D&D 5E Wights and wraiths

[I'm A Banana]

Everyone keeps using ED and talking about how awful it is and I feel like I'm on a message board of people about to be prescribed Viagra, not D&D nerds.

ANYWAY.

Energy Drain removal needs a dial. I think "everything disappears with an extended rest," or even "everything disappears with a short rest" can be settings on that dial, but not the default setting in CORE. I think "at the end of an extended rest a character removes one Energy Drain effect of the player's choice," would be a good place to default it to.

I personally think that just to keep it simple, the default needs to have stuff removed with an extended rest (even if that extended rest is a week instead of a night).

I don't think I'd play that way, but it's the quick, simple way to do it, which is what the default should be all about. Because if I have to twiddle knobs and pay attention to make things quicker and simpler, it kind of defeats the purpose.

 

[mlund]

What if each hit of an Energy Drain attack (from a creature that has it) is targeted at one of the PCs six ability scores... and if the PC fails that ability's saving throw... that ability now grants Disadvantage for anything that might be rolled using it? And each subsequent attack is against the next Ability Score on the monster's list, and on a failed save, that attribute now suffers Disadvantage. And this continues until all six Attributes have been drained, at which time the character is dead?

I think the "one stat at a time" deal could work. I don't think it should terminate in death regardless of HP, though. Being knocked unconscious until the total amount of drains in effect was less than 7 would do the job nicely.

and what I think is the most useful is that each and every monster can have its own order in which it drains your abilities, emblematic of what the monster is primarily designed to drain.

I think a 6-step list would be overkill. I'd have the victim of the Energy Drain picks which of his not-yet-drained stats gets affected. A particular type of monster could have an effect that says "this attack drains physical attributes first," or "this attack drains mental attributes first," but I think anything beyond that is probably excessive - both in terms of book-keeping and in terms of being punitive to one type of martial character or caster vs. the others.

Now granted, this is slightly more labor intensive in tracking... although for my mind it'd just be like putting a check mark next to each drained Ability Score (so you know that it's currently suffering Disadvantage).

Writing down "D" for "Drained" and "Disadvantage" would probably do the job.

So forget about losing -2 to your STR score when you're hit with a drain. Have it cause all STR checks to roll with Disadvantage. Easier to remember, faster to adjudicate.

I don't think attack rolls are considered checks, though. Disadvantage on all rolls using that attribute modifier is a nice wide net.

- Marty Lund

 

[Alarian]

Not all that fond of their current plan to have them simply do hit point damage. It's basically no different than swinging a sword and doing damage. In our campaign, they drain Con. The Con damage isn't permanent assuming they are not killed from the draining, but it also doesn't come back quickly either. Depending on the power of the undead in question, Con is restored anywhere from 1 point every few days to 1 point a week. This makes them truly scary while not having them destroy your character with level drains. Hit Point drains that are gotten back after a rest sounds boring. All that will accomplish is that if a few people get drained, everyone will just declare they are going to hole up and take a rest and get their Hit Points back.

All in all, I'm not impressed with their new version so far.

 

[darjr]

I don't like the energy drain at all. To me it is boring and not scary at all. On top of all that it breaks my verisimilitude. I thought one of the core ideas was to try to not do that with 5e.

When I read the level drain mechanic I thought about all those withered and dead plants, why don't they just spring up around their lair, they should be green and healthy, after all they are resting all the time.

 

[Remathilis]

The problem is D&D doesn't have a way of measuring "life force". It could be hp, but that doesn't make it all that scary, since orcs and goblins can take hp as well. Capping your max hp is mildly better, but can be a real PITA to track (you know there will be some player who erases his hp total and lowers it and then doesn't remember what his original hp was when he rests).

Energy drain (as well as few similar effects, like blood drain) have a few options.
1.) Drain Levels. Classic, but hard to track and requires a lot of work. Plus, I really don't like reducing XP scores and its hard to justify the effect in game (a vampire hit me, now I can't remember how to use a sword as good). OTOH, nothing scares the bejeebus out of a PC than watching his XP disappear.
2.) Con (or other ability score). 3e did this, and it worked okay. Easier to explain (sapping your mind or body) but equally PITA to track as your ability mod begins to circle the drain.
3.) Some "permanent" penalty. 3e level drain imposed a modest penalty (-1 to d20 rolls and -5 hp) that a PC could "save" and clear past (after 24 hours) or else use magic to dispel. "Real" level loss was so rare that I don't think I saw a PC fail that save. Still, a permanent, stacking penalty to d20 rolls until either a save OR magic might still be a good way to go. BFRPG did this instead of level drain in it, and I think it works nicely. Other alternatives is a negative status like weakness permanent until rested/magically removed.
4.) Save or No: I'd be more inclined to make the punishment severe is there is an initial save. This is especially true if the effect is permanent until removed.
5.) What I don't want: Energy Drain just doing "necrotic" damage or imposing a short-term (end of combat) penalty. Make undead scary, but not a bookkeeping nightmare.