I think this might have something to do with the victim being a Necromancer, but there was a dying guy who was bleeding like mad all over the place, so I cast a quick HL at him and woke him up with Awaken. My vitality wasn't pulsing to him though, and shorly afterward he fell dying again, presumably from the bleeding, and died.

The messaging looked like this when I case:

You reach out and touch <censored>, linking your heart's rhythm with <censored>'s. You feel his heart shudder as its natural beat is forced to match your own.

It also gave the periodic "slow, steady rhythm" message, but it didn't seem to be doing anything.

I figure it's probably not intended to work on a Necromancer who's beyond a certain point, which this guy might have been (he was avoiding TOUCH, so I couldn't tell for sure), but at the very least there should probably be some messaging stating as much.

Thanks,
-Life Sustainer Karthor

<<Were they also dying when you tried to touch them?>>

Sort of. LOOKing at him showed that he was dying, but he was no longer unconscious since I had woken him up with Awaken. Presumably that means that attempts to avoid the touch were correct to be successful. I cast HL before waking him up though.

<<If he or she was avoiding TOUCH or had a cold demeanor, though, HL should not be castable either (that is why the messaging now mentions reaching out and touching the person).>>

That's kind of funky to me, and a little annoying. "Sorry, I can't save your hide with this awesomely powerful life-saving spell because you won't let me touch you" is really rather lame in my opinion. It's entirely beneficial and can no longer even be misinterpreted as any sort of aggressive, so why on earth would it be avoidable like that? If they really don't want it let them RELEASE it after the cast like they can with any other beneficial spell.

Thanks,
-Life Sustainer Karthor

The spell is beneficial, but it can also be something I see being potentially "weaponized" in a way that might turn into a rat's nest of consent trouble, so I did want to make it avoidable for both the "not one-shot outing Necromancers" reasons as well as the "this could very occasionally be aggressive" reasons.

It doesn't just take vitality from the Empath, it works a lot like Circle of Sympathy, except that both Empaths and Non-Empaths can be in the circle. If you cast it on a bunch of people, people other than the Empath who are in the circle can contribute up to 20% of their vitality as long as they are not in combat, to bring other people in the circle up to at least 70% vitality. The casting Empath can be both in combat as well as contribute up to 50% of their vitality. The Empath can't benefit from it at all.

I'll think about it but the way it works now does sort of seem to imply an active transference link and we do (at least for now) have to touch people to achieve that.

Melete

---

Here as he walked by
On the 3rd month of Lirisa the Archer
In the year of the Iron Toad
A nameless Dwarf
In a flash of genius discovered
The fundamental formula for
THE BEARD INTEGER
& cut it on a stone of this bridge