Yellow mold XP = Nil

[Tadhg]

Interesting!

Mebbe, because:

it can't move
AC = 10, but if you hit it spores are released
HD = nil
Treasure = nil

However, there is a possible save or die situation.

And, if one encounters a yellow mold colony, fagetaboutit - TPK.

Heh, kill a cat or rat and you at least get 1 XP +1.

viewtopic.php?f=8&t=11999&p=184581&hili ... ld#p184581

In the above thread, serleran made this comment:

I believe they added yellow mold to the listing of creatures as well. However, I would have to verify that as it is a monster I have rarely, if ever, used.

So, I wonder if this means he did not do the stats.

I paged through the M&T and couldn't find any other monster that doesn't have XP assigned to it.

[In my game, the party had a great encounter with the YM and I will assign XP]

Thoughts?

[Arduin]

Thoughts?

During play test no characters survived encounters with it. So, XP was considered superfluous...

[DMMike]

That's correct, I did the write-ups for Yellow Mold, Banshee, and Giant Tick. I never got credited though.

IMO, the encounter of Yellow Mold is similar to a trap or save or die poison; which don't give a set XP AFAIK. That's what the CK is for!

Mike

[Tadhg]

Thoughts?

During play test no characters survived encounters with it. So, XP was considered superfluous...

[Tadhg]

That's correct, I did the write-ups for Yellow Mold, Banshee, and Giant Tick. I never got credited though.

IMO, the encounter of Yellow Mold is similar to a trap or save or die poison; which don't give a set XP AFAIK. That's what the CK is for!

Mike

Haha!

Excellent job with this monster, Mike!

One of my party just missed being enveloped by the spore cloud. Due to a dungeon draft I had the spore cloud moving slowly towards the other players. So, one of the other players was fanning the cloud to send it back towards the main mold.

Finally, a little gnome knitting lady took a yarn ball and started it on fire. Next round she slung it and hit the mold . . immolation to use your descriptive word!!!

So, yes that makes perfect sense with regard to the mold being more like a trap encounter.

I award some XP for trap find failures, so if the party were TPK'd they would have received some nice post mortem XP!!

[DMMike]

LOL! The knitting yarn alone should've nabbed xps!

Mike

[JohnD]

Isn't surviving exposure enough of a reward?

[Traveller]

Thoughts?

You're looking in the wrong printing. Yellow Mold in the current printing of Monsters & Treasure has 1hp with an XP award of 10+1. The reason for the change? A creature with 0 hit points has "passed out". That means the mold is in a perpetually "passed out" state and thus could not use its psionic blast. It likely would not be able to use its spores either, so to fix the issue it had to be given 1hp. As a result of the bump in hit points, the yellow mold now has an XP award. The base award is 5+1 because creatures with less than 1 hit die are treated as 1 hit die for XP calculations. The yellow mold's spores cause death, meaning it gets a type III special, which at 1 hit die is an additional 5 experience points. Thus the total is 10+1.

[Tadhg]

Thoughts?

You're looking in the wrong printing. Yellow Mold in the current printing of Monsters & Treasure has 1hp with an XP award of 10+1. The reason for the change? A creature with 0 hit points has "passed out". That means the mold is in a perpetually "passed out" state and thus could not use its psionic blast. It likely would not be able to use its spores either, so to fix the issue it had to be given 1hp. As a result of the bump in hit points, the yellow mold now has an XP award. The base award is 5+1 because creatures with less than 1 hit die are treated as 1 hit die for XP calculations. The yellow mold's spores cause death, meaning it gets a type III special, which at 1 hit die is an additional 5 experience points. Thus the total is 10+1.

Thanks, Trav!

What's the actual HD listed then. 1d(?)

I did award XP based on RP'ing and defeat of said monster - as I wait to determine if I will add more.

And now, as to whether or not I'm using the wrong M&T print, I'll also wait upon Mr. Sieg Mike (take that monocle out or put it in if that helps, bro)~

[Traveller]

Its HD in the entry is "1 hit point", just like the AD&D Gas Spore.

