Troglodyte Stench Ability

[Joren]

I believe this issue has been discussed previously, but due to the move/restart of the boards, I can't find any mention of this issue, so....

[please forgive me - I don't have my MM with me, so I'm doing this from memory]

Does the Troglodyte's stench ability, which causes nausea resulting in a d6 reduction in strength for 10 rounds, also cause incapacitation per the definition of "nauseated" in the PHB glossary? Or does it just cause the strength drain without the incapacitation?

Any thoughts/pointers to Sage Advice/etc... are appreciated.

Joren

 

[Xahn'Tyr]

Stench (Ex): When a troglodyte is angry or frightened, it
secretes an oily, musklike chemical that nearly every form of
animal life finds offensive. All creatures (except troglodytes)
within 30 feet of the trog must succeed at a Fortitude save (DC
13) or be overcome with nausea. This lasts for 10 rounds and
deals 1d6 points of temporary Strength damage.

It doesn't say "become Nauseated", it says "be overcome with nausea". In D&D world (and only in D&D world), these are two distinct things. The first incapacitates you while the second is just flavor text.

 

[Joren]

Thanks for your reply, Xahn'tyr. Would you know if there are any "official" or at least "quasi-official" statements supporting your position? I've checked the limited errata I could locate for the MM and found nothing on this issue.

I have a DM who is a very strict rules person, and is unlikely to change his ruling unless I can show him some words from WOTC or something similar that supports this interpretation. Thanks again for your help.

Joren

 

[Artoomis]

I agree, I think, that you are not technically "nauseated."


Why? Mostly because the monster description seems to be defining a unique effect - loss of stregnth by noxious odor. Most impotenatly, the monster description does not have you" become nauseated AND lose 6 points of strength." I think th e"overcome with nausea" is just an unfortunate choice of words - but it could be interpreted either way. This is the result of poor editing, and, barring errata to fix it, we are stuck with it.

And no errata is published yet for the Monster Manual.

 

[Xahn'Tyr]

Have your DM read the following:

Cloaker, Hezrou, Lacedon, Troglodyte, Ghoul Touch, and Stinking Cloud.

- - -

Stinking Cloud uses the phrase "Living creatures in
the cloud are nauseated".

All of the rest use the terms like "causes retching and nausea", "wracked with nausea", "overwhelmed by nausea", and "overcome by nausea".

- - -

Each example given above specifically lists the effects of the nausea, or being nauseated.

The effects listed for Stinking Clound match exactly the effects given for the "Condition:Nauseated" in the DMG.

The effects listed for all of the others do not match the effects of the condition listed in the DMG.

- - -

The conclusion? "Being nauseated" is not the same as "Suffering from nausea". If you're DM does not buy that, then I guess you better get ready for some kick-ass Troglodytes. They're really gonna hurt for little CR 1 creatures!

 

[Joren]

Thank you again for your very insightful comments Xahn'Tyr. You have presented a great argument -- I'll bring it up to my DM and see what he says.

As far as the kick ass troglodytes go, trust me... we've already met them. He's been playing them this way for a number of sessions, and I can assure you that it's incredibly annoying to have three party members incapacitated by trog stench. At least with stinking cloud you can get out of the cloud and stop the nausea. But with his supertrogs, we end up retching for 10 rounds with no way to escape (except that he'll allow a Neutralize Poison spell to rid us of the effect, but until now we haven't had any level 7 priests to cast the spell).

Thankfully we're high enough level now that most of us have pretty good Fort saves. When we were level 4 however, one trog almost wiped out the whole party. We've tried convincing our DM that any creature with that kind of ability can't be CR 1, but he won't buy it.

Joren

 

[Grendel]

Troglodyte CR 1

i think that says it all right there.
otherwise at DC 13 save half the party would be incapacitated for 10 rounds and lose 1d6 str.

 

[EOL]

Related question. Do you have to save every round or will making your first save do the trick for the entire time. Whichever way you rule it can you point to anything that specifically says one way or the other. I lean towards the one save and your done, but I can't find anything which specifically supports me on that.

 

[Ravellion]

Related question. Do you have to save every round or will making your first save do the trick for the entire time. Whichever way you rule it can you point to anything that specifically says one way or the other. I lean towards the one save and your done, but I can't find anything which specifically supports me on that.

The general consensus here on that is that you only make one save. Stench + Stench does not equal stench x 2

Rav