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"Fear of Monsters" back into 4th Edition
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<blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 7216588" data-attributes="member: 82106"><p>So true. You can bring a character back, at worst, or in low level play at least the survivors get to claim the fallen character's stuff and you could expect your new character to share in that pool of stuff equally. Item destruction was a quite nasty thing! I expect Gygax invented it as a way of 'cleaning up messes' where he felt that some PCs had gotten a little too fat.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>Level drain was a hugely fearsome thing. The Restoration spell is 7th level, and thus inaccessible over a large range of levels where you're likely to meet level-draining undead. You might find a 14th level NPC cleric somewhere, but they're going to be few and far between in most campaigns, and in any case the spell has severe restrictions (must be cast within 1 day per level of the cleric, so you better find that guy pretty quickly). It also only restores ONE level per casting, most unfortunate encounters with the undead will mean you'll need SEVERAL iterations of this to be cast! Thankfully it doesn't require material components or have other onerous casting requirements, so there is SOME chance of getting it cast without hideous expense. However, just finding a level 14 cleric is likely to involve considerable adventuring, and they'll surely put you permanently in their debt! </p><p></p><p>Honestly I always felt like level drain was dirty pool. The players earned those levels. Yeah, it was scary, but it never fit well with a really heroic sort of game, or one where the characters are part of some kind of story arc. I much preferred ability draining. It is harsh, and needed some better way of fixing it than was provided in AD&D (nothing that I can remember), but at least it wasn't taking away something you EARNED. Depending on the particularly character and ability score you might even just go on about your business and not worry about it too much afterwards. It was still plenty frightening though.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AbdulAlhazred, post: 7216588, member: 82106"] So true. You can bring a character back, at worst, or in low level play at least the survivors get to claim the fallen character's stuff and you could expect your new character to share in that pool of stuff equally. Item destruction was a quite nasty thing! I expect Gygax invented it as a way of 'cleaning up messes' where he felt that some PCs had gotten a little too fat. Level drain was a hugely fearsome thing. The Restoration spell is 7th level, and thus inaccessible over a large range of levels where you're likely to meet level-draining undead. You might find a 14th level NPC cleric somewhere, but they're going to be few and far between in most campaigns, and in any case the spell has severe restrictions (must be cast within 1 day per level of the cleric, so you better find that guy pretty quickly). It also only restores ONE level per casting, most unfortunate encounters with the undead will mean you'll need SEVERAL iterations of this to be cast! Thankfully it doesn't require material components or have other onerous casting requirements, so there is SOME chance of getting it cast without hideous expense. However, just finding a level 14 cleric is likely to involve considerable adventuring, and they'll surely put you permanently in their debt! Honestly I always felt like level drain was dirty pool. The players earned those levels. Yeah, it was scary, but it never fit well with a really heroic sort of game, or one where the characters are part of some kind of story arc. I much preferred ability draining. It is harsh, and needed some better way of fixing it than was provided in AD&D (nothing that I can remember), but at least it wasn't taking away something you EARNED. Depending on the particularly character and ability score you might even just go on about your business and not worry about it too much afterwards. It was still plenty frightening though. [/QUOTE]
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