Do negative levels reduce caster level?

[Thanee]

Well, does the -1 effective level from gaining a negative level apply to the calculation of the character's caster level, or not?

Bye
Thanee

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Yes.

 

[Artoomis]

Energy Drain And Negative Levels
Some horrible creatures, especially undead monsters, possess a fearsome supernatural ability to drain levels from those they strike in combat. The creature making an energy drain attack draws a portion of its victim’s life force from her. Most energy drain attacks require a successful melee attack roll—mere physical contact is not enough. Each successful energy drain bestows one or more negative levels (the creature’s description specifies how many). If an attack that includes an energy drain scores a critical hit, it drains twice the given amount. A creature gains 5 temporary hit points (10 on a critical hit) for each negative level it bestows (though not if the negative level is caused by a spell or similar effect). These temporary hit points last for a maximum of 1 hour.

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.) In addition, when she next prepares spells or regains spell slots, she gets one less spell slot at her highest spell level.
Negative levels remain until 24 hours have passed or until they are removed with a spell, such as restoration. If a negative level is not removed before 24 hours have passed, the affected creature must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ draining creature’s racial HD + draining creature’s Cha modifier; the exact DC is given in the creature’s descriptive text). On a success, the negative level goes away with no harm to the creature. On a failure, the negative level goes away, but the creature’s level is also reduced by one. A separate saving throw is required for each negative level.

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.

So the answer is definately yes.

 

[Thanee]

Ok, that's what I always thought as well, but I've also heard someone say the opposite.

Can be pretty mean, since you cannot cast the higher level spells anymore, if your caster level is too low, even if you have slots left for them (i.e. 9th level wizard with one negative level and 2 or 3 5th level slots).

Bye
Thanee

 

[GramercyRiff]

One of the myriad reasons that enervation is one of the nastiest spells in the game.

 

[frankthedm]

Ok, that's what I always thought as well, but I've also heard someone say the opposite.

They just wanted to get away with using abilities they lost.
EDIT

Can be pretty mean, since you cannot cast the higher level spells anymore, if your caster level is too low, even if you have slots left for them (i.e. 9th level wizard with one negative level and 2 or 3 5th level slots).

Actually, that might be why you lose one of the highest level spells you have per negative level. Could someone bring in a rules quote on the use of prepared spells and caster level? I don't think a caster's spell stack is a calculation per se.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Can be pretty mean, since you cannot cast the higher level spells anymore, if your caster level is too low, even if you have slots left for them (i.e. 9th level wizard with one negative level and 2 or 3 5th level slots).

Your caster level is not reduced for purposes of the spells you know or that you can cast or prepare. Your caster level gets the -1 penalty only when used in a die roll or calculation.

 

[GramercyRiff]

Your caster level is not reduced for purposes of the spells you know or that you can cast or prepare. Your caster level gets the -1 penalty only when used in a die roll or calculation.

It may not reduce the caster level of spells you know, but that doesn't matter when you gain enough negative levels to lose all the spells of a given level. You lose a spell of your highest level per negatvie level.

Originally Posted by srd
Energy Drain And Negative Levels
Some horrible creatures, especially undead monsters, possess a fearsome supernatural ability to drain levels from those they strike in combat. The creature making an energy drain attack draws a portion of its victim’s life force from her. Most energy drain attacks require a successful melee attack roll—mere physical contact is not enough. Each successful energy drain bestows one or more negative levels (the creature’s description specifies how many). If an attack that includes an energy drain scores a critical hit, it drains twice the given amount. A creature gains 5 temporary hit points (10 on a critical hit) for each negative level it bestows (though not if the negative level is caused by a spell or similar effect). These temporary hit points last for a maximum of 1 hour.

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.) In addition, when she next prepares spells or regains spell slots, she gets one less spell slot at her highest spell level.
Negative levels remain until 24 hours have passed or until they are removed with a spell, such as restoration. If a negative level is not removed before 24 hours have passed, the affected creature must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + ½ draining creature’s racial HD + draining creature’s Cha modifier; the exact DC is given in the creature’s descriptive text). On a success, the negative level goes away with no harm to the creature. On a failure, the negative level goes away, but the creature’s level is also reduced by one. A separate saving throw is required for each negative level.

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.

 

[Thanee]

It may not reduce the caster level of spells you know, but that doesn't matter when you gain enough negative levels to lose all the spells of a given level. You lose a spell of your highest level per negatvie level.

Yes, but that's not the question.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Li Shenron]

Can be pretty mean, since you cannot cast the higher level spells anymore, if your caster level is too low, even if you have slots left for them (i.e. 9th level wizard with one negative level and 2 or 3 5th level slots).

I realize now that we've never played it this way... We've always just assumed that the loss of 1 slot (prepared or not) of the highest level you can cast was already encompassing the effects of a negative level. So we've never ruled that you couldn't cast high level spells for the loss of caster levels, but we only gave a penalty to caster level in effects calculation. At least IIRC, because my Sorceress/Incantatrix is actually immune to level drain, so I didn't really pay attention