I have a halfling bard I want to turn into a Thrall of Malcanthet and go through the prestige class. I've talked with the DM about the requirements and my husband and I have just about everything worked through except this:
I can take the prestige class at lvl 20. One of the requirements is willingly receiving a kiss from a succubus, which causes a negative level. However, that puts me at lvl 19, which is the level I qualify to take the class. ... so ... how does one take the effect of a negative level, and within a respectable timeframe, regain the exp. to get back to lvl 20/lvl 1 thrall?
it may be just me... but it seems very confusing.
Creative Director
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I have a halfling bard I want to turn into a Thrall of Malcanthet and go through the prestige class. I've talked with the DM about the requirements and my husband and I have just about everything worked through except this:
I can take the prestige class at lvl 20. One of the requirements is willingly receiving a kiss from a succubus, which causes a negative level. However, that puts me at lvl 19, which is the level I qualify to take the class. ... so ... how does one take the effect of a negative level, and within a respectable timeframe, regain the exp. to get back to lvl 20/lvl 1 thrall?
it may be just me... but it seems very confusing.
Greater Restoration can restore a permanently lost level that's been lingering for sevreal weeks; but no more than one week per caster level. What this basically means is that once you get your negative level, you have that many weeks to gain enough XP to level up into the next level. It's a pretty tough requirement to meet if you want to avoid permanently falling behind, but that sort of the point since the Thrall of Malcanthet class is pretty powerful.
SO! What your halfling needs to do is get his kiss, which drops you to 19th level. You then need to gain enough XP to hit 20th level again, at which point you take your first level of Thrall of Malcanthet. At THAT point, you can get the greater restoration spell (remember, at minimum caster level of 13, that's still over 3 months to get your XP back), and presto, you jump up ANOTHER level. Basically, you're borrowing from the future to finance your thrall class, and if you time it right, when you finally qualify for the class, you actually gain two levels in short order. You just had to endure being lower level than you should be for a few weeks.
If you're in a campaign that has longer XP progression, though, where months or even years can pass before you level up, you basically have 2 choices.
1) Grit and bear it. You'll be a level behind but you'll have the class you want. This is not a very optimal choice, though.
2) Ask your GM to waive the restriction of not being able to remove the negative level. This would be my recommendation; the requirement's purpose is to force a character to set aside some of his power in the short term so he can regain that power PLUS MORE in the long term; it's absolutely not meant to be a punishment, and if your campaign's set up that it makes it one, then the Thrall requirements absolutely need to be changed for that campaign.
Thanks alot!
For some reason, that cleared things up better for me than having three people talking the answer all out at once.