the 6th level spell that destroyed our party (Acid Fog)

[two]

I'm not just a GM, I also am a player.

This is what happened to our party of mid-level PC's.

Was there a rules gaffe somewhere? It got nasty, VERY NASTY, very quickly.

We buffed up against a suspected enemy. We advanced, killed some mooks, and encountered the mook leader. We rolled initiative. Our wizard fireballed the mook leader, and killed a few more of his minions. He (the goblin leader) was hurt but cast a spell anyway. Acid Fog, centered on our party (we are outside in a sparse forest setting).

We all go "OK, what's the damage?"

The GM goes around rolling 2d6 per PC. 8,10,5,11,9 - something like that.

We go, "OK, that wasn't so bad," marking it down.

Then the GM says "most of your non-magical and some of your magical items are melted at this point."

We go, collectively, "huh?"

Acid, you see, ignores hardness, per 3.5 FAQ. And Acid Fog deal damage like so:

"Each round on your turn, starting when you cast the spell, the fog deals 2d6 points of acid damage to each creature and object within it."

That's when we realized we were in deep doo-dee.

The wizard, to take a typical example, who took 8 points of acid damage, had immediately destoyed:
-- all scrolls
-- all potions
-- all wands
-- bag of holding
-- HHHaversack
-- all nonmagical items (clothing, dagger, torch, rope)
-- material component bag (s) for spells!!
-- cloak of resistance

The Cleric:
ditto, plus:
-- Holy symbol !!
-- sling ammunition

other stuff

Etc. So, after one round, were were naked except for serious magical items (weapons, armor, shields).

The Wizard managed to Dimension Door out of there (no materical component) but since movement was restricted to 5' step total -- he only could take the rogue along with him. The Cleric and Fighter were in the fog another ruond, after which they lost:

--all magical rings (hitpoints = 10)
-- everything that wasn't a +1 or better armor/weapon.

They took 4 rounds total to escape, and were left with very, very little.

The Wizard and Rogue, after dimension dooring out, were faced with the enemy. Just the two of them. And the wizard could not cast any spell with material components. No wands. No wondrous items. No scrolls.

We drove the enemy away (didn't manage to kill them), and retreated as fast as we could after everyone was out of the acid.

Now, if the GM had been evil, he would have simply cast another Acid Fog on the escaped party members. Another bath of acid will destroy any remaining items, do more damage, and leave them pretty useless.

To sum:

Acid Fog is no save, no sr. You automatically have all your low-hp stuff destroyed, including many valuable items such as cloaks, wands, scrolls, wondrous items (ion stones, hats, bracelets, etc.) and haversacks. They don't have more than 5 HP each. If you get unlucky and take 10 points of acid damage in the first round, you lose all your rings and staves too.

If you (god forbid!) happen to be caught in the Acid Fog for 2 rounds -- that's it. Bye bye magic stuff.

Counter 1: Freedom of Movement. Lasts a long time. Allows you to run out of the cloud in a round. Drawback - you still take a round of acid damage and lose a bunch of stuff.

Counter 2: Necklace of Adaptation. For 9K GP, it's the new "must have" for our party's PCs.

Sheesh.

The amount of equipment destroyed by that one spell was mind-boggling. Oh, and Wizards -- kiss your spell books goodbye.

Did somebody make a screw-up here, or is Acid Fog, by the rules, just a nasty, nasty, nasty, nasty, nasty, nasty, nasty spell?

 

[Thanee]

I don't think it affects objects carried or worn by characters.

Bye
Thanee

 

[AuraSeer]

Your DM screwed up in a big way. Carried or worn objects do not normally take damage from area effects. If they did, the first fireball in your career would have rendered you naked.

The only time a carried object takes damage is if you roll a natural 1 on a saving throw. Even then, only one exposed object is damaged.

 

[Lasher Dragon]

OMG that is insane. I hope that there is a flaw here somewhere... failing that, I hope the DMs I play with never realize the potential here

Ahh <whew> had me worried there hehehe

 

[Abstraction]

Screw up.

Your gear is a part of you, it is not an "object" in game terms. Objects are unattended items (or bodies). So your gear takes no damage as long as you are still alive. If you die in the fog, well then your items will be eaten pretty quickly.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

That is such a big DM screw up, I just have to laugh.

This is a good example of why a DM, even one who might have a lot of experience in other game systems, needs to cut his teeth on the exact logic and illogic of the Acid Arrow and Fireball rules before adjudicating higher level spells.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Note, also, that even under the most egregious ruling (which the DM seems to have made), the food in your backpack doesn't take any damage until your backpack is gone.

 

[jerichothebard]

Automatic Failures and Successes
A natural 1 (the d20 comes up 1) on a saving throw is always a failure, and the spell may cause damage to exposed items (see Items Surviving after a Saving Throw, below). A natural 20 (the d20 comes up 20) is always a success.

Items Surviving after a Saving Throw
Unless the descriptive text for the spell specifies otherwise, all items carried or worn by a creature are assumed to survive a magical attack. If a creature rolls a natural 1 on its saving throw against the effect, however, an exposed item is harmed (if the attack can harm objects). Refer to Table: Items Affected by Magical Attacks. Determine which four objects carried or worn by the creature are most likely to be affected and roll randomly among them. The randomly determined item must make a saving throw against the attack form and take whatever damage the attack deal.
If an item is not carried or worn and is not magical, it does not get a saving throw. It simply is dealt the appropriate damage.

Order(*)	 Item

1st	Shield
2nd	Armor
3rd	Magic helmet, hat, or headband
4th	Item in hand (including weapon, wand, or the like)
5th	Magic cloak
6th	Stowed or sheathed weapon
7th	Magic bracers
8th	Magic clothing
9th	Magic jewelry (including rings)
10th	Anything else
(*)In order of most likely to least likely to be affected.

Normally, I'm not a big fan of the DM "rewind" option, but in this case, as a player, I'd insist on it. You guys got shafted.

 

[Nail]

Big time.

Wow.

 

[Sir ThornCrest]

I agree with all other posts but If I may add

most DM's will simply go by the book, some will add what they think is logical, some will subtract what they think is not. That being said I think he either miss read the spell or added to it...kicked it up a notch! Maybe he wanted to weaken the players in prep for the rest of his campaign....personally I think he gave ya the shaft, but thats just my opinion.

Besides Im a firm believer in a little common sense-any acid cloud thats strong enough to melt items is going to make you blind, ruin your lungs, remove your skin etc requiring magical healing, before your master crafted sword starts to melt. C'mon its gonna melt solid metal before it really causes damage to you?????Does the spell say anything for sight? How did the players run out of the fog, how did they see?

Gees, dont listen to me I guess I raised more doubt and questions, than you did.


ThornCrest
















have never heard of a spell that destroys magical metal items before the characters own fle