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Message: <blockquote data-quote="mlund" data-source="post: 6035666" data-attributes="member: 50304">This is hands-down the best approach.Beyond that, I think I'd like them to flesh out and refine the concepts a little more. "Evil and vicious" vs. "More evil and vicious" vs. "Evil, vicious, and older" don't quite do it for me.Wight - The mortal died while wallowing in one for of depravity or another, if not killed in the act itself. Wights would be drawn from the ranks of gleeful murderers, amoral knowledge-seekers, enthusiastic torturers, human traffickers, rapists, arsonists, etc. In a horror-focused game each one's individual visual style and behavior might give some hints to the sin that sustains them as an un-living horror. They are vicious, self-centered, and short-sited monsters of moderate intelligence (INT 10) dwelling inside the memories of their mortal obsession. Their sphere of concern and influence generally coincides with a physical location like a dungeon, castle, mausoleum, or mansion. Wights are Chaotic Evil.Wraith - There are some souls that are powerful enough and obsessed enough that even destroying the physical body or consecrating it in holy ground can not severe its terrible animus from the Material Plane. With a terrible will bound to awful animus the Wraith pursues an obsession beyond death with dreadful schemes (INT 14). Wraiths are eager to slay the living in part for the sake of spite and in part to simply exercise some control over the corporeal world. Their sphere of concern and influence generally fall along social lines instead of physical ones - a county, family holdings, a kingdom, a tribe, a religious see, or a long-forgotten front in a war. Wraiths are Neutral Evil.As to energy drain, I'd like it to be a Limited Expression attack - something that can't be spammed every round. That gives it room to be more fearsome without overwhelming everything else (similar to the model a dragon's breath-weapon). It should jam maximum HP or steal unused Hit Dice and it should -definitely- make it harder to function in general - draining spells form casters, impairing skill checks, perhaps slowing victims and lowering their AC.Something like reducing the victim's max HP by 10, healing the draining undead by 3d8 HP, and giving the victim a cumulative -1 penalty to all attack rolls, checks, and saving throws that wears off at a rate of 5 Max HP and 1 point of penalty per extended rest. Maybe having an added requirement of needing holy water or some other form of magical purification to make those rests effective could do the trick. I want it to feel more like a curse / affliction and less like random combat damage (though it still needs to carry its own weight in the fight).- Marty Lund</blockquote>

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