It is interesting.

I think the most surprising to me was the spectre's change.

Colour Out of Space? Less so, it's not really in 1e as a monster so Ghul can "fine tune" it to what he thinks he really does.

I have a house rule that if you make a save for something like level drain, paralyzaion, etc from a specific creature you don't need to save for the rest of that encounter.

Mostly because how awful level drain is.

However, Ghul also generally has a save vs level drain.

So, maybe with stakes changing...I guess I can remove that "situational" immunity because the stakes are a bit lower.

On the one hand, I have always enjoyed the complete dread shown by players when their characters have to face a level-draining undead creature. It is complete terrifying for them. On the other hand, I came to dislike it more and more over the years for a few different reasons:

1) Session immersion. When the session has to be paused so that the referee and the player have to begin reviewing all the losses suffered by the level loss -- fighting ability, saving throws, thief skills, spells, class abilities, etc. -- it turns into an accounting session that I think is more of a burden on the referee than is necessary. It is a burden on the session. No longer are we adventuring; rather, we are exercising a lesson in subtractive accounting on Bill's guy. I think it's lame.

2) Gotchya! It always has felt like too much of a "gotchya!" moment and doesn't really feel sensible in the course of the game. Is it supposed to be a form of amnesia that only a certain spell can repair? I suppose I can live with that, but it just didn't sit well with me anymore, so I initiated the change, and came up with replacement forms of draining that are still terribly debilitating but with far less paperwork.

I always knew that the change would not go over well with everyone. Level drain as a thing is as old school as it gets, so to take it away was certainly going to ruffle a few feathers, but I can live with that. Of course, modify to your content, or retain the rules as were presented in the 1e and 2e versions of the game.

Cheers! 

I think it is a great idea and agree with both #1 and #2 (more so #1, with D&D 3.5, it is the skill points, SA, Feats, saves, hps, attacks, xp tally, I hated the idea since the beginning, aaaagh!), but...

Still, if a level 11 (how did they get to level 11?) is drained, he might survive, now perhaps level 7?

But the poor fellow has only got a Con of 10 and the GM roll 11 on the 2d6?

* I also wondering what happens if a 'Raise Dead,' spell is cast on their corpse, if they have been made into a wraith or spectre. Does the body function, but has no soul?!

To be honest, I enjoy the idea of that 'Raider of the Lost Ark,' moment, where the victim looks complete drained in a heartbeat, not so much fun for the player I guess! :

** An idea, perhaps if a fellow fails a save, but is within 5 pts of the TN, he only takes half Con damage?
 

gizmomathboy wrote:

Heck, the party cryomancer (the only one in the party that can cast Identify) has a low enough CN that hey is knocked about when casting Identify. So it takes 2 days to Identify 1 magic item.

I had a Colour Out of Space show up in Khromarium. The party member closest was able to escape from it as it went about harassing everyone else near by. It is still rather terrifying even thought it "only" drains CN, and even then you lose 1 point permanently.

You're getting soft in your old age Ghul ;-)

Yeah, my Cryomancer is the same:

https://hyperborea.boardhost.com/viewtopic.php?pid=28732#p28732

I suppose, one could just roll 50/50 chance of using old method or new method each time you meet one of the draining monsters...

Is there an Amulet of Soul Protection; +5 vs Con Drain in Hyperborea?
 

Periapt of Fortitude?