Posted June 14, 2015
Might and Magic 3 has a spell called Half for Me which has some unusual behavior.
When the spell is cast on someone other than the caster, it does 2 things:
1. The caster takes damage equal to half the target's (Max HP - Current HP). Note that this damage can be negative. Note that this can cause unconsciousness, armor breakage, or death if HP gets too low.
2. The target is healed by an amount equal to her Max HP. Like other healing effects, it can't raise HP above its maximum.
This behavior has some consequences you might not expect. First, if the target's HP is negative, the target will not be fully healed, but the caster will take damage based off what would be a full heal. This makes the spell significantly less useful as a conventional healing spell. (If you want to heal without spending increasing amounts of SP, try casting Recharge Item on a scroll of power curing.)
Second, if the target's HP is above its maximum (i.e. due to a fountain or loss of temporary levels), the caster will take negative damage. This differs from healing in that it ignores the caster's Max HP, allowing her current HP to grow without bound. Just watch out for integer overflow; if HP goes above 32767, it will become negative, and the caster will probably die.
As a side note, the healing fountains will give HP to everyone as long as at least one character's HP is below its maximum. If you can do controlled damage to your characters, it is possible to get someone's HP to overflow. This will not cause unconsciousness or death (even though HP will be negative). Just be aware that a zero damage attack can kill the character.
Incidentally, Swords of Xeen has a fountain that grants HP without limit. Again, this fountain will not kill on overflow, but any damage will (unless the damage is enough to cause underflow).
I have not been able to test this, but Darkside of Xeen has a place where you can get 1800 spell points for your party at noon once a day. I suspect it may be possible to get spell points to overflow and become negative, but I have not been able to test this. I have had characters with over 10,000 SP, however.
Remember, resting will cause you to lose extra HP and SP, and Divine Intervention will cause you to lose extra HP.
When the spell is cast on someone other than the caster, it does 2 things:
1. The caster takes damage equal to half the target's (Max HP - Current HP). Note that this damage can be negative. Note that this can cause unconsciousness, armor breakage, or death if HP gets too low.
2. The target is healed by an amount equal to her Max HP. Like other healing effects, it can't raise HP above its maximum.
This behavior has some consequences you might not expect. First, if the target's HP is negative, the target will not be fully healed, but the caster will take damage based off what would be a full heal. This makes the spell significantly less useful as a conventional healing spell. (If you want to heal without spending increasing amounts of SP, try casting Recharge Item on a scroll of power curing.)
Second, if the target's HP is above its maximum (i.e. due to a fountain or loss of temporary levels), the caster will take negative damage. This differs from healing in that it ignores the caster's Max HP, allowing her current HP to grow without bound. Just watch out for integer overflow; if HP goes above 32767, it will become negative, and the caster will probably die.
As a side note, the healing fountains will give HP to everyone as long as at least one character's HP is below its maximum. If you can do controlled damage to your characters, it is possible to get someone's HP to overflow. This will not cause unconsciousness or death (even though HP will be negative). Just be aware that a zero damage attack can kill the character.
Incidentally, Swords of Xeen has a fountain that grants HP without limit. Again, this fountain will not kill on overflow, but any damage will (unless the damage is enough to cause underflow).
I have not been able to test this, but Darkside of Xeen has a place where you can get 1800 spell points for your party at noon once a day. I suspect it may be possible to get spell points to overflow and become negative, but I have not been able to test this. I have had characters with over 10,000 SP, however.
Remember, resting will cause you to lose extra HP and SP, and Divine Intervention will cause you to lose extra HP.