Lava

[Dmdork]

In combat, does a PC take lava damage immediately, AND at then again at the start of his turn?

[Mastikator]

Depends, are they splashed with lava or trying to wade through lava or submerged in lava?

For splashing I'd go with immediate only. For wading I'd go with immediate damage plus damage per foot of movement, plus start of turn. With submerged I'd go with the immediate "you die, your body is completely destroyed, all your non-magical stuff is destroyed, common magic items survive until the end of your next turn, uncommon survive for a minute, rare survive for an hour, very rare and up survive in the lava indefinitely, and everything made of metal (except mithral) sinks in the lava"

[Skrum]

Depends, are they splashed with lava or trying to wade through lava or submerged in lava?

For splashing I'd go with immediate only. For wading I'd go with immediate damage plus damage per foot of movement, plus start of turn. With submerged I'd go with the immediate "you die, your body is completely destroyed, all your non-magical stuff is destroyed, common magic items survive until the end of your next turn, uncommon survive for a minute, rare survive for an hour, very rare and up survive in the lava indefinitely, and everything made of metal (except mithral) sinks in the lava"

Lava is more damaging than Meteor Swarm, huh?

I think this is a high fantasy game that features superheroes, and lava should be expressed within the standards of the system. Splashed with lava, one time immediate damage. Standing in lava, damage when you enter and at the beginning of each turn. Submerged in lava, same thing, just use bigger numbers.

Edit: the improvised damage table in the DMG offers 10d10 damage for wading into lava, and 18d10 for being submerged. Seems reasonable.

[Mastikator]

Lava is more damaging than Meteor Swarm, huh?

I think this is a high fantasy game that features superheroes, and lava should be expressed within the standards of the system. Splashed with lava, one time immediate damage. Standing in lava, damage when you enter and at the beginning of each turn. Submerged in lava, same thing, just use bigger numbers.

Edit: the improvised damage table in the DMG offers 10d10 damage for wading into lava, and 18d10 for being submerged. Seems reasonable.

You should go with that yeah. Depending on player level it might save them for a round or even two. It's fine if a level 17 barbarian survives being submerged in lava for a round. For anything below level 10 I'd just say "you die" to my players.

[Just to Browse]

(Warning: This comment has minor spoilers for Princes of the Apocalypse and Tomb of Annihilation. The 5e books for those are 5+ years old now so I'm not going to hide this in a spoiler tag. Just a heads up.)

Bear in mind that the rules for lava aren't quite "rules", they're a part of the DMG's guidelines for improvising damage. If you're not running a published adventure, the answer is "whatever you think is right". Generally you should look to inflict damage upon contact, and at some point during a creature's turn. Here are 2 different examples from published adventures, targeted towards the kind of play they're trying to create:

In Princes of the Apocalypse, lava deals damage to a creature the first time they enter the lava on a turn, and when they end their turn inside the lava, which means you can take double damage if you wade into some lava on your turn. Lava here also only deals 6d10 fire damage instead of the DMG's suggested 10d10 for wading. This is because the lava is an environment hazard that enemy creatures use. A Roper will drag the PCs into the lava on its turn, so they have their own entire turn to escape.

In Tomb of Annihilation, lava deals damage to a creature the first time they enter or, or at the start of their turn, which means you can't take double damage by walking into lava, but you can definitely take double damage if some enemy drops you there. This is because ToA's lava is used reactively. You can only get thrown into the lava if you make a melee attack against the Soulmonger, and to get out you need to jump ~30 feet in the air, so a PC has the rest of their turn to escape + one full round of initiative for their allies to save them.

When you're determining how to run lava in your game, you should think about what kind of adventure you're running. If enemy creatures are hitting PCs with lava, you usually should deal the damage at the end of the relevant turn. If the PCs are triggering stuff like traps which unleash lava, you usually should deal the damage at the start instead.

[Azraile]

Edit: the improvised damage table in the DMG offers 10d10 damage for wading into lava, and 18d10 for being submerged. Seems reasonable.

Yah if you wanted to be even HALF realistic you would be taking masive damage just being NEAR lava.....

lol even in a fantasy setting with out magical protection I would have you burst into flames if you got within like 10feet of it.

My sugestion would be if your going to use laval make some form of fire protection or protection spell easly avalable. Then add the cost of such they have to pay to the reward tables to make up for it, that way you are secretly paying them back for having to acount for the eviroment. More danger more reward. They can be protected from the heat and get near the lava but if they actually touch it they take the damage... maybe give them a VERY short window to get out of it if your nice before the magic is broken by the exstream heat of the lava.

[Quietus]

(Warning: This comment has minor spoilers for Princes of the Apocalypse and Tomb of Annihilation. The 5e books for those are 5+ years old now so I'm not going to hide this in a spoiler tag. Just a heads up.)

Bear in mind that the rules for lava aren't quite "rules", they're a part of the DMG's guidelines for improvising damage. If you're not running a published adventure, the answer is "whatever you think is right". Generally you should look to inflict damage upon contact, and at some point during a creature's turn. Here are 2 different examples from published adventures, targeted towards the kind of play they're trying to create:

In Princes of the Apocalypse, lava deals damage to a creature the first time they enter the lava on a turn, and when they end their turn inside the lava, which means you can take double damage if you wade into some lava on your turn. Lava here also only deals 6d10 fire damage instead of the DMG's suggested 10d10 for wading. This is because the lava is an environment hazard that enemy creatures use. A Roper will drag the PCs into the lava on its turn, so they have their own entire turn to escape.

