Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 deimas May 27, 2011 11:38:09	I have not seen mention of this, (and search keeps sending me to 4th edition material), So I will post here and see if I am out in left field on this. I ran aparty through the "stone Dead" module.  And during the fight the party was rolling saving throws to avoid the Con draining of the golem/gravecrawler.  One member failed 3 times and lost 30 hitpoints of damge, (Con damage loses 1 hp per hit die that you have.  The marty was very bitter afterwards, and weak, since they had no way to repair the abilty damage until the next day. This got me to thinking. Con drain is a nasty little way of attacking the strength of the party, it affects hit points, saving throws and requires a mid level spell to repair.  The save vs the drain at DC 22 is not a huge risk for most high level parties (3 bad rolls in a row notwithstanding).  But! The Wounding Attack (XPH pg 52) is a nasty Psionic feat that causes the victim to lose a point of Constitution in addition to the regular damage dealt. And it has no save.  Pre-req's are the ability to take Psionic Feats and a BAB +8 So I thought of a fighter taking Wild Talent, and then taking this at 9th Level.  Then I thought of an Elan fighter, who already has a Poer Point Reserve and can take Psionic Feats. So a 9th level fighter, with Feats geared to add to hit (Weapon Specialization, Weaopn Focus etc) takes Psionic Meditation as his 6th level Feat, and Wounding Attack at 9th can regain his focus as a move action and use the first hit each round to take a point of Con away each round.  So in a fight versus a 10th level critter this would mean that while he gives up his mobility and goes toe to toe, he can attack at +9 base, + his fighter feat add-ons to hit, and do weapon damage + 10 points on the first hit, and regular damage on the next. Wash rinse repeat each round. Get a wounding weapon and it goes up to 2 points of  Con damage per initial hit, that's +20 on the damage. A monk/Psi Fist at 12th level could use Expansion, Claws of the Beast, Claws of the Vampire, Strength of my enemy to drain (no save 1 point of str and con) on the first hit, and 1 str point every hit. Am I missing something here? or is this a good combo?
#2 TelinArtho May 27, 2011 12:09:30	Well - it would be -1 HP/HD per 2 points of CON drain really (if it starts at an odd number - the 1st point would do it and then every other one after that). CON drain is nasty and one of the areas one of the participants in the Core Coliseum is using - though from a completely different route. Namely - he's a druid using poisons and a dire weasel animal companion that will attach. Still it can be very effective against opponents with a lot of HP due to CON and HD. Versus low level creatures, you won't see much benefit out of it of course and there's few that would die from lack of CON before also losing enough HPs. I'm personally fond of the versatility of bestow curse (Cleric 3) at reducing the effectiveness of the enemy according to my needs. 50% inaction is a good default, but if I need to target someone's Fort save (to get them with poison or most save or die spells) or Will save (to get them with hold person/monster or a number of cleric spells) - it is a good way to get them down. In short - debuffing can be very effective. In the case of the things you are showing above - it is mostly a mid-to-late game type of thing; there are a number of options available that are lower level (by level 5 for instance).