Draft:Level drain
Level drain reduces the player's experience level and both current and maximum HP. The ordinary level-drain effect leaves accumulated experience points intact. Negative-energy immunity protects against the checked life-draining touch of undead, but many direct level-loss effects bypass that protection.[1]
Effects
For an ordinary positive drain of N levels, let L and H be the player's level and maximum HP immediately before the effect. The HP loss per drained level is floor(H / (L + 1)).[2]
| Value | Result |
|---|---|
| Experience level | Reduced by N |
| Maximum HP | Reduced by N × floor(H / (L + 1)) |
| Current HP | Reduced by the same amount, without armor or a damage-immunity check |
| Experience points | Unchanged by this ordinary effect |
| Immediate death | Occurs if current HP falls below one or level falls below zero |
Level zero is therefore not automatically fatal. For example, at level 4 with maximum HP 50 and current HP 35, draining two levels leaves level 2, maximum HP 30 and current HP 15. The same drain from current HP 15 is lethal. This is a direct loss, not elemental HP damage absorbed by armor.[3]
The ordinary undead life-draining touch first checks negative-energy immunity. Without it, approximately half the time it subtracts the attacker's level from both Strength and Constitution, killing the player if either falls below three; otherwise it drains that many levels. Its ordinary physical hit is separate. This life-drain effect does not itself remove mana.[4]
Sources
| Source | Level loss | Important condition |
|---|---|---|
| Spirit melee, such as spectres and vampire lords | Attacker level, in the level-loss branch | Landed melee followed by the negative-energy check; the other branch drains Strength and Constitution |
| Shared monster level-drain spell | Caster level | Available from caster level 7; spell resistance applies before the effect, but negative-energy immunity does not |
| Incubus or succubus invitation | 1–3 | Accepting the invitation; this is direct drain, not the protected spirit-touch route |
| Cursed cloak of negimmunity | Absolute curse magnitude | When its cursed worn power is applied; removal does not refund levels |
| Cursed scroll of heroism | Absolute curse magnitude | Also clears heroism; the cowardice message does not mean timed fear |
| Azoth | 0–9 | Positive enchantment but blessing below +1; also halves the recorded Power maximum and sets current Power to it |
| Desecrator | Player's damage rating | Its weapon effect against a target when the wielder's alignment is zero or positive |
| Hellfire aimed at a square without a monster | 5 | A wasted target invokes the penalty; targeting yourself instead causes direct death |
| Energy drain aimed at yourself | All current levels | Reaches level zero if the accompanying HP loss is survived |
| Energy drain reversed against a monster | Monster's level after it gains one level | A negative-energy-immune target; strengthens the monster and sets a nonnegative-level player's mana to zero |
| Burnt-out orb | Current level minus one | Also removes spell knowledge and item powers, drains mana and reduces Power |
Negative-energy protection does not stop the direct-drain rows. Energy drain against a monster normally deals negative-energy damage and weakens its combat values, but an immune target reverses that benefit. The cowardice death description calls its source a potion, although the actual cursed consumable is a scroll.[5]
The burnt-out orb uses a signed amount: at level zero, current level minus one is -1, so that part of the effect raises level to one and increases current and maximum HP rather than draining them. Its other destructive effects still occur. This is not an ordinary restoration item.[6]
Some events reset both level and experience instead of using this formula. Examples include a chaos-storm memory wipe, Athena's punishment for certain changes of patron and refusing the Adept gate above level 100. Their HP, rank, spell and attribute consequences differ, and the unchanged-experience recovery described below does not apply to experience that was actually erased.[7]
Protection
A noncursed cloak of negimmunity adds negative-energy immunity while used; removing it removes that contribution. Successful Orb of Earth use also adds 100 negative-energy immunity. Neither blocks every effect whose description says that it drains energy.[8]
Against spirit melee, avoiding the landed attack or having negative-energy immunity addresses the follow-up. Physical immunity or displacement only handles its separate physical damage. Against the shared drain spell, the spell-resistance check matters instead. Against an invitation, unsafe item or wasted hellfire, avoid the specific trigger; equipping elemental or negative-energy protection does not change that direct-drain call.[9]
Recovery and strategy
Ordinary drain preserves XP but does not immediately recheck levels. The next normal experience award performs an upgrade check repeatedly until the player's level matches the retained experience. A small award can therefore regain several drained levels, provided the player survives and no separate event removed the XP.[10]
Regained levels roll fresh HP gains from 1 through current Constitution. Each gain increases maximum HP; current HP is raised proportionally when injured, and mana is replenished to at least the recalculated normal maximum. This does not restore a saved copy of the old HP totals. Weakened Constitution can make the new HP gains worse than the loss.[11]
A noncursed potion of restoration or restoration spell repairs current attributes toward their recorded maxima. It can repair the Strength/Constitution branch of life drain, but does not directly restore levels, XP or maximum HP. Healing supplies HP without undoing the drain, and a week at the Arms resets attributes and HP without supplying the ordinary experience award needed to recheck levels.[12]
Protect against the route you are actually facing. A fragile character can die before retained XP is of any use, while a character with sufficient levels can still die from low current HP or from the attribute branch of a touch. After surviving, recover necessary HP and attributes and seek a manageable source of experience; do not assume that drinking restoration alone returns the lost levels.
References
- ↑ effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 323–336; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 1167–1192; mspec.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 198–207.
- ↑ effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 323–336.
- ↑ effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 323–336.
- ↑ mmelee.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 124–129; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 1167–1192; util.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 25–31.
- ↑ mspec.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 135–207; mtalk.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 518–558; itemf1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 262–280; itemf1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 370–385; iinit.h in Omega 0.90.4, line 126; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 714–729; itemf2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 432–451; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 988–1002; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 1028–1069; spell.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 392–395; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 547–569.
- ↑ itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 547–569; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 323–336.
- ↑ aux3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 295–310; priest.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 199–220; site2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 331–350.
- ↑ itemf1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 370–385; itemf3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 441–481.
- ↑ mmelee.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 8–20; mmelee.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 124–129; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 1167–1192; aux3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 395–414; effect3.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 323–336.
- ↑ aux1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 659–670; aux2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 451–502.
- ↑ aux2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 451–482.
- ↑ effect2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 451–475; itemf1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 246–252; spell.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 105–109; effect1.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 203–226; site2.c in Omega 0.90.4, lines 109–131.