Vampire Dagger (Wizard Spell)

By casting this spell on a specially prepared non-magical dagger, the wizard is able to drain hit points from other creatures and bestow those hit points on himself.
The wizard must attack the creature normally with the dagger. If the hit is successful, the crea­ture takes normal damage from the dagger, and must make a saving throw vs. death magic. Failure means the creature takes one additional point of damage for every two levels of the caster, which the wizard gains as curative hit points. The wizard cannot gain hit points above his normal hit point total; extra hit points are lost. Also, the wizard cannot gain more hit points than the crea­ture struck has remaining after taking damage from the dagger blow itself.
This spell is ineffective against creatures that can be harmed only by magical weapons and creatures that have no blood. Further, if the dagger strikes an undead creature, the wizard must save vs. death magic or die himself, the undead only takes damage from the dagger.
The spell requires a special dagger that has a channel inside it running from the tip through to the handle. The dagger must be forged from an alloy of silver and steel that has been mixed with the crushed bone of a vampire. The minimum cost of such a dagger is 2,000 gp. Blood from the dagger's wound must travel through the channel and touch the bare flesh of the wizard's hand for the hit points to be transferred. The effects of this spell do not protect the caster from any unusual effects of the victim's blood.
The other material component of this spell is the claw of a vampire, which disappears after the spell is cast.
Notes: Very rare spell. (Updated from Dragon magazine.)
Category:Wizard Spells
Category:Spells from Wizard's Spell Compendium
Category:Spells