Do Multiple Castings of Enervation Stack?

[youspoonybard]

Oh ok.

Thank goodness.

 

[nahualt]

ENERVATION CREATES WIGHTS???

where does it says this? my wizards players uses and abuses his enervation spell everytime, if it does creates wights then it might just come to bite him in the butt!

 

[Particle_Man]

DMG, under Energy Drain and Negative Levels, p. 293:

"A character with negative levels at least equal to her current level, or drained below 1st level, is instantly slain. Depending on the creature that killed her, she may rise the next night as a monster of that kind. If not, she rises as a wight."

Since Enervation gives one Negative Levels, if you take someone to death via equalling their positive and negative levels, you have yourself an (initially uncontrolled) wight.

Since Wights are described as medium undead, with the size and weight of a human, you might place restrictions on what actually becomes a wight (a wight dragon?)

 

[daTim]

I have a question about Enervation. Do you lose 5 hp per level lost when you are subject to an Enervation spell? Negative levels say you do, but the enervation spell does not say that you do, while on the other hand it does lay out all the things you do suffer from.

 

[Particle_Man]

YOu do. Enervation says you get neg. levels. Neg levels section sez you lose 5 hp per neg. level. Enervation doesn't say you get a special exception to this. therefore, you lose 5hp per neg. level.

Oh, another way to stop Mr. Enervation is to have an undead disguised as a non-undead. Nothing like the party mage giving that BBEG free temporary hp.

 

[Someone]

Since Wights are described as medium undead, with the size and weight of a human, you might place restrictions on what actually becomes a wight (a wight dragon?)

There´s a Wight template in Savege Species, IIRC.

 

[dragonsworn]

If the effects of Envervation stack, can undead targeted with this spell get the benefit of the temp HP more than once?

 

[Al'Kelhar]

I've had my disagreements with the Great Smurf before, but in this case, I'm right there beside him. Negative levels are not penalties per se. They're a form of damage. If you're hit with one enervation for 3 negative levels, and a second enervation for 2 negative levels, you've got 5 negative levels.

I'm not sure I agree that negative levels are "a form of damage". There are two types of damage in D&D - "damage" (loss of hit points) and "ability damage" (temporary lowering of an ability score). Damage stacks - the loss of hit points from two fireballs stacks, as does the loss of Con from two strikes of a wyvern's poisonous stinger. "Damage" is a direct consequence of the particular attack forms (fire and poison respectively). The direct consequences of gaining negative levels are all specifically expressed as *penalties* - even the 5 hit point loss:

A creature takes the following penalties for each negative level it has gained.
–1 on all skill checks and ability checks.
–1 on attack rolls and saving throws.
–5 hit points.
–1 effective level (whenever the creature’s level is used in a die roll or calculation, reduce it by one for each negative level).
If the victim casts spells, she loses access to one spell as if she had cast her highest-level, currently available spell. (If she has more than one spell at her highest level, she chooses which she loses.)

Also from the SRD:

Stacking Effects: Spells that provide bonuses or penalties on attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, and other attributes usually do not stack with themselves...
Same Effect More than Once in Different Strengths: In cases when two or more identical spells are operating in the same area or on the same target, but at different strengths, only the best one applies.

I still reckon that multiple castings of enervation do not result in stacking negative levels, but do result in the highest number fo negative levels affecting the target creature.

There´s a Wight template in Savege Species, IIRC.

Ooh, ooh, can someone give me a quick rundown on the template pls (I've reverse-engineered the wight to give me a "wight template" to apply to some non-human monsters in my current adventure, but would like to see what the "official" word on it is).

Cheers, Al'Kelhar

 

[Mouseferatu]

But you're skipping a step in the progression. Enervation doesn't bestow penalties. It bestows negative levels, which result in penalties. Each time you're hit, you gain X number of negative levels, pure and simple.

It's like the touch of a wraith. You aren't immune to the touch of a wraith just because he's already given you a negative level earlier in the combat. The description of negative levels in the DMG uses someone suffering multiple negative levels from multiple attacks as an example. Ergo, negative levels stack. The only difference between enervation negative levels and others is that those from the spell wear off before they have the chance to become permanent.

 

[Particle_Man]

If the effects of Envervation stack, can undead targeted with this spell get the benefit of the temp HP more than once?

I'd say no, here. Temporary hit points don't ever stack, no matter how many different sources they come from.