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Neverwinter Nights 2 is a video game that widely adopts the rules of Dungeons&Dragons 3.5e, a tabletop role playing game. In D&D 3.5e, Enervation is a spell that makes the target get 1d4 negative levels if the caster succeeds in a ranged touch attack. This spell can be very powerful, since there is no saving throw, and it can wreak havoc on enemy spellcasters: each negative level they lose makes them lose their highest level spell slot. Additionally:

Each negative level gives a creature a -1 penalty on attack rolls, saving throws, skill checks, ability checks, and effective level (for determining the power, duration, DC, and other details of spells or special abilities).

However, since NWN2 often changes 3.5e mechanics when adapting them to the video game, I want to know if negative levels caused by the Enervation spell in NWN2 have the same effect.

Does the Enervation spell in Neverwinter Nights 2 remove highest level spell slots from enemy spellcasters?

Appendix: an example of losing spell slots

I cast Enervation on an enemy who has prepared Fireball (3), Haste (3), Web (2), Invisibility (2), Scorching Ray (2), True Strike (1), Magic Missile (1), Magic Missile (1) and Ray of Enfeeblement (1). In the tabletop game, if I roll 2 on my Enervation roll and the target gets 2 negative levels, it should lose its both highest level slots: Fireball and Haste. If I hit them again and roll 3 (and the target is still alive after gaining a total of 5 negative levels!), the target should also lose all their second level spell slots.

Will it happen in Neverwinter Nights 2?

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  • Did you get your answer? If so, then please mark it as such.
    – DrFish
    Commented Jun 19, 2018 at 5:49

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Level draining effects such as that of Enervation lower the target's effective Caster Level, the calculation of which depends on character class, multiclassing, abilities etc.

the highest spell level that a character has access to depends on class, feats such as Practiced Spellcaster and prestige classes the character might have.

All in all, Enervation does effectively decrease the target's highest spell level, but it considers 'caster level' in the calculation.

Another thing to mention that, if the caster levels drained drop the level to 0 or below, the target is killed instantly. See ability drain on nwnwiki.

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  • Perhaps I misunderstood you. Do you claim that the target does or does not lose its highest level spell slot? E.g. if my enemy has prepared (Fireball, Fireball, Web, Invisibility, Invisibility...), and gets 2 Negative Levels, will it certainly lose the 2 prepared Fireballs, which means be totally unable to cast them now? If you do, what is the source of your claim?
    – R.I.P.30.12.21Baskakov_Dmitriy
    Commented May 31, 2018 at 11:40
  • Imagine a situation when my enemy actually has Lvl 4 magic (Level 8 Sorcerer) and gets two negative levels, but the only spell slots remaining are as stated before. That Sorcerer can still cast Fireball if spell slots are available, but by the normal 3.5e mechanics the Fireball slots will be lost due to level drain.
    – R.I.P.30.12.21Baskakov_Dmitriy
    Commented Jun 1, 2018 at 13:49
  • @Baskakov_Dmitriy I deleted my previous comment which said caster level equals spell level. Was a mix-up on my end. That said, Enervate drains from caster level. For a Sorcerer of Character Level = 8, caster level would be 6 after two levels drain. Which means, he can then only cast level 3 spells or lower. Casting fireball would still be possible.
    – DrFish
    Commented Jun 1, 2018 at 15:24
  • So, will level drain just burn those spell slots as if they were used or will they stay, granted that the target gets a good amount of level drain?
    – R.I.P.30.12.21Baskakov_Dmitriy
    Commented Jun 1, 2018 at 23:13
  • Only for the duration. After it wears off, the spell slots are available again.
    – DrFish
    Commented Jun 3, 2018 at 10:14

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