Time for me to chip in!


I was introduced to the idea that undead creatures would not drain levels
a few years back by a DM who's old enough to be my father (and I'm a
father so do some math). His undead creatures would instead drain
either STR or CON in addition to dealing out some physical damage
to the players when we got hit.

This added a whole new spectrum to fighting the undead, as a high
CON warrior might not walk away with such a high con. The points
were not permanently lost, they came back at a slow pace. The
counter to the non permanence was that if you actually were reduced
to 0 in a stat, you died and rose up the next day as a creature of the
same type that killed you.

I belive he was inspired to this via some of the Van Richten's books
for Ravenloft. They are some damn good books and can help ANY
setting. Especially one with such a dark place as the Shadow World.

This is why it works so well with Birthright. Nobody really knows for
sure what the SW is like. Nor do we know what it does to the "normal"
undead creatures out there. I've taken to the point of changing their
abilities somewhat and using tactics like the above to make it more
strange and unknown to the players in my games. (Tod, you should
be filing this away for future reference ;P ) It's a great tact to keep
them on their toes. It's one thing to expect a level drain, it's another
thing entirely when you start loosing some stats. ;)


Now for the real Rant.

Level Drain sucks as an ability anyway and should be dropped from
the game (actually it should have never made 2nd edition). There is
no "fun" in having your character bust his hump for a level or two only
to have some crap monster take it all away. This mechanic is a
holdover from the more "roll" playing games of the past when the
entire industry was in its infancy and things weren't as well developed
as they are now.

Any method that replaces level draining and maintains the air of fear
it generates is fine with me.


Craig