Rystil Arden said:
The dragon would have half the HD, but it would still be identical to an old black dragon except that the DCs on the Breath Weapon and Frightful Presence would drop (because those DCs are based on hit dice) and it would lose feats and skill ranks, and its caster level on spells would become lower. Losing the hit dice does not make it younger; it is the same age category as always. Imagine you cast Enervation on an Old Dragon. It does not become Juvenile. The Simulacrum is basically the same creature that's been energy drained for half of its hit dice
Actually, if you look at the
SRD Black Dragon Stats,
everything (well, except the abilities universal to ALL black dragons - and even then, as they are included with all age categories of black dragon, can effectively be treated as dependant on age category - they are just present at all age categories) is based on age category - including Caster level, Frightful Presence save ....
and Hit Dice. I just ran the table on a different criteria - I treated HD as the primary key, rather than Age category.
As for your example with Enervation, consider: having Negative Levels isn't the same thing as having a lower level - by a long shot:
ENERGY DRAIN AND NEGATIVE LEVELS
Some horrible creatures, especially undead monsters, possess a fearsome supernatural ability to drain levels from those they strike in combat. The creature making an energy drain attack draws a portion of its victim’s life force from her. Most energy drain attacks require a successful melee attack roll—mere physical contact is not enough. Each successful energy drain attack bestows one or more negative levels on the opponent. A creature takes the following penalties for each negative level it has gained.
–1 on all skill checks and ability checks.
–1 on attack rolls and saving throws.
–5 hit points.
–1 effective level (whenever the creature’s level is used in a die roll or calculation, reduce it by one for each negative level).
If the victim casts spells, she loses access to one spell as if she had cast her highest-level, currently available spell. (If she has more than one spell at her highest level, she chooses which she loses.) In addition, when she next prepares spells or regains spell slots, she gets one less spell slot at her highest spell level.
Negative levels remain for 24 hours or until removed with a spell, such as restoration. After 24 hours, the afflicted creature must attempt a Fortitude save (DC 10 + 1/2 attacker’s HD + attacker’s Cha modifier). (The DC is provided in the attacker’s description.) If the saving throw succeeds, the negative level goes away with no harm to the creature. The afflicted creature makes a separate saving throw for each negative level it has gained. If the save fails, the negative level goes away, but the creature’s level is also reduced by one.
A character with negative levels at least equal to her current level, or drained below 1st level, is instantly slain. Depending on the creature that killed her, she may rise the next night as a monster of that kind. If not, she rises as a wight. A creature gains 5 temporary hit points for each negative level it bestows (though not if the negative level is caused by a spell or similar effect).
(From
Online SRD. A 20-th wizard with 10 negative levels could concievably have an attack roll of 0/-5 (10/5 for wiz-20, -10/-10 for negative levels), yet only loses 10 spells, and thus could still concievably have 2 level 7 spell slots (that's ignoring bonus slots for high ability scores, and assuming we aren't talking long-term after a failed Fort save) as a level 20 wizard gets 4 level 9, 4 level 8, and 4 level 7 spells. Likewise, the same wizard could die of the HP loss from the same amount of negative levels without actually taking any damage, nor getting more than 10 negative levels, if it's CON bonus is low or negative (in the exteme case, the wizard is only getting 1 hp per HD, and dies after 6 negative levels (4 for the 20 HP, 2 to get to -10), without rising as a wight. A Barbarian with high Con (+4 modifier, say) that permanently loses levels to energy drain could benefit in the long run - especially if he makes "average" rolls (6.5 on a d12, +4 for con makes an average of 10.5 per level after 1st), as he only loses 5 max HP but gains the potential for another average roll of 10.5 hp. Even with a con mod of 0, the average of 6.5 per level gained and flat 5 per level lost could make for a net gain in the long run. They are SO not the same thing.
But as I said - more a matter of the fuzzy english language than a matter of strict logic. When dealing with a simacrula, is the "ultimate" determination of a critters abilities it's HD or it's kind (age, in the case of a dragon). I picked HD, you picked age. No biggie - we disagree. Which is correct? Well, that needs to wait for official WOTC errata. More than that is little more than blowing hot air.
