D&D 5E The Decrease in Desire for Magic in D&D
Undrave
Legend
Don't worry, I know
Go give Mah-Dry-Bread more views, the poor guy is bed ridden with some sort of thyroid problem recently
Undrave
Legend
I haven't taken the time to look into it, but if that's the case... Wow!
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Greater Restoration is a 5th level spell. You can and in my opinion should face clay golem before it becomes available to PCs. Also, obviously no guarantee there's a cleric in the party.
FrozenNorth
Hero
In practice, it doesn’t work that way. The classes that can remove disease either get it as part of their loadout and can’t change it (Paladins), or there is essentially no cost for them to do so (Clerics and Druids prepare spells, so it costs them a single prepared slot).
Meanwhile, a character that devotes resources to solve this precise issue (some combination of skills, expertise, features or magic) can’t.
For both Mummy Rot and Clay Golems, @Lanefan and @Micah Sweet say that the challenge is the point. But if that is the case, let me make a modest proposal.
For Mummy Rot, it is resistant to normal and magical healing. You require Expertise in Medicine and advanced medical tools (so not capable in the brush) to fix it. Until then, a DC 20 Medicine check can stave off the effects for 1 day (or simply give advantage on the roll).
For the Clay Golem, the cause of the max hp reduction is unclear. Say it is from wounds that din’t heal. Use the same principle as for Mummy Rot. You need Expertise in Medicine to fix it permanently , in the meantime, a difficult trained Medicine check can stave off the effects temporarily.
In both cases, a “challenge” DM can tweak the difficulty as wanted.
The only way in which the existing rules are superior is that they preserve the supremacy of magic. Why is that a consideration?
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
Why wouldn't it be? Do you think there should be nothing in the world that can only be accomplished via magic?
I'm reading one of Wesley Chu's books right now, and the "party member with skills" being able to delay much of the effect of something until they find someone with the right powers to cure it is a big thing in one of them. That was also true early in the LotR too, right?
Undrave
Legend
Nailed it!
Also, you're right that the Clay Golem HP reduction makes no sense an has no explanation.
Micah Sweet
Level Up & OSR Enthusiast
In some descriptions, it's noted as getting clay in the wounds, preventing them from healing.
Voadam
Legend
I found the number of conditions that required magic in older D&D or inflicted permanent detriments quite frustrating from a narrative and play experience perspective. Monster defenses requiring magic weapons or spells to get through to them. Healing hp. Monster attacks that can only be fixed by spells (energy drain, mummy rot, clay golem) or not at all (ghost aging). This continued into 3e with things like ability drain solely being cured by greater restoration.
As a DM it meant a lot of monsters that were common in modules and encounter charts (particularly non mindless undead) were actually very swingy and unexpectedly potentially killer or crippling while others were fun hp hack and slash ones.
Spectres with their incorporeality and energy drain in older D&D look like they are designed to be specific Ravenloft villains on the level of Nazgul where you hear about a cursed dead lord who haunts an area with numerous victims, you hear about how deadly it is but through investigations you find out their weakness and how to keep them at bay and put them to rest.
But no, there are generally three unnamed spectres in a catacombs or deep dungeon room you come upon who take away levels when they hit in combat and who have a lot of HD and you need magic to fight them. Having a cleric means you can restore the levels lost when they attack, if not you are out of luck.
This drove things like having clerics in a party being fairly mandatory to deal with normal D&D situations instead of just an option.
I much preferred the promise of the equipment lists having things like stakes and mirrors and garlic and holy symbols to deal with vampires, silver daggers and arrows to deal with wights, and belladona to deal with werewolves. Magic weapons and clerics were great against most of those, but a non-magical person had options and there was lore about stuff that you could search out and exploit.
As a DM it meant a lot of monsters that were common in modules and encounter charts (particularly non mindless undead) were actually very swingy and unexpectedly potentially killer or crippling while others were fun hp hack and slash ones.
Spectres with their incorporeality and energy drain in older D&D look like they are designed to be specific Ravenloft villains on the level of Nazgul where you hear about a cursed dead lord who haunts an area with numerous victims, you hear about how deadly it is but through investigations you find out their weakness and how to keep them at bay and put them to rest.
But no, there are generally three unnamed spectres in a catacombs or deep dungeon room you come upon who take away levels when they hit in combat and who have a lot of HD and you need magic to fight them. Having a cleric means you can restore the levels lost when they attack, if not you are out of luck.
This drove things like having clerics in a party being fairly mandatory to deal with normal D&D situations instead of just an option.
I much preferred the promise of the equipment lists having things like stakes and mirrors and garlic and holy symbols to deal with vampires, silver daggers and arrows to deal with wights, and belladona to deal with werewolves. Magic weapons and clerics were great against most of those, but a non-magical person had options and there was lore about stuff that you could search out and exploit.
