I've seen talk about keeping Vampiric Touch in a Spell Storing weapon as a backup; typically for a Magus. It's not clear to me that this works properly, because the Spell Storing weapon property says that the weapon can cast the spell as a free action when it hits the target. It doesn't say that the wielder casts the spell through the weapon, or anything like that, which would technically make the sword the caster.
Am I over-thinking this?
I think part of it is that when spell storing etc are copied and pasted over the years language was left out.
So all we have left is the weapon casting. I think raw vampiric touch gives your weapon temp hp. You can probly extrapolate from the ring of spell storing its also cl 5. But that's applying logic from the big picture. That is to say beyond raw or raj.
How would it work if you cast Vampiric Touch from any other item?
I think it is a mistake in the language. The intent is to use the caster level of whoever put the spell into the weapon. Some spells cant even be cast at caster level 5.
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The RAW maybe screwy, but I think the intent is clear.
Vampiric touch is cast into the spell storing weapon at CL X. The wielder strikes a target, deals damage, then activates the spell storing property. The victim just struck is targeted by vampiric touch at CL X (no further attack roll necessary) and takes further damage from the spell effect. The wielder of the spell storing weapon gains the temporary hit points.
The spell storing weapon is now empty and requires another spell to be cast into it before it can be used again.
This is why spell storing requires it to be a target spell, so it can directly target the victim of the attack.
Yes; I believe you're all correct about the RAI; it should read something like "Anytime the weapon strikes a creature and the creature takes damage from it, the wielder can immediately activate the stored spell as a free action, as if he had cast it on the struck creature."
Yeah, poor wording, but I was overthinking it.
The RAW maybe screwy, but I think the intent is clear.
Vampiric touch is cast into the spell storing weapon at CL X. The wielder strikes a target, deals damage, then activates the spell storing property. The victim just struck is targeted by vampiric touch at CL X (no further attack roll necessary) and takes further damage from the spell effect. The wielder of the spell storing weapon gains the temporary hit points.
The spell storing weapon is now empty and requires another spell to be cast into it before it can be used again.
This is why spell storing requires it to be a target spell, so it can directly target the victim of the attack.
To be fair, since weapons do have hit points, it would give temporary hit points to the weapon, making it more durable than it already was previously. So from a mechanics standpoint, it's not like it's unreasonable to rule it that way. Especially if the weapon in question is Intelligent in nature.
As far as RAW is concerned, it doesn't really step on any toes. Regarding it being Intelligent, it might make more sense to rule it the RAW way than the way many people think it's intended, and if it wasn't Intelligent, I'd still rule it that same way for consistency. A bigger question would be, regarding Intelligent Items, if they use their own CL (if they have one), or if they can store Intelligent Item Spells into itself.
That being said, Vampiric Touch is one of the most powerful 3rd level spells out there, and is perhaps the sole reason why people may not choose Necromancy as their opposed school; making it not give Temporary Hit Points isn't a gamebreaker, and probably balances out spellcasters who try to abuse it in this manner.