D&D 5E Mummy Lord Whirlwind vs Wind Wall and is this a TPK?

[Nomadic1]

Hey guys! My table is at an impasse over this following scenario (which almost feels like the DM is going for a TPK):

The DM has our party of 7 level 13 characters (Bard,Cleric,Sorcerer, 2x Paladins, Arcane Trickster, Ranger) in a crypt consisting of 2 Mummy Lords and 12 regular mummies. The Mummy Lords are both considered in their lair. Other obstacles our DM has put against us is:

1. The Mummy Lord lair action of all spells 4th level and below cause wracking pain is consistent. It didn't disappear at initiative 20.
2. Any spells that ARE able to get cast (with the exception of our one magical item, the bards lyre) have like a 50% chance to get "absorbed and restrained" by these magic shields the DM has in the walls.
3. This is the last room after having no breaks and facing another Mummy Lord and group of 8 mummies who were all immune to fire

So one of the mummies had summoned a plague of insects in one of the doorways. The bard was able to get off Wind Wall blocking the entrance and restraining the swarm. The DM then had the Mummy Lord turn into Whirlwind of Sand so that he could move his 60' and attack the bard with the other Mummy Lord.

My questions are.. does this seem like an intentional TPK? And can a Whirlwind of Sand pass through Wind Wall which says at the bottom "Creatures in gaseous form can't pass through it".


TLDR Version: Can a mummy lord in Whirlwind of Sand form pass through a Wind Wall?



Thanks for the input!

 

[jrowland]

TLDR Version: Can a mummy lord in Whirlwind of Sand form pass through a Wind Wall?

tl;dr answer: Yes.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

My questions are.. does this seem like an intentional TPK? And can a Whirlwind of Sand pass through Wind Wall which says at the bottom "Creatures in gaseous form can't pass through it".

It doesn't sound like an intentional TPK. The DM probably thinks you guys are going to win this one. However, it does sound like a DM who's somehow acquired the (mistaken) belief that players need to be "challenged" with tough fights that are tailored to their level in order to have fun. Essentially, it sounds like he's bored with losing and so assumes that you guys must be bored with winning too, and he's trying to spice things up.

Hopefully you can use Dispel Magic and/or Counterspell to counter the mummy lords' spellcasting, and then ablate all of the regular mummies with AoE or melee attacks. (I would suggest Hypnotic Pattern but undead are typically immune to charm. However, Confusion should work beautifully, as should the cleric's Turn Undead and/or Spiritual Guardians V.)

I don't think it's a TPK because you have 7 13th level characters, and frankly a 13th level character should be able to take down a couple of mummies in short order if he's prepared, especially if you can decoy all the mummies into attacking your strongest-AC character (maybe while he is Dodging) to buy some extra time... if you're not prepared for this, I would kill as many regular mummies as you can stage a tactical retreat and come back when you are prepared, in an hour or a day or a week.

Note that this is more than a double-Deadly encounter, so if I'm wrong about your capabilities and you need to stage a retreat, you have nothing to be ashamed of. In fact, maybe that is your DM's intention--maybe this is supposed to be an encounter which makes you retreat and rethink your approach/look for specific weaknesses. Maybe these mummies are vulnerable to electricity instead of fire. To that end, if you can manage to kidnap one of the mummies when you retreat, in order to experiment on him, I would do that.

 

[Dausuul]

The answer to the wind wall question is "Whatever the DM says." There is no clear answer in the rules, which means it's up to individual DMs*. If I were running the encounter, I would be inclined to say wind wall does block the mummy, if only because it seems kind of petty to impose so many barriers to spellcasting and then nullify it when a caster actually manages to push one through.

As for "intentional TPK," no, it doesn't seem like that. It does seem like the DM has gotten frustrated dealing with high-level spellcasters, though.

[size=-2]*Technically, it's up to the DM regardless. However, if the rules were clear on the subject, it would be poor form on the DM's part to change the rules on the fly without warning.[/size]

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Actually, on second thought, my tactical advice would be to ignore the mummies and focus fire on the mummy lords. They have only a little bit more HP than regular mummies, but their offensive output is much, much higher, so a 1 HP of damage to the mummy lord is worth way more than 1 HP vs. a regular mummy.(

Also, can you steal those magic shields for yourselves?

 

[Nomadic1]

Thanks for the input guys! We weren't sure about the Whirlwind, it didn't seem like 200 or so pounds of loose sand could go against wind. But like Dausuul said, I suppose its up to the DM lol.

Hemlock, yeah I like your idea of focus firing on the lords. Unfortunately our Sorceress has not been able to have anything land but magic missiles. Everything else she either fails the Lair check and takes damage or her spells end up in the shields. Our ranger tried to remove one of the shields from the wall, but he was unable to. Plus it is only affecting our magic and not the mummies.

We left off with the mummies about to attack the bard.. so he is probably a goner lol

 

[Coredump]

Who cares about the sorcerer? You have a cleric and *two* paladins.

Turn undead should get about 3/4 of the regular mummies
A paladin can hit twice for weapons damage and +11D8 Smite damage. Plus any smite spells he may cast. Heck a single paladin can almost take out a Mummy Lord in a single round.

 

[FormerlyHemlock]

Our ranger tried to remove one of the shields from the wall, but he was unable to. Plus it is only affecting our magic and not the mummies.

Huh. That may be a warning flag that the DM will fiat in other arbitrary things as well. Some DMs will e.g. arbitrarily assign max HP to a monster in order to make the monster "tougher" while persuading themselves that it's not really a change at all. Don't be too shocked if focus firing on the mummy lords ends up proving that these mummy lords have way more than the usual HP for a mummy lord, especially if your DM thinks it's anticlimatic for a mummy lord to die to two smites from a single paladin (if the paladin rolls lucky on his damage). Maybe they will turn out not to be fragile at all, and if so you may still need to Turn the other mummies and/or run away.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Huh. That may be a warning flag that the DM will fiat in other arbitrary things as well. Some DMs will e.g. arbitrarily assign max HP to a monster in order to make the monster "tougher" while persuading themselves that it's not really a change at all. Don't be too shocked if focus firing on the mummy lords ends up proving that these mummy lords have way more than the usual HP for a mummy lord, especially if your DM thinks it's anticlimatic for a mummy lord to die to two smites from a single paladin (if the paladin rolls lucky on his damage). Maybe they will turn out not to be fragile at all, and if so you may still need to Turn the other mummies and/or run away.

Heh. I only use the average hit points for monsters if the players were using average hit points for their characters.

This looks like a scenario custom made for a retreat to re-think and plan. Its only a TPK if you decide that you must win right now or die trying.

 

[Nebulous]

Yeah, that's tough, but then again seven 13th level characters is a bastard of a group as well, so i'd not even deal with that in the first place! Talk about a headache, sheesh.