My teammates keep almost being killed by doors, only to be saved by artifacts.

[mehs]

Is this normal?

My story is, at about level 5, my party was heading to a dwarf city, and we found a door in the side of the mountain. It was a secret hidden door, Smaug style. We pretty much just kept poking it until we answered the riddle (apparently the key is a metallic art object that I had been making in my spare time) and in doing so we set off an avalanche (me wailing on the door with a waffle iron was NOT the key). We were trying to get in the door before the avalanche came, which was a problem since one of my teammates (1) climbed down the cliff to retrieve his bag of alchemist supplies (explosives and recreational drugs) that another teammate (2) threw off the cliff after the third random blinding explosion. Most of us managed to get inside, except for teammates (3) and (4). (4) got teleported inside by his artifact and (3) hid in a cart as he also wasn't able to get inside in time. (3) got buried by snow and ended up suffocating/freezing before we were able to dig him out. However an artifact he was wearing apparently is able to rez him so he was fine after a couple days.

Then the second door. We got to the dwarf city so (1), (3), and (4) went off to meet with an old friend of (1)'s who was also an alchemist, the crazy explosives maniac kind... The friend wanted to show off some det cord he made on something like a door, and (3) suggested he demonstrate it on his own door. The guy said two things initially: 1) that dwarvern explosives are essentially tubes (sticks of tnt) and 2) that the demo would go well as long as there weren't other explosives around. (3) saw a bunch of tubes (tnt) sticking out of everything, but didn't mention it. The explosives maniac wasn't the most stable minded, so he forget his house had a ton of explosives in it. So he lit the detcord, and the house exploded. 20d6 of damage. At level 5. (1) and (3) made their saves, taking half and no damage respectively, but (4) didn't and almost died again, but was teleported outside by his artifact.

So far only me and (2) weren't almost killed by a freaking door and (3) and (4) have been deus ex machina'd by their artifacts 3 times between them.


Does this usually happen?

[AmeVulpes]

That is one hell of a title.

But to the point, this all seems very strange. What artifacts are in play here? You've got a weird campaign to be in contact with any artifacts at level 5 in the first place.

[Jack_Simth]

That is one hell of a title.

But to the point, this all seems very strange. What artifacts are in play here? You've got a weird campaign to be in contact with any artifacts at level 5 in the first place.

Campaign-specific ones, presumably. Sounds like a new DM, who wants to make everything "awesome" by having huge numbers, and somewhere along the line realized that the PC's can't survive constant big numbers on the opposing side, and so handed everyone some kind of artifact that has "oopsie" negating powers.

Edit:
So:
Normal: Yes, after a fashion. It's a known pattern of folks who have recently taken up DM'ing.
Does it happen often: Not really. Most folks learn by the second or third campaign, and it's common enough for DM's to go much longer.

[jdizzlean]

i came in here to give you the advice of "always shoot everything w/ an arrow to make sure it's not a mimic of some kind"

now i just agree w/ the 2 posters above me.

[mehs]

In the campaign world, almost all magic items originate from the age of gods from before the gods went into the seclusion. The gods pretty much handed out magic items often enough that mortals actually making magic items is fairly recent (past few hundred years and barely anyone even tinkers with them). Since a god made the magic item, then it has a caster level of 20+ and is considered an artifact no matter what it actually does.

We have so far run into 2-3 gods and the third one handed us some artifacts. We have no freaking clue what the artifacts do beyond vague ideas of:
armor
. protection from cold?
. resurrection?
gauntlet
. force missile?
. evil?
. sapient
. eats life force?
. teleporting?

The first god was foreshadowing, the second god? was killing an entire city while we barely got out of dodge, the third god was info dump.

[mehs]

But back to originally question, is it usual for players to keep getting almost killed by a door?

[AmeVulpes]

But back to originally question, is it usual for players to keep getting almost killed by a door?

Yes. Quite normal. There used to be in older editions door-pests that would crawl into your ear and eat your brain iirc.

And mimics (see above regarding arrows)

And trapped doorknobs and locks (see tomb of horrors)

[jdizzlean]

access to teleport and resurrection at 5th level?

i mean, wow.

[mehs]

access to teleport and resurrection at 5th level?

i mean, wow.

We don't know how to purposefully trigger it nor what the limitations of it are.

[tstewt1921]

i came in here to give you the advice of "always shoot everything w/ an arrow to make sure it's not a mimic of some kind"

This right here.

[Darth Ultron]

Characters almost killed by doors? Yes all the time, very normal.

Saved by artifacts...er...well, that is a bit odd.

Though over all, the game does sound fun. Treasure it while you can, for soon you will have the more 'other' type games that might not be as much fun.

[Thurbane]

That is one hell of a title.

Agreed - I opened this on the basis of the title only!

Sounds like your DM might be Michael Bay? j/k as others have said, newer DMs often opt to make everything high stakes/high drama/cinematic style play when they start out...

Some groups like it that way, others don't. If the players aren't digging it, maybe have a polite word with the DM. Otherwise, just sit back enjoy the roller coaster ride!

[grarrrg]

(3) got buried by snow and ended up suffocating/freezing before we were able to dig him out. However an artifact he was wearing apparently is able to rez him so he was fine after a couple days.

*player notes* Player 3 is now a Lich, and his 'artifact' is actually a phylactery.

We don't know how to purposefully trigger it nor what the limitations of it are.

*trigger notes* "when the DM says"
*limit notes* "when the DM says"

[Caudex Capite]

I honestly thought this was a thinly veiled description of a movie plot (or maybe an anime plot) after I read the OP, and I was waiting for someone to point out which one it was in the thread. Would have been funny if that were the case, but it's honestly probably funnier that this a real game description.

[Saintheart]

I honestly thought this was a thinly veiled description of a movie plot (or maybe an anime plot) after I read the OP, and I was waiting for someone to point out which one it was in the thread. Would have been funny if that were the case, but it's honestly probably funnier that this a real game description.

Agreed, any story or game that contains a waffle iron, recreational drugs, and sticks of TNT is a winner.

[mehs]

I honestly thought this was a thinly veiled description of a movie plot (or maybe an anime plot) after I read the OP, and I was waiting for someone to point out which one it was in the thread. Would have been funny if that were the case, but it's honestly probably funnier that this a real game description.

I mean, it is currently borrowing a bit from the hobbit just that smaug hasnt killed the dwarf city.