D&D 5E Lava and magic items

[Hriston]

As I said above, they literally fell into a lake of lava. They would have been fully immersed in the lava and had to swim through it to get out. We're not just talking Anakin lying on the bank of the lava river getting burned by the heat here. Tell me how their items would not have been destroyed.

For some reason I didn't get a notification of your reply and just noticed it upon reading your post.

You've decided the PCs are fully immersed in lava, and I agree, under those circumstances, their items would be destroyed, but then so would the PCs. They would be incinerated just like their items. So as I said up-thread, if that's your preferred narrative, say the PCs are dead but allow saving throws for the magic items.

You've also decided the PCs take less than their maximum hit points in damage, leaving them functionally unharmed. To my thinking, circumstances that would allow the PCs to survive would also leave their items unharmed for the most part. A narrative where the items burst into flames but the PCs do not seems incongruous to me, considering the PCs are wearing the items and thus exposed to the same heat.

Considering there's no saving throw to avoid the teleport trap and plunging into the lava, I'd apply the 10d10 damage, and take the survival of the characters to mean they found some way to avoid the worst effects of the lava, either by landing on a cooler patch of lava or some other object floating therein that shields them from the heat and quickly running across its surface before it can incinerate them. Hit point damage in this case can represent the close brush with death and the singeing of body and belongings. I'd imagine their shoes, for example, would need replacing at the end of the adventuring day.

 

[pukunui]

A narrative where the items burst into flames but the PCs do not seems incongruous to me, considering the PCs are wearing the items and thus exposed to the same heat.

I absolutely had the PCs burst into flames. But one is resistant to fire damage, and the other survived by dint of a technicality.

But yes, I have since learned that they likely would not have become fully immersed, and I'm not going to change my ruling about the magic items retroactively. I have said that all their mundane gear (including their clothes) has burned away, as have their fragile potions and scrolls.

 

[Hriston]

I also wanted to respond to this:

I’ve been deliberately trying to play up the old school vibes with this particular adventure.

Just to point out that D&D Vol. 2, Monsters and Treasure (1974) has this about magic item saving throws: "For the sake of simplicity it is generally easier to assume [magic items] survive unharmed if their wearer/user is not killed (exception, Helms)."

 

[pukunui]

I also wanted to respond to this:


Just to point out that D&D Vol. 2, Monsters and Treasure (1974) has this about magic item saving throws: "For the sake of simplicity it is generally easier to assume [magic items] survive unharmed if their wearer/user is not killed (exception, Helms)."

I have to admit that I have a somewhat nebulous definition of old school. (I started with AD&D 2e and have only briefly played 1e and have never played OD&D.)

 

[Hriston]

I absolutely had the PCs burst into flames. But one is resistant to fire damage, and the other survived by dint of a technicality.

I don't know what the technicality was, but to me, a person whose personal items, clothing, and skin undergo combustion to the point of being destroyed is unlikely to survive, let alone remain conscious. I would think resistance to fire damage would help protect someone from an external source of heat, making them less likely to burst into flames in the first place. If they and all their belongings have indeed ignited, how are they not covered in third degree burns?

But yes, I have since learned that they likely would not have become fully immersed, and I'm not going to change my ruling about the magic items retroactively. I have said that all their mundane gear (including their clothes) has burned away, as have their fragile potions and scrolls.

I don't have a stake in how you rule at your table. I think you're right to move forward with what you decided. My point in posting is just to share how I would have handled the situation which would be to let the damage roll determine how lethal the circumstances actually were in which the PCs found themselves.

 

[pukunui]

I don't know what the technicality was, but to me, a person whose personal items, clothing, and skin undergo combustion to the point of being destroyed is unlikely to survive, let alone remain conscious.

Indeed. That character did not remain conscious.

I would think resistance to fire damage would help protect someone from an external source of heat, making them less likely to burst into flames in the first place. If they and all their belongings have indeed ignited, how are they not covered in third degree burns?

They would both have been, yes, but the fire resistant one is a cleric, so magical healing!

 

[Hriston]

Indeed. That character did not remain conscious.

Ah, okay. I thought when you said the characters had more than 100 hit points each that meant they both had some left after taking the damage.

They would both have been, yes, but the fire resistant one is a cleric, so magical healing!

Okay. Again, it just seems incongruous to me that the cleric is casting spells and functioning normally after suffering that level of injury.

 

[pukunui]

Ah, okay. I thought when you said the characters had more than 100 hit points each that meant they both had some left after taking the damage.

I believe he’d already taken some damage so wasn’t at full health.

Okay. Again, it just seems incongruous to me that the cleric is casting spells and functioning normally after suffering that level of injury.

Agreed, but that’s the joy of hp abstraction! As long as you have at least 1 hp, you can function normally.

 

[Hriston]

I believe he’d already taken some damage so wasn’t at full health.


Agreed, but that’s the joy of hp abstraction! As long as you have at least 1 hp, you can function normally.

Right, and I understand the adventure uses language like "plunging into the lava", but that's why I wouldn't have described the PCs and their items actually igniting and being destroyed until I knew they'd been killed.

 

[pukunui]

Right, and I understand the adventure uses language like "plunging into the lava", but that's why I wouldn't have described the PCs and their items actually igniting and being destroyed until I knew they'd been killed.

Yes, but as that video that was posted above shows, people would catch on fire before they even reach the lava!