TOPIC: True Dungeon Celebration Riddle Reveal

bpsymington wrote:

Incognito wrote:

bpsymington wrote: The DM will tell the party that a player has fallen into a sloped pit passage, and has disappeared into the next room. The DM will then take that player away and tell the others to wait until she returns. The DM will explain to the first player that they have been knocked unconscious by the fall and captured inside a giant Gelatinous Cube and that they should stand inside the monster prop and pretend they are unconscious inside while the party fights the monster.

How was this player (who had fallen) determined? There seemed to be inconsistencies between my different runs. Other people I talked also experienced inconsistencies between:

A. First person to enter
B. Person nearest that entrance
C. DM randomly chooses (often yelling out a specific class)

The module said "nearest player." However, if that player had free movement, the DM was told to find the next person on the party card without free movement.

Everyone in my group had Free Movement, does that mean nobody should have been caught?

The DM said we were the only group to kill the cube without a single hit on our trapped party member (as of 4 PM Friday)

On 4 runs with the cube we killed our fellow party member 3 times because hey it was funnier that way. I am also responsible for the druid TPK in the shambler room.

Mike Steele wrote:

bpsymington wrote:

Incognito wrote:

bpsymington wrote: The DM will tell the party that a player has fallen into a sloped pit passage, and has disappeared into the next room. The DM will then take that player away and tell the others to wait until she returns. The DM will explain to the first player that they have been knocked unconscious by the fall and captured inside a giant Gelatinous Cube and that they should stand inside the monster prop and pretend they are unconscious inside while the party fights the monster.

How was this player (who had fallen) determined? There seemed to be inconsistencies between my different runs. Other people I talked also experienced inconsistencies between:

A. First person to enter
B. Person nearest that entrance
C. DM randomly chooses (often yelling out a specific class)

The module said "nearest player." However, if that player had free movement, the DM was told to find the next person on the party card without free movement.

Everyone in my group had Free Movement, does that mean nobody should have been caught?

The DM said we were the only group to kill the cube without a single hit on our trapped party member (as of 4 PM Friday)

Doesn't help if they are unconscious from the fall.

Joshua Baessler wrote:

bpsymington wrote: ROOM 5 - THE SHAMBLER

As the party enters the room, they notice it is filled with fog and greenery. The DM tells the party that the floor is covered with water and the room must be drained before the party can proceed (there were plans for a laser to represent the water, but it didn't work out). There are switches on the opposite side of the room, and the DM tells the party someone must cross the room and flip the switch, but the floor is so slippery only the highest DEX character should make the attempt. When s/he does, a shambling mound attacks!

It's a fairly straightforward combat, with some special exceptions. Characters other than the first who crossed the room must spend a round to carefully cross the room if they want to make a melee attack - they can attack right away with ranged attacks or spells.

The shambling mound has plant subtype immunities - immune to mind-affecting magic (Charm, hold, sleep, etc.), immune to blunt weapon damage, immune to shock, critical hits, and sneak attacks. It is not immune to fire, but unlike most plants, it does not take extra damage from fire due to the wet environment.

A bard who does a rune check would be told ths shambling mounds are immune to blunt damage. NORMAL level parties were also told it was immune to shock damage.

For HC and NM parties, if a shock spell was cast, the water in the room conducted the damage to all party members. This led to one party being TPKed when the druid cast a spell-surged Call Lightning spell.

Brian,

Did the Shambling Mound also count as the elemental sub-type? I had the Bracers of Elementalbane but was told sneak attack was a no-go. Or was room 7 the only room with a creature vulnerable to sneak attacks?

Normally, a Shambling Mound would just be of the Plant sub-type.

And the Gelatinous Cube would be an Ooze.

Depending on the implementation of Death, it could be an Undead or an Outsider.

Joshua Baessler wrote: Did the Shambling Mound also count as the elemental sub-type?

no

So I think the fall was mentioned but it was unclear that the fall was what caused the unconsciousness.
Sadly I forgot to use my psionic to feathfall.

I can tell you the trapped player didn't always get a chance to wake up and become free'd.
I was hit then subsequently killed in a following round.
I and i think all of my party had freedom of movement.

I was trying to figure out how much damage I "actually" took. I know damage dealt was 168 but i'm certain i reduced a fair amount.


oh yeah... ok party, WTF, 5 crits to my face? Really...


As for who got chosen, on my first run, I choose myself. I don't know why but I knew something was up and so I put myself near the DM. On the second run we had all done it so we had a volunteer, mostly because we wanted to see if we could hit the paladin's 42 AC. Turns out we could or we're bad at math.

I love this monster and its fun, especially for folks that have never seen it before.

The shambling mound is not an elemental, it is a plant sub-type.

The cube is indeed an ooze.

Death is undead, and thus immune to critical hits.

I think if the entire party had free movement, the DM put one member in the cube for one round, saying s/he was unconscious, but that they would then wake up and be able to free themselves.

The paladin's AC was irrelevant, as was the cube's. Slide onto the cub'e outline, it's a hit. Slide onto the player, it's a hit.

bpsymington wrote: The shambling mound is not an elemental, it is a plant sub-type.

The cube is indeed an ooze.

Death is undead, and thus immune to critical hits.

That does mean that Death could be critical'ed with a Charm of Final Repose....

bpsymington wrote: I think if the entire party had free movement, the DM put one member in the cube for one round, saying s/he was unconscious, but that they would then wake up and be able to free themselves.

The paladin's AC was irrelevant, as was the cube's. Slide onto the cub'e outline, it's a hit. Slide onto the player, it's a hit.

In my first run (as a Druid), I got hit by my fellow party members so I had to use my Cloak of Shadowskin. I got a second time so Hedwig took one for the team! Of course these also meant that I was still unconscious. The third hit did a small amount of damage and woke me up so I could walk out of the Cube with free movement.

bpsymington wrote: Death is undead, and thus immune to critical hits.

Now I'm really wondering whether the attack Death did was considered a touch attack, that would be avoided by the Lavender Ellipsoid ioun stone, or if it was a spell. I never got hit by him, so never got around to asking in the room.

BUMP - and there's room 6!

bpsymington wrote: ROOM 6 - THE SEWER EXIT

Or perhaps a second rogue box for another clue in the room.

That is an interesting idea. Have we had rooms in the past with more than one rogue box?