Immunity to negative levels?

[Raishoiken]

yeah, here this is again. likely the last time i'll ask this (at least here), but i was wondering if there was any non-magical (due to antimagic fields and what not) way to be completely immune to negative levels

immunity to energy drain wont do it, because energy drain isn't the only way to receive negative levels:
negative level: A loss of vital energy resulting from energy drain, spells, magic items, or magical effects

is there anything out there for this?

[Xalos]

You could die a few times and get resurrected by the local bishop B4 you get to lvl 2... ohh wait you DON'T want to get negative levels? Whats the fun in that?

[Ruethgar]

Endurance, Enduring Life, Lasting Life(Lebris Mortis) is a three feat tax that lets you delay and potentially remove negative levels. I put it on one of my spellcasters to gain access to Necropolitan spells. It makes for an ok balancing mechanic especially with Methodical Magical Methods meaning you have to eat up at least two turns to cast a spell and have the potential to die from it.

[Psyren]

1) "Energy Drain" in the description you quoted isn't actually referring to the spell, it is referring to the monster ability. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#energyDrainAndNegativeLevels)


Energy Drain And Negative Levels

Some horrible creatures, especially undead monsters, possess a fearsome supernatural ability to drain levels from those they strike in combat. The creature making an energy drain attack draws a portion of its victim’s life force from her.

(rules for negative levels follow)

2) For mundane defenses, you want the Enduring Life and Lasting Life feats from LM. The former allows you to ignore the effect of the negative levels for the whole combat, while the latter lets you repeatedly make will saves 1/round to peel them off.

[Brookshw]

yeah, here this is again. likely the last time i'll ask this (at least here), but i was wondering if there was any non-magical way to be completely immune to negative levels

immunity to energy drain wont do it, because energy drain isn't the only way to receive negative levels: [quote= Player's Handbook pg 310] negative level:A loss of vital energy resulting from energy drain, spells, magic items, or magical effects

is there anything out there for this?

Well, changing your creature type to something immune for starters (well, you say non-magical which would exclude most ways of changing your type so perhaps I should say instead play something with a different type). Most of the extra options you've flagged still are a byproduct of negative energy, some exceptions off hand could be alignment based gear such as holy weapons, but in such instances, just don't use them.

[Red Fel]

is there anything out there for this?

By non-magical way, do you mean items? Because if you do, have you checked the lists of necessary magic items (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?187851-3-5-Lists-of-Necessary-Magic-Items)?



Immunity to Death effects and/or energy drain and/or negative energy effects. (Lumped together because most things that protect against one of them protect against them all.)

Why you need it: Death effects kill you. Negative levels/energy drain are a very common, very wide-spanning debuff, which stack with themselves. Also, some of them cause you to permanently lose levels, which means you have to back-edit your character sheet, and no one wants to bother with that. All sorts of nasty things are caused by "negative energy".
Cheap:

Talisman of Undying Fortitude (MIC). 8000GP, held. Swift action activation, gives you lots of undead immunities for 3 rounds, including those that are relevant here.
Death Ward armor enhancement (MIC). +1 armor enhancement. Once per day, ignore Death effects, energy drain and negative energy effects as an immediate action.
Crystal of Adaptation armor crystal (MIC). 3000GP, armor crystal. Protects from the negative levels bestowed by visiting major negative-dominant planes.

Standard/Deluxe:

Soulfire Armor Enhancement (BoED). +4 armor enhancement. Total immunity to Death effects, energy drain, and negative energy.
Choker of Life Protection (MIC). 14000GP, throat slot. The cheaper version of the Bone Ring (below), requires immediate action activation, and can't handle ability drain, but is significantly cheaper.
Bone Ring (MIC). 20000GP, ring slot. Protects against three negative levels (or points of ability drain) per day, but not against Death effects or general "negative energy" effects.
Ring of Negative Protection (MIC). 36000GP, ring slot. Immunity to negative levels and negative-dominant planar traits, but not Death effects or negative energy effects in general.
Absorbing Armor Enhancement (DotF). +3 armor enhancement. Weird enhancement that allows partial protection against ability drain and "level drain". I'd hold out for Soulfire, but this is cheaper.

