Necropolitan Level Loss

[Warchon]

Just looking at this template and something struck me about the details. Under the description of the Crucimigration ritual, it states that you lose a level plus 1000 xp, and if that 1000 costs you another level, you lose that too.
Only catch is that will never happen.
The ritual states that you lose a level "as if raise dead had been cast upon you."
Well raise dead makes you lose a level as if hit with energy drain, and levels lost this way explicitly set your xp value at the midpoint of the previous level.

L1: Destroyed outright
L2: Set to level 1 with 500 xp, then destroyed by xp loss
L3: Set to level 2 with 1000 xp, which you then lose.
L4+: Survive with xp to spare.

I realize D&D is a cacaphony of poorly written rules as is, I just wanted to share anyway.


Bonus round: the ritual actually states both that if your secondary xp loss causes another level loss you lose it (which can't happen) AND that if you spend xp in this way to bring your total to 0 or less, you are destroyed.
Technically the game does not allow you to keep xp already spent on gaining a level, as any crafter knows. So when an L3 character undergoes the ritual, by a strict RAW reading, she would become L2 with 1000 xp, and then be destroyed for hitting zero, even though the loss should not have caused a level loss AND she had a level to lose.

[Blue Jay]

Just looking at this template and something struck me about the details. Under the description of the Crucimigration ritual, it states that you lose a level plus 1000 xp, and if that 1000 costs you another level, you lose that too.
Only catch is that will never happen.
The ritual states that you lose a level "as if raise dead had been cast upon you."
Well raise dead makes you lose a level as if hit with energy drain, and levels lost this way explicitly set your xp value at the midpoint of the previous level.

L1: Destroyed outright
L2: Set to level 1 with 500 xp, then destroyed by xp loss
L3: Set to level 2 with 1000 xp, which you then lose.
L4+: Survive with xp to spare.

I realize D&D is a cacaphony of poorly written rules as is, I just wanted to share anyway.

If one of the later sourcebooks had come out with a feat or special class feature that lets you delay a level loss or gain some benefits in exchange for compounding XP losses, you might be remarking on how prescient the text of the Necropolitan template was.


Bonus round: the ritual actually states both that if your secondary xp loss causes another level loss you lose it (which can't happen) AND that if you spend xp in this way to bring your total to 0 or less, you are destroyed.

Technically the game does not allow you to keep xp already spent on gaining a level, as any crafter knows. So when an L3 character undergoes the ritual, by a strict RAW reading, she would become L2 with 1000 xp, and then be destroyed for hitting zero, even though the loss should not have caused a level loss AND she had a level to lose.

Just because XP is unavailable for crafting doesn't mean you don't have it. A character can't be both a 2nd-level character and have 0 XP.

[Warchon]

Just because XP is unavailable for crafting doesn't mean you don't have it. A character can't be both a 2nd-level character and have 0 XP.

I provisionally disagree with this. Although the 'leveling up' tables in the PHB do list TOTAL xp gained to attain a level and don't say anything about expending it, the language "you cannot spend experience points you don't have" appears several times, particularly in reference to crafting and under Necropolitan itself. Specifically it is the crafting section that uses this language, to prohibit the loss of a level, to craft an item or cast a spell, that makes me want to assert that levels gained are xp spent.

Provisional, of course, because this is obviously a "RAW is God" reading and no rational player or DM would ever try to enforce it.

[Blue Jay]

the language "you cannot spend experience points you don't have" appears several times...

I don't think that phrase is nearly as common as you think it is. Here's the actual language from the Item Creation Feats (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/feats.htm#itemCreationFeats) section of the SRD:


Experience that the spellcaster would normally keep is expended when making a magic item. The XP cost equals 1/25 of the cost of the item in gold pieces. A character cannot spend so much XP on an item that he or she loses a level. However, upon gaining enough XP to attain a new level, he or she can immediately expend XP on creating an item rather than keeping the XP to advance a level.

The same language is used in the Spell Components (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#components) section of the SRD:


XP Cost
Some powerful spells entail an experience point cost to you. No spell can restore the XP lost in this manner. You cannot spend so much XP that you lose a level, so you cannot cast the spell unless you have enough XP to spare. However, you may, on gaining enough XP to attain a new level, use those XP for casting a spell rather than keeping them and advancing a level.

XP used to level up is not expended: it's retained.

[Warchon]

Seems solid enough. :)