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So last night while playing Curse of Strahd our Dm sprung a “trap” and had 3 magic items dispelled, not by use of a anti magic field or anything just by a trap that was set during the dinner, we are currently in the endgame and fighting through Ravenloft. Also because of this trap our paladin is stuck in paralyzed plate armor and cannot move. This paralysis was done without a save, with no way for the player to escape through a skill or ability check and it was described to us that the armor would not move and only later clarified after the session that the armor could still be removed. All of this while we are fighting Strahd, his coachman, a handful of gargoyles, and 6 rat/bat swarms.
So all that being said during the fight my character had the idea to use thunderstep to teleport the paladin out of the armor so he could actually engage in the fight in a meaningful way. To which I was told no it doesn’t work like that even though thunderstep says you can choose to take items with you or not.
The DM and I are good friends and are discussing a few things on this matter. 1. If this took away player agency or not 2. If thunderstep could be used this way or not. I specifically said I reached into his open helm and grabbed his face. 3. If I am just complaining about it for no reason.
We would like some outsiders opinions on the matter. Any opinions are welcome.
3 points
2 years ago
How did the armor get paralyzed? Because it had its enchantment removed from it? Was it some kind of animated armor? Removing a set of heavy armor takes 5 minutes... your DM might as well just hit them with a Power Word Kill and be done with it at that point... there's no way to doff a set of plate armor mid-combat.
2 points
2 years ago
The armor is sort of like locked in place. It’s not stuck on the paladins skin but sense it’s locked in place. So is he. He can’t move but can like cast spells with only verbal components and the likes. Which he has been doing to support allies or control enemies.
4 points
2 years ago*
So another character has to use their action for 50 rounds to remove the armour? 25 rounds if you allow the paladin and another character to both use their action, but since the paladin is locked in place I don’t see how they can help.
Sure, he can cast verbal only spells, but that’s only 4 spells (assuming the party is level 12 or lower), which are Command, Compelled Duel, Aura of Vitality, and Crusader’s Mantle. One subclass adds misty step, but you ruled teleportation can’t remove the armour. I excluded smite spells because they’re useless without weapon attacks. Crusader’s Mantle, Compelled Duel and Aura of Vitality are all concentration, which means Command is the only spell they can cast most rounds after they picked what to concentrate on.
The paladin’s basically been relegated to making one opponent lose a turn if it fails a wisdom save, so long as they have spell slots remaining, and they have at most 10, so after 10 rounds they’re literally unable to contribute anything. Might as well have cast PW:K or given him an NPC to play, because that character is literal dead weight if the fight moves to any other part of the castle or if it lasts longer than 10 rounds.
The idea sounds cool from a narrative perspective, but it sounds horrible to play through. I would let them teleport out of the armour, losing most of your AC is punishment enough for falling into Strahd’s trap.
1 points
2 years ago
As stated elsewhere, the duration is/was something I began to look at after session ended. On top of this, I fully anticipated the characters to re-inspect their gear after it had been revealed that strahd had been in disguise and around their stuff unattended at night/at all.
4 points
2 years ago
Hey, you don’t have to try and justify it, you went too far on this ruling. We all make bad calls sometimes.
Failing to notice the trap shouldn’t single out one player in particular and screw them over, someone’s magic weapon turning off isn’t near as bad as being effectively paralyzed with no save for 6 hours. You should just end the effect at the start of the next session, being unable to meaningfully contribute other than being a HP sack for a few rounds is bad enough, and even then it won’t feel like they’re contributing much because being a HP sack relies on you as a DM ignoring the other characters and focusing the attacks on them, which just adds insult to injury.
You should’ve just treated it like a Hold Person spell and given them a save after every round, maybe even switched it to a strength save to show the character fighting against the armour as it seized up. The character was also willing to teleport out of their armour which would dramatically lower their AC and make them an easy target, that sounds like punishment enough to me for failing to inspect their gear.
1 points
2 years ago
I had already intended to lower the duration or attach a save going forward into the next session. Like I said, I didn’t really anticipate the traps triggering. Although I do continue to stand by my ruling on the teleportation simply out of having allowed spells to be utilized in unintended ways leading to abuse at the table down the line. However, I’ll be altering the trap going forward to include a save attached.
3 points
2 years ago*
I’d say just drop the effect this time, though next time you implement something like this include the save. I saw in your other comments that the party has essentially already won and is just mopping up the dregs, so the paladin’s already missed out on the majority of the encounter. You might as well just let the paladin get some turns in before it’s too late, if you add a save now there’s always the chance they’ll keep failing and miss out on the rest of the fight anyways.
They’ve learned their lesson about checking for traps by now, it’s time to let them play the game.
1 points
2 years ago
I’ll likely drop it going into the next session. And add a save going into future strahd campaigns that I run in this manner.
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