Equal Opportunity Energy Drain

Despite the bookkeeping hassle and the strained in-game explanations, level drain has one thing in its favor: inciting terror amongst players. This is a good thing, as the undead ought to incite terror, but it has its drawbacks: namely the fact that high level characters are far less vulnerable than low level characters. Some may assert that this is justifiable for the same reason that high level characters have more hit points, and thus are more difficult to kill, but I would respond that true terror ought to transcend the relative safety of experience. In fact, that's one of its most unsettling characteristics. This is why I have decided that in my own games, energy drain refers not to levels, but to how many six-sided dice you roll to determine your reduction in strength (which, at least in the version of Dungeons & Dragons I play, is independent of character level). Most undead will cause 1d6 points of strength to be drained. More powerful undead, such as vampires, will drain 2d6 points of strength. Zero strength equals death (and probably eventual undeath). If one survives such an attack, strength is restored at the rate of 1 point per week of rest. The usual spells (i.e. restoration and wish) will fully restore lost strength. As with the traditional energy drain, there is no saving throw to avoid its effects.

Healing and Constitution

Constitution, as the attribute that represents one's hardiness, ought to have an influence on the speed at which one recovers from wounds. Therefore, any bonus derived from one's constitution shall be added to one's normal daily rate of hit point recovery, which in the case of Basic/Expert D&D and Labyrinth Lord is 1d3 hit points per day of rest. Penalties for low constitution do not apply under normal circumstances. If, however, any of the wounds were caused by the undead, then the penalties are applied as follows: −1 penalty = 1 hit point per day of rest; −2 penalty = 1 hit point for every two days of rest; −3 penalty = 1 hit point for every three days of rest. The frail and sickly are especially vulnerable to attacks by the undead and correspondingly take longer to recover from an encounter with such.