Post by solfe on Jul 11, 2021 23:42:26 GMT -5
In my other thread, I mentioned that I allow silver weapons to be used to strike magical creatures.
I also have a twist house rule for life stealing. Life draining creatures exist between two realms. There is the expectation that anything that travels the planes is a life stealer. Devils, demons, etc. all have this power in my campaigns. Usually it's in lieu of a different attack and I use it for drama. The basic criteria in my campaign is that the plane crosser must be immortal. Life stealing githyanki would be way too much, but it does explain their fancy swords. They probably encounter this problem all the time.
Another quirk of this system is disruption. If a player strikes the lifestealer with a weapon or spell that is 100% effective, that creature cannot drain in that round. It is also weakened to the point that non-magical weapons can affect it for the rest of the round. Silver arrows are life savers in this scenario, as are spells. Tick-tick-tick, the clock is running! Make those initiative rolls or beat feet. This makes those Lost Boys style combats incredibly likely and reasonable, which is also very fun.
As a second twist, if the PC's kill the lifestealer, they get their lost levels and powers back the next day, no saving throw required. This one is give and take, and I love it. Imagine the look on the player's faces when they expect that they're going to get those levels back and end up with this discussion:
"No, you don't."
"Oh, crap. That thing is still alive!"
"Eyup."
They have a short period of time where they can track down the beastie and kill it. The rule is, if the lifestealer regains all of their hit points by healing the lifestealing is permanent. It puts teeth in the vampires who regenerate or have magical stock piles.
What do you think?
I also have a twist house rule for life stealing. Life draining creatures exist between two realms. There is the expectation that anything that travels the planes is a life stealer. Devils, demons, etc. all have this power in my campaigns. Usually it's in lieu of a different attack and I use it for drama. The basic criteria in my campaign is that the plane crosser must be immortal. Life stealing githyanki would be way too much, but it does explain their fancy swords. They probably encounter this problem all the time.
Another quirk of this system is disruption. If a player strikes the lifestealer with a weapon or spell that is 100% effective, that creature cannot drain in that round. It is also weakened to the point that non-magical weapons can affect it for the rest of the round. Silver arrows are life savers in this scenario, as are spells. Tick-tick-tick, the clock is running! Make those initiative rolls or beat feet. This makes those Lost Boys style combats incredibly likely and reasonable, which is also very fun.
As a second twist, if the PC's kill the lifestealer, they get their lost levels and powers back the next day, no saving throw required. This one is give and take, and I love it. Imagine the look on the player's faces when they expect that they're going to get those levels back and end up with this discussion:
"No, you don't."
"Oh, crap. That thing is still alive!"
"Eyup."
They have a short period of time where they can track down the beastie and kill it. The rule is, if the lifestealer regains all of their hit points by healing the lifestealing is permanent. It puts teeth in the vampires who regenerate or have magical stock piles.
What do you think?