[DMMike]

This is what I submitted, and I haven't used any of the subsequent printing of M&T so can't speak to 2nd-4th print changes.



Yellow Mold
No. Encountered: 1 patch
Size: Variable
HD: Nil
Move: 0 ft.
AC: 10
Attacks: surface infection (1d8)
Special: Poison Spores
Saves: None
Int: Nil/Special
Alignment: Neutral
Type: Plant
Treasure:
XP:

Thriving in deep underground places or in dark twilight woods, the Yellow Mold is a fungus that grows upon and consumes all living things. Yellow or orange-gold in appearance, the mold is generally inoffensive unless touched or otherwise disturbed. If touched with bare skin, the victim will find the mold’s enzymes reacting with its flesh, converting it to more yellow mold (causing 1-8 hit points of damage).
If struck with a large object or if a creature falls within it, the mold has a 20% chance of releasing spores, with + 5% added to the chance for every hit point of damage inflicted upon the colony. In such cases, the mold will release a cloud of its golden spores in a 10 foot radius. Any creatures caught within the cloud must make a saving throw versus Constitution (Challenge Level 5) or die as the mold’s spores graft themselves within the creature’s lungs and begin to replicate. Such victims will quickly have their flesh and bone consumed by the mold within 1 day unless a Cure Disease is cast upon the body prior to resurrection or raise dead.


Combat: Yellow mold is immobile, and will only attack those who molest it as noted above. Physical blows only cause the release of more spores! Bright sunlight (or a Continual Light spell) forces the mold to become dormant for 2d12 minutes, but the mold will eventually overcome the spell and bury it underneath its bulk. The mold is only damaged by fire-based attacks, which will quickly immolate the fungal patch spores and all.

There have been rare cases of massive colonies of yellow mold actually developing a primitive intellect, and the ability to strike down interlopers with both selective release of spore clouds; without being struck first. Certain huge and rare colonies have the ability (15% chance) to inflict a Psionic Blast against their opponents.

Psionic Blast: Any single creature with an Intelligence score (for creatures not rated for Intelligence, anything with Intelligence Prime) within 60 ft. can be subjected to this attack. The yellow mold colony unleashes a telepathic wave of random thoughts and concepts, totally alien to anything the victim understands, causing the victim=s brain to attempt to rationalize, and grasp what it has experienced. If the creature fails its save versus Intelligence, it falls into a catatonic state, effectively paralyzed and unable to think. This ability can be negated by use of a heal or a wish spell. A yellow mold colony can use this attack twice per day.

[Traveller]

4th print Monsters & Treasure wording.

YELLOW MOLD
NO. ENCOUNTERED: 1 patch
SIZE: Variable
HD: 1HP
MOVE: 0 ft.
AC: 10
ATTACKS: Surface Infection (1d8)
SPECIAL: Poison Spores
INT: Special
ALIGNMENT: Neutral
TYPE: Plant
TREASURE: Nil
XP: 10+1

Thriving in deep underground places or in dark twilight woods, yellow mold is a fungus that grows upon and consumes all living things. Yellow or orange-gold in appearance, the mold is generally inoffensive unless touched or otherwise disturbed. If touched with bare skin, the victim will find the mold’s enzymes reacting with its flesh, converting it to more yellow mold (causing 1-8 hit points of damage).

If struck with a large object, or if a creature falls upon it, the mold has a 20% chance of releasing spores, with +5% added to the chance for every hit point of damage inflicted upon the colony. In such cases, the mold will release a cloud of its golden spores in a 10 foot radius. Any creatures caught within the cloud must make a saving throw versus constitution (CL 5) or die, as the mold’s spores graft themselves within the creature’s lungs and begin to replicate. Such victims will quickly have their flesh and bone consumed by the mold; within 1 day, unless a cure disease is cast upon the body prior to resurrection or raise dead.

