Level Drain in D&D 5e 👻 How to Make Your Undead Creatures Brutal and Challenging
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- Опубліковано 2 сер 2024
- Follow along in my article about #DND5e level drain: www.flutesloot.com/level-drai...
Level Drain was a terrifying game mechanic in AD&D. It was also clunky and problematic from the perspective of a game designer. Though it didn't stand the test of time, relics of the once-proud Level Drain remain in #DND 5e in the forms of stat drains, reductions to max HP, and more. Let's explore how these concepts can be amplified for gaming groups that want to be profoundly challenged by the undead creatures they face, and how #DungeonsandDragons DMs can make these mechanics simple and fun.
The Thumbnail art is "Life Drain" by monpuasajr.deviantart.com
⏰Time Stamps:
00:00 Let's talk about level drain
00:30 Written version in my article
00:52 The Old Warlock YT channel
01:22 My experience with level drain
02:02 "Danger" is my middle name
02:28 My goals with this concept
03:37 Frodo, the great example
04:15 Level-drain-ish effects and monsters in 5e already
07:11 Do not overdo it, talk to your players
07:39 Idea #1 - Exhaustion
08:44 Idea #2 - Proficiency Bonus drain
09:25 Idea #3 - Spell slot depletion
09:55 Idea #4 - Damage roll penalty
10:35 Idea #5 - Constitution reduction
11:09 Idea #6 - Hit Dice depletion
11:36 Idea #7 - Actual level drain!
13:01 Remedies and counters to level drain
15:10 Comment with your thoughts on level draining
15:36 Take the poll
15:59 Cast Message; Happy Halloween!
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The proficiency bonus drain option is interesting and also very close to what it was in AD&D and 3e if you combine it to the HP drain , look easy to manage during combat . I use exhaustion debuff for vampire's bite and wraith touch in my game .
Using a PB drain seems to be a stand-out suggestion for many. I hadn't considered it until recently, so I used exhaustion when I ran Curse of Strahd, and that was more than enough to make the player characters feel worn down and on the brink of destruction.
I like your idea of lowering the proficiency score. That is more simple to implement, but it's impactful enough to remind a character, "hey, you're not at 100% right now." If you have a few of those stack up, thats gonna drive them to go get it taken care of.
I'm glad you like it! Simplicity is a strength. It's easy to implement for in-person play, and easy to code for online tabletop games.
And as you said, it fits the theme of being drained and not feeling 100% capable and well.
The weakness would be that it won't affect rolls that don't use PB, such as saves and skills that a character isn't proficient with.
I was already looking at introducing my party to a vampire and this has me thinking it should be more brutal if he does get to bite them.
After all, Johnathan Harker was noticeably changed for a long time after being drained when he was Dracula's prisoner.
I'm leaning towards a level of exhaustion and maybe -1 proficiency, each instance taking a restoration (or greater) to remove.
Those are the options I lean toward!
Watching Old Warlock's videos inspired me to build Mercenary Guild or some sort of futuristic Military Force rather than going "ADVENTURE" if I were to play ADnD, but these "Level Drain" effects sounds interesting: As strange as it sounds, draining accomplishment sounds like good way to "scare" PCs without outright TPK.
It'd definitely scare the characters for their lives and the players for the paperwork hahaha
This could be a great curse for someone hunting the players. That they feel s burning sensation on their chest, and when they look burned into their skin "I'm on my way" And untill they find a way to remove it, their movemspeed will be drain 1 on a succesfull con save, 5 on a fail and 10 if they fail with more than 5
Very forboding! I'd love to see a curse like that.
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Awesome! Let us know if you need help navigating Discord. We haven't added the Patreon link everywhere yet but now that we're getting an idea of what we want to do with it, we may start promoting. We don't want you to get lonely as our first patron :P
@@FlutesLoot Nuh uh. That's cra-cra nonsense. But I am honored. By the way, I only support one other artist on Patreon (Kujo Painting, OMG, Opal would love him I bet, as she seems the "craftier" one, but he's the best miniature painter teacher out there with a Patreon. Vince Venturella is also AAA+++, no Patreon though. Feel free to mention them to Opal, I bet she'd like them [Kujo has tons of excellent free UA-cam content...I just WANTED to join his Patreon, I've learned so much from him, lol]).
You could also lower how much they heal on a long rest
That might be a fun way to it that differs from removing maximum hp!
I don't like the idea of losing levels, because I think of experience as a combination of knowledge, wisdom and muscle memory. Having some kind of trauma that upsets that should be temporary. So level drain is fine as long as it is restored. Restoring something by a long rest seems a little too simple. I like the idea of a day or week rest. This makes it even more effective if you have an adventure where you have a time limit and so you have to push on.
I agree that making undead more terrifying can be a good thing.
I'm with you! Some rulings would be unsustainable, strange, or unmanageable. There are some middle-ground rulings that fulfill the intent just fine. :)
Why temporary? We have plenty of examples of permeant loss of function in real life, and your model of experience seems to be referencing "real life." Given that one doesn't accumulate skills and abilities in a trickle but rather in huge bundles at arbitrary intervals I'm going to view leveling as a game mechanic. Thus, as a game mechanic, and abstraction, you can affect it in many ways that do not correspond with what would seem logical in "real life." Permanent loss of abilities, levels, skills etc give real weight to decisions. You have a supernatural being at play here, all bets are off.
However: this kind of game play is going to tilt your combat encounters heavily into the arena of "war" and out of the comfy "sport" zone 5E is so lazily ensconced. Before trying to play this way I would recommend a one shot or short campaign with disposable characters as even those who think they are "ok" with it will be challenged. Unless of course they have OSR experience.
Last: I'm not sure how well this would go with today's standard of linear campaigns or play as: characters could get stuck in the first tiers for a while (Barovia would be.. ouch); the party could have a wider range of levels; time gated events may never be to be addressed or you'd have to quantum tunnels them, removing the "timeliness" of them. etc
Oh and not sure how this would affect non experience based leveling
@@Silkspar Great thoughts! My experience has been to not use Level Drain, but to enable undead creatures to cause exhaustion. That worked pretty well for adding peril in 5e.
@@FlutesLoot Exhaustion is easily removed AND can lead to death spiral. Have you considered removing CON points and using the gritty realism rules for regaining them? I would consider removing the number of hit dice of damage from the CON i.e. monster hits for 3d6 so you take 3 CON away. This can lead to some serious HP loss as the PC loses CON bonuses. I would also consider making it so that it will take a medic kit and skill to bring the PC back to consciousness once they hit 0 CON. Or a sufficiently high level spell.
@Jason Cliff I have considered that, yes. I keep hearing people talk about death spirals, but I think that's the point of a level-drain/life-drain concept. I also disagree that exhaustion is easily removed unless the game involves getting one level of it and immediately long resting.
Nothing outside of original Level Drain as written will be as scary.
Its meant to be something simple, a *Terror* weapon that tells players loud and clear, "DO NOT SWORD FIGHT THIS CREATURE!"
Players are supposed to be scared and think outside the character sheet.
Make them more scary or punish players take your pick
Hi John, I take it you're not in favor of lingering injuries in general?