Hey folks,
I just realised that I may have killed two PCs in my game without their players knowing.
I'm running Scourge of the Sword Coast, which was intended for levels 2-4, but I've been upscaling it for levels 5-7. In one recent encounter, I replaced an armored zombie with a mummy. I figured CR 3 would be all right for five 6th level PCs.
Two of the PCs contracted mummy rot before the mummy went down. Mummy rot is a curse (as opposed to a disease) that not only prevents the PCs from regaining any hit points, it also reduces their hp maximum by 10 every 24 hours. If reduced to 0 hp, they turn to dust.
Now you're probably thinking no biggie, a 6th level cleric can cast remove curse. Unfortunately the party doesn't have a cleric, and they're at least a few days' march from civilization. There are some druids in the nearby woods, but druids don't get remove curse. 
The only other class besides cleric that appears to get that spell is the paladin. As luck would have it, I have a new player joining us this coming session. Guess what his PC is? That's right! A paladin. But guess what else? Paladins don't get remove curse until 9th level! Lay on Hands is also of no use, since it doesn't remove curses.
It's looking very much like the two afflicted PCs are eventually going to die of mummy rot (if they don't get killed by monsters first).
I suppose I could drop some scrolls of remove curse somewhere that the paladin could try to use (with a successful spellcasting check). Or maybe just one scroll - could make for a fun moral dilemma as they'd only be able to save one PC with it.
Anyone got any better ideas? What would you do if you found yourself in this situation, knowing it's your fault for not fully thinking through the consequences of throwing a mummy at a party ill-equipped to deal with it?
Thanks in advance for your help!
Cheers,
Jonathan
EDIT: I have a house rule whereby players can choose to have their PC suffer an appropriate lingering injury instead of dying. This might be a possible solution.
What might be an appropriate injury relating to mummy rot? All healing received is reduced by half? Their hp max is reduced by 10 indefinitely? They need to regularly get themselves wet or else they start to dry out? They become intelligent undead (maybe a pseudo-mummy?) rather than crumbling to dust?
I was just finishing up running I3 Pharoah and they are coming up to the boss mummy. No civilazation in sight for many days. No cleric with Remove Curse unless they level up in the last fight . . .
I changed it to loses 1 hp a day and no healing. No healing it already a b****slap. This way they need to rush to a town, and might make it. Replaced the curse, and made the normal mummy with that curse CR 5 instead with some more HP and one more point towards to hit.
As you consider the problem your fault for replacing the zombies without considering the extra impact the mummies have on a party with no ability to remove curse, the players deserve some leniency. There's nothing stopping you from changing the mummy curse. Maybe the curse tops out at a few days, reducing hps by 30 or 40 max. Still a challenge to reach someone that can help the players get the curse removed, with very low hps. The return to town can turn into an adventure all on it's own that way.
Or use the new player. Sure, he brings in a paladin, but he may have special knowledge. Maybe there's a reclusive monastery only a days journey away, with clerics that can help. The new players start off with a chance to save his new partymembers, a good way to start a long adventuring career together.
Or do both. The clerics at the monastery will require some payment. The clerics in town have vowed to remove curses for free, but it's a few days away. Then have the players decide what risk they want to take.
Why can't the highest ranking Druid also be a Nature Cleric? She removes the curse but also places a Geas on the PCs for some quest.
I don't see how this is your problem, really, nor even a mistake to have included the mummy. It's just another challenge for the players to overcome. If their solution is to walk back to civilization, then so be it - calculate the amount of time it takes given their pace and see if it's viable. If it's not, then they may have to go faster (at the risk of being caught unawares by monsters) or perhaps simply do forced march at a slower pace (at the risk of exhaustion).
You create the problems - the players offer solutions. You judge the outcome of those solutions. I don't recommend trying to solve their problems for them.
Can the PCs get back to civilization if they force march?
If they can't, do they have a way of contacting a cleric in the city (someone they've worked with in the past perhaps) that could meet them halfway? They would owe the cleric a favor, but that's not necessarily a bad thing.
