Getting Rid of Level Drain

[Thresher]

A few things my lower level characters dont leave town without
Scrolls of restoration- 800gp each

Higher level characters
Wand of Restoration- 26,000gp each

Epic characters,
Scroll of Greater restoration- 4775gp each
+ all the above

Sure, theyre a little expensive but if the whole party chips in some money to either make or buy them then its well spent if it means someone gets drained, or worse, the cleric gets drained or takes a dirt nap. The greater restorations best part is it does all, kinda crap that it costs a caster 500xp though, very stupid rule.

 

[Ahrimon]

That's one of the problems with the XP system. Most people that think of XP and levels and equate it to knowlege and training gained from what you have experienced. Unfortunately just about everything that takes away levels and XP equates it taking away part of your life force. That magic ring you just made, well to make it you had to put some of your life force into it so you loose X amount of XP. The wraith that just stuck it's hand into your chest. It just sucked a chunk of your life energy out. Save in 24 hours or you permanantly loose two levels.

Until they either come up with a good tie between the knowlege/training and your life force, these issues will never be solved. Me I either say that you gain the knowlege/training from experiencing things and you use some of that to enhance your life force. That or I just wiggle my fingers and say "It's maaagick!"

Ahrimon

 

[Storminator]

A negative level also inflicts 5 hp loss. Usually the undead gains 5 hp for each level drained as well.

I always just add up negative levels, and you have to work them off with XP, just as if they were lost levels. I also use this system if a PC dies and gets Raised. It cuts down on the bookkeeping.

Sometimes, however, a negative level is worse than losing a level. A PC might lose 4 skill points to a lost level, where a negative level will impact all skills. Same with saves, you rarely go up in all three saves at the same time.

PS

 

[Scion]

My problems with Level drain are due to flavor more than mechanics. I can deal with having to completely recalculate characters every time they face undead (even though it's a pain!). But I have conceptual problems with vampires and wights "slapping the levels" out of people. Unless you justify it as some sort of amnesia-inducing attack (which should have huge roleplaying repercussions), it simply feels wrong -- at least to me.

Just think of undead as spreading poison that hurts your spirit, or life force. It gives penalties all over because of this, but your spirit can win free after a day. I guess that would make it closer to a fast acting disease though..hmm.. Effectively the same thing if you are comfortable with disease and poison (as in, they make sense to you) then just treat energy drain as a similar item that hurts something that you cannot see.

There are spells that show auras, this aura is a reflection and extension of the character. Poisoning and damageing said aura seems to be what is going on. If you were to view the aura it would probably start to look sickly, laced with black rolling energy, and just in general be looking unhappy

 

[Scion]

A negative level also inflicts 5 hp loss.

This is true in 3.5, but is it true in 3.0? Neither my dmg nor the srd says the 5hp loss. Errata somewhere perhaps?

 

[Terath Ninir]

My house rule is very simple and easy to use. Negative levels are a pain in the ass, though they are admittedly better than the historic level loss. My house rule is scarier in combat, though it has no long-term effects.

What do the undead steal? Life force. What is the life force in D&D? Hit points. So, rather than giving negative levels, my undead steal hit points -- 1d8 per negative level, though I'm thinking of boosting that to 2d6 to make it more potent. Hit points they steal heal them; any excess are temporary hit points that disappear after 1 hour.

It makes undead tougher in combat, because they can continually heal themselves. It makes them scarier in combat, too, because they are also dropping PC hit points quicker, making it more likely that they will be turned into undead themselves.

Now, I'll grant you you could do Con drain instead, but then undead become mechanically identical to poison-weilding monsters. Hit point drain is a different mechanic, and more powerful for the monster weilding it. Undead should be scarier than vermin.

 

[Dunjin]

For whoever it was who surmised it above, yeah, I do have a problem killing PCs, but mostly because I see how attached my players are to their characters. Even knowing deep down that I won't kill them over a random die roll, they still feel challenged and unsafe and thrilled. I'm in it to show them a good time, and if my players get horribly frustrated when they lose a character, then I'll try and lessen that as much as I can.

Back to level drain. I like the idea of hit point drain, I think. Doesn't seem to balance in severity with negative levels, but it makes sense.

 

[nharwell]

Just think of undead as spreading poison that hurts your spirit, or life force. It gives penalties all over because of this, but your spirit can win free after a day. I guess that would make it closer to a fast acting disease though..hmm.. Effectively the same thing if you are comfortable with disease and poison (as in, they make sense to you) then just treat energy drain as a similar item that hurts something that you cannot see.

There are spells that show auras, this aura is a reflection and extension of the character. Poisoning and damageing said aura seems to be what is going on. If you were to view the aura it would probably start to look sickly, laced with black rolling energy, and just in general be looking unhappy

Actually that's a pretty good explanation for negative levels. It doesn't work very well for the permanent "level drain" aspect. [I see above that you don't use that, however.]

 

[Terath Ninir]

Back to level drain. I like the idea of hit point drain, I think. Doesn't seem to balance in severity with negative levels, but it makes sense.

Currently, at 1d8 hp, it's not quite severe enough. At 2d6, however, it should be more like it. Since the undead *gains* those hit points, it makes fighting them quite a bit tougher than under the standard rules, at least for my players.

 

[Scion]

The normal energy drain gives undead 5 hp (and takes 5 hp from the player in 3.5). So the d8 probably is much less daunting in several respects. If I was going to go the damage route I would probably make it something along the lines of 2d12, the first d12 regular damage, the second d12 subdual damage, and still have the undead gain all 2d12 as extra hp. This makes them scary and debilitating, but at the same time making it much more survivable. Even better if the group comes across an npc that has been drained and is unconscious the pc's still have a chance of saving the poor guy before he becomes undead.

With the added benefit of if being much easier to recover from (healing spells head equal amounts of damage and subdual at the same time). That is always a plus as well.

avg damage 13/hit (6.5 real, 6.5 subdual) not enough to be a huge problem, but definately enough to get attention and cause panic.