D&D 5E Lava and magic items

[pukunui]

Should just give them falling damage and then lava damage. Even if the lava is the watery kind falling 100 ft before hitting it can still hurt, and then you sink into the lava. After that, I tend to let most of the gear survive. I do not take away things when hit with a fireball or make the PCs buy new boots after several levels of adventuring. Max damage should be enough.

You guys are all too nice.

Fireball is an instantaneous whoosh of flame. I’m fine with it not incinerating worn/carried stuff. But being engulfed by a fire elemental or being fully immersed in lava? That’s a whole other story!

As for buying new boots, I’d just chuck that in as part of the PCs’ regular lifestyle expenses.

Also, I’ve been deliberately trying to play up the old school vibes with this particular adventure. Hence why I’m using the variant encumbrance rules and the like.

 

[aco175]

You guys are all too nice.

I think I have grown soft in my old age. Hopefully not a pun.

 

[Inukai]

As a firm believer that falling into lava should be deadly, I always have it deal the maximum damage (10d10 = 100 points of fire damage!).

Or should I give each magic item a chance to survive? Maybe a higher chance based on rarity? (Or should I just determine hp for each item and then roll the 10d10 damage for each one?)

Why would you max out on damage to the characters but not their gear?

 

[pukunui]

Why would you max out on damage to the characters but not their gear?

Because magic?

What would you do in this situation?

 

[Oofta]

Do you want validation or actual opinion and advice? Because you only seem interested in the former.

Validation response: Kill them all and let the FR gods sort them out! Okay, a little too much? You're the DM, do what makes sense to you. Burn all of their equipment to ash and consider looking up results on the lingering injury table because they should be covered with significant burns and scarring.

Opinion: I wouldn't retroactively change anything, it can make you look vindictive. Even if you feel like it was a mistake, it's done and over. Time to move on. Perhaps change things if it happens in the future. I'd consider saving throws for their major items, with bonuses for magic, it will make it more fun than just "it's gone", which doesn't really make a lot of sense to me because they survived.

On a related note, people don't really sink into lava even if things do combust the moment they touch it but even the latter varies significantly. The crust of the lava can be relatively cool and you can walk across it if you don't stop and don't care that you'll need new shoes when your done. In other cases it's the toxic fumes that will get you and you won't be able to move because the pain will be so intense from the instantaneous combustion. On the other hand, you won't sink because lava is far thicker than water or the human body.

tldr: I'd do a saving throws for all major items (if the backpack survives the contents survive) and might consider an additional save where they get a lingering injury on failure.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

Hi all,

I am running Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Last session, the PCs starting exploring the Obstacle Course on the 15th floor. The dungeon includes a number of teleporting traps, some of which include a chance of being dropped into a lava lake. As a firm believer that falling into lava should be deadly, I always have it deal the maximum damage (10d10 = 100 points of fire damage!).

As the dice would have it, two of the PCs got unlucky and took a dip in the lava. They both survived because they are tough as dwarves with more than 100 hp each (plus one is a forge cleric with fire resistance).

At the time, I ruled that all their mundane equipment was destroyed but their magic items survived unscathed. However, I am just reviewing the rules for magic items, and I note that only artifacts are considered "practically indestructible". A normal magic items is "at least as durable as a regular item of its kind", and "most magic items, other than potions and scrolls, have resistance to all damage."

Looking at the rules for objects, even a resilient large object like a cart only has 27 hp on average. Most of their items are going to be small (10 hp on average) or tiny (5 hp on average). Even with damage resistance, that's not enough to survive a dunk in lava (even without me maxing out the damage).

The forge cleric has a necklace of prayer beads, a horn of the endless maze, +1 plate armor (created through a class feature), a cloak of protection, and a sentinel shield. Oh, and a magical jade staff that can turn into a giant poisonous snake.

The other PC (a berserker barbarian) has a +2 battleaxe, gauntlets of ogre power, a chest of preserving, and a bag of holding.

Should I rule that all the magic items were destroyed? (After all, right at the start of the obstacle course, Halaster did tell everyone to put their magic items in the available mine carts for safe-keeping ... so it's not like they weren't warned!) Or should I give each magic item a chance to survive? Maybe a higher chance based on rarity? (Or should I just determine hp for each item and then roll the 10d10 damage for each one?)

