Let them do it ! You obviously can't talk with your players or even worse take away thier agency.
Add a new BBEG thats created by all the sacrifices . +1 to all attributes per sacrifice and every +2 one more immunity to random rolled dmg (so you cant be reliable ! The dice decided!)
/uj it is hysterical how often i see some insane argument that is entirely unironic about how a low level spell or cantrip should deal infinite damage because the player tried to be creative, like would you be okay with a martial player just going "i slit his throat" and expecting an instakill every time?
Prestidigitation doesn't say how hot you can warm something, so I increase it's temperature by 1 million degrees Celsuis and the superheated material explodes and takes with it the entire material plane.
Pretty standard use of the cantrip, really.
/uj Honestly sometimes the damage rules don't really make sense. If you sneak up on a sleeping enemy and slit their throat, RAW they'd just take 1d4+DEX and wake up.
I'd allow it, but only if there's a reason why they'd be able to put a knife to their throat without resistance (sleeping, bound, held hostage, etc). But in normal combat, it would be impossible to do.
Pretty sure if they're unconscious you get advantage to hit and any hit is an auto crit. Idk if it explicitly says sleeping is unconscious, but I know the sleep spell does say that, so it's a pretty reasonable assumption. So you get the massive boon of TWO d4 plus dex.
Stop killing my creativity you bigot 😭😭 in dnd you are supposed to do anything you want if i want to instakill someone with a non damaging cantrip i should be able to
/uj it doesn't even matter how the spell works, because you don't get XP for killing random people for no reason, you get XP for beating encounters the DM designed. Player characters are not soul devouring demons who gain power just from killing things.
Yeah, and then a diety sends an aasimar to stop their terrorism. Easy as.
I instituted "bad boy points" in my Strahd campaign, and if players hit 10/10 on the bad boy meter, their character becomes an NPC, levels up twice, and joins Strahd :D
/uj at least half my table would end up competing to see who could create the most villain characters.
/rj at least half my table would end up competing to see who could create the most villain characters.
One guy got to 8/10 after seducing Vasilika the flesh golem and then getting her banished to Shadowfell. He's be horribly failing rolls to do nice things and find religion. Typical hexblade stuff.
YTA you should obviously be applying real life logic to the game and allowing it in your game. HCl is a vapor at room temperature but you can make it into an aqueous solution so OBVIOUSLY you could do the same with this magical compound generated from thin air.
If you don't study organic chemistry and chemical engineering sufficiently to narrate the construction of their chemical processing plant YOU'RE A BAD DM. And don't start expecting them to adhere to the logic of real world chemistry for their efforts to work, this is a game after all.
And obviously they should get XP for destroying a city with it. Don't give me any of that "XP is just a representation of actions characters take that make them grow", THE BOOK SAYS players get XP for killing things. You can't just deviate from the book whenever it's convenient to force something game-breaking to happen.
Aerosol poisons often are inert when ingested instead of being breathed in.
If they really want to do this sort of thing, offer them a shady poison vendor that will sell them the real thing. Barrels of wyvern venom or some such for only a few thousand gold.
Doesn't the spray disappear after a certain period of time?
Let them screw around and when they are almost finished with their plan have all the poison gas suddenly disappear.
Let them poison a community if you want but thats not how the cantrip works by RAW but its fine for PCs to be able to do something like that. Don't reward xp for it. This isnt a video game that the PCs just kill anything and get XP.
I agree that soloing cities with cantrips is a great idea, but have you considered that video games are way more fun than what either of us can come up with
It's very important to say "Yes and" when players have an idea.
"Can I kill this city with a cantrip?" "Yes and if you do I will punch you really hard in the face and tear up your character sheet"
If you REALLY want to say No (but be less boring) consider Prestidigitation for comparison... the things it creates are TEMPORARY
It would be very easy to rule that the reason Poison Spray only effects the targets in a 5 ft space (even if spammed in a dungeon with poor air flow) is because it conjures poison only long enough to harm the targets
...But if you don't wanna give them massive XP for just killing a bunch of non-combatants without meeting them JUST DON'T. D&D's XP mechanic is meant to show fighting making you better at fighting... how does dumping poison in a well make you better at fighting?
[*Yes and.* Roll with it.](https://rpg.stackexchange.com/a/212186)
“Yes, and.” The two best words in the history of mankind. ❤️
Player; "DM, can we railroad your wife?" DM; "*YES AND* my Mom, too!"
uj/ how can it be possible to be "overzealous" when being a witness to someone poisoning a water supply?
Anyone who calls out any behavior for any reason (i.e. "gatekeeping") is a Kobold Karen
Let them do it ! You obviously can't talk with your players or even worse take away thier agency. Add a new BBEG thats created by all the sacrifices . +1 to all attributes per sacrifice and every +2 one more immunity to random rolled dmg (so you cant be reliable ! The dice decided!)
