Acid Question?

[Aluvial]

I have a question on how to adjucate acid damage to players and items in the game. Two creatures have come up in my game and I want to handle their acid abilities correctly.

The first is the Black Pudding and the second is the Digester.

The first creature does acid damage by touch only and eats through almost anything....

When it attacks, how do you determine if damage is done to items or the creature touched?

IF it is items, how do you determine which item is hit?

If acid starts eating through a cloak, is it ruined immediately and how soon before it eats through armor?

The secone creature is the digester. Its description says that it is voracious and turns its prey into quivering piles of goo... Since the acid is a cone (or line) effect, it is my assumption that if you get hit by the cone effect that you are going to be covered in acid!

Are all items affected? Do they all get a save....

If you fail your personal save are all of the creatures items affected?

Does your cloak get the benefit of a ring that increases saves?

What about a acid's poison inhalation traits?


I would assume that acid does a certain amount of damage (based on the ammount) and if it eats through one item the remaining damage is given to the second item. Each item gets it's own save for half.

I have more specific questions but will wait for responses to these initial and general ones.

Aluvial

 

[Pielorinho]

This is one area in which D&D sacrifices all pretense at realism in order to keep the game fun.

You have cleverly warpped yourself in sticks of dynamite and are juggling vials of nitroglycerin when a pesky mage fireballs you. You roll a 2 on your save, and take 35 points of damage.

The dynamite strapped to you doesn't explode, as it's an attended object and is safe from damage. The nitro vials in your hand are similarly safe. But the nitro vials that are in midair explode, as they're unattended objects.

Unless an attack specifically targets attended objects, the objects are safe from AoE attacks.

There's an exception to this: if you roll a 1 on a saving throw, then one of your pieces of equipment (semirandomly chosen) is affected.

Daniel

 

[Aluvial]

I see that that is how it works, but come on! We all know it should work differently...

To switch topics quickly, is a familiar that is carried immune to damage if its master makes anything other than a 1 on his save?

I think acid that is sprayed all over a creature should affect the creatures items. It just seems like common sense. How does the damage affect the creature/PC if its covered in clothing armor and another cloak. I assume that most adventurers are dressed in layers....

When I read about item saving throws in the DMG is seems like multiple items can be affected. If you are thrown in a vat of acid I would assume that everything has to save. Certainly this is the intention of the rules even if it isn't stated....

Aluvial

 

[Pielorinho]

I see that that is how it works, but come on! We all know it should work differently...

To switch topics quickly, is a familiar that is carried immune to damage if its master makes anything other than a 1 on his save?

When I read about item saving throws in the DMG is seems like multiple items can be affected. If you are thrown in a vat of acid I would assume that everything has to save. Certainly this is the intention of the rules even if it isn't stated....

Aluvial

Well, I'm just sayin' how the rules are, not how they should be. As I said, it's totally unrealistic. OTOH, I think it could be really frustrating if every fireball risked burning up all of a wizard's scrolls, toasting their cloak of protection, ruining the rogue's rope of climbing, and boiling away all the potions the fighter carries. I understand why they made this realism sacrifice: to do otherwise would take away a lot of the game's fun.

A familiar normally isn't protected just by virtue of being carried, although don't forget that familiars have improved evasion. Otherwise, if a familiar has 100% cover (e.g., is in a reinforced backpack), they won't be affected by most AoE spells.

Were I you, I'd keep the rule the way it is, except for rare situations. Don't make a dragon's breath scour away all of a player's equipment, but if my character fell into lava and was under the surface for 6 seconds, I'd consider it appropriate for all my equipment (and most of my skin) to be gone when I came out.

As the rules are written, attended items are almost always safe from AoE spells. Only unattended spells get affected by them a lot.

Daniel

 

[Aluvial]

Your point is well taken... hmm... I'm not sure what I will do when the Digester spits acid all over them...

It seems odd that a specific weapon that strikes a Black Pudding takes acid damage.... I wonder if an arrow would do any damage at all as it is eaten up as it enters the blob....


Anyway, there must be a compromise...

I'm starting over in house rules...

Aluvial

 

[AuraSeer]

I see that that is how it works, but come on! We all know it should work differently...

Some of us prefer simplicity over realism.

Anyway, if you want to modify the standing rules, you may be in the wrong forum for it. House Rules is over yonder.

[Edit: Okay, so I'm a little late. It's not my fault the boss's dog tripped over the router.]

 

[MarauderX]

Ok, here's how I handle it.

If somebody takes an area affecting spell such as fireball, I quickly calculate the damage I just rolled to see if it is over 1/2 of the maximum. If it is over 1/2, then I have the PC make another save to see if one of the flamable things they are carrying gets destroyed. I only do this if it's obvious, otherwise I just skip it.

I make it logical, and only have it damage 1 item per attack that is actually exposed, such as what a character is holding in their hands, like a scroll. Going after everything the character has isn't that nice, and doesn't work unless that black pudding managed to ooze inside the characters backpack.

A characters clothing is often the first to be hit, as that is the thing that covers the character the most. If the clothing is magical I let the item make yet another save, and only if that save is failed do I destroy it's magical power. It can be risky for the PCs and they will learn to avoid getting hit as much as possible, but the real chance is less than 5% usually. The fearless barbarian will no longer charge an acidic critter as he may loose his chain mail shirt, literally.

So if a character gets tagged by a digester, he makes a save if the damage is high, then a save by the character, followed by another save for the item. I don't hesitate to destroy magic items, as it adds to the flavor and characters quickly hide their valuables before engaging such a creature.

When it comes to spells like melf's acid arrow or burning hands I usually ignore this rule and just go with the damage.

 

[MarauderX]

Whoops, thought we were under house rules... see ya there.

 

[Aluvial]

Sorry, here is the link for the House Rules thread I started....

http://enworld.cyberstreet.com/showthread.php?s=&postid=674892#post674892


Regardless of any new rules, I can't seem to find the chart that shows the random selection of magical items if you roll a one on a saving throw...

Can someone point me in the right direction?

Aluvial