D&D 5E 5e necrotic damage has me a little confused.....

[Otterscrubber]

So lets say I have a PC with 50hp. A lot of necrotic damage from 5e monsters says in addition to the damage dealt, it lowers the max hp of the victim by an equal amount. So if my PC with 50 hp is hit with 20hp of necrotic damgae that also lowers their max hp, does this mean that they take 20 damage AND their effective Hp drop from 50 to 30, so that they only have 10hp left?



Or does this simply mean that they cannot heal the necrotic damage easily, so only 20 points of damage but they have to jump through more hoops to heal it?

 

[Paraxis]

The character takes the damage as normal and the max value is reduced by X amount.

So if they are hit for 10 damage while at max h.p of 50 they are reduced to 40, in addition their new temporary max h.p value is 40.

 

[DMAesh]

I'm confused, where does it say that? I do not think that is for every necrotic effect. If you look at the damage types in the combat section, there is nothing about reducing maximums.

 

[Treantmonklvl20]

I'm confused, where does it say that? I do not think that is for every necrotic effect. If you look at the damage types in the combat section, there is nothing about reducing maximums.

Not all necrotic damage reduces HP maximums. However, some creature descriptions say specifically that the attack reduces HP maximums. I would point you to a specific creature in the MM, but my memory escapes me at the moment. Maybe someone could help me out?

 

[Quartz]

They would have 30 maximum and current hit points.

This is correct. Just to elaborate, the PC has 50HP as her maximum and has 50 HP currently and gets hit for 20 HP of necrotic damage. This reduces her current HPs to 30 HP and reduces her maximum by 20 HP to 30 HP. If she had had 40 HP with a maximum of 50, her current HP would have been reduced to 20 and her maximum to 30.

Not too sure on how it gets healed, I'd have to read up on it.

Me neither.

 

[pukunui]

Maybe someone could help me out?

Quite a few undead creatures do this. Like wights and wraiths and such.

 

[DMAesh]

TreantMonk: Thanks! I was confused, because the OP and the subsequent responses led me to believe that all necrotic damage had those qualities. Would one of the creatures be the succubus, by chance?

 

[Otterscrubber]

Vampires are one example. Sorry for any confusion in my OP, didn't mean to imply that ALL necrotic damage does this.

 

[AntiStateQuixote]

Quite a few undead creatures do this. Like wights and wraiths and such.

Vampires are one example. Sorry for any confusion in my OP, didn't mean to imply that ALL necrotic damage does this.

The reduction in HP maximum is 5e's replacement for old school level drain.

 

[MonsterEnvy]

Not too sure on how it gets healed, I'd have to read up on it.

Lesser restoration or it wears off after a long rest.