I suggest this be fixed if humanly possible. Or at least make the failed save instant death so we're spared the boredom of having an entire party frozen and slowly digested, with no hope whatsoever of escaping, and can simply abandon the characters and log in other ones.
Sounds like sour grapes. Someone was most likely discourteous and led one to a transition while escaping.
I have personally survived being paralyzed and engulfed, so I would vote a big NO on the instant death thing.
While the DC verse said cube may be quite hard, it is indeed possible. A few lucky rolls in a row could save your arse, and instead of just being incredibly pessimistic, and give up before you walk away from your computer, let fate decide what she wants to happen.
You may very well escape the grasp of the dreaded block of mucus.
If these spawn on transitions (I'm not familiar with