Since my polymorph meme has only garnered three downvotes so far I thought I'd offer a bit more controversial take, and see if I can manage to stir the pot a bit with this one.
They're not ignoring it, they're focusing on the part that says they can siphon from others. It doesn't explicitly say they can only siphon from others. RAI obviously wouldn't allow it because hurting yourself to save yourself is ridiculous, they're trying to say that RAW isn't specific about this particular use case and therefore it's OK. Which is... A stretch at best.
It doesn’t explicitly say they can only siphon from others.
And it doesn't explicitly say they cannot fly yet no sane person would infer that this spell makes you capable of flying. The spell does only what it says it does, otherwise you are still bound by all the base rules and limitations of the game, like not being able to willy-nilly siphon life force out of things without a feature that explicitly says you can.
Advanced Pedants and Portents 2
It's not particularly pedantic to ignore the "from others" part
They're not ignoring it, they're focusing on the part that says they can siphon from others. It doesn't explicitly say they can only siphon from others. RAI obviously wouldn't allow it because hurting yourself to save yourself is ridiculous, they're trying to say that RAW isn't specific about this particular use case and therefore it's OK. Which is... A stretch at best.
It specifically makes a point of saying "can siphon life from others to heal your wounds".
So, Self is a valid target for the damage. However, the heal doesn't occur because the target is not someone else.
If self was valid for the siphon there would be no reason to include the "from others" rider
I knew I named this thread correctly.
You're either high on drugs or high on a horse. In either case, I suggest you come back down. It was a reference to this.
You're either high on drugs or high on a horse. In either case, I suggest you come back down. It was a reference to this.
And it doesn't explicitly say they cannot fly yet no sane person would infer that this spell makes you capable of flying. The spell does only what it says it does, otherwise you are still bound by all the base rules and limitations of the game, like not being able to willy-nilly siphon life force out of things without a feature that explicitly says you can.