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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Chaosmancer" data-source="post: 9364588" data-attributes="member: 6801228">Since you seemed annoyed by talking about it scientifically, maybe you won't mind talking about it in literary terms. Lava is used to destroy things. It (technically molten steel) is how you kill a terminator. It is how you destroy evil artifacts. I've seen it used to destroy villains who are otherwise impervious to harm. Seeing someone jump off a cliff and survive? Certainly happens. Seeing someone get bathed in acid and stumble out? Yep. Lava? It takes characters who are specifically indestructible to a high degree for them to not be horrifically burned by lava. Sure, if you can tank a nuke, you can tank lava, but DnD characters do not get that level of indestructibility.This is an entirely different problem to my mind. Because it is the exact same as seeing a goblin with a knife, seeing you have 30 hp, and realizing that you will likely be fine even if it stabs you. Or having a bandit hold a crossbow to your head and having the same thought. Personally, I don't want death from massive damage in the game, because it punishes characters for doing exactly what they should be doing. Fighters, Barbarians, Paladins, heck even rangers, clerics, roges and druids... they should be able to have that moment of fighting at the tail end of their strength, of feeling that desperation of being down to their last 10 hp at high level, without it consistently leading to death. Because once it does? Once a player sees having 40 hp as "certainly dead if the dragon uses their breath weapon" then they will retreat, they will not take that fight, they will insist on buying out dozens or hundreds of healing potions. And I'm not terribly interested in high level characters fleeing MORE often than low level ones, because the enemy can deal 50 damage and that is a death sentence if you have 30 hp. That just gives more hoops to jump through to actually get to fights. And I ALREADY have to press players to take short rests instead of always taking a long rest.</blockquote>

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