My players outsmarted me again. They polymorphed the enemy Mummy Lord into a slug. They tied her slug form to an arrow, and fired her over a cliff.
My Question : Would the Mummy Lords heart be intact for resurrection after she took 237 points of bludgeoning damage? I had described her corpse as being pretty pasted when they inspected her remains.
Probably would be mostly inatct. Keep in mind, slugs are so small their terminal velocity isn't that fast. So all the velocity really was from the arrow. Since they tied it to the arrow maybe say that when it hit the ground the slug was sliced in half and all the bits oozed out. Alternatively, maybe upon impact it killed the slug and the body changed back basically as soon as the arrow hits, all the bones are broken making it just a puddle of bits. Maybe the heart is fine but they have to sift through the meat soup to find it.
Did your players kill the Mummy Lord, or just made it angry? In the description it states:
As long as its shriveled heart remains intact, a mummy lord can’t be permanently destroyed. When it drops to 0 hit points, the mummy lord turns to dust and re-forms at full strength 24 hours later, rising out of dust in close proximity to the canopic jar containing its heart. A mummy lord can be destroyed or prevented from re-forming by burning its heart to ashes. For this reason, a mummy lord usually keeps its heart and viscera in a hidden tomb or vault.
The mummy lord’s heart has AC 5, 25 hit points, and immunity to all damage except fire.
In D&D (as well as real life), a mummy's vital organs are not in the creature, but instead stored in an urn. Since the heart is the source of a mummy's power, the creature knows to keep it well hidden. What happens to the body of a mummy is irrelevant. If they don't kill the heart, a new body will re-form in 24 hours. Your players will be in for a shock when the creature re-appears tomorrow.
Side note, can I get a little more information on how this happened? I congratulate your players on a creative solution, but I'm confused as to the method. I know it's all up to the DM's discretion, but there are a few things sticking out to me as odd:
Polymorph requires a WIS saving throw. A Mummy Lord has advantage (Magic Resistance) and +9 WIS to saving throws. How did it fail?
Polymorph is a 4th level spell. A Mummy Lord has a Lair Action that injures anyone trying to cast a 4th level spell or lower if they fail a DC16 CON saving throw.
How do you get 237 points of bludgeoning damage? Fall damage maxes out at 20d6
When a Polymorphed creature falls to 0 hit points, it reverts back to its previous form with excess damage carrying over. When a mummy falls to zero hit points, it turns to dust and re-forms 24 hours later. There shouldn't have been a body for them to inspect.
Mummy Lords have immunity to nonmagical bludgeoning damage. For the sake of argument, we can say that the slug had a full hit point, but once it reverted into being a Mummy Lord the rest of the damage should have hit its damage immunity.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
My players outsmarted me again. They polymorphed the enemy Mummy Lord into a slug. They tied her slug form to an arrow, and fired her over a cliff.
My Question : Would the Mummy Lords heart be intact for resurrection after she took 237 points of bludgeoning damage? I had described her corpse as being pretty pasted when they inspected her remains.
Unless the Mummy Lord returning is a key component of your storyline, it dies. Not because you should violate what the rules say. Not because you should ignore the math nerds that try and explain how terminal velocity works. It dies for one simple reason. Your players outsmarted you. They were clever. Reward that. Always. Their play was brilliant and hilarious. A rulebook should never override that.
When you have it return, it will ultimately end up as a slap in the face to their clever solution. That begins the slippery slope of making their cool actions start to feel like it'll only stay cool until you decide to override that. That's not good.
Again, if it's imperative to the story that he return, then yes, bring it back. In this case, the storyline involving the mummy will hopefully become cooler than their approach to getting rid of it. Otherwise, it's ok (and advised) to let players win.
Did your players kill the Mummy Lord, or just made it angry? In the description it states:
As long as its shriveled heart remains intact, a mummy lord can’t be permanently destroyed. When it drops to 0 hit points, the mummy lord turns to dust and re-forms at full strength 24 hours later, rising out of dust in close proximity to the canopic jar containing its heart. A mummy lord can be destroyed or prevented from re-forming by burning its heart to ashes. For this reason, a mummy lord usually keeps its heart and viscera in a hidden tomb or vault.
The mummy lord’s heart has AC 5, 25 hit points, and immunity to all damage except fire.
In D&D (as well as real life), a mummy's vital organs are not in the creature, but instead stored in an urn. Since the heart is the source of a mummy's power, the creature knows to keep it well hidden. What happens to the body of a mummy is irrelevant. If they don't kill the heart, a new body will re-form in 24 hours. Your players will be in for a shock when the creature re-appears tomorrow.