COMBAT: Yellow mold is immobile, and will only attack those who molest it as noted above. Physical blows only cause the release of more spores! Bright sunlight (or a continual light spell) forces the mold to become dormant for 2d12 minutes, but the mold will eventually overcome the spell and bury it underneath its bulk. The mold is only damaged by fire–based attacks, which will quickly immolate the fungal patch, spores and all.

There have been rare cases of massive colonies of yellow mold actually developing a primitive intellect, and the ability to strike down interlopers with both selective releases of spore clouds, without being struck first.

PSIONIC BLAST: Any single creature with an intelligence score (for creatures not rated for intelligence, anything with mental prime) within 60 feet can be subjected to this attack. The yellow mold colony unleashes a telepathic wave of random thoughts and concepts, totally alien to anything the victim understands, causing the victim’s brain to attempt to rationalize and grasp what it has experienced. If the creature fails its save versus intelligence, it falls into a catatonic state, effectively paralyzed and unable to think. This ability can be negated by use of a heal or a wish spell. A yellow mold colony can use this attack twice per day.

Other than a word change in the Psionic Blast description, the only thing that changed was to give the mold a hit point and an XP value, for the reasons I stated earlier. Taking another look at it though, I probably would have added some language to the effect that the entire patch must be destroyed to kill it, in keeping with what Mike was trying to accomplish here.

[Tadhg]

Thanks for the info, guys!!

And now, time to move the latest version of the M&T to the top of my bucket list!

[Captain_K]

Anything that can or does kill based on simple actions or inactions is pretty nasty stuff... one learns or dies.. which is typically the theory behind experience... so I will raise the initial question to "why so low"? I love formulas too and I KNOW Traveller is 100% right on the money for the value in the latest issue of the book... but I think a group getting around a patch of this stuff safely (assuming they are not all super powerful and all knowing about this stuff thus no risk or real thought) should be worth much more than 11 exp pts for the group. Call it a team effort, roll play, good job "bonus" if you will, but if your whole group takes say 20 to 30 minutes working out a plan and succeeding at it, 11 exp split say about ways.... does not balance for me... just a thought. Monster book exp is to me a guideline for the event. As previously noted/discussed many say you don't have to kill each thing to get experience, you must survive your encounter with it.. if the thief sneaks past the Orc guard at the door, to me he get's full experience getting by the Orc as if he killed it. That said, I still simply give out nightly experience at a rate that ensures a new level every 6-12 months for the PCs and I've left all the math and book keeping behind... so this kind of thing for me is yellow mold, trap, or dragon, spend your night dealing with it as a team, you earn and you grow.

[DMMike]

<shrug> Its a matter of perception. Rogues don't get xp (BTB AFAIK) for finding and disarming traps. PCs don't get xp for making a save vs poison... IMC, its the same thing.

But again, whatever works for you. I don't have the M&T 4th printing and I doubt I'll get it now.

Oh, I wrote up Green Slime too. Did that thing's xp change?

Mike

[Traveller]

@DMMike: XP for most monsters changed as they weren't calculated by the book. XP for Green Slime is now 60+4. It was 120+4 in earlier printings.

@Captain_K: 11XP is generous. AD&D didn't award any XP for the mold at all, because the AD&D mold didn't have any hit dice or hit points. Sound familiar? It should, as the earlier versions of the mold in C&C didn't grant XP for defeating it either. But the entire problem stems not from the hit point rules stating that 0 hit points equals unconsciousness, but that the mold breaks that rule. As mentioned, a mold at 0 hit points could not use its psionic blast if it has one. Whether it could shoot its spores at 0 hit points is questionable. At 0 hit points, if the mold is passed out, it can't react to a large object or creature landing on it, which rather succinctly negates the danger of the mold.

Giving it 1 hit point fixes that issue while adhering to the rules. The combat description though mentions that blows other than falling or landing on the mold only release more spores. Since only fire-based attacks can destroy the mold, the question left to the CK to decide is whether the spores released from a sword strike, for example, do damage as if the character touched the mold, or if the character must make a saving throw as if he had landed on the mold?