[DT] Level Drain

[Oedipussy Rex]

The undead create an unthinking, irrational fear in people who believe in such things. What game mechanic can cause that fear in players of a game where a new character can be rolled up and ready to go in less than 10 minutes? The threat of taking away the thing that players cherish above all others: time. A level drain isn't a loss of abilities; it's the loss of the time invested in getting the character to that level. With a character death, one's time with the character is over, but one still has had all that time with the character. With a level drain, that time has been taken away.

Is it overly harsh? No. Level drain, like a dog's growl or a snake's rattle, is nature's way of saying, "Don't touch." But just like with growling dogs and rattlesnakes, some people just gotta touch anyway. They just can't help themselves.