Side note, can I get a little more information on how this happened? I congratulate your players on a creative solution, but I'm confused as to the method. I know it's all up to the DM's discretion, but there are a few things sticking out to me as odd:
Polymorph requires a WIS saving throw. A Mummy Lord has advantage (Magic Resistance) and +9 WIS to saving throws. How did it fail?
Polymorph is a 4th level spell. A Mummy Lord has a Lair Action that injures anyone trying to cast a 4th level spell or lower if they fail a DC16 CON saving throw.
How do you get 237 points of bludgeoning damage? Fall damage maxes out at 20d6
When a Polymorphed creature falls to 0 hit points, it reverts back to its previous form with excess damage carrying over. When a mummy falls to zero hit points, it turns to dust and re-forms 24 hours later. There shouldn't have been a body for them to inspect.
Our Tiefling Bard has been eager to hear more about his backstory, which he has given me some creative licence with. Essentially, he is a scion of General Zapan. His distantly related Aunt (the Mummy Lord) came to retrieve our PC and escort/kidnap him and return him to his family, where he will take his rightful place as a general in the armies of Dis. (I've spoken to the player, and he knows that my aim is to kidnap, although he doesn't know the exact reasons why yet - he would have found out but decided to splatter the messenger!)
In response to your other questions,
The Mummy Lord (Me) failed their dice roles monumentally, hence the new slug bod.
As the Mummy Lord had been trailing the party, they weren't in the Mummy's Lair, and so no Lair actions.
A few of my players were already calculating the maximum distance of the bow, and how much fall damage the Mummy would take; given their enthusiasm and the difference between 20d6 and 26d6, I was happy to allow this.
Given the damage already done to the Mummy earlier in the battle, once it took 1 damage and reverted to it's Mummy Form, the rest of the Bludgeoning Damage was enough to well and truly finish it off.
Jellifying the body was my bad - I forgot that the mummy would turn to ash upon death.
My players outsmarted me again. They polymorphed the enemy Mummy Lord into a slug. They tied her slug form to an arrow, and fired her over a cliff.
My Question : Would the Mummy Lords heart be intact for resurrection after she took 237 points of bludgeoning damage? I had described her corpse as being pretty pasted when they inspected her remains.
Unless the Mummy Lord returning is a key component of your storyline, it dies. Not because you should violate what the rules say. Not because you should ignore the math nerds that try and explain how terminal velocity works. It dies for one simple reason. Your players outsmarted you. They were clever. Reward that. Always. Their play was brilliant and hilarious. A rulebook should never override that.
When you have it return, it will ultimately end up as a slap in the face to their clever solution. That begins the slippery slope of making their cool actions start to feel like it'll only stay cool until you decide to override that. That's not good.
Again, if it's imperative to the story that he return, then yes, bring it back. In this case, the storyline involving the mummy will hopefully become cooler than their approach to getting rid of it. Otherwise, it's ok (and advised) to let players win.
Thanks, I appreciate the input. I specifically picked the Mummy Lord because of it's regenerative abilities. I wanted to have them beat it, and have it come back, to emphasize that they've stepped up to a new level of difficulty, and that just killing is no longer always a viable option (as epic as it was).
I'll ponder your suggestion, and see if perhaps another of General Zapan's offspring will come and collect the Bard, given his Mummy Lord daughter is now jam.
Thanks again for everyone's input!
Edit: Forgot to mention! If I revive the Mummy, her heart will be safely elsewhere, eliminating the issue of whether it survived the fall. Thanks!
Becoming a general of Dis, because your are a scion would be rather prestigious, right? Why would a mummy lord be the bearer of (potentially)good news?
I had thought that Zapan would be showing nepotism, and that he sent his closest offspring to collect his wayward grandson (the bard's father fled Hell, not wanting to assist his insane father).
Seeing as our Bard is generally a good character, being forced to be a General in Hell wouldn't be a positive for them. There would also be some brainwashing involved to ensure he was firmly on the side of evil.
I'm going to look at this from a different angle: be careful not to take away the players' epic victory or make them feel cheated. Outsmarting a mummy lord is a massive achievement. At least give them some time to celebrate it before he returns.
Secondarily, it's definitely smart, like you said, to have the heart hidden somewhere in a canopic jar!
The Mummy Lord (Me) failed their dice roles monumentally, hence the new slug bod.
As the Mummy Lord had been trailing the party, they weren't in the Mummy's Lair, and so no Lair actions.
A few of my players were already calculating the maximum distance of the bow, and how much fall damage the Mummy would take; given their enthusiasm and the difference between 20d6 and 26d6, I was happy to allow this.
