Question about Level Drain negation.

[herrhauptmann]

I was working on a character where I was going to give him the Lifedrinker weapon out of the DMG/SRD if we started at a higher level.

But, the standard ways of negating the level drain is to be a golem or undead (warforged and necropolitan), which does not fit with the character concept for a number of reasons. Thus, I started looking for other ways to get around this.


So I have to ask the playground to doublecheck my reading on this.
Deathward (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/deathWard.htm) would protect this character, though having to cast a 4th level spell for each combat would get annoying. As would begging the DMM:Persist cleric for a daily buff.
And if I can't get the party cleric to buff me (I shouldn't expect him to help fix the holes in my character concept and build), I could instead buy Soulfire Armor out of the BoED right? The effect description seems to be identical to the description of the spell.

edit for brevity.

[Flickerdart]

Necropolitans and Warforged are immune to negative levels. :smallwink:

[herrhauptmann]

Bump from page 2.
Also, edited the opening post to answer Flickerdart.

[Keld Denar]

Yea, Soulfire would in fact negate the negative levels from a Life Drinker, since it doesn't have the unpreventable clause that something like Unholy does (if you are good and holding an Unholy weapon, you gain a negative level, and Death Ward or similar would not protect you).

You could also Iron Heart Surge them away, or delay them with something like Sheltered Vitality until they are irrelevant.

The easiest way, however, is Soulfire.

[Cornelius Grim]

In the Libris Mortis there is a feat where every round you can attempt to remove a negative level. If you fail, you can try again on subsequent round. Basically there's a 100% chance to remove it before 24 hours. But it has Endurance, and some other feat I don't remember as a prerequisite. Alternatively, you can get a Ring of Negative Energy Protection (in DMG I think). That way you can't gain any negative levels in the first place, but it is pricey. I hope you enjoy piling on negative levels to people. I understand how fun that is. :smallbiggrin:

[herrhauptmann]

Hmmm...
Didn't think about using Iron Heart Surge for this. It'd work, but this particular character is pretty much an AOO machine. So I'd need to IHS pretty much every round.
It's pretty much a continuation of the build for this character (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=196596)

The character is an AOO machine. He hits you, and you then provoke if you don't attack him.
He'll likely be invisible, so you provoke for trying to attack him (spectral skirmisher PHB2).
He's got reach, so a bit of a lockdown effect. You provoke for trying to get to him.

The life drinker would be a chain whip, spinning sword, or something else 1 handed. (Some DMs allow changing the sample items around) Add in TWF and Double hit, and he now hits you twice for each AOO.
There's also feats that allow you to unleash a full attack routine during your AOO. Improved Combat Reflexes at Bab 12, gives you a +12/+7 attack during an AOO, at the cost of two AOOs for your turn. While Greater Combat Reflexes at Bab 12 gives you 12/7/2 at the cost of three AOOs. They're from Dragon Magazine.

As a result of all this, his actual damage dealt per hit is quite low. On the order of 1d6+str per hit. Thus my use of weapons with some combination of Roaring, Nerve wracking, Sudden Stunning, and the Lifedrinker enchantments.

Though I wouldn't mind any additions to this table of weapon effects.

{table=Head]Name|Book|Cost|Effect|Save
Wounding |DMG|+2|1 Con damage|None
MarrowCrushing |BoVD|+3|1 Con Damage|None
Enfeebling|BoED|+1|crit, 1d6+2 Temp Str Damage|None
Paralyzing|BoED|+2|Paralyzed up to 10 rounds|Will 17
Roaring|BoED|+3|Shaken, 2d6 sonic|Will 22
Nervewrack|D.Uund|+1|On Crit Many effects1d4 rounds|None
Subjugating|Heroes of Battle|+2|Shaken/Frightened 5 rounds|Will 20
Doom Burst|Mini|+1|Crit, shaken 5minutes|None
Paralytic Burst|Mini|+2|Crit, Hold Monster|None
Weakening|Shining South|+3|1 Str Damage|None
Lifedrinker weapon|DMG/SRD|38k|2 negative levels, 1 negative level on user|Fort 16, next day.
Sudden Stunning|DMG2|2000|Swift action, 1d4+1 rounds|Ref: 10+ 1/2 level+User Cha mod
[/table]

Now, just gotta figure out a way to be useful against undead and golems.
Basic bipedal undead will be ruined by the addition of improved trip. But not all undead are medium sized.
And Golems tend to be big, with high strength scores.
Don't have to be equally as effective against them as I would against normal living opponents, but I'd like to be able to do more than just 'aid another' throughout the fight.

edit: Fixed feat name

[herrhauptmann]

Wow, didn't realize I spent that long writing my response to Keld...

In the Libris Mortis there is a feat where every round you can attempt to remove a negative level. If you fail, you can try again on subsequent round. Basically there's a 100% chance to remove it before 24 hours. But it has Endurance, and some other feat I don't remember as a prerequisite. Alternatively, you can get a Ring of Negative Energy Protection (in DMG I think). That way you can't gain any negative levels in the first place, but it is pricey. I hope you enjoy piling on negative levels to people. I understand how fun that is. :smallbiggrin:

Hmm, I'll have to look up that feat when I get back to my books.

Not seeing the ring in the SRD, it's probably in Complete Divine or MiC. Just hope it's not that ring that gets destroyed after it functions X times.

This will probably make fights fun/boring for the party. And frustrating for the DM, depending on optimization level. If I'm in a party with a Frenzied Berserker, DMM:Persist/Heighten Cleric, and a Bariaur Ubercharger, it probably won't matter that I'm dealing like 5 negative levels per turn. But in a more normal game, it'll be an issue. Also, I'd be making some of these guys (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/wight.htm) each fight. Which might screw over the weaker cohorts. :smalltongue:

[Cornelius Grim]

Wow, didn't realize I spent that long writing my response to Keld...


Hmm, I'll have to look up that feat when I get back to my books.

Not seeing the ring in the SRD, it's probably in Complete Divine or MiC. Just hope it's not that ring that gets destroyed after it functions X times.

This will probably make fights fun/boring for the party. And frustrating for the DM, depending on optimization level. If I'm in a party with a Frenzied Berserker, DMM:Persist/Heighten Cleric, and a Bariaur Ubercharger, it probably won't matter that I'm dealing like 5 negative levels per turn. But in a more normal game, it'll be an issue. Also, I'd be making some of these guys (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/wight.htm) each fight. Which might screw over the weaker cohorts. :smalltongue:

I'm playing a character who deals negative levels too, focused around his wights. At level 6 using third party feats he gets a wight familiar. I'll finally have a character who has decent minions. I hope your wights are going to do good. Make sure to pimp them out with magic items! :smallbiggrin:

[TroubleBrewing]

I hope your wights are going to do good.

Charismatic, charitable and charming Wights? (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/OurWightsAreDifferent)