One of the problems with monsters in 5E is that there is a lack of monsters that provide consequences even if they are defeated. In 5E it seems that monsters are primarily Armor Classes, Hit Points, and special attacks. But there doesn’t seem to be character altering consequences if if you survived.

In Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, the undead were absolutely terrifying with the ability to drain levels with each successful attack!

“Because these monsters exist simultaneously on the normal and negative planes of the material plane, they are affected only by silver or magical weapons. This existence allows them to drain life energy levels — one such level each time they score a hit on an opponent. The creature so hit loses the hit points of damage scored (1-4) plus one experience level and all the bonuses derived from that level, i.e. hit dice, class bonuses, thief abilities, spell levels, etc. A ninth level magic user struck by a wight loses 1-4 hit points and he becomes an eighth level magic user; he has the spells and the hit points of an eighth level magic user, and he melees as an 8th level character of his class.”

And if losing one level per attack is terrifying, in Advanced Dungeons and Dragons every Vampire attack drains TWO levels. It then is up to the Dungeon Master to decide whether it is temporary or permanent.

Even the lycanthropy curse is watered down and not nearly as terrifying in 5E. I find it is hard to place challenges before your players that are real setbacks. This can be challenging for a long campaign where you want to continue playing for a long time but the players advance quickly to where they easily overcome challenges placed in front of them. I have resorted to third party sources for unique Boons and Banes to try to provide novel challenges, but nothing comes close to the horror of losing multiple levels in a single battle.

In many ways this is more terrifying that losing a character outright. In this case you need to rebuild your character to hopefully attain what you had before. I think everyone can relate to playing video games before the frequent savepoints and the gut-wrenching task of having to redo the chapters to hopefully survive the second time around.

Even more terrifying, all the party members have the same possible fate lying in front of them. Never has the attention been so focused on what the Dungeon Master is about to roll for his attack rolls. The collective oohs and ahhs and swear words are legendary.

The sheer horror or relief can’t be matched with the Undead out of the book in 5E.

Obviously, this isn’t something to bring back all the time but I’m going to bring the AD&D Undead rules but for certain encounters and challenges.

It is the perfect way to make Barrow Wights and Vampires even more terrifying in my Middle Earth campaign.