Inflicted Templates

[NeoSeraphi]

Inflicted templates are pretty harsh, to say the least. By "inflicted template", I am referring to a high-cost template that you don't get to choose to select, such as afflicted lycanthropy or vampirism. If you get killed by a vampire, you rise as a vampire. Suddenly, you have +8 LA, and even though you are really freaking cool now, you also can't adventure during the day unless you're in your gaseous form and you level up much more slowly than the rest of the party.

Meanwhile, if you just get bitten by a natural lycanthrope, you can take a serious penalty with a failed Fort save. A bunch of animal hit dice and a +2 LA ontop of it?

Yes, you get really cool flavor and some powerful attacks for this stuff, but the LA/RHD is harsh and the worst part is if your DM inflicts this onto you but doesn't give you some kind of way of treating it for a while. Like if you're in a dungeon and you don't have a means of teleportation, and no one in your party has remove curse or belladonna. Then you're stuck being a werebear and gaining no XP until you get to a high level cleric, probably not only after the dungeon but one or two random encounters later, if that soon.

DMs, how do you deal with this? The obvious answer is "Don't give the party these challenges, or if you do, hold yourself back to make sure they don't get cursed", but that seems kind of lame. I mean, werewolves and vampires are iconic villains, almost as iconic as red dragons or liches or a necromancer who really seems to have more black onyx than a normal person should have access to.

Players, have you ever had an inflicted template thrust upon you? How did you deal with the LA?

[Eonir]

I actually was inflicted with vampirism at one point. It sucked for a few sessions, because of all the aforementioned downsides, but eventually I grew to love it. That, and I became very friendly with vials of liquid night.

All in all, yeah its a HUGE hit to your character advancement, but it was wonderful for the story and I got to develop my character in ways I hadn't thought of before. Randomness is a part of real life, so its a part of DnD as well. Embrace your inner wolf (or bear, or rat, or tiger, or whatever).

[Zubrowka74]

... It sucked for a few sessions...


I bet it did. :smallsmile:

[Calanon]

I bet it did. :smallsmile:

lol vampire puns...

Try dealing with a DM that forces you to become a Lich :smallannoyed: Theres no way to get out of that since its a willing thing...

On a side note: Phanes are the most unfair thing to ever sick on anything with a life span :smallannoyed:

[Lateral]

Try dealing with a DM that forces you to become a Lich :smallannoyed: Theres no way to get out of that since its a willing thing...

...How did they force you to become a lich? That's not an affliction, that's something a character chooses to undergo at great cost. That's like forcing your character to, say, take a Barbarian level at Wizard 5. Is there a reason for this?

[Eonir]

lol vampire puns...


I just giggled like a little girl.

[Coidzor]

Inflicted templates are pretty harsh, to say the least. By "inflicted template", I am referring to a high-cost template that you don't get to choose to select, such as afflicted lycanthropy or vampirism. If you get killed by a vampire, you rise as a vampire. Suddenly, you have +8 LA, and even though you are really freaking cool now, you also can't adventure during the day unless you're in your gaseous form and you level up much more slowly than the rest of the party.

Meanwhile, if you just get bitten by a natural lycanthrope, you can take a serious penalty with a failed Fort save. A bunch of animal hit dice and a +2 LA ontop of it?

If you're not just out of a character because your PC just became an NPC outright, yeah.

[Calanon]

...How did they force you to become a lich? That's not an affliction, that's something a character chooses to undergo at great cost. That's like forcing your character to, say, take a Barbarian level at Wizard 5. Is there a reason for this?

"After fighting the phane you only have 5 years of life left in your character, so either roll up a character or become a Lich" :smallannoyed:

It was blatant railroading on his part... that I had to deal with...
Of course I eventually got over it and stopped caring...

EDIT: That character after I retired him did become a villain for 2 other campaigns... was alright seeing my work being used in a later game... :smallredface:

[Hiro Protagonest]

"After fighting the phane you only have 5 years of life left in your character, so either roll up a character or become a Lich" :smallannoyed:

It was blatant railroading on his part... that I had to deal with...
Of course I eventually got over it and stopped caring...