Not recommended:

Phylactery of Virtue (MIC), Scarab of Protection (DMG), Cornucopia of the Needful (MIC), Runestaff of the Undead Slayer (MIC), Cloak of Blackflame (MoF), Bone Bracers of the Death Deity (MoF)

[Raishoiken]

1) "Energy Drain" in the description you quoted isn't actually referring to the spell, it is referring to the monster ability. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#energyDrainAndNegativeLevels)



2) For mundane defenses, you want the Enduring Life and Lasting Life feats from LM. The former allows you to ignore the effect of the negative levels for the whole combat, while the latter lets you repeatedly make will saves 1/round to peel them off.

i was referring to the monster ability and there's still a chance that the save will fail


[QUOTE=Raishoiken;17494997]yeah, here this is again. likely the last time i'll ask this (at least here), but i was wondering if there was any non-magical way to be completely immune to negative levels

immunity to energy drain wont do it, because energy drain isn't the only way to receive negative levels:

Well, changing your creature type to something immune for starters (well, you say non-magical which would exclude most ways of changing your type so perhaps I should say instead play something with a different type). Most of the extra options you've flagged still are a byproduct of negative energy, some exceptions off hand could be alignment based gear such as holy weapons, but in such instances, just don't use them.

i say non-magical because i don't want it to have the potential of being turned off via antimagic field, etc. i should probably edit the OP to specify that

[Psyren]

i was referring to the monster ability and there's still a chance that the save will fail

Lasting Life lets you just keep trying again - there is no limit other than 1/round, even on prior failures. Meanwhile, the negative levels aren't actually affecting you thanks to Enduring Life. This is as close to mundane immunity as you're likely to get.



i say non-magical because i don't want it to have the potential of being turned off via antimagic field, etc. i should probably edit the OP to specify that

Most negative level/energy drain attacks are either supernatural or spells. If you're in an AMF you likely won't have to worry anyway :smalltongue:

[Raishoiken]

Lasting Life lets you just keep trying again - there is no limit other than 1/round, even on prior failures. Meanwhile, the negative levels aren't actually affecting you thanks to Enduring Life. This is as close to mundane immunity as you're likely to get.



Most negative level/energy drain attacks are either supernatural or spells. If you're in an AMF you likely won't have to worry anyway :smalltongue:

just looked up enduring life (yaaay for rediscovered laptop charger!), and so far this is the best way to stave off the neg levels. and you gotta worry about devices in antimagic fields. likely not gonna happen, but still can. i'm trying to remove allll possibilities when i say immune

[Psyren]

Even with just 14 Con, Enduring Life will protect you for 20 rounds - plenty of time to keep rerolling your save from Lasting Life to make it work. And every point of Con bonus will add 10 more rounds to that total.

Aren't devices 3rd party/homebrew? If those are allowed you can just ask for/craft a device to protect you from negative levels too.

[Brookshw]

with just 14 Con, Enduring Life will protect you for 20 rounds - plenty of time to keep rerolling your save from Lasting Life to make it work. And every point of Con bonus will add 10 more rounds to that total.

Aren't devices 3rd party/homebrew? If those are allowed you can just ask for/craft a device to protect you from negative levels too.

I believe they're from Legacy of Blood, aren't they? If so, yup, seems to be 3rd party (http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/1588460894?pc_redir=1399828159&robot_redir=1).

[Svata]

Find a way to be undead, such as necropolitan or ten levels.in Walker in the Waste for Dry Lich. That's probably the easiest.

[Alex12]

Find a way to be undead, such as necropolitan or ten levels.in Walker in the Waste for Dry Lich. That's probably the easiest.

Not actually good enough. Oh, that'll protect you from energy drain no problem, but if you pick up a +1 Holy sword, you'll still take the negative level.