Thoughts?

Generally magic items on PCs aren't destroyed unless something explicitly says they are. Otherwise fireballs etc would constantly strip PCs naked and destroy their items.

You already made the lava wildly more deadly than designed, and wildly more destructive in that it autodestroyed all non magic items (not at all realistic for a less than 6 second dip, I note - many metal objects should survive that though perhaps becoming unusable until the hardened lava is chipped off), so destroying their magic items seems like add insult to injury.

More to the point, you already ruled one way. Backtracking on this sort of thing is very bad form. Even with groups who are very positively inclined to you it makes you look dithery and possibly kind of vindictive or capricious. Even if they say nothing and smile it will be remembered - and quite possibly deployed against villains or the like at an inopportune moment, or just silently and politely held against you. So I would strongly advise against it.

Basically, destroying magic items when they weren't specifically targeted is a can of worms very much best left closed. And realism is another can of worms here - all realism says the PCs would be dead but that ain't D&D. Nor is vaping all their items realistic, but do we really want to go through and assess which it is realistic for? Can of worms.

You ruled one way. Stick to your ruling and move on.

Edit: Great answer from @Oofta - as much as we disagree about stuff his DMing advice is consistently spot on!

 

[iserith]

Only magic rings are destroyed in lava.

 

[Inukai]

Because magic?

What would you do in this situation?

I'd roll out the damage for the characters, and probably leave their gear alone for the same reason you gave for not just assigning max damage to the gear. If the magic is powerful enough to not warrant the full damage, then it's powerful enough to survive.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

Hi all,

I am running Dungeon of the Mad Mage. Last session, the PCs starting exploring the Obstacle Course on the 15th floor. The dungeon includes a number of teleporting traps, some of which include a chance of being dropped into a lava lake. As a firm believer that falling into lava should be deadly, I always have it deal the maximum damage (10d10 = 100 points of fire damage!).

As the dice would have it, two of the PCs got unlucky and took a dip in the lava. They both survived because they are tough as dwarves with more than 100 hp each (plus one is a forge cleric with fire resistance).

At the time, I ruled that all their mundane equipment was destroyed but their magic items survived unscathed. However, I am just reviewing the rules for magic items, and I note that only artifacts are considered "practically indestructible". A normal magic items is "at least as durable as a regular item of its kind", and "most magic items, other than potions and scrolls, have resistance to all damage."

Looking at the rules for objects, even a resilient large object like a cart only has 27 hp on average. Most of their items are going to be small (10 hp on average) or tiny (5 hp on average). Even with damage resistance, that's not enough to survive a dunk in lava (even without me maxing out the damage).

The forge cleric has a necklace of prayer beads, a horn of the endless maze, +1 plate armor (created through a class feature), a cloak of protection, and a sentinel shield. Oh, and a magical jade staff that can turn into a giant poisonous snake.

The other PC (a berserker barbarian) has a +2 battleaxe, gauntlets of ogre power, a chest of preserving, and a bag of holding.

Should I rule that all the magic items were destroyed? (After all, right at the start of the obstacle course, Halaster did tell everyone to put their magic items in the available mine carts for safe-keeping ... so it's not like they weren't warned!) Or should I give each magic item a chance to survive? Maybe a higher chance based on rarity? (Or should I just determine hp for each item and then roll the 10d10 damage for each one?)

Thoughts?

You've already made your ruling for this instance, so I'd say move on. However, you could describe some of the more fragile items (or even all items) as a bit scorched or discolored but otherwise seem to be working fine - which is subtly telegraphing that if something like that were to happen again, the item might actually be damaged or even destroyed (with probably a saving throw involved).

 

[Umbran]

At the time, I ruled that all their mundane equipment was destroyed but their magic items survived unscathed.
....
Should I rule that all the magic items were destroyed?
...
Thoughts?

You already made a ruling. Let it stand.

This is less about the rules, and more about the GM-player relationship. Broadly, a GM should admit when they screw up, but should generally not retroactively harm the party to fix it.

If you want to change how you deal with such events in the future, warn the players about that change.