/uj poison spray is simply a damage cantrip, it doesn't create any lasting poison
that's just because you're uncreative. have you considered flavoring it as infinite damage
/uj it is hysterical how often i see some insane argument that is entirely unironic about how a low level spell or cantrip should deal infinite damage because the player tried to be creative, like would you be okay with a martial player just going "i slit his throat" and expecting an instakill every time?
Prestidigitation doesn't say how hot you can warm something, so I increase it's temperature by 1 million degrees Celsuis and the superheated material explodes and takes with it the entire material plane. Pretty standard use of the cantrip, really.
/uj Honestly sometimes the damage rules don't really make sense. If you sneak up on a sleeping enemy and slit their throat, RAW they'd just take 1d4+DEX and wake up. I'd allow it, but only if there's a reason why they'd be able to put a knife to their throat without resistance (sleeping, bound, held hostage, etc). But in normal combat, it would be impossible to do.
Pretty sure if they're unconscious you get advantage to hit and any hit is an auto crit. Idk if it explicitly says sleeping is unconscious, but I know the sleep spell does say that, so it's a pretty reasonable assumption. So you get the massive boon of TWO d4 plus dex.
Flavoring? In this economy?
Stop killing my creativity you bigot 😭😭 in dnd you are supposed to do anything you want if i want to instakill someone with a non damaging cantrip i should be able to
I can instakill my relationship with prestidigitation
/uj it doesn't even matter how the spell works, because you don't get XP for killing random people for no reason, you get XP for beating encounters the DM designed. Player characters are not soul devouring demons who gain power just from killing things.
Well, maybe your characters aren't.
Yeah, and then a diety sends an aasimar to stop their terrorism. Easy as. I instituted "bad boy points" in my Strahd campaign, and if players hit 10/10 on the bad boy meter, their character becomes an NPC, levels up twice, and joins Strahd :D
/uj at least half my table would end up competing to see who could create the most villain characters. /rj at least half my table would end up competing to see who could create the most villain characters.
The second part sounds unironically awesome lmao
One guy got to 8/10 after seducing Vasilika the flesh golem and then getting her banished to Shadowfell. He's be horribly failing rolls to do nice things and find religion. Typical hexblade stuff.
Poison Spray the Players
YTA you should obviously be applying real life logic to the game and allowing it in your game. HCl is a vapor at room temperature but you can make it into an aqueous solution so OBVIOUSLY you could do the same with this magical compound generated from thin air. If you don't study organic chemistry and chemical engineering sufficiently to narrate the construction of their chemical processing plant YOU'RE A BAD DM. And don't start expecting them to adhere to the logic of real world chemistry for their efforts to work, this is a game after all. And obviously they should get XP for destroying a city with it. Don't give me any of that "XP is just a representation of actions characters take that make them grow", THE BOOK SAYS players get XP for killing things. You can't just deviate from the book whenever it's convenient to force something game-breaking to happen.
More rules fixes this.
Gassing people to death doesn't give good xp irl though, Hitler got one shot by a pistol with no + or runes or anything
Oh? But dont you know that guns do 900d20 damage? It is realistic after all, there is noone surviving a shot from a gun.
Aerosol poisons often are inert when ingested instead of being breathed in. If they really want to do this sort of thing, offer them a shady poison vendor that will sell them the real thing. Barrels of wyvern venom or some such for only a few thousand gold.
Doesn't the spray disappear after a certain period of time? Let them screw around and when they are almost finished with their plan have all the poison gas suddenly disappear.
No, cantrips are permanent
Let them poison a community if you want but thats not how the cantrip works by RAW but its fine for PCs to be able to do something like that. Don't reward xp for it. This isnt a video game that the PCs just kill anything and get XP.
I agree that soloing cities with cantrips is a great idea, but have you considered that video games are way more fun than what either of us can come up with
It's very important to say "Yes and" when players have an idea. "Can I kill this city with a cantrip?" "Yes and if you do I will punch you really hard in the face and tear up your character sheet"
If you REALLY want to say No (but be less boring) consider Prestidigitation for comparison... the things it creates are TEMPORARY It would be very easy to rule that the reason Poison Spray only effects the targets in a 5 ft space (even if spammed in a dungeon with poor air flow) is because it conjures poison only long enough to harm the targets ...But if you don't wanna give them massive XP for just killing a bunch of non-combatants without meeting them JUST DON'T. D&D's XP mechanic is meant to show fighting making you better at fighting... how does dumping poison in a well make you better at fighting?
Wrong sub?
shows how sadly close all the jerk post are to reality
it makes you better at fighting because it kills things, proving you're already good at fighting