear cut win with it being possible to lose HP in the attempt. – Myles May 01 '19 at 15:58
  • @Myles So make it a risk reward scenario. The creature makes the safe, on a fail you steal 1d4 HP, on a success you take 1d4 points of X damage? – CrazyRabit May 01 '19 at 18:01
  • @CrazyRabit Personally I'd go with you only roll a save if HP are being passed. Flavor wise you could go with "The mouth will pass you HP if it catches them but it will also try to bite you.". My reasoning is the whole "bag of rats" problem. If they get some hirelings to follow them around intentionally failing saving throws they get automatic cure. If they risk damage every time the attack succeeds they are incentivized to only use it on real attacks. – Myles May 01 '19 at 20:02
  • @Myles So to avoid a bunch of roles on a cantrip, you hit, you make a safe, success or fail you either heal or take damage? But a good idea would be to make it something else than con if its that way cause already tanky Characters get almost safe heal, have to admit starts sounding like a fun mechanic for an evil sentient weapon ability... – CrazyRabit May 02 '19 at 06:07
  • @CrazyRabit Making it a success=heal/failure=damage creates loopholes that incentivize creating easy successes (eg hauling around a bag of some animal that will fail their saving throw, angle the build around items/abilities that improve the required saving throw, etc). Even if it means more rolls I would go with creature has a save on the passing of HP and the passing of HP triggers the bite effect. I'd say pick whatever saving throw makes sense to you, maybe WIS as psychic fortitude to the damage or DEX as your ability to manipulate a weapon that's trying to bite you or strength. – Myles May 03 '19 at 13:50

4 Answers4

37

It's probably unbalanced.

Let's take a look at what other things allow you to gain hit points at first level:

  • Cure Wounds (requires a spell slot and action, restores 1d8 + change).
  • Healing Potion (costs 50 gp, requires an action, restores 2d4+2).
  • Goodberry (requires a spell slot and action, restores 1 hp per action for 10 additional actions).
  • Healing Word (requires a bonus action and spell slot, restores 1d4 + change).
  • False Life (requires an action and spell slot, gives you 1d4 + change temporary hit points).
  • A short rest (requires an hour of inactivity, costs your only hit die, restores about half your HP).

A cantrip that lets you use the same action to both make an attack and also heal up to 4 hp is certainly more powerful than any of these options for 1st level characters.

A cantrip that lets you heal for even 1 hp would be strictly superior to a Short Rest, so probably even that would unbalance the game a little.

As you've written this spell, it should be at least a 1st level spell.

Apocalisp
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25

Definitely unbalanced

I can only speculate as to designer intent, but the mentioned admonition from DMG is likely because healing should consume resources, putting a practical limit on the amount of healing that can be done each day. As such, there is unlikely to be any extenuating circumstance that might balance a cantrip (no resource use) that allows healing.

What you might be able to get away with is changing the healing component of your cantril to Temporary Hit Points. Even getting temps so easily could be unbalanced (most other sources of temps are either spells (False Life) or class features (Dark One's Blessing, which also requires killing the target rather than just hitting it), so the spell is probably still unbalanced, though the Con save requirement might help. You might also add the limitation that the caster can only benefit from these temps once per creature damaged with the cantrip.

Further, note that the other weapon based cantrips (Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade) don't provide their additional damage until some other condition is met (adjacent targets or the target voluntarily moves). Guaranteed additional damage, even just a d4, might be unbalanced, even without the heal/temp component. As such the Con save should prevent the extra damage completely.

Two options would thus be:

On a hit, the creature must attempt a Con save. On a failed save, the creature takes 1d4 necrotic damage and you gain the same amount of temp HP. You may only gain this temp HP once per 24 hours from any given creature.

Or:

On a hit, the creature must attempt a Con save. If the creature fails the save, it takes 1d4 necrotic damage and, the target's soul is marked. If the creature dies within the next minute, you gain 1d4 temp HP. Each creature may only be marked once in this fashion, additional failed saves merely reset the one minute duration of the mark.