In Tomb of Annihilation, lava deals damage to a creature the first time they enter or, or at the start of their turn, which means you can't take double damage by walking into lava, but you can definitely take double damage if some enemy drops you there. This is because ToA's lava is used reactively. You can only get thrown into the lava if you make a melee attack against the Soulmonger, and to get out you need to jump ~30 feet in the air, so a PC has the rest of their turn to escape + one full round of initiative for their allies to save them.

When you're determining how to run lava in your game, you should think about what kind of adventure you're running. If enemy creatures are hitting PCs with lava, you usually should deal the damage at the end of the relevant turn. If the PCs are triggering stuff like traps which unleash lava, you usually should deal the damage at the start instead.

I was going to tongue-in-cheek link to the comprehensive lava rules guide someone made that basically boils down to, "you die", and also "you die more". But from a purely "Make the game fun and engaging" standpoint, your post is 100% spot on with excellent insight, very much appreciated!

[Keltest]

Yah if you wanted to be even HALF realistic you would be taking masive damage just being NEAR lava.....

lol even in a fantasy setting with out magical protection I would have you burst into flames if you got within like 10feet of it.

My sugestion would be if your going to use laval make some form of fire protection or protection spell easly avalable. Then add the cost of such they have to pay to the reward tables to make up for it, that way you are secretly paying them back for having to acount for the eviroment. More danger more reward. They can be protected from the heat and get near the lava but if they actually touch it they take the damage... maybe give them a VERY short window to get out of it if your nice before the magic is broken by the exstream heat of the lava.

Well, that depends. Are we talking "inside an active volcano" lava or "has already erupted out of the volcano and is on the surface" lava? The former is basically death, but the latter can be survived being near or even touching as long as you dont get, like, crushed by it or something.

[stoutstien]

IMO once you start trying to make anything regarding turns or rounds make sense you are going to have a bad time lol.
Just pick something or field a vote and go with it

[LudicSavant]

Yah if you wanted to be even HALF realistic you would be taking masive damage just being NEAR lava..... Meanwhile in real life (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bumUw0lNOz0)

That said, in D&D PCs are apparently expected to survive forces that would utterly pulverize a real person, whether it's being hit by a giant's thrown boulder or being hit by a crashing flying fortress. Heck, being lit up with alchemist's fire is only doing a single die of damage per round.

Looking at in-game examples of how much damage stuff does, as well as the 'improvising damage' section of the DMG that is specifically intended to calibrate our expectations for this sort of thing, D&D seems to work on a sort of action hero logic where much bigger things scale damage in a somewhat logarithmic fashion. Something that hits hundreds of times harder in real life might only do like twice as much damage in D&D.

[OldTrees1]

When you're determining how to run lava in your game, you should think about what kind of adventure you're running. If enemy creatures are hitting PCs with lava, you usually should deal the damage at the end of the relevant turn. If the PCs are triggering stuff like traps which unleash lava, you usually should deal the damage at the start instead.

More options:
Cut the damage in half and then have it trigger at both start and end of turn.
The damage happens at the second turn boundary (end of turn if lava starts off turn, start of turn if lava starts on turn).

[greenstone]

In my games I have a general rule that environmental stuff only damages you once per turn, but it can damage you on other people's turns, so you can take damage multiple times a round.

I also generally rule that these things damage you if you start your turn in the area, or enter it for the first time on a turn.

For example:

If someone pushes you into lava (or a moonbeam or a wall of fire or similar) then you take the damage on their turn.
When your turn comes around, you take damage again.
If during your turn you leave and re-enter the lava then you do not take the damage again.

It seems fairer that way, particularly after attending a game where a player argued that with his 30 movement and dashing he could drag an opponent in and out of moonbeam 60 times and so the opponent should take damage 60 times.

[JackPhoenix]

I was going to tongue-in-cheek link to the comprehensive lava rules guide someone made that basically boils down to, "you die", and also "you die more". But from a purely "Make the game fun and engaging" standpoint, your post is 100% spot on with excellent insight, very much appreciated!

Here (https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/55269/Lava-Rules-Fire-and-Brimstone) you go. I recommend reading the reviews before buying, though.

[Azraile]

Well, that depends. Are we talking "inside an active volcano" lava or "has already erupted out of the volcano and is on the surface" lava? The former is basically death, but the latter can be survived being near or even touching as long as you dont get, like, crushed by it or something.

If it's safe enough to be near or survive touching then it will have crusted over with dried rock, then your likely to get burnt really bad crack it appart and release heat from warmer more fluid stuff inside. unless it's a flow thats cooled off and it's just cooled down stuff and thats it.

People really really really understemate how hot the stuff is because of movies, TV shows, and the like..... you can take it to that level and make it like that though and thats fine too but you need to deside what kinda lava you want in your game....

REAL lava... or fantasy lava.....

And how safe/not safe it will be and let your players know in advance of incountering it so they can prepare.

Just be like..... Hey lava is known to be in areas like this..... this is how lava will work in my game, if your going to go near it you need to be ready.