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Can the Raven Queen's Blessing eldritch invocation for warlocks (from Unearthed Arcana: Warlock & Wizard) heal a dying or stabilized ally at 0 HP, thereby waking them up early?

As unreliable as this would be in a combat situation, I'm curious if this works by RAW.

When you score a critical hit with your eldritch blast cantrip, pick yourself or an ally you can see within 30 feet of you. The chosen creature can immediately expend a Hit Die to regain hit points equal to the roll + the creature’s Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 hit point).

Questions have been asked about spending hit dice at 0 HP, but these are about using them in the context of short rests.

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    \$\begingroup\$ Welcome to rpg.se! Take the tour when you get a chance. It's a good place to learn how things work around here. This is a great first question. Thanks for participating and happy gaming! \$\endgroup\$
    – linksassin ♦
    Commented Dec 14, 2018 at 2:02
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    \$\begingroup\$ "As unreliable as this would be": Funnily enough, this would be very reliable; stand next to your unconscious ally and eldritch blast them. You'll have advantage on the attack, and if it hits it is an automatic critical strike which then lets you use the Raven Queen's Blessing to wake them back up. Just make sure they don't already have a failed death save first. :-P \$\endgroup\$
    – CTWind
    Commented Dec 14, 2018 at 3:16
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    \$\begingroup\$ As well, for level 17+ warlock/sorceror with the right metamagic, you can spam out as many as 8 blasts in a turn (eldritch blast for 4, quickened eldritch blast for 4). 8 chances at a 20 is not terrible odds. If you manage to get advantage on your attacks, that's 16 chances. If you're an elf with the elven accuracy feat, it's 24 chances. If you're a hexblade using hexblade's curse, you crit on 19-20. So... for a high level character with the right build, it could get to be pretty reliable even without shooting your buddy. \$\endgroup\$
    – Ben Barden
    Commented Dec 14, 2018 at 16:19

2 Answers 2

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You can heal an unconscious ally with Raven Queen's Blessing

The blessing has no requirement for the creature to be conscious. Similar abilities that do have restrictions state something like:

"... that isn't incapacitated..." (Sneak Attack)

or

"... who can hear you." (Bardic Inspiration)

Using Raven Queen's Blessing will restore at least one hit point, causing the target to wake up.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ It also says, "When you score a critical hit" but doesn't specify that it must be on an enemy. So in theory you could stand around blasting forest wildlife or anything else that counts as a "creature" until you get a critical hit and can wake up your ally. \$\endgroup\$
    – Perkins
    Commented Dec 14, 2018 at 18:22
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Yes, Raven Queen's Blessing can be used by an Unconscious creature

At face value, Raven Queen's Blessing simply enables the expending of a Hit Die. It is a completely different way of activating this than a short rest.

There is nothing in the Unconscious condition that prevents this from working.

Of course, Unearthed Arcarna is playtest material yada, yada, yada.

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