Martial Adepts and negative levels

[Perun]

Am I just blind, or is it really not explained in the book (ToB)?

What happens to a martial adept character who suffers negative levels? Is it like with spellcasters (lose access to one of his highest-level manoeuvres per negative level) or is there some other mechanic?

Thanks in advance.

Regards.

 

[Vurt]

Unless it's buried in a sidebar somewhere, I couldn't find it either.

I'd just treat the initiator as a spellcaster for the purposes of adjudicating negative levels, and remove one of their highest level maneuvers for each negative level, in addition to the standard penalties. It seems pretty fair to me.

 

[Nifft]

I couldn't find it either.

An initiator level penalty to match attack bonus penalty & spellcasting level penalty seems totally appropriate.

Cheers, -- N

 

[LonePaladin]

Keep in mind that martial adepts are able to exchange low-level maneuvers for higher-level ones at certain points. Also, most maneuvers are only usable once per encounter (barring specific actions or circumstances that recover them), so if you rule that a negative level removes one highest-level maneuver, the adept might just pick one that's currently unavailable. In addition, most high-level maneuvers have prerequisites, so forcing an adept to remove one might make him ineligible for another — in effect, you may remove two or more maneuvers with this penalty.

 

[Creamsteak]

I just had a weird thought that it "might" be more complicated to give a negative level to the swordsage than to actually remove a level from one. That's an annoying thought.

 

[Nifft]

In addition, most high-level maneuvers have prerequisites, so forcing an adept to remove one might make him ineligible for another — in effect, you may remove two or more maneuvers with this penalty.

You don't need to meet a maneuver's prerequisites to ready or initiate it -- only to learn it. So once you know a maneuver, you're free to trade out its prerequisites.

I wouldn't remove maneuvers, though. They're more like feats than spells. The reduction in HP, attack bonus and initiator level will hurt plenty.

Cheers, -- N

 

[entr0py]

bah... just one more reason the Bo9S is broke.