1) That particular feature won't happen if the victim is asleep. Daevryn and I had a discussion about why some people insist on playing necromancers as "sleep or nothing" (which neither of us thinks is desirable), and we're generally more in favor of stand-and-fight necromancers getting a leg up there.
2) I'd be happy if offensive maledictions drew you into combat regardless of whether they dealt damage, so I'm OK with it. 9/10 of the time, it's free damage.