History Main / LevelDrain

[[AC:MMORPGs]]

* ''{{Persona 2}}'' has the "Prophecy" spell, which resets a Persona's rank to 1. Given that a Persona's spells and stats come mostly from gaining ranks, and going from rank 1 to [[{{Cap}} rank 8]] often takes several hours of LevelGrinding, this can be [[{{Understatement}} rather annoying]].

* There's at least [[ThatOneBoss one]] [[UnderStatement already difficult]] boss in ''{{The Legend of Dragoon}}'' (The Grand Jewel) that can take away levels from your current attack, and they will stay that way until you gain them back the hard way. In a part of the game with several boss fights in a short period of time, no less. There are also several bosses (including, again, the Grand Jewel) that make your dragoon abilities useless, which can be seen as leveling them down for the battle.
* In ''WildARMS3'', there's an enemy in [[BonusDungeon The Abyss]] called the [[DemonicSpiders Vampire]]. While it doesn't lower levels, their [[ThatOneAttack Kirlian Buster]] attack lowers MAX HP. This can be [[UnderStatement very bad]], considering they appear around the middle floors and can hit with it often. On the other hand, they only use it as a counter to [[FunctionalMagic Arcana]], but they counter physically attacks with nastily high powered hits...

* DungeonsAndDragons, as you might expect, is the TropeMaker and TropeNamer. Under most circumstances, the only way to defend against level drain was by making a saving throw against it, or by using magic items or spells that protected you against the drain.
** In the older games (and the [[{{Retraux}} retroclones based on them]]), if you lost a level to level drain, it was gone for good, and the only way to gain it back was the hard way, since restoration magic was out of the reach of spell casters until the highest levels. The earlier games also operated by having every gp of treasure earned count towards XP, so you didn't have to slog through tons of monsters in order to get back into tip-top shape (in addition to being a better way to survive the low levels due to the low HP that first-level characters had).
** In Advanced Dungeons and Dragons ''there was no save''. If an undead creature hit you, you got level drained and that was that. Worse, energy-draining touch attacks ignored armor, and the only real defensive spell against such attacks, Negative Plane Protection, only shielded ''one'' character against ''one'' level of drain. In practice, the only real defense against level draining undead basically boiled down to "don't let them get near you, ''ever''."
*** A First Edition spell called "Energy Drain" had the same Level Drain effect as being touched by an undead.
** Third Edition introduced the concept of "negative levels," which was basically temporary level loss that you then had to make a Fortitude save against at the end of the fight for every level that you "lost" this way. If you made it, you got the level back, but if you failed the save, it was gone for good and you had to gain it back the hard way.
** Fourth Edition did away with level drain entirely, instead having monsters that originally level-drained you (such as wights and wraiths) instead inflicting the Weakened condition on you (which simply halves the damage that you deal in combat until you make your saving throw to end it), immobilizing you (you can't move from your space unless you teleport until you make your save), taking away healing surges, and so on.
** Pathfinder finally eliminates the issue, by making almost all energy drain a temporary state. Failing the save to remove the negative level just meant you kept it for another day.
** Another game by TSR, ''GammaWorld'' (1st Edition), had the "De-Evolution" mutant ability. A "Sage Advice" article in Dragon Magazine confirmed that if a mutant with that ability showed up in a Dungeons And Dragons campaign, it would cause Level Drain like an undead monster.
* There were two kinds of Death monsters in ''{{Gauntlet}} Dark Legacy'': a Red Death which drained 1000 hit points, or a Black Death that would drain one level. Thankfully, the halo accessory meant you could drain from these Deaths, and draining from the Black Death would make your character gain a level, no matter how much XP they needed. This made LevelGrinding very quick.
* [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2009/3/4/ Tycho instructs Gabe on how to make his monsters more deadly.]]
--> "These hatchlings are a good start, but they should drink healing surges and eat five levels."
* Many {{Roguelikes}}, such as ''NetHack'', have this as just one of the many dangers that your character can face. Yes, they're NintendoHard.
** The original ''{{Rogue}}'' had one of these too, the Wraith. It drained a level but left you at the maximum experience of the previous level, so the experience from killing the wraith would make you go up a level again (though with minimal experience for it). Too bad if you got drained twice before killing one, though.
** ''{{Angband}}'' has not only various levels of EXP drains, but also melee attacks that lower any or all of your stats.
* A certain monster in ''Disciples II'' (Wight?) did this and also brought the target down one Evolution Level.

