Blood Drain, Stirges, Giant Ticks

Playing 5.6.0 beta for the first time, and I'm clearing out the moat-house. After dealing with the bandits and the snake my thief scouted along and kited the giant tick he found in the outhouse to my waiting party, unfortunately he was bitten in the process and inflicted with 'blood drain.' He ran and wasn't hit again while my boys poked the approaching tick full of holes.

The status effect persisted even after the tick was killed and he continued to take constitution damage. Still I directed him into more un-explored rooms and came upon the stirges, and one of them supped on him as well. At this point his con was so low he had 2 HP total, and the attack cost him 1.

So we wiped out the stirges but, as I clicked my final PC's end turn button my thief keels over dead with his constitution reduced to zero...

Checking some D&D rules online I see that stirges and giant ticks only drain blood while *attached* to their victim, and that detaching or of course, killing the bloodsucker outright should end the blood draining.

So I was curious how blood drain works in TOEE exactly, it seems more like a disease or poison than an attack only available to a living sucking creature...

The in-game help only refers to attribute damaging attacks globally when blood drain is clicked upon...

If it is a persistent effect that results in a character's death even after the offending creatures die...how is the condition cured before lethal attribute damage is taken?

 

I think maybe a cleric's restoration spell might help with that.

Just wait until you meet the other blood drainers, the fiendish lawyers. They don't kill you by draining but rather turn you into a soulless beaten pauper, subsisting off the scraps and cast off food of normal people. There's no cure for that draining attack, other than to seek out the very first lawyer and drive a gold-plated briefcase through it's heart.

 

It will restore normally as well. Don't get too "attached" or you WILL die.

These creatures have an immediate damage, and I believe a secondary damage, that happens after, if Fortitude saves are failed. Much like the rules for poisons. The secondary damage is similar to the first, but if the combination drops you too low, you will die. No fun.

 

Head to the spider tower and rest quickly until the effect is gone. Might take a couple of days. Two blood drains will get you in trouble quickly. I had my wizard die in the random encounter with the 4 giant ticks. It's a bummer.

 

May I recommend spending a bit longer on personal hygiene?

 

ALWAYS check yourself for ticks after a random encounter! :thumbsup:

 

Among other things.... :twitch:

 

Unfortunately, the blood drain ability is a little goofed up in ToEE. When a blood-draining creature first hits you'll see an "attached" notification. However, since ToEE doesn't use any sort of grappling condition, the affected character and "attached" creature can move independantly of each other. The only way to stop the blood drain is to kill the attached creature. Healing the Con damage can be done with (Lesser) Restoration.