Brown mold feeds on warmth, drawing heat from anything around it. A patch of brown mold typically covers a 10-foot square, and the temperature within 30 feet of it is always frigid.
When a creature moves to within 5 feet of the mold for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Brown mold is immune to fire, and any source of fire brought within 5 feet of a patch causes it to instantly expand outward in the direction of the fire, covering a 10-foot-square area (with the source of the fire at the center of that area). A patch of brown mold exposed to an effect that deals cold damage is instantly destroyed.
So this is the description for brown mold for anyone unfamiliar, and it is an environmental hazard as opposed to a creature with stats or hp. Im contemplating putting some in a cave system so my pcs (4 lvl 15s) will need to pass through it. My issue is the only way listed to destroy is is cold damage, and my players have no cold damage spells other than a staff of frost which could only take out a patch or two of mold. So I'm slightly worried putting this in my players path would be a little unfair as they have very little way to deal with it. On the other hand it wont kill them and will teach them to perhaps come with a wider array of spells etc. prepared.
So my actual question is, what would some other DM's do, and do any of you have any other ideas for creative ways to destroy the mold, as the description only really talks about fire and cold damage.
Would the Brown Mold have lived there naturally, does it fit within the ecology of the location? If yes, I would proceed as usual.
You party of 15th lvl PCs may not have any cold damage, but how about the ability to stay at least 5 ft away from the hazard? Do they have to have fire on their person to survive?
I try to avoid creating solutions that the players have to arrive at in order to succeed. At lvl 15, I would have to assume that they have ample resources to overcome almost any obstacle placed in their path. About the only thing that would hinder them is to fill a 5 ft tunnel with the stuff and force them to travel through it. On the other hand, it could be a neat complication to add a couple small patches in the BBEG lair that *might* be exposed to some type of fire effect. Back on topic, unless you get heavy-handed with it, I don't see a cause for concern.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
In my experience, I would put something nearby that could be used to at least bypass this type of hazard if I knew that my players had zero other ways of doing it.
For example, a scroll case could be set upon a ledge with a scroll of cone of frost in it, and a label on it “in case of Brown Mold” is it obvious? Yes. There are also times when you need to be obvious. Players will take 2+2 = ? Much better than 2+2 = 4, if that makes sense? Give them the tools, the knowledge, and see how they negotiate it.
Players don’t like being put in no-win situations. That being said, since this just seems like you putting a local hazard into an area, it should be fine. They’re all very high level for the amount of dmg Brown Mold does.
Brown mold feeds on warmth, drawing heat from anything around it. A patch of brown mold typically covers a 10-foot square, and the temperature within 30 feet of it is always frigid.
When a creature moves to within 5 feet of the mold for the first time on a turn or starts its turn there, it must make a DC 12 Constitution saving throw, taking 22 (4d10) cold damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one.
Brown mold is immune to fire, and any source of fire brought within 5 feet of a patch causes it to instantly expand outward in the direction of the fire, covering a 10-foot-square area (with the source of the fire at the center of that area). A patch of brown mold exposed to an effect that deals cold damage is instantly destroyed.
So this is the description for brown mold for anyone unfamiliar, and it is an environmental hazard as opposed to a creature with stats or hp. Im contemplating putting some in a cave system so my pcs (4 lvl 15s) will need to pass through it. My issue is the only way listed to destroy is is cold damage, and my players have no cold damage spells other than a staff of frost which could only take out a patch or two of mold. So I'm slightly worried putting this in my players path would be a little unfair as they have very little way to deal with it. On the other hand it wont kill them and will teach them to perhaps come with a wider array of spells etc. prepared.
So my actual question is, what would some other DM's do, and do any of you have any other ideas for creative ways to destroy the mold, as the description only really talks about fire and cold damage.
Other than destroying the mold, they can just avoid it or absorb the damage.
Would the Brown Mold have lived there naturally, does it fit within the ecology of the location? If yes, I would proceed as usual.
You party of 15th lvl PCs may not have any cold damage, but how about the ability to stay at least 5 ft away from the hazard? Do they have to have fire on their person to survive?
I try to avoid creating solutions that the players have to arrive at in order to succeed. At lvl 15, I would have to assume that they have ample resources to overcome almost any obstacle placed in their path. About the only thing that would hinder them is to fill a 5 ft tunnel with the stuff and force them to travel through it. On the other hand, it could be a neat complication to add a couple small patches in the BBEG lair that *might* be exposed to some type of fire effect. Back on topic, unless you get heavy-handed with it, I don't see a cause for concern.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
In my experience, I would put something nearby that could be used to at least bypass this type of hazard if I knew that my players had zero other ways of doing it.
For example, a scroll case could be set upon a ledge with a scroll of cone of frost in it, and a label on it “in case of Brown Mold” is it obvious? Yes. There are also times when you need to be obvious. Players will take 2+2 = ? Much better than 2+2 = 4, if that makes sense? Give them the tools, the knowledge, and see how they negotiate it.
Players don’t like being put in no-win situations. That being said, since this just seems like you putting a local hazard into an area, it should be fine. They’re all very high level for the amount of dmg Brown Mold does.
I threw a jar of brown mold into a circle of praying kobolds after using spare the dying on myself to un-inside-out after getting said jar of mold.
Those kobolds are skeletons now lol.
Ak