Doug the Deathless Dhampir?

[Belabras]

Is this legal:

Doug is a Dhampir, just a vanilla one, not any special bloodline. As such, he is healed by negative energy and harmed by positive energy.

Being an angry lad, Doug is also a Barbarian. He cleaves his foes with a great big sword and earns enough XP to reach second level.

Being a creepy fellow, Doug uses that first Rage Power he gets at level 2 to pick Lesser Spirit Totem. Now he is a half-vampire with a bunch of pet ghosts!

Here is the tricky part - Doug is healed by negative energy, and the slam attack from Lesser Spirit Totem is all negative energy. Can Doug choose to have the ghost hit him every turn? Would he not be healed every time they did?

[JoeJ]

The ability description reads, "These spirits make one slam attack each round against a living foe that is adjacent to the barbarian." So by the RAW, no. The barbarian is not his own foe, nor is he adjacent to himself.

Does it seem reasonable that this should work? Yes, I think it does. Would I as GM allow it? Not a chance. (Nor do I think that very many players would want it once it was pointed out that the bad guys would have the same ability.)

[deusvult]

Neither is Doug always healed by negative energy. For example, when evil cleric channels to harm the living, Doug simply is unaffected. No damage, no healing.

Negative energy doesn't automatically heal undead.. and thus neither will it always heal Doug.. even if the ghosts COULD be loopholed to attack him.

[Diego Rossi]

PRD wrote:

Spirit Totem, Lesser (Su): While raging, the barbarian is surrounded by spirit wisps that harass her foes. These spirits make one slam attack each round against a living foe that is adjacent to the barbarian. This slam attack is made using the barbarian's full base attack bonus, plus the barbarian's Charisma modifier. The slam deals 1d4 points of negative energy damage, plus the barbarian's Charisma modifier.

FAQ wrote:

Barbarian, Lesser Spirit Totem: Who decides who the spirits attack, and what effects affect the spirits?

The barbarian decides who the spirits attack each round. The spirits are not affected by effects that aid their attacks or damage (such as bardic performance or bless) or penalize their attacks or damage (such as bane or darkness). The spirits always strike from your direction. They do not get flanking bonuses or help a combatant get one.

PRD wrote:

Negative Energy Affinity: Though a living creature, a dhampir reacts to positive and negative energy as if it were undead—positive energy harms it, while negative energy heals it.

PRD wrote:

Cannot heal damage on its own if it has no Intelligence score, although it can be healed. Negative energy (such as an inflict spell) can heal undead creatures. The fast healing special quality works regardless of the creature's Intelligence score.

RAW it would work.

[deusvult]

Diego Rossi wrote:

RAW it would work.

Not really, because damage that is typed as negative energy doesn't necessarily heal undead. Note the important use of the word CAN in the rules about undead being healed by negative energy. It's not automatic/universal. Some negative energy, such as Inflict Spells, specifically call out that they heal undead. There are some attacks that are explicitly typed as negative energy however without that accompanying boilerplate about healing undead instead of damaging them. Those won't heal undead. (or Dhampirs)

Take a Shadow's touch, for example. Does it heal other undead every time it attacks them? No. If it did, you could have pairs (or packs) of shadows fading into the walls to heal each other up over and over mid fight. Heck, one could just attack itself for infinite heals.

[Belabras]

Deusvult - I can't find anything that backs up your assertion. Near as I can tell, by RAW yes a Shadow could do that.