Charles Rampant
Explorer
Hey all,
In my game yesterday, the players went up against seven enemies, including three arcane spellcasters with access to level 8 spells. (If you're keen, you can see more details here.) During the fight, I naturally tried to use cool Wizard spells to win the fight, while the players for their side relied on anti-magic fields to protect themselves. One thing that came up quickly, and which was repeatedly complained about, was the consequence of these spells for a player.
One character was mazed, and since it is an Intelligence Check, not a Saving Throw, his Monk is basically unable to escape any time soon (Concentration checks with +11 keeps the spell up). Another, the Rogue, was hit by multiple Finger of Death spells until he was weakened, and then Power Word Stun was used to put him out of commission for five rounds of combat. A third, the Champion Fighter, was hit by Prismatic Spray, which rolled an 8, meaning two rays, which generated a 1 (some Fire damage) and 7 (save vs Blind, save again next turn or be Banished permanently and instantly to your home plane). He failed both saves, and thus returned to the Material Plane, to presumably retire in safety while the rest of the party fights in a dungeon in the Astral Plane. We ended the session with the combat still running, since a fight with 13 complex combatants at level 19 takes forever.
So, that's the situation. One player in particular was quite upset by these spells, and declared them to be 'design failures' for meaning that player characters would be put out of the game, leaving the players nothing to do. This was specifically worse than hit point loss, he stated; I believe the argument was that hit point loss could be responded to by, e.g. healing or resurrection magic, whereas the Prismatic Spray in particular had no chance of being undone in combat. I had numerous counter-arguments, which I won't get into here; what I'm interested in is hearing the thoughts of others. Do you agree with the players?
In my game yesterday, the players went up against seven enemies, including three arcane spellcasters with access to level 8 spells. (If you're keen, you can see more details here.) During the fight, I naturally tried to use cool Wizard spells to win the fight, while the players for their side relied on anti-magic fields to protect themselves. One thing that came up quickly, and which was repeatedly complained about, was the consequence of these spells for a player.
One character was mazed, and since it is an Intelligence Check, not a Saving Throw, his Monk is basically unable to escape any time soon (Concentration checks with +11 keeps the spell up). Another, the Rogue, was hit by multiple Finger of Death spells until he was weakened, and then Power Word Stun was used to put him out of commission for five rounds of combat. A third, the Champion Fighter, was hit by Prismatic Spray, which rolled an 8, meaning two rays, which generated a 1 (some Fire damage) and 7 (save vs Blind, save again next turn or be Banished permanently and instantly to your home plane). He failed both saves, and thus returned to the Material Plane, to presumably retire in safety while the rest of the party fights in a dungeon in the Astral Plane. We ended the session with the combat still running, since a fight with 13 complex combatants at level 19 takes forever.
So, that's the situation. One player in particular was quite upset by these spells, and declared them to be 'design failures' for meaning that player characters would be put out of the game, leaving the players nothing to do. This was specifically worse than hit point loss, he stated; I believe the argument was that hit point loss could be responded to by, e.g. healing or resurrection magic, whereas the Prismatic Spray in particular had no chance of being undone in combat. I had numerous counter-arguments, which I won't get into here; what I'm interested in is hearing the thoughts of others. Do you agree with the players?
