a question about negative levels

[xPANCAKEx]

if i make an attack that bestows a negative level on a monster without class levels, what penalties do i apply?

if this has already been covered a million times/is in the dmg some plz point me in the right direction and that would be dandy!

[Eldariel]

Same as always. Glossary helps. Also, think this belongs in the Simple Questions Q&A.

[Assassin89]

I think negative levels work on effective character level.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/conditionS...#energyDrained

[herrhauptmann]

I thought they counted as reducing racial hit dice.
So a 4HD monster with ECL +2 and 1 class level, counts as a level 7 character. However, he's only got 5 hit dice, so he can absorb 4 negative levels before being destroyed.

[Irreverent Fool]

(Assuming this is a question about D&D 3.x) To save from having to do all of the math of draining levels every time you bestow a negative level, the developers came up with negative levels.

When you bestow a negative level on a creature, it gains the following penalties for each negative level gained, regardless of whether it has class levels or not:

* -1 on all skill checks and ability checks.
* -1 on attack rolls and saving throws.
* -5 hit points.
* -1 effective level (whenever the creature’s level is used in a die roll or calculation, reduce it by one for each negative level).
* If the victim casts spells, she loses access to one spell as if she had cast her highest-level, currently available spell. (If she has more than one spell at her highest level, she chooses which she loses.) In addition, when she next prepares spells or regains spell slots, she gets one less spell slot at her highest spell level.

If 24 hours pass, the creature in question generally must make a fort save (as described on the page) or permanently lose the levels (or HD) and all associated features. This usually requires a bit of bookwork, but most creatures the PCs bestow negative levels on are slain by the PCs long before this, so you can just keep track of the number of negative levels it has. If you do end up having to calculate this, monster HD essentially work as class levels and are listed in the back of the monster manual or in the SRD. A gnoll for example has 2 humanoid HD.

If a creature ever has a number of negative levels equal to its current levels/HD, it is instantly slain and raises as a wight (or appropriate undead if the source of negative levels has an ability that makes the creature rise as a different type).

I thought they counted as reducing racial hit dice.
So a 4HD monster with ECL +2 and 1 class level, counts as a level 7 character. However, he's only got 5 hit dice, so he can absorb 4 negative levels before being destroyed.

This is correct. Only class levels and HD count for this. ECL does not figure in at all. One of the weaknesses of having an LA as a player character is the fact that such a PC has fewer HD for the purposes of level drain and HD-dependent abilities (such as sleep and frightful presence). Remember though that any creature killed through level drain raises as a wight, which you will then have to fight! The -5 hp per negative level as well as normal combat damage will usually slay the creature by HP before they reach 0 HD, though.

obnoxious
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