Given the damage already done to the Mummy earlier in the battle, once it took 1 damage and reverted to it's Mummy Form, the rest of the Bludgeoning Damage was enough to well and truly finish it off.
Jellifying the body was my bad - I forgot that the mummy would turn to ash upon death.
Except that the Mummy wouldn't care about the bludgeoning damage, it being immune to it and all.
That said, I don't think it should be a problem if you bring the mummy lord back. The players did a clever thing, it worked, this time, and they got away. Maybe next time they won't be so lucky. Just the act of shooting a slug of a cliff would give you enough of a head start to keep the mummy of your tracks for a while, so I don't see anything wrong with that either.
I also don't see a problem with describing the body jellifying instead of turning to ash, the results are pretty much the same. Maybe it turned into ash afterwards? Who cares? I would however, advice you to notify your players that their last encounter wasn't following all of the rules and that the next encoutner might not be as easy.
Mummy Lords are not immune to bludgeoning damage, but to damage from 'Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks'.
Damage from falling should still apply ;)
What you're saying doesn't make any sense. You take damage when you fall, that damage is bludgeoning, from the MM "Some creatures have vulnerability, resistance or immunity to certain types of damage." While the statbox for the Mummy Lord does say "bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons." Since the game doesn't differntiate between damage done by weapons and damage from other sources (fire damage is fire damage), it's a bit farfetched to assume that a falling rock would hurt a mummy whereas a the same rock when used as a weapon would not.
Mummy Lords are not immune to bludgeoning damage, but to damage from 'Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks'.
Damage from falling should still apply ;)
What you're saying doesn't make any sense. You take damage when you fall, that damage is bludgeoning, from the MM "Some creatures have vulnerability, resistance or immunity to certain types of damage." While the statbox for the Mummy Lord does say "bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons." Since the game doesn't differntiate between damage done by weapons and damage from other sources (fire damage is fire damage), it's a bit farfetched to assume that a falling rock would hurt a mummy whereas a the same rock when used as a weapon would not.
Or that hitting a mummy with a rock won't hurt it, but hitting the rock with the mummy will.
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Mummy Lords are not immune to bludgeoning damage, but to damage from 'Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks'.
Damage from falling should still apply ;)
What you're saying doesn't make any sense. You take damage when you fall, that damage is bludgeoning, from the MM "Some creatures have vulnerability, resistance or immunity to certain types of damage." While the statbox for the Mummy Lord does say "bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons." Since the game doesn't differntiate between damage done by weapons and damage from other sources (fire damage is fire damage), it's a bit farfetched to assume that a falling rock would hurt a mummy whereas a the same rock when used as a weapon would not.
Or that hitting a mummy with a rock won't hurt it, but hitting the rock with the mummy will.
I thought that the Slug takes the damage. If it falls to zero then it dies and the body reverts to its original form. At that point it would become a pile of mummy dust. In slug form it doesn't have immunity to anything.
However, I recommend the advice from Jacked-goblin. Let the players enjoy their win.
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Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt
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My players outsmarted me again. They polymorphed the enemy Mummy Lord into a slug. They tied her slug form to an arrow, and fired her over a cliff.
My Question : Would the Mummy Lords heart be intact for resurrection after she took 237 points of bludgeoning damage? I had described her corpse as being pretty pasted when they inspected her remains.
Probably would be mostly inatct. Keep in mind, slugs are so small their terminal velocity isn't that fast. So all the velocity really was from the arrow. Since they tied it to the arrow maybe say that when it hit the ground the slug was sliced in half and all the bits oozed out. Alternatively, maybe upon impact it killed the slug and the body changed back basically as soon as the arrow hits, all the bones are broken making it just a puddle of bits. Maybe the heart is fine but they have to sift through the meat soup to find it.
Did your players kill the Mummy Lord, or just made it angry? In the description it states:
In D&D (as well as real life), a mummy's vital organs are not in the creature, but instead stored in an urn. Since the heart is the source of a mummy's power, the creature knows to keep it well hidden. What happens to the body of a mummy is irrelevant. If they don't kill the heart, a new body will re-form in 24 hours. Your players will be in for a shock when the creature re-appears tomorrow.
Side note, can I get a little more information on how this happened? I congratulate your players on a creative solution, but I'm confused as to the method. I know it's all up to the DM's discretion, but there are a few things sticking out to me as odd:
WOW!
Heart is definitely intact. Snail should die, and I could see having the mummy being reduced to 0 hp, but that heart is intact.
