does "Consume Memory" erase memory?

[Bridger011]

So the Veiled Master has this ability called consume memory.

"When a veiled master bites a creature, it consumes some of that creature’s memories. The creature bitten must succeed at a DC 24 Fortitude save or gain 1 negative level. A veiled master has 5 hit points restored each time it gives a creature a negative level in this way, and it also learns some of the target creature’s memories (subject to the GM’s discretion). This is a mind-affecting effect. A veiled master can suppress this ability as a free action. The save DC is Charisma-based."

but it doesn't explicitly say that it erases the memory it has consumed. would it be right to assume that it erases whatever it consumes from the subject of the attack?

[TxSam88]

it only does what the spell says it does, so no, nothing is erased.

[Melkiador]

I believe the negative level is supposed to represent the loss of memories.

[Claxon]

It doesn't actually give any ideas on what memories would be erased/consumed. Like there is no priority (important memories, most recent memories, etc) or an indication of how much (does one bit erase 5 minutes, 1 year)?

Ultimately it's better to say that the name is merely to evoke ideas. It might be better named "Memory Copying Bite" but it doesn't have the same impact.

[Mysterious Stranger]

I have to agree with Melkiador on this. You start to forget how to do just about everything. Taking a -1 on all ability checks, attacks, saves and skills means you forgot a lot.

[Diego Rossi]

I would say that the spell removes random snippets of memories, not whole ones. You forget a few times you have seen a face or some heraldry, so you get a -1 to Knowledge (nobles), you forget a bit of your combat training, so you get a -1 attack modifier, and so on.
You never forget a whole event unless the cumulative negative levels are so many that any relevant check will fail.

[Pizza Lord]

Like the others, I would say that this is a general and broad sense of memories. You forget what someone's facial expressions were five years ago when you bumped into them leaving the bar, or you forget how the hilt of your sword felt in your fingers the 19th time you picked it up. In most cases it's an irrelevant or not usual memory anyway and, as eyewitness accounts tell us, are faulty anyway and most unremembered details are just filled in by your own brain to make cognitive sense. You try and imagine the 19th time you picked up your hilt and that memory isn't there, but your brain doesn't say, "Hey, there's a gap!" to you, instead you just have a memory of it being similar to every other time you picked up your sword and assume that's how it was, since there wasn't anything actually different enough to make it stand out.

Similar to how a ghost's attack is an aging attack and deals damage. It doesn't actually age the target (nor does it de-age them when the damage is healed), but it ages the skin or muscle cells at the struck location (say your arm), causing those cells to rapidly age and die. This is something that happens to thousands if not millions of cells daily, its just happening more rapidly (and to cells that weren't to die of old age) in such a manner as to be damaging. It doesn't make the target age 5, 10, or 20 years just because a small snippet of them did so.

Same with the memory loss, it's likely spread out over countless forgettable and insignificant seconds and images that even if your brain is guesstimating what actually was there, is probably close enough just based on probability and is not likely to have an effect on a specific memory or experience unless the GM wishes it to for game purposes. The negative level is the mechanical effect that covers momentary confusion or 'gaps' and such in your experience or reactions and the specific details are left to whatever fits for the situation and individual affected.

[Mysterious Stranger]

When I run and a character want’s to remember something I will often have them make an INT check to see what the character remembers. A negative level gives a -1 penalty on ability checks which reduces the chance of the character remembering the details of the event they are trying to remember. If I were running I might have the characters start making INT rolls more often and even assigning some a DC 0.

In addition to the -1 penalty on checks the character is also treated as one level lower for level dependent abilities. Your casters spells are less powerful, a rogue may lose sneak attack dice and his bonus for finding traps is reduced, a bard's performances are less effective, almost every class has abilities that are affected.

The mechanics of the negative level covers the memory loss very well.