Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 EricKollman Jul 09, 2015 21:09:11	Does anyone craft any monsters or encounters that involve ability drains?  (strength, dexterity, etc.)  Or, tougher yet, XP and level losses?  For ability drains, I was wondering what type of mechanic you used?  Do you treat it like a disease that can be cured and, in the process the drained abilities return?
#2 Tiarn Jul 09, 2015 21:59:41	I dont use them for two reasons.  First, refiguring the math on your character sheet to determine your new attack/defense/what-have-you every time an undead thing hits you is directly counter to the "simplified combat" way 5e is designed.  Better to just do something simple (paralyze, disadvantage, etc) that's going to have largely the same effect ("you now suck at things").   Secondly, I have never (and I do mean never in the literal dozens of campaigns, hundreds of sessions I've played) seen even a single person get excited about losing things like ability scores, levels, or even experience.  That's just not going to be fun for anyone except possibly a DM (though even then, is it really fun?).   There's more elegant ways to give people penalties to things.  And there's more elegant ways to evoke horror in a game.  I try to find those.
#3 pukunui Jul 09, 2015 22:42:59	Tiarn wrote:
#4 Ralif_Redhammer Jul 10, 2015 7:29:24	Yep, Tiarn has the right of it. I like them more than the even more old-school level drain mechanic, which even back in the day I thought was cruel. But having to reconfigure your character on the fly in the middle of an adventure is a pain.
#5 AaronOfBarbaria Jul 10, 2015 9:41:34	I avoid any kind of penalty, like ability drains, that can't be fixed in a reasonable amount of time - and I mean reasonable in the afflicted character's player's mind, not my own idea of what is reasonable.   In the case of 5th edition, that means I don't use anything that can't be fixed with at most a long rest and preparing the right spell.
#6 jocanuck Jul 10, 2015 10:27:49	I play a mashup of ad&d and 5e. I DM a lot of the original ad&d modules and I keep the nasty cursed items around. So yes the is a possiblity of permanant ability loss. I don't use level drain or XP loss. I also use ad&d monster charm and sentient weapons rules.
#7 BRJN Jul 11, 2015 17:03:50	I so hated Ability Drains when I was on the receiving end of them that as DM I would only introduce it on a specific BBEG-style enemy, with lots of build-up beforehand about how scary and terrifying and un-natural his sucks-the-very-life-out-of-you attack / power is.   Wights have an attack with special rules to the tune of "Permanently reduces your max HP on each hit.  If you max drops to 0, you become not only dead but a new Wight.  This condition can be removed by sleeping through a Long Rest.  Then you can heal back up"  This is a neat substitute for ability drains - use it instead.