Bladebound Life Drinker

[Razh]

Life Drinker:

Spoiler:

Life Drinker (Su): At 19th level, each time the magus kills a living creature with the black blade, he can pick one of the following effects: the black blade restores 2 points to its arcane pool; the black blade restores 1 point to its arcane pool and the magus restores 1 point to his arcane pool; the magus gains a number of temporary hit points equal to the black blade’s ego (these temporary hit points last until spent or 1 minute, whichever is shorter). The creature killed must have a number of Hit Dice equal to half the magus’s character level for this to occur.

So, im right at assuming that only creatures of exact half the magus level can activate his ability? If yes, this seems to be pretty bad for a capstone. I mean, how many times do you kill a cr 10 creature at level 19~20? Unless he is the BBEG and always brings a bunch of cr 10 underlings to use this, I dont think it will come into play.

Im asking because I want to make sure im understanding the ruling, and to know if this could be possibly a typo and they meant half or lower/half or higher. Thoughts?

[Claxon]

It should probably read as equal to or greater than half character CR.

[Name Violation]

its at least half.

otherwise its like saying feats that have a BAB 1 pre req dont work if you have a higher bab

[Tutens]

Its saying you can't farm mobs for arcane points and stuff. The mob has to be at least 1/2 your level. If they are too low you can't use this ability on them

[Razh]

I see, so the correct ruling is half level or higher, right? The wording "must have a number of Hit Dice equal to half the magus’s character level" seemed a bit confusing to me, as it didnt specified something like higher or lower level too.

[Claxon]

No, the exact rule is must be precisely equal to half character CR, that is how it is written. And if you and your group are concerned very much with the Rules As Written rather than Rules As Intended what you get is an ability that doesn't (or very rarely) works.

What everyone here is suggesting is the more logical and common sense way to approach the rules, with the understanding that it probably wasn't intended to function in a way that makes the ability near worthless.

[Drake Brimstone]

It says it works if they have Hit Dice half your level. If a creature has 20 Hit dice, that doesn't mean it doesn't have 9 hit dice. It has every Hit Die from 1 to 20, doesn't skip any.

[LazarX]

Razh wrote:

I see, so the correct ruling is half level or higher, right? The wording "must have a number of Hit Dice equal to half the magus’s character level" seemed a bit confusing to me, as it didnt specified something like higher or lower level too.

Think of it logically. A creature that has higher than half your hit dice, still has half your hit dice.

Basically the sentence is there to keep you from charging up on sheep and farm animals.

[The Morphling]

A character with 20 hit dice has 9 hit dice, since 9 is less than 20. Etc.