* ''FinalFantasyTactics'' has a "level down" trap that you can use to abuse the leveling system for ungodly powerful stats (though most players generally don't bother).
* This is Xykon's favorite form of attack in ''OrderOfTheStick''. He's used it on multiple occasions to take down other epic spellcasters.
* This is a major game mechanic in ''CaveStory''. You level up your weapons by collecting powerups that enemies drop, and getting injured by anything will lower your weapon level.
* ''PokemonMysteryDungeon'' has Doom Seeds, which lower your level by one if you're hit by one... or eat it. [[spoiler: ''Explorers of Sky'' also added a Lookalike Item called the ''Dough'' Seed, with a very ''good'' effect... Apparently to try and lure players into accidentally eating one.]]

* In ''MakaiKingdom'', any enemy with a hammer/mallet can steal a level with every hit. Sure it's easy to get back, but it's downright frustrating in the early levels. Also, you do not have such an ability, even if you have the best mallet in the game, putting this somewhere between MyRulesAreNotYourRules and SecretAIMoves.

* All damage is like this in the flash game series ''BubbleTanks''. Then again, the game does provide an AntiFrustrationFeature where they provide you with experience-giving [[PinataEnemy Pinata Enemies]] should you get hit too often.
* ''KingdomOfLoathing'' features items, equipment, and familiars that can do this to monsters. On the other side, there are also items and equipment that can ''add'' levels to the enemy, in order to boost their power (and the ExperiencePoints paid out for defeating them). A few rare items can do this to your own statistics, too.
* In ''VideoGame/AzureDreams'', there's a somewhat Grim Reaper-esque monster called Clown on the lower levels of the tower. Its special ability is a spell that drains a level from your PC or one of your familiars. Killing it brings the level back. However, this is treated as a new level-up, so all the EXP you collected mid-level are gone.

* In the early days of ''EverQuest'', you could fall into a "death loop"--If your spawn point was near a group of monsters, they'd keep killing you repeatedly. What made it even worse was that you'd spawn ''without your equipment'', making you even easier to kill. You could easily lose a level or more this way. As you can guess; this was a ScrappyMechanic.

<<|VideoGameTropes|>>

** In Advanced Dungeons and Dragons ''there was no save''. If an undead creature hit you, you got level drained and that was that. Worse, energy-draining touch attacks ignored armor, and the only real defensive spell against such attacks, Negative Plane Protection, only shielded one character against one level of drain. In practice, the only real defense against level draining undead basically boiled down to "don't let them get near you, ''ever''."

* In ''AzureDreams'', there's a somewhat Grim Reaper-esque monster called Clown on the lower levels of the tower. Its special ability is a spell that drains a level from your PC or one of your familiars. Killing it brings the level back. However, this is treated as a new level-up, so all the EXP you collected mid-level are gone.

In a ClassAndLevelSystem, as characters gain levels, they become more powerful. Some games have enemies (usually of the undead variety) which have the ability to take these levels away from a character, which has the effect of weakening the character, usually described as an attack that drains the character's LifeEnergy. Since it involves stealing life force, with undertones of necromancy, users of this power are almost always evil or "grey" characters.

* DungeonsAndDragons, as you might expect, is the TropeMaker and TropeNamer. Under most circumstances, the only way to defend against level drain was by making a saving throw against it, or by using magic items that acted to negate the drain.

*** In Advanced Dungeons and Dragons ''there was no save''. If an undead creature hit you, you got level drained and that's that. As a result if you saw a wight at appropriate level (the lowest level type of level draining undead) do not get near it; players would be crippled with one hit a few hits would see them dead and raised as a wight.
**** It's actually even worse than it sounds: energy draining touch attacks ignored armor, and the only real defensive spell against such attacks, Negative Plane Protection, only shielded one character from ''one'' level of drain. In practice, the only defense against level draining undead was ''don't let them get near you, ever.''