Mummy Lords have immunity to nonmagical bludgeoning damage. For the sake of argument, we can say that the slug had a full hit point, but once it reverted into being a Mummy Lord the rest of the damage should have hit its damage immunity.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I was thinking the same thing, the Mummy Lord would take 0 damage.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Does a slug even take that much damage from falling
Unless the Mummy Lord returning is a key component of your storyline, it dies. Not because you should violate what the rules say. Not because you should ignore the math nerds that try and explain how terminal velocity works. It dies for one simple reason. Your players outsmarted you. They were clever. Reward that. Always. Their play was brilliant and hilarious. A rulebook should never override that.
When you have it return, it will ultimately end up as a slap in the face to their clever solution. That begins the slippery slope of making their cool actions start to feel like it'll only stay cool until you decide to override that. That's not good.
Again, if it's imperative to the story that he return, then yes, bring it back. In this case, the storyline involving the mummy will hopefully become cooler than their approach to getting rid of it. Otherwise, it's ok (and advised) to let players win.
All things Lich - DM tips, tricks, and other creative shenanigans
First of all, thanks for the comments and replies.
Our Tiefling Bard has been eager to hear more about his backstory, which he has given me some creative licence with. Essentially, he is a scion of General Zapan. His distantly related Aunt (the Mummy Lord) came to retrieve our PC and escort/kidnap him and return him to his family, where he will take his rightful place as a general in the armies of Dis. (I've spoken to the player, and he knows that my aim is to kidnap, although he doesn't know the exact reasons why yet - he would have found out but decided to splatter the messenger!)
In response to your other questions,
Thanks, I appreciate the input.
I specifically picked the Mummy Lord because of it's regenerative abilities. I wanted to have them beat it, and have it come back, to emphasize that they've stepped up to a new level of difficulty, and that just killing is no longer always a viable option (as epic as it was).
I'll ponder your suggestion, and see if perhaps another of General Zapan's offspring will come and collect the Bard, given his Mummy Lord daughter is now jam.
Thanks again for everyone's input!
Edit: Forgot to mention! If I revive the Mummy, her heart will be safely elsewhere, eliminating the issue of whether it survived the fall. Thanks!
Becoming a general of Dis, because your are a scion would be rather prestigious, right? Why would a mummy lord be the bearer of (potentially)good news?
I had thought that Zapan would be showing nepotism, and that he sent his closest offspring to collect his wayward grandson (the bard's father fled Hell, not wanting to assist his insane father).
Seeing as our Bard is generally a good character, being forced to be a General in Hell wouldn't be a positive for them. There would also be some brainwashing involved to ensure he was firmly on the side of evil.
I'm going to look at this from a different angle: be careful not to take away the players' epic victory or make them feel cheated. Outsmarting a mummy lord is a massive achievement. At least give them some time to celebrate it before he returns.
Secondarily, it's definitely smart, like you said, to have the heart hidden somewhere in a canopic jar!
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Except that the Mummy wouldn't care about the bludgeoning damage, it being immune to it and all.
That said, I don't think it should be a problem if you bring the mummy lord back. The players did a clever thing, it worked, this time, and they got away. Maybe next time they won't be so lucky. Just the act of shooting a slug of a cliff would give you enough of a head start to keep the mummy of your tracks for a while, so I don't see anything wrong with that either.
I also don't see a problem with describing the body jellifying instead of turning to ash, the results are pretty much the same. Maybe it turned into ash afterwards? Who cares? I would however, advice you to notify your players that their last encounter wasn't following all of the rules and that the next encoutner might not be as easy.
Except that the Mummy wouldn't care about the bludgeoning damage, it being immune to it and all.
Oh ****.
This is probably pedantic:
Mummy Lords are not immune to bludgeoning damage, but to damage from 'Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from Nonmagical Attacks'.
Damage from falling should still apply ;)
More Interesting Lock Picking Rules
What you're saying doesn't make any sense. You take damage when you fall, that damage is bludgeoning, from the MM "Some creatures have vulnerability, resistance or immunity to certain types of damage." While the statbox for the Mummy Lord does say "bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing from nonmagical weapons." Since the game doesn't differntiate between damage done by weapons and damage from other sources (fire damage is fire damage), it's a bit farfetched to assume that a falling rock would hurt a mummy whereas a the same rock when used as a weapon would not.
Or that hitting a mummy with a rock won't hurt it, but hitting the rock with the mummy will.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I lol:ed.
I thought that the Slug takes the damage. If it falls to zero then it dies and the body reverts to its original form. At that point it would become a pile of mummy dust. In slug form it doesn't have immunity to anything.
However, I recommend the advice from Jacked-goblin. Let the players enjoy their win.
Cum catapultae proscriptae erunt tum soli proscript catapultas habebunt