Wand of Viscid Globs: Straight Out of Out of The Abyss!

The latest preview from Out of the Abyss, the upcoming (September 15th; Sep 4th in preferred stores) adventure for D&D 5th Edition shows a brand new magic item - the wand of viscid globs. This thing was crafted by the drow, and is used to restrain foes with viscous globs of slime.

​

Click here for all the other previews from this adventure!

​

 

[Ristamar]

I agree. This should be a Dex save, not a ranged attack roll.

It's a ranged, single target attack like the Wand of Paralysis. It makes more sense as an attack roll.

IMO, if exposure to sunlight is supposed to be a deterrent for PCs bringing these types of items back to the surface, I'd reduce the time from 1 hour to 1 minute.

 

[Jraynack]

What adventurer does not carry at least a pint of alcohol?

 

[Mistwell]

Not a well thought out item. Creates an unbreakable material (why does it have to be unbreakable?)

Err, simple alcohol breaks it. What adventurer doesn't have alcohol on them? Heck, many monsters do as well. And of course sunlight...

 

[hawkeyefan]

Until it's known that alcohol breaks it, who would try that?

"The cleric is held fast by the glob fired from the drow's wand. Fighter, what do you do?"

"I open my flask and splash it on the cleric, clearly!"

 

[Mistwell]

Until it's known that alcohol breaks it, who would try that?

"The cleric is held fast by the glob fired from the drow's wand. Fighter, what do you do?"

"I open my flask and splash it on the cleric, clearly!"

"I make an arcane check to see if I can figure out what this stuff is and how to defeat it."

 

[Uder]

This is going to screw my players over so much (until they get it!)

What adventurer does not carry at least a pint of alcohol?

A player that doused someone in alcohol the very next round after this was used would quickly find out the authors actually meant brine. In my game at least. Unless it was an obvious bright idea and not, "oh, I've got ENWorld open on my tab," that is.

 

[Jefe Bergenstein]

"I make an arcane check to see if I can figure out what this stuff is and how to defeat it."

Survival would work too I'd think. Alcohol has traditionally been the go to low magic "goo remover" in D&D. Mimics, Cave Fishers, Adherers etc. This lore gets passed around people who delve in dark places.

 

[Dausuul]

Doesn't AC scale faster than Dex?

Sure, but that's not the point. The reason it needs to be a Dex save is that it gives legendary monsters an answer to the ability. If it's a ranged attack, you can just viscid glob an ancient dragon, and suddenly the dragon can't fly, has disadvantage on its attacks, and grants advantage to the entire party. A Dex save would let the dragon use Legendary Resistance to throw it off.

It's a ranged, single target attack like the Wand of Paralysis. It makes more sense as an attack roll.

The number of targets is irrelevant--plenty of single-target spells require saves. The convention in D&D is that attack rolls are primarily about dealing damage. If you're imposing a major status effect, it should grant a saving throw.

The game is designed with that expectation in mind. Legendary monsters aside, it's pretty easy to near-guarantee a hit with an attack if you really want to; getting advantage on an attack roll is seldom hard, and there are other tricks you can use as well. Guaranteeing that your opponent fails a save is much more of a challenge.

 

[hawkeyefan]

"I make an arcane check to see if I can figure out what this stuff is and how to defeat it."

Ha true. It seems like once it's figure out, thereafter it's more a turn waster than anything else, perhaps costing the target a turn, and requiring an action by another party member to douse the target in alcohol.

 

[Nebulous]

Why doesn't a monster's size or strength have anything to do with it? This feels too strong to me.