How do you fight yellow mold? [Archive] - Wizards Community

How do you fight yellow mold? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
chaotic_easy_going
11-02-06, 11:45 AM Hi,

I was just curious about how a character should fight yellow mold without dying. I mean - do you just run up and start hacking at it?

Thanks!

~ CEG
equilibrium17
11-02-06, 12:11 PM Best thing to do is leave it alone and bypass it, if you can.

If you need to get rid of it, normal, physical attacks will not work. However, Yellow Mold is vulnerable to fire, so once you've spotted it, simplest and most cost effective way of dealing with it is to withdraw to a safe distance, and throw a vial of oil at it, followed by a torch or tindertwig to start the bonfire.

One trick my players came up with is to tie a torch to the end of a longspear, and burn out the mold that way. Saved them the trouble of using an entire flask of oil. IIRC, I ruled it took about 1min/5ft square to burn out the mold this way.

Many fire spells will eliminate Yellow Mold very nicely, too, but you usually don't want to waste a full-out spell on Yellow Mold.

Hard part with Molds in general is spotting them in the first place, before you get too close, and end up with lungs full of spores. . .
chaotic_easy_going
11-02-06, 04:05 PM very cool - thanks for the reply!

~ CEG
Kradlo
11-02-06, 04:05 PM Does your character have any ranks in Knowledge: Dungeoneering? If not, he's not going to know about Yellow Mold until he encounters it. I do hope you're not looking for a metagame solution to an in character problem.
chaotic_easy_going
11-02-06, 04:07 PM No - I don't even have a character. I'm just talking about the general concept of how players are expected to kill Yellow mold.

~ CEG

Does your character have any ranks in Knowledge: Dungeoneering? If not, he's not going to know about Yellow Mold until he encounters it. I do hope you're not looking for a metagame solution to an in character problem.
Matthew77
11-02-06, 04:10 PM Does your character have any ranks in Knowledge: Dungeoneering? If not, he's not going to know about Yellow Mold until he encounters it. I do hope you're not looking for a metagame solution to an in character problem.

Is it a common ruling that D&D characters have zero knowledge of the perils of the world they live in?

I've never fought a bear, but I've heard that if you curl into a ball and lie still it will leave you alone.

I've never seen a patch of quicksand, but I know the best thing to do is spread myself out to increase my surface area and not struggle.

The D&D world is full of strange and dangerous creatures, and adventurers spend a lot of time in bars and talking to strangers. I would assume the typical adventurer knows the basic strengths and weaknesses of everything in the Monster Manual.
RodinGates
11-02-06, 04:20 PM Keep in mind however that in the modern age we enjoy abundant information through mass media and highly interconnected information networks. And despite such widely available info its still easy to spread misinformation (ie; the whole playing dead to avoid a bear attack thing).

In the fantasy styled setting of d&d we can only assume that the best way to get information is through word of mouth or study, hence where knowledge skills come in. Thus, it would make sense that a wizard who has studied dungeoneering might therefore know how to combat something such as yellow mold while a fighter, who's probably spent more of his time fine tuning and polishing his swordsmanship would not know what yellow mold even is... Unless he rolls a 20 on an INT check, in which case we can assume that maybe one of his buddies happened to tell him about it in a tavern three years ago.
Matthew77
11-02-06, 04:25 PM Keep in mind however that in the modern age we enjoy abundant information through mass media and highly interconnected information networks. And despite such widely available info its still easy to spread misinformation (ie; the whole playing dead to avoid a bear attack thing).

This is a good point.

I do think "close your mouth and throw fire at it" is a pretty good common sense solution to a patch of mold that is sending up spores when you get near it, and I wouldn't accuse anyone of "metagaming" if they did so.

Now that I think about it, "Throwing fire at it" is a reasonable tactic to try against almost anything you don't think "hitting it with a pointy thing" will work on. :D
allenchan
11-02-06, 04:30 PM Is it a common ruling that D&D characters have zero knowledge of the perils of the world they live in?

I've never fought a bear, but I've heard that if you curl into a ball and lie still it will leave you alone.

I've never seen a patch of quicksand, but I know the best thing to do is spread myself out to increase my surface area and not struggle.

The D&D world is full of strange and dangerous creatures, and adventurers spend a lot of time in bars and talking to strangers. I would assume the typical adventurer knows the basic strengths and weaknesses of everything in the Monster Manual.

everyone can attempt DC 10 or less knowledge checks. All your examples would qualify as that.

However, yes, you'd be assuming wrong if all players are expected to know everything in the MM (and some players do, which is why many DMs use alternate monster books).

