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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Man in the Funny Hat" data-source="post: 3220667" data-attributes="member: 32740">XP should really be left as a purely meta-game mechanic - the means by which PLAYER character advancement is regulated.  By rights nothing else should toch it unless it is intended PURELY as a means of speeding up or slowing down the rate of that advancement for the same meta-game reasons that it is awarded in the first place.  There's a reason why there are no longer XP FINES that are levied for having characters perform certain ways regarding their alignment.  XP should be left as an out-of-game carrot, not an in-game stick.If you want to muck about with "life force" as an in-game phenomenon then there are mechanics elsewhere in-game to do that - hit points above all, ability scores (especially constitution) and also simple general penalties would all be better approaches.Undead do not directly drain XP.  They drain CHARACTER LEVELS.  XP are then adjusted to fit purely as a secondary effect.  The reason for draining levels at all is simply because by doing so a wide assortment of "penalties" is then levied by the numerical differences between the lower and higher level.  Hit dice/hit points are lowered, saves, base attack bonuses, and reductions to skills via lost skill points are all side effects of LEVEL reduction and it is THOSE penalties which represent the loss of life force.However, the additional loss of class abilities that were LEARNED as a function of level gain are also effectively UNLEARNED by level reductions - not performed at a penalty, but unable to be performed at all because at the lower level the ability did not exist.  It should still exist (now that the character is understood to have learned it over time) and simply be performed at a penalty if the analogy to life-force were to be properly carried over, but the analogy breaks there instead.Yes, I definitely agree that the whole xp/hp/character level/life energy analogy is very messy and due for additional, genuine re-vision since 3E's, while an improvement, is still inadequate.</blockquote>

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