EDIT: That character after I retired him did become a villain for 2 other campaigns... was alright seeing my work being used in a later game... :smallredface:

Why the hell didn't you just continue as it was? You had five more years left to adventure. I'm guessing you were a wizard, so even if the DM forced you to take the penalties of aging without the benefits, it wouldn't have been much of a hindrance.

Plus, you could've spent those five years researching to become an archlich.

[NeoSeraphi]

Ah, phanes. It's hilarious how they're the only thing left that make a druid's 17th level ability applicable anymore. Silly magical aging. :smallamused:

[Coidzor]

Plus, you could've spent those five years researching to become an archlich.

Right, because a railroader DM would totally let him research to become an archlich. :smalltongue:

[Wavelab]

Right, because a railroader DM would totally let him research to become an archlich. :smalltongue:

*Giggle Giggle*

Why didn't you just become a necropolitain? Problem solved.

[Calanon]

*Giggle Giggle*

Why didn't you just become a necropolitain? Problem solved.

...Because I didn't think about it :smallredface:

[KillianHawkeye]

"After fighting the phane you only have 5 years of life left in your character, so either roll up a character or become a Lich" :smallannoyed:

I don't understand this. How many campaigns actually last several years of a character's life? Five years may as well be fifty. You're much more likely to die a violent death before then either way.

[Calanon]

I don't understand this. How many campaigns actually last several years of a character's life? Five years may as well be fifty. You're much more likely to die a violent death before then either way.

a revamped 3.5 version of the Age of Netheril from the year of the Excursion into Extinction to the fall of Netheril. 30 years after the Excursion my character was attacked by a Phane losing a large portion of his lifespan and I refused to have to fill 30 years of backstory! The characters were expected to last way longer then 5 years... Anywho! Still use that character to this day for other campaigns... sometimes he's used as a Villain but overall? Doesn't see to much light anymore... :smallfrown:

most heavy RP campaign I've ever been in... lots of spellcrafting, character building, took a solid year to even get to where we are today... (Level 40 was the cap)

[Bogardan_Mage]

"After fighting the phane you only have 5 years of life left in your character, so either roll up a character or become a Lich" :smallannoyed:
Why are those the only options? There must be hundreds of ways to cheat death in this game, even death by old age.

[Coidzor]

Why are those the only options? There must be hundreds of ways to cheat death in this game, even death by old age.

Must not have had a druid in the party, I suppose.

[Calanon]

Must not have had a druid in the party, I suppose.

a revamped 3.5 version of the Age of Netheril from the year of the Excursion into Extinction to the fall of Netheril.

Of course theres no druids... We didn't even have any Clerics and we still went full armed to the teeth Wizards :smallamused: **** was crazy... :smallbiggrin:


Why are those the only options? There must be hundreds of ways to cheat death in this game, even death by old age.

LOL YOUR RIGHT :smallbiggrin: some of them hadn't been invented yet or weren't as wide spread but they certainly did exist :smallbiggrin: Ioulaum's Longevity was the only way to expand your lifespan but unfortunately Ioulaum was in his mid 30's and thus did not need the spell yet... Although after becoming a Lich I did create a prototype of the spell that only has much harsher requirements... Requiring the caster to sacrifice another caster to gain there remaining years of life... Of course the DM ruled that the spell would take longer then 5 years to complete so I scraped it and went to Lichdom... then after accomplishing that finished the spell... :smallannoyed:

Ah well... thats how the loaded dice roll :smallfrown:

[Demonic_Spoon]

I don't suppose you could have used the Steal Life spell from BoVD? :smallconfused:

[Alleran]

I don't suppose you could have used the Steal Life spell from BoVD? :smallconfused:
Or Ensul's Soultheft (City of Splendours). It was even explicitly developed in Netheril.