Wand of Viscid Globs: Straight Out of Out of The Abyss!

The latest preview from Out of the Abyss, the upcoming (September 15th; Sep 4th in preferred stores) adventure for D&D 5th Edition shows a brand new magic item - the wand of viscid globs. This thing was crafted by the drow, and is used to restrain foes with viscous globs of slime.

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Click here for all the other previews from this adventure!

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[rangergcg]

a character (with the wand) restricting an enemy
And the gm then saying “i dispel it“ is an extremely un-fun
Mechanics. A Break Save per round or as action is mich
Better. It is never good to negate a characters action without
Roll. The player tends to think he “did Nothing“ then. My opinion
At least.

At my table, players always try to solve this kind of problems in unexpected ways, like casting a handy fireball...
IMHO relying on a roll is much more un-fun.

 

[MagicSN]

At my table, players always try to solve this kind of problems in unexpected ways, like casting a handy fireball...
IMHO relying on a roll is much more un-fun.

Well different tables, different opinions. At my table people
think it is one of the golden rules of dming of
never directly negating a players action.
When sometimes a new dm did this it
always gave him harsh critics after the game
(Especially by players who are exp gms themselves ).

 

[Uchawi]

It should used Dexterity to hit versus Intelligence, and no save makes no sense; unless it is an artifact. The size of the creature should have an impact on how useful it is so a Strength save would make sense to break out of it before the solution hardens.

 

[pdmiller]

Dammit, that's the Wand of Slime I invented in high school in 1983!

 

[Wrathamon]

I could see that; what would you suggest? Not too punishing; the break DC or alcohol bit is punishing enough.

In question of "what adventurer travels without alcohol?" My last three PCs have NEVER carried alcohol, even wine, on them; always water in the waterskin, or greek fire, or oil, or holy water, but never alcohol. There's never been a reason to, until now, because none of my DMs have bothered with waterborne parasites or any of that reality nonsense.

By the way, I am heartened by the "dissolves in sunlight" clauses - might we see a return to drow equipment being damaged by sunlight, which is as Gary and Nature intended?

Based on this passage that you posted

"The bond of the blob is stronger than the substances bonded, and very strong creatures will tear themselves apart trying to get free if enough effort is exerted."

So "very strong creatures" can break free so a high break DC for Str 20+. But, they "tear themselves apart", that sounds like a lot of damage. 6d6?
or save or die? lol

Not sure but I like the image of you breakfree but tear yourself apart in the process.

 

[Shadow Demon]

After reading through this thread, I like this item overall with the addition of DC 15 Dex save to avoid the blob. The ranged attack roll determines if the user can properly direct the blob using his spell casting ability or Int to the target location otherwise it is way off (Optionally, it may have a chance to hit other targets in proximity at the DM's discretion.) However, once properly directed per a successful ranged attack roll, it doesn't mean the target is going to stay there hence the Dexterity save to avoid it basically "by the skin of your teeth". As written, it wasn't thought out very well in the transition from 1e to 5e. Also, per the original description, the glob won't expand beyond an area of 4 sq. ft.

In most cases, it is either a ranged attack roll or a save. For this particular OP item, it needs to be both.

In ye olden days of 1e, a character may say "I will use this against Demogorgon." Now, we need to determine the caster spell level of the item because that matters to Demogorgon's 95% magic resistance at 11th level caster level. If it is at 10th or lower, it has 0% of effecting Demogorgon. If at higher caster level and unlikely MR failure, the save vs. magic is still applicable. If all else fails, there is still the abilities of dispel magic and teleport at will.

 

[Staffan]

For some more history, the item was considerably weaker in 3e, as the rod of viscid globs. That one let you fire three globs per day, up to 100 ft, with each glob counting as a tanglefoot bag: target hit becomes entangled (-2 to attacks, -4 to Dex, speed halved, must make a DC 15 Reflex save or be stuck to the floor). The goo only lasted for 2d4 rounds, after which it became brittle and fell off.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I dunno if I agree with the consensus.

Compare bead of force - better (you can hit things, it's a Legendary killer), but the wand requires attunement. Compare the Iron Bands of Billarro as well - the Iron Bands have a STR check (notably, not a SAVE, so no Legendary Resistance) to shatter them; this has charges and requires attunement....The rope of entanglement also seems relevant, though that seems weaker than both the bead and the iron bands.

It's definitely good, but the attunement requirement seems to be the trade-off for the "once you hit, it's done" aspect of the item. I haven't come up against the attunement limit in any of my 5e experience thus far, but I understand a lot of folks are frustrated with the "low number of items that I can be attuned with" aspect of it.

Also not clear is how miss-able it is, or how often the party is forced to deal with flying minions or the like (thus eating up charges). In context it might not be quite as good as it looks on paper.

 

[epithet]

So, if someone is covered in enough of a hard shell (which is apparently impervious to non-magical damage) that their movement is reduced to 0 and they've got disadvantage on attacks, that seems like it would provide a fair amount of defense to them as well. At the very least, resistance to all non-magical damage. Another way to represent it might be to give the restrained creature 3/4 cover.

With regard to magical damage, how many hit points should the hardened goo have?

It seems like an alternative application for the wand would be to apply an almost unbreakable shell to something that you really don't want to get damaged.

 

[soulcatcher78]

So here's the entry from GDQ 1-7 for comparison (the original from G3 (level 3 area 15) was not as comprehensive:

Wind of Viscid Globs: This metallic baton is unadorned
by decoration. It may have up to 100
charges, as most wands. If pointed and the command
word spoken, a single charge from the
wand fues a blob of gummy, sticky, glue-like material
up to 6” away. The gummy glob covers a circular
area about 5 feet in diameter. Those items
within that area are permanently bonded to each
other-hands to weapons held, arms to shields,
armor to bodies, etc.
A successful saving throw against wands indicates
that the target dodges and avoids the
glob, but those globs fired that miss will hit
somewhere-either behind the original target,
or on the floor 10’-60’ beyond (leaving a
sticky mass that will solidify in 10 rounds).
The bond created by this glob is extremely
strong. Strong monsters and individuals will
tear their own bodies apart before breaking
the seal. Creatures with intelligence of 7 or
higher will be aware of this, but those of 2-6
Intelligence should get a saving throw to avoid
tearing themselves apart. The globs can be
dissolved by alcohol. The amount found in ordinary
wine is sufficient to free two glued areas
(painfully if living flesh is involved).
The wand may be recharged by a magicuser
of 7th or higher level.