Another option is to have a cleric "just happens" to be visititng the druids. Or a hermit cleric that for some reason has shunned civilization. Once again though, the cost for the remove disease might be more than just monetary. The PCs are between a rock and a hard place here so they may owe some pretty big favors. Make the cure into an interesting side quest.
You've set up a challenge for the characters and while you do not have to solve it for them, I do believe in always giving PCs one or more ways out. One way may be simple but come at a higher (moral) cost, another may require a different type of sacrifice.
The PCs are the heroes, winning should not necessarily be easy but it should be possible.
The new paladin player can at least identify the curse as such, and offer them advise on how to proceed. But I wouldn't solve the problem for them. What you can do is slow down the effect of the curse, so the players have a fair chance to get rid of it. Tying it to the plot and to a difficult moral choice, sounds like a good idea. Maybe the mummy starts to appear in the dreams of the afflicted players, telling them that they can pass on the curse to someone innocent. It is then up to the players to make this difficult moral choice. Do they risk their own death, or do they risk the life of someone who doesn't deserve it either? As a DM you can choose to change the effects of the curse however you see fit. But I would definitely not waste this good opportunity for excitement. Don't nullify the curse completely, and take away their agency.
iserith wrote:
iserith wrote:
supreme_slayer wrote:
supreme_slayer wrote:
iserith wrote:
iserith wrote:
Imaculata wrote:
supreme_slayer wrote:
Waghalter wrote:
Wow. That's a lot of responses! Thanks everyone.
It seems like the general consensus is that a) I shouldn't feel responsible and b) I shouldn't go out of my way to provide a solution.
One of the reasons I'm concerned is because the players of the affected PCs seemed to be under the impression that their affliction will go away on its own after a short rest (like many other "life drain" effects do). They're in for a rude awakening.
I'll just add that I was talking to one of my other players after posting this. He reminded me of the drow. There are some good drow (followers of Eilistraee) in the forest. Their leader is a (modified) drow priestess. The PCs met them previously but chose not to interact with them, suspecting that the drow were really evil and would try to kill them.
The new paladin PC is a resident of the forest. He'd know about the drow. I could have the player mention them as an option.
You could rework the curse so that it halves their hit point maximum instead of reducing it incrementally, sort of the way "curse" works in Dark Souls.
warlock and wizard also get remove curse.
So drop a scroll of remove curse then your wizard got 2 choice. Save one of his friend or copy the spell in his spell book, and save both.
I've had DM who (literally) had a giant hand come out of the wall, grab a random player and killed them. No save, no way we could have seen it coming.
Don't be that DM. Let the PCs know how much danger they are in. They may simply remember some obscure lore, or come across a pile of dust in the shape of a corpse with a final message "beware the mummies curse" written on the wall, or maybe the new player's pc knows about curses.
Then you need to be open to possible solutions. Listen to the players when they're discussing what to do. Have some flexibility in your plan and your world. Award them for coming up with a plan by letting the plan succeed (not necessarily in the way they intend).
As a DM improvisation and rolling with changes of plan are important tools to develop. I've run entire sessions that were total improv, and they were some of the most memorable I've had.
QwertyAzerty wrote:
Like others have said. Give your PCs a modified version of the curse. Perhaps the HP loss each day is less. Perhaps there is a Con Save each day to avoid the effects, probably best of all make the loss a reduction in their HP Maximum. I think if you did the maths, you could turn the race back to civilization into something fun and scary, without being overly deadly or just hand-waving the whole ordeal by giving them an scroll of Remove Curse.
Glimjack wrote:
Oh, Ok, I thought it was actual damage, maximum decrease is better because that way it doesn't "stack" with damage from monsters on their journey to civilization.
Glimjack wrote:
pukunui wrote:
1.) you may have a little fault here. Maybe up to half. Remember the rule: Never aim your DM-gun at anything you're unwilling to utterly obliterate. You aimed, you fired. If you weren't willing to obliterate them, you shouldn't have done either. If you were willing, you have no fault.
