D&D 5E DM altered the Str of my char in combat, wondering about effects

[Vince_Snetterton]

We had an awesome session on the weekend.

At one point, the DM had something attack me, did 12 Necrotic, and he rolled a d4, and my 8 Str Halfling lost 4 Str points, so down to 4 Str.
This created ncumbrance and potential armour wearing issues (my Rogue was fine there).
Naturally, my Athletics rolls, any Str based attack rolls were badly affected.

If I had been hit another time, and Str reduced to say, 2, or 1, or even 0, what other effects would there have been?
I am thinking of using this effect in a game I want to run, and wondering what impacts I am missing.

 

[Lyxen]

At one point, the DM had something attack me, did 12 Necrotic, and he rolled a d4, and my 8 Str Halfling lost 4 Str points, so down to 4 Str.
This created ncumbrance and potential armour wearing issues (my Rogue was fine there).
Naturally, my Athletics rolls, any Str based attack rolls were badly affected.

If I had been hit another time, and Str reduced to say, 2, or 1, or even 0, what other effects would there have been?
I am thinking of using this effect in a game I want to run, and wondering what impacts I am missing.

Although similar to 3e, 5e has very limited rules in terms of ability damage (whereas 3e had tons of rules on ability damage and drain, etc.). Some people find it a bit of a shame, but this leads to complex rules in 3e about the effects, the conditions inflicted, the spells and abilities able to cure or alleviate all that. Instead, 5e aims to be a simple game, and the rules for draining are usually straight in a monster stat block. There are not that many who do it, otherwise it would really be a waste of space, but it has the advantage of being simple and of having the information at hand all the time.

So about what happened, I'm not sure what happened but it was probably shadows. Assuming it was something similar, the stat block simply says:


And it it's not, your DM knows...

 

[Scribe]

If I had been hit another time, and Str reduced to say, 2, or 1, or even 0, what other effects would there have been?
I am thinking of using this effect in a game I want to run, and wondering what impacts I am missing.

I may be thinking of another system, but if you hit 0 in a stat, don't you die?

 

[billd91]

We had an awesome session on the weekend.

At one point, the DM had something attack me, did 12 Necrotic, and he rolled a d4, and my 8 Str Halfling lost 4 Str points, so down to 4 Str.
This created ncumbrance and potential armour wearing issues (my Rogue was fine there).
Naturally, my Athletics rolls, any Str based attack rolls were badly affected.

If I had been hit another time, and Str reduced to say, 2, or 1, or even 0, what other effects would there have been?
I am thinking of using this effect in a game I want to run, and wondering what impacts I am missing.

Since there are no longer any general rules on stat damage and drain, any implications of the strength loss would have have been in the stat block for that attack. My guess is it's a shadow and you don't want to hit Strength 0 because that is in the stat block and it would be bad.

 

[Lyxen]

I may be thinking of another system, but if you hit 0 in a stat, don't you die?

Even in 3e, it depended on the stat, actually. On some stats, you dies, on others you went catatonic:

• Strength 0 means that the character cannot move at all. He lies helpless on the ground.
• Dexterity 0 means that the character cannot move at all. He stands motionless, rigid, and helpless.
• Constitution 0 means that the character is dead.
• Intelligence 0 means that the character cannot think and is unconscious in a coma-like stupor, helpless.
• Wisdom 0 means that the character is withdrawn into a deep sleep filled with nightmares, helpless.
• Charisma 0 means that the character is withdrawn into a catatonic, coma-like stupor, helpless.

But in 5e, it really depends on the specific effect in the specific statblock. That being said, 3e can certainly be used for guidance.

 

[Hexmage-EN]

I'm assuming this was probably a shadow, since I think they're the only thing in the game that does this (mostly because they did that in pre-4E editions).

I'm honestly considering replacing that mechanic with something else next time I use them as a DM, but I'm not sure what. I could just use the same HP maximum reducing mechanic that some creatures have, I guess.

 

[Stalker0]

I agree on a shadow, its the only creature I know of that still does really strength damage.

 

[Dausuul]

Yeah, almost certainly a shadow. Their attacks do 2d6+2 necrotic damage and 1d4 Strength drain. I'm not offhand aware of anything else that inflicts ability damage in 5E.

To OP's question: If your Strength gets reduced to 0 by a shadow's attack, you die, and a new shadow spawns from your corpse a couple hours later (unless you're evil or not a humanoid).

There are no special penalties for having your Strength reduced to 1 or 2, just the usual effects of a very low Strength score (e.g., encumbrance limits, awful Athletics checks, etc.). The penalty goes away after a short or long rest.

 

[Weiley31]

I may be thinking of another system, but if you hit 0 in a stat, don't you die?

Pretty much

 

[Mannahnin]

I'm honestly considering replacing that mechanic with something else next time I use them as a DM, but I'm not sure what. I could just use the same HP maximum reducing mechanic that some creatures have, I guess.

There's an article in Knock #1 with a bunch of alternate undead abilities for folks who don't want to use old-school Energy Drain in OSR games. Trying to remember who it was by... It might be a recap of a blog post. I'll see if I can link it later after I get home.

Meanwhile, here's a blog post on a related subject:
Variations on Vampiric Drain