Either option restricts the benefit to once per creature (similar to DOB), and places the additional damage behind a condition (the Con save). The damage and temp HP could probably be raised to a d6 without significantly unbalancing the cantrip at this point. Since temp HP can't stack, the cantrip is more difficult to exploit, and the first option (immediate temps) is more powerful by far (allowing you to benefit multiple times per combat, similar to DOB).

cpcodes
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  • I like the idea of temp hit points, probably let them expire after 1 minute. Change the damage to nothing extra on first level and temp 1d4 if creature dies within 1 minute, then add dice on 5th, 11th and 17th, 1d8 for damage and extra 1d4 for temp... I'm gonna let this post cook for a while and add a new one later – CrazyRabit Apr 30 '19 at 22:55
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    @crazyribit even better would be to play test before posting to get some actual play outside of the theoretical here. – NotArch Apr 30 '19 at 23:37
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    Since temporary hit points never stack, it'd only ever be a small buffer against damage rather than a source of infinite healing. Definitely an improvement over the original. – V2Blast May 01 '19 at 00:37
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    On the note "healing should consume resources", note that even Epic characters using the Boon of Spell Mastery can only choose a 1st level sorcerer, wizard, or warlock spell to use freely. Druid, Cleric, and Bard are excluded - the classes that get access to cure wounds and healing word. If a cantrip can do something a "21st level character" cannot, it's probably too powerful. – gatherer818 May 01 '19 at 01:57
  • @gatherer818 This is technically not correct. If you play a Divine Soul Sorcerer or a Celestial Patron Warlock they both get access to Cure Wounds, which counts as a spell of their spell list, and thus would be eligible for the Boon of Spell Mastery. Very edge case I know, but oh so technically a 20th level character could access resourceless healing. – Jake Conkerton-Darby May 01 '19 at 15:07
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    @JakeConkerton-Darby ha, nice. They should have just said "choose a 1st level spell you can cast, that doesn't restore hp. You can cast that spell without using a spell slot." Then clerics and druids wouldn't be left out in the cold, and their attempt to prevent infinite hp recovery would have worked. – gatherer818 May 01 '19 at 15:26
  • I know UA is unofficial but a theurigist could get unlimited healing by selecting cure wounds as one of their Spell Mastery spells. – Q Paul Aug 31 '19 at 14:55
  • "Further, note that the other weapon based cantrips (Booming Blade and Green Flame Blade) don't provide their additional damage until some other condition is met (adjacent targets or the target voluntarily moves)." Booming Blade also deals initial extra damage. – Theik Nov 11 '19 at 07:31
  • @Theik Not at level until level 5. The comment (and indeed the entire answer) was discussing the base spell damage. – cpcodes Nov 12 '19 at 23:13
10

The cantrip is too easily abused.

Even without comparing this to official cantrips, your suggested homebrew cantrip is unbalanced. The benefits (regaining hit points) stack with themselves, and the cantrip can be used indefinitely against any creature. What you have here is a "bag of rats" scenario, in which the player has a benefit-per-hit ability that they can easily exploit by hitting many weak creatures.

For example, suppose a level 1 wizard literally carries around a bag of rats. Each rat is a CR 0 creature with 10 AC, 1 hit point, and a -1 Constitution save bonus. For the sake of simplicity, let's assume each casting of the cantrip has a 50% chance to successfully kill a rat and gain +1d4 hit points.

In 1 minute (10 rounds), if the wizard casts this cantrip each round, then they can can regain about ~5d4 HP. This expends no materials, and heals more than a consumable healing potion. And in 5 minutes, the wizard can regain ~25d4 hit points, which is cheaper than spending hit dice during a short rest, even at higher levels.

When the wizard runs out of rats, they can find new ones, likely for a lower cost than a healing potion or rest at an inn. This simple cantrip can break the system's hit point economy.

Can it be balanced?

As with any "bag of rats" exploit, you can prevent abuse by making the benefits non-cumulative, such as granting temporary hit points that don't stack with themselves.

Furthermore, these temporary hit points would need a very short duration. Otherwise the cantrip could be used indefinitely while the caster has a valid target, effectively rerolling the temporary hit points until they get a favorable result; this would rival an at-will false life, or the "Fiendish Vigor" warlock invocation.

As long as the cantrip provides some form of healing, it's going to be iffy in terms of balance.

V2Blast
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MikeQ
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2

While unbalanced a simple change in what type of health is 'restored' could restore some balance to the cantrip. Perhaps instead of permanent HP being restored the spell could restore temporary HP that lasts until the end of combat up to some maximum such as character level. I am guessing that the original intent was to open up the possibility of a 'drain tank' character. While they wouldn't be able to heal up to full they would still become an annoying frontline since they could have a decent part of incoming damage soaked up by the small sheild.

Josh G
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  • Welcome to RPG.SE! Take the [tour] if you haven't already, and check out the [help] for more guidance. Can you support your assessment that the cantrip is unbalanced? – V2Blast Sep 01 '19 at 03:24