2.) Begin by framing. "You have contracted mummy rot. It spreads daily. In N days, you'll crumble to dust. Unless you can remove the curse. Unfortunately, the nearest temple is M days away. The sands of time fall as fast as the flesh from your rotting body. What are you going to do?"
3.) they have a goal: remove curse. You set an obstacle: distance, time, impending doom.
4.) Adjudicate what THEY try to do.
(5.) *I* wouldn't save them. They have to earn it. But if *you* want to save them, that's on you - just do it quickly and move onto something fun. Otherwise, do what you can to milk this situation for tension and fun.
The players should kill the cursed PCs immediately. That will buy them enough time to reach civilization and reach a 9th Level Cleric who can cast Raise Dead (and then Remove Curse)
Better to be dead for a few days than turned to dust,
And yes, I state the idea non-descriptly, but oh what an awesome roleplaying moment it COULD be when the players realize their characters have to DIE, in order to live.
And as for what comes back afterward, well, who's to say...
DemoMonkey wrote:
Imaculata wrote:
You don't have to say the words "mummy rot." You do have to frame the situation so they know whats happening.
bawylie wrote:
That sounds like an excellent solution. It drives the plot forward, and the paladin immediately helps the party in his own unique way.
Here's how it went down:
After meeting the paladin, who sensed something wrong with the two PCs but didn't immediately say anything until they'd taken some damage and his lay on hands failed to have any effect, the party took a long rest. The dragonborn experienced a vivid dream in which he was crumbling to dust, while the eladrin experienced a similar hallucination while trancing. In the morning, the paladin proposed taking them to see the drow in the Dancing Dell. He vouched for their "goodness".
At that point, I took the warlock's player aside and told him that his Giant Crow patron would be happy to cure the afflicted PCs so long as they converted to his "faith". Unfortunately, the players saw straight through that and knew that the price was really their souls, so they rejected that option. I brought up the possibility of Waterdeep but pointed out that the Dell was closer. Eventually the eladrin swallowed her pride (she's a rather snobbish preteen [in elven terms] noble and associating with any kind of drow is just not on ...) and so the group trekked through the forest, with no random encounters.
The warlock almost messed things up when he gave in to the voice in his head insisting that the drow were evil and he should kill them before they killed him, but the powers of the Ladystone interceded and he was left dancing to Otto's irresistible dance while the others partook of a heroes' feast. His imp-as-crow familiar turned invisible and flew to a tree outside the dell. The drow priestess admonished him but when he made no further attempts to cause trouble, he was able to stop dancing and join the feast.
Meanwhile, the priestess also deduced that the PCs were under the effects of mummy rot, and she informed them that if they hadn't come to see her, they'd have eventually crumbled into dust. She then cured them of their curses.
And that was that.
Excellent. You managed to get the players to visit the drow, and there was even some interesting conflict. It's alright that the priestess got rid of the curse so easily. You made it more about the journey, and the choice to trust the drow. I like the bit with the Giant Crow. Thats what I mean with a cure that comes at a price. Well played.
Not bad! Good foreshadowing, good laying out of available options. I might've increased riskiness on the drow option, but that's a personal preference. Seems like nice social interactions and conflicts in the drow scene.
Nice work.
Thanks!
I had ruled that the paladin had cavorted with the drow in the past (his background is entertainer), so he knew the priestess by name.
When I originally wrote up the encounter, the drow were going to disperse into the woods if anyone attacked (while the Ladystone-induced dancing kept any would-be attackers from pursuing).
However, since the paladin was present, and the drow priestess had also already summoned up the feast, I decided that they wouldn't flee just because one PC tried (and failed) to attack them. The paladin had also warned the priestess that he'd sensed something fiendish about the warlock's "crow".
It's probably quite fortuitous that the paladin has come along when he has, as he can help the warlock uncover the truth.