I would not classify yellow mold as a DC 10 knowledge check, but thats fairly arbitrary, and based highly on the campaign setting presented.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
chaotic_easy_going 11-02-06, 11:45 AM	Hi, I was just curious about how a character should fight yellow mold without dying. I mean - do you just run up and start hacking at it? Thanks! ~ CEG
equilibrium17 11-02-06, 12:11 PM	Best thing to do is leave it alone and bypass it, if you can. If you need to get rid of it, normal, physical attacks will not work. However, Yellow Mold is vulnerable to fire, so once you've spotted it, simplest and most cost effective way of dealing with it is to withdraw to a safe distance, and throw a vial of oil at it, followed by a torch or tindertwig to start the bonfire. One trick my players came up with is to tie a torch to the end of a longspear, and burn out the mold that way. Saved them the trouble of using an entire flask of oil. IIRC, I ruled it took about 1min/5ft square to burn out the mold this way. Many fire spells will eliminate Yellow Mold very nicely, too, but you usually don't want to waste a full-out spell on Yellow Mold. Hard part with Molds in general is spotting them in the first place, before you get too close, and end up with lungs full of spores. . .
chaotic_easy_going 11-02-06, 04:05 PM	very cool - thanks for the reply! ~ CEG
Kradlo 11-02-06, 04:05 PM	Does your character have any ranks in Knowledge: Dungeoneering? If not, he's not going to know about Yellow Mold until he encounters it. I do hope you're not looking for a metagame solution to an in character problem.
chaotic_easy_going 11-02-06, 04:07 PM	No - I don't even have a character. I'm just talking about the general concept of how players are expected to kill Yellow mold. ~ CEG Does your character have any ranks in Knowledge: Dungeoneering? If not, he's not going to know about Yellow Mold until he encounters it. I do hope you're not looking for a metagame solution to an in character problem.
Matthew77 11-02-06, 04:10 PM	Does your character have any ranks in Knowledge: Dungeoneering? If not, he's not going to know about Yellow Mold until he encounters it. I do hope you're not looking for a metagame solution to an in character problem. Is it a common ruling that D&D characters have zero knowledge of the perils of the world they live in? I've never fought a bear, but I've heard that if you curl into a ball and lie still it will leave you alone. I've never seen a patch of quicksand, but I know the best thing to do is spread myself out to increase my surface area and not struggle. The D&D world is full of strange and dangerous creatures, and adventurers spend a lot of time in bars and talking to strangers. I would assume the typical adventurer knows the basic strengths and weaknesses of everything in the Monster Manual.
RodinGates 11-02-06, 04:20 PM	Keep in mind however that in the modern age we enjoy abundant information through mass media and highly interconnected information networks. And despite such widely available info its still easy to spread misinformation (ie; the whole playing dead to avoid a bear attack thing). In the fantasy styled setting of d&d we can only assume that the best way to get information is through word of mouth or study, hence where knowledge skills come in. Thus, it would make sense that a wizard who has studied dungeoneering might therefore know how to combat something such as yellow mold while a fighter, who's probably spent more of his time fine tuning and polishing his swordsmanship would not know what yellow mold even is... Unless he rolls a 20 on an INT check, in which case we can assume that maybe one of his buddies happened to tell him about it in a tavern three years ago.
Matthew77 11-02-06, 04:25 PM	Keep in mind however that in the modern age we enjoy abundant information through mass media and highly interconnected information networks. And despite such widely available info its still easy to spread misinformation (ie; the whole playing dead to avoid a bear attack thing). This is a good point. I do think "close your mouth and throw fire at it" is a pretty good common sense solution to a patch of mold that is sending up spores when you get near it, and I wouldn't accuse anyone of "metagaming" if they did so. Now that I think about it, "Throwing fire at it" is a reasonable tactic to try against almost anything you don't think "hitting it with a pointy thing" will work on. :D
allenchan 11-02-06, 04:30 PM	Is it a common ruling that D&D characters have zero knowledge of the perils of the world they live in? I've never fought a bear, but I've heard that if you curl into a ball and lie still it will leave you alone. I've never seen a patch of quicksand, but I know the best thing to do is spread myself out to increase my surface area and not struggle. The D&D world is full of strange and dangerous creatures, and adventurers spend a lot of time in bars and talking to strangers. I would assume the typical adventurer knows the basic strengths and weaknesses of everything in the Monster Manual. everyone can attempt DC 10 or less knowledge checks. All your examples would qualify as that. However, yes, you'd be assuming wrong if all players are expected to know everything in the MM (and some players do, which is why many DMs use alternate monster books). I would not classify yellow mold as a DC 10 knowledge check, but thats fairly arbitrary, and based highly on the campaign setting presented.