[Raishoiken]

hmmm... how would the whole
A character with negative levels at least equal to her current level, or drained below 1st level, is instantly slain work with something like the Tarrasque's regeneration which says that it can ONLY be wished or miracled into being dead

[Alex12]

hmmm... how would the whole work with something like the Tarrasque's regeneration which says that it can ONLY be wished or miracled into being dead

Given that "Attack forms that don’t deal hit point damage ignore regeneration." and the fact that the big T's regen ability doesn't specifically say it negates negative levels, it seems pretty clear that negative levels kill regenerators just fine. The problem with using this on the big T specifically is that it's immune to energy drain, which is still the main source of negative levels.

[Svata]

Not actually good enough. Oh, that'll protect you from energy drain no problem, but if you pick up a +1 Holy sword, you'll still take the negative level.

So immunity unless you deliberately do something to give you a negative level isn't good enough?

[Alex12]

So immunity unless you deliberately do something to give you a negative level isn't good enough?

I'm more responding to the OP's requests.

I'm just going to put this (http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=7936.0) here, and note that I assume that any sort of negative level that doesn't stem from using an item of the wrong alignment or something similar falls under the effect of "energy drain"

And the best ways to get the immunity even in an AMF are to be warforged or undead.

[Doc_Maynot]

For outside of an AMF, there is the Soulfire Armor Enhancement (+4, Book of Exalted Deeds).
Inside, unless one is utilizing 3rd party, you should never run into any.
If devices (mentioned 3rd party) are in play, just make or buy one of Death Ward (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/deathWard.htm) to protect you if you are unfortunately close enough to ones antimagic field, or in a dead magic zone.

[Raishoiken]

Given that "Attack forms that don’t deal hit point damage ignore regeneration." and the fact that the big T's regen ability doesn't specifically say it negates negative levels, it seems pretty clear that negative levels kill regenerators just fine. The problem with using this on the big T specifically is that it's immune to energy drain, which is still the main source of negative levels.

It doesn't call out negative levels, but instant death due to too many negative levels is still something that kills it outright. It's the kills outright vs can only die one way

[Alex12]

It doesn't call out negative levels, but instant death due to too many negative levels is still something that kills it outright. It's the kills outright vs can only die one way

And the part that only allows it to die in one way is a component of the regeneration. Which is explicitly ignored by non-hp-based effects. Granted, specific trumps general comes into play here, since T's regen gives it an out for when it fails a save against effects that instantly kill, but given wording, that's not an ironclad defense. If you can apply negative levels that doesn't provide a saving throw and aren't energy drain, you could kill the Tarrasque without resorting to Wish.

On a side note, I'm pretty sure you could also kill the Tarrasque if you could affect it with Undead Mask or a similar spell, which would remove the Con score. Since the unkillable thing is a component of regeneration, and creatures without a Con score can't have regeneration.

[Chronos]

Ooh, I never noticed that that clause in the Tarrasque only applied to failed saving throws. There's got to be some other way to exploit that... My first thought was Power Word: Kill, but unless you're bypassing the regeneration some other way, Big T always has 858 HP.

[Red Fel]

Hey, you guys! I was just in this other thread (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?348991-Chaotic-Classes-amp-PrCs) (don't bother, not relevant) and someone mentioned Abyssal Heritor feats. And that reminded me.

Heart of the Nabassu is an Abyssal Heritor feat that lets you soak a number of negative levels per day equal to the number of Abyssal Heritor feats you have. So if you have two AH feats (including this one), you can completely ignore two negative levels per day. Bam. Best of all, no prereqs.

It's not quite immunity, but it's a limited protection, at least. And it's non-magical - it still functions, even in an AMF.

[13ones]

yeah, here this is again. likely the last time i'll ask this (at least here), but i was wondering if there was any non-magical (due to antimagic fields and what not) way to be completely immune to negative levels

immunity to energy drain wont do it, because energy drain isn't the only way to receive negative levels:

is there anything out there for this?

Be a pathfinder Dhampir. (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/featured-races/arg-dhampir). Not 100% immune, but pretty close.

[bekeleven]

Can't recall any WS-able creatures with immunity to negative levels, but a master of many forms can gain immunity to energy drain by wild shaping into a shadow dragon or a kir-lanan gargoyle.