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.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Yeah, I know that as well as anyone. And those will affect ability checks, saves, attacks etc.

Are there any other effects that I am missing? Outside of my Athletic Checks, Str Saves, and how much my Halfling could carry, (my attacks are all dex based) what would have been the impact if my Str was, say, 2, brought on for any reason?

Jumping distances are affected - but you probably already knew that, too.

So, other than rules you have (or could) read yourself and rules from the Monster Manual which are off limits due to your metagaming concerns… I’m out of suggestions.

 

[aco175]

I see that carrying capacity is strength times 15lbs. Something you would start to need to know when your strength is 1-3.

Optional rule for encumbrance is that if you carry 5xstrength score, your speed is reduced by 10ft and 10x the score speed is reduced by 20ft. and you have disadvantage on checks and saves for Str, Dex, and Con.

 

[aco175]

Tangent question is if you wear gauntlets of ogre strength and have a strength of 19. Could you lose strength from a drain like the OP has. Would I need to lose the 19 points or my base score before the gauntlets?

 

[J.Quondam]

Strength saving throws, which typically resist effects that knock prone, push/pull a character against their will, and the like.

 

[FireLance]

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.

I'm working on a campaign in which shadows and shadow-tainted creatures feature prominently, and I've replaced the shadows' strength reducing effect with a condition called shadow blight that has six levels, similar to exhaustion:

Level​	Effect
1​	When making weapon damage rolls, roll twice and use the lower result.
2​	Disadvantage on ability checks.
3​	Speed halved.
4​	Disadvantage on attack rolls.
5​	Disadvantage on saving throws.
6​	Unconscious. This unconsciousness does not prevent a creature from taking a rest.

When a creature affected by shadow blight receives healing from any source, it may remove levels of shadow blight by foregoing 5 hit points of healing for each level of shadow blight removed.

A creature affected by shadow blight that takes a short rest or a long rest and spends at least 1 hour in sunlight during the rest removes all levels of shadow blight when it finishes the short or long rest.

 

[Lanefan]

Tangent question is if you wear gauntlets of ogre strength and have a strength of 19. Could you lose strength from a drain like the OP has. Would I need to lose the 19 points or my base score before the gauntlets?

That's a good one!

Were it me, I'd have already ruled that the gauntlets only affect your arm strength anyway, meaning the rest of you runs on whatever your normal strength score is. Thus, someone wearing gauntlets that gets strength-drained would still have Str 19 arms but would otherwise be weakened, but even after collapsing the PC could still drag itself around at considerable speed with those super-strong arms.

Contrast this with a girdle of giant strength that affects the whole body. Here I'd say the belt would keep working as normal even if you got strength-drained into oblivion, but if you take it off (or it gets dispelled) you're hooped.

 

[Bill Zebub]

My only two cents is that this thread has a curious title. I assumed it was about the DM telling a player they rolled too high or something like that, but in the middle of a combat, not at the start of the campaign.

Then I read the post and thought, "Oh, some monster changed his strength. Not the DM."

 

[Lyxen]

Sorry, I am not making myself clear. I am not trying to guess what creature attacked us. That is meta-gaming, which is something I don't do.
I wanted to know within the 5e rule set what happens to a char when its STR is 3 or lower. I guess the same could be said for almost any attribute. But Str is what was affected, so that is the one I am focusing on. I could very easily been hit again, and been reduced to 2 or lower.

No worries, this is just why I put the description of the (very probable) attack in a spoiler so that you could avoid looking at it, just pointed out that there are no additional rules anywhere.

 

[Nefermandias]

Twas a shadow.
You die at 0 Strength.
No appeal.