Does enervation turn you into a wight?

[pawsplay]

You're free to interpret as you please. That negative levels lead to death, and further to undead status, is an assumption, not a rule. We've already been over this.

 

[Hypersmurf]

You're free to interpret as you please. That negative levels lead to death, and further to undead status, is an assumption, not a rule. We've already been over this.

It's a heavy crossbow rule, but it's a rule.

"A creature with negative levels at least equal... is instantly slain".

The Energy Drain section is where the complete rules for negative levels are found. The PHB glossary is a quick reference; it does not always contain complete rules, and never supercedes them, by the "Primary Source" rule from the errata.

-Hyp.

 

[Calico_Jack73]

Ahhh... the neverending horde of undead subject again. Personally, since Enervation doesn't specifically say anything about creating Wights you could go either way... it is your game. However, I doubt WOTC intended it for that purpose.
There are a couple very good reasons Wights wouldn't take over civilization. You would think they could due to the speed with which they replicate but I'll break it down into two main reasons.
1) Survival instinct. Though feral Wights still maintain survival instinct. Skeletons & Zombies are more like constructs. As long as a Wight stays in a city or town with adventurers it is subject to destruction. If you were a Wight would you really care how many other Wights you could create if there was a group of adventurers running around killing every Wight they saw? Wights aren't team players so coordinating attacks to take out the heroes probably wouldn't happen. Think of it like this, you and 9 buddies (the Wights) need to charge a machine gun nest (the heroes). There is a 10% chance that you'll survive to take out the machine gun when your 9 buddies die. Would you still charge that nest? Heck no!
2) The gods would intervene. All gods derive their power from their worshipers. The more worshipers they have the more powerful they are. If Waterdeep were getting overrun by Wights then good gods would intervene. If Zhentil Keep were getting overrun then evil gods would do the same. As undead have no souls they don't make very good worshipers of any religion (except in the case of intelligent undead such as Vampires and Liches). No D&D god would allow their power to be diminished by a rapidly growing mob of Wights.

 

[TheAuldGrump]

Ahhh, the sponge cake, the creamy filling... indeed this is the land of twinkieness...

Enervation kills you it doesn't unkill you. Sheesh... The rules for energy drain are there for monsters not spells. But if you want to beat your campaign to death with a stick go right ahead.

The Auld Grump

 

[jgsugden]

1) Survival instinct. Though feral Wights still maintain survival instinct. Skeletons & Zombies are more like constructs. As long as a Wight stays in a city or town with adventurers it is subject to destruction. If you were a Wight would you really care how many other Wights you could create if there was a group of adventurers running around killing every Wight they saw? Wights aren't team players so coordinating attacks to take out the heroes probably wouldn't happen. Think of it like this, you and 9 buddies (the Wights) need to charge a machine gun nest (the heroes). There is a 10% chance that you'll survive to take out the machine gun when your 9 buddies die. Would you still charge that nest? Heck no!

Wights *ARE* team players. If a wight creates another wight, it controls that wight, at least to an extent. They have evil alignments - true D&D evil, not the hazy shade or real world evil - so they have no qualms about risking the lives of their 'allies'. If you don't give a frel about the lives of your allies, would you send them against a machine gun that might someday be turned against you? Heck yes!

2.) The gods would intervene. All gods derive their power from their worshipers. The more worshipers they have the more powerful they are. If Waterdeep were getting overrun by Wights then good gods would intervene. If Zhentil Keep were getting overrun then evil gods would do the same. As undead have no souls they don't make very good worshipers of any religion (except in the case of intelligent undead such as Vampires and Liches). No D&D god would allow their power to be diminished by a rapidly growing mob of Wights.

Different campaigns feature different levels of intervention by the Deities. In some, this may be true. In others, the idea of a Deity taking any direct action is unfathomable. In the official Forgotten Realms of the game supplements and novels, the Gods *tend* to use their servants and churches rather than get involved directly, though there have been obvious exceptions to this tendency. I can see a priest being awakened by a prophetic dream in Waterdeep in time for him to go fight the undead. I can not see Lathandar coming down himself (or sending Solars, etc ...) to stop the undead. Major events have occured in the Forgootn Realms history that destroyed entire civilizations and almost all the worshippers of certain powerful Gods. Why didn't the Gods get involved then?

All it takes is 1 wight (possibly controlled by a cleric or spellcaster) to attack and make another wight from a farmer on the edge of a town. The initial wight can then tell that wight to make more wights and instruct those wights to make more wights, etc ... By morning you'd have an army of wights (with little risk to the initial wight, might I add) and possibly a few hidden farmers waiting for death to find them ... wights have pretty good spot and listen skills.

The best reason for wights not to do this is to maintain a food supply. If a band of wights plague some hills between a few towns, they can pluck off one or two civilians from each town every once in a while and not destroy their supply of food.

 

[Hypersmurf]

If you don't give a frel about the lives of your allies, would you send them against a machine gun that might someday be turned against you? Heck yes!

And the best thing is that if one of them gets through...

... now I have a machine gun. Ho ho ho.

-Hyp.