**** Its actually even worse than it sounds: energy draining touch attacks ignored armor, and only real defensive spell, Negative Plane Protection, shielded one character from *one* level of drain. In practice, the only defense against level draining undead was ''don't let them get near you, ever.''

**** Its actually even worse than it sounds: energy draining touch attacks ignored armor, and only real defensive spell, Negative Plane Protection, shielded one character from *one* level of drain. In practice, the only defense against level draining undead was "don't let them get near you, ever."

* In ''KingdomHearts 358/2 days'', one status ailment actually deleveled your character. It was only temporary, similar to ''FinalFantasyV''.

* In the early days of ''EverQuest'', you could fall into a "death loop"--If your spawn point was near a group of monsters, they'd keep killing you repeatedly. What made it even worse was that you'd spawn ''without your equipment'', making you even easier to kill. You could easily lose a level or more this way.

* There's at least [[ThatOneBoss one]] [[UnderStatement already difficult]] boss in {{The Legend of Dragoon}} (The Grand Jewel) that can take away levels from your current attack, and they will stay that way until you gain them back the hard way. In a part of the game with several boss fights in a short period of time, no less. There are also several bosses (Including, again, the Grand Jewel) that make your dragoon abilities useless, which can be seen as leveling them down for the battle.

* In AzureDreams, there's a somewhat Grim Reaper-esque monster called Clown on the lower levels of the tower. Its special ability is a spell that drains a level from your PC or one of your familiars. Killing it brings the level back. However, this is treated as a new level-up, so all the EXP you collected mid-level are gone, making it an example of DemonicSpiders, since raising a familiar on higher levels takes quite some time.
* In WildARMS3, there's an enemy in [[BonusDungeon The Abyss]] called the [[DemonicSpiders Vampire]]. While it doesn't lower levels, their [[ThatOneAttack Kirlian Buster]] attack lowers MAX HP. This can be [[UnderStatement very bad]], considering they appear around the middle floors and can hit with it often. On the other hand, they only use it as a counter to [[FunctionalMagic Arcana]], but they counter physically attacks with nastily high powered hits...

* Gauntlet: Dark Legacy featured, as one of its various hazards, a Reaper that appeared when certain objects were broken. There was the Red Reaper, which drained up to 500 health (not Max Health, thankfully) from a player, and then there was his exponentially nastier cousin, the Black Reaper, who would drain experience from a player, usually resulting in a Level-Down. They can both be destroyed by using a single spell, but, if you don't have one on you, you're out of luck. Along with it, there was also an item that allowed YOU to steal from THEM.
* In the early days of EverQuest, you could fall into a "death loop"--If your spawn point was near a group of monsters, they'd keep killing you repeatedly. What made it even worse was that you'd spawn ''without your equipment'', making you even easier to kill. You could easily lose a level or more this way.

Non-videogame examples:
* The Pokemon Trading Card Game has Devolution Spray, which "de-evolves" Pokemon.
* Happens at the end of ''[[{{Daemon}} FreedomTM]]'' to [[spoiler:Loki]]

* Gauntlet: Dark Legacy featured, as one of its various hazards, a Reaper that appeared when certain objects were broken. There was the Red Reaper, which drained up to 500 health (not Max Health, thankfully) from a player, and then there was his exponentially nastier cousin, the Black Reaper, who would drain experience from a player, usually resulting in a Level-Down. They can both be destroyed by using a single spell, but, if you don't have one on you, you're out of luck.

* All damage is like this in the flash game series ''BubbleTanks''. Then again, the game does provide an AntiFrustrationFeature where they provide you with experience-giving PinataEnemies should you get hit too often.

* All damage is like this in the flash game Bubble Wars. Good luck holding onto the final level-capped ship for long.

* There were two kinds of Death monsters in ''{{Gauntlet}} Dark Legacy'': a Red Death with drained 1000 hit points, or a Black Death that would drain one level. Thankfully, the halo accessory meant you could drain from these Deaths, and draining from the Black Death would make your character gain a level, no matter how much XP they needed. This made LevelGrinding very quick.

In a ClassAndLevelSystem, as characters gain levels, they become more powerful. Some games have enemies (usually of the undead variety) which have the ability to take these levels away from a character, which has the effect of weakening the character, usually described as an attack that drains the character's LifeEnergy.