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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 6035475" data-attributes="member: 1465"><p><u>Energy Drain</u></p><p></p><p>We discussed it recently in another thread. I think ED should indeed be scary. If it's not scary, if it's nothing but another form of damage, then they'd better just ignore the whole thing.</p><p></p><p>For my tastes, the current version is not scary at all.</p><p></p><p>Personally my favourite would be a true <em>level</em> drain. That doesn't go away with <em>any</em> resting. That requires magic to be healed, and there is always a not so small chance that it still won't work.</p><p></p><p>But since such level drain is suitable only for some campaigns and some gaming groups, I really think it should be <strong>optional</strong>.</p><p></p><p>How do you make a monster special attack <strong>optional</strong>? It's not hard at all: you give it an <strong>XP bonus</strong>. If one DM uses level drain on a monster then such monster is simply worth more XP (and eventually has a higher CR, if this concept still exists in 5e) than the same monster without level drain, or with a lesser version of the level drain.</p><p></p><p><u>Spawn</u></p><p></p><p>This also is an idea that works in some campaign settings but not in others.</p><p></p><p>I am not a fan, with a few exceptions (e.g. vampires). I am not going to use any spawning rules for wights or wraiths. IMHO it doesn't match at all with the backstory of these undead, which were turned into their current form by some evil they did.</p><p></p><p>But fortunately, spawning can be more easily removed from a monster with little effect on the game, since it happens only <em>after</em> they killed a PC.</p><p></p><p>If it happens quickly (which normally is another thing that goes against my preferences...) then it does have an effect on XP/CR, but if it's slow enough that it can't happen during the same encounter, thus it won't grant a combat advantage to the monster, then it has no effects at all on XP/CR.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 6035475, member: 1465"] [U]Energy Drain[/U] We discussed it recently in another thread. I think ED should indeed be scary. If it's not scary, if it's nothing but another form of damage, then they'd better just ignore the whole thing. For my tastes, the current version is not scary at all. Personally my favourite would be a true [I]level[/I] drain. That doesn't go away with [I]any[/I] resting. That requires magic to be healed, and there is always a not so small chance that it still won't work. But since such level drain is suitable only for some campaigns and some gaming groups, I really think it should be [B]optional[/B]. How do you make a monster special attack [B]optional[/B]? It's not hard at all: you give it an [B]XP bonus[/B]. If one DM uses level drain on a monster then such monster is simply worth more XP (and eventually has a higher CR, if this concept still exists in 5e) than the same monster without level drain, or with a lesser version of the level drain. [U]Spawn[/U] This also is an idea that works in some campaign settings but not in others. I am not a fan, with a few exceptions (e.g. vampires). I am not going to use any spawning rules for wights or wraiths. IMHO it doesn't match at all with the backstory of these undead, which were turned into their current form by some evil they did. But fortunately, spawning can be more easily removed from a monster with little effect on the game, since it happens only [I]after[/I] they killed a PC. If it happens quickly (which normally is another thing that goes against my preferences...) then it does have an effect on XP/CR, but if it's slow enough that it can't happen during the same encounter, thus it won't grant a combat advantage to the monster, then it has no effects at all on XP/CR. [/QUOTE]
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