brown mold: 1st lvl TPK? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTimePost
jamie_noone

09-18-05, 12:39 AM		Okay, I'm reading through a module for 1st level characters in which they encounter brown mold.

Here's how I envision the encounter:


1) I tell the party that as they approach the hall
with the brown mold, the air becomes colder.

2) When they spot the brown mold, they identify that
as the source of the chill.

3) The leader (let's say a fighter with 12 hit points)
steps forward with a torch to destroy the apparently
cold-based mold.

4) Fighter comes within 5 feet of mold, suffers
14 points of non-lethal damage with an unlucky
dice roll. Rest of party watches him fall unconscious,
torch extinguishes, and mold doubles in size,
possibly enveloping other party members, including,
let's imagine, the wizard (the only one who can cast
Ray of Frost, assuming he has it memorized anyway).
Wizard takes 9 points nonlethal cold damage,
falls unconscious.

5) Next round, the unconscious fighter and
unconscious wizard (and possibly other PCs as well)
begin to take lethal damage at the same rate
(3d6 in one round?).

6) Surviving PCs attempt to rescue the fighter and
wizard in any number of futile ways:
A) Endure elements does not protect from
cold damage.
B) Use torch to keep warm, possibly suffer same
fate as fighter.
C) No torch, hope for lucky dice rolls to avoid
losing consciousness.

7) Fighter, wizard, and any other PCs caught
in the mold's new range die.


How are the players supposed to avoid PC death, if not TPK, from brown mold at 1st level?

choice of...

1) metagame? "I've seen brown mold in another
game. Cold kills it instantly."

OR

2) knowledge: dungeoneering (DC: 12? "Your
character has heard of this before. Brown mold
lives off of heat, even sucking body heat
from living creatures. Exposure to high
temperatures, such as fire, causes instant growth,
which can surprise living creatures within range.")

AND

3) Wizard has Ray of Frost prepared.


Is this how it's supposed to work? Is the damage from the brown mold supposed to be calculated per round? Isn't this a bit much for a module for 1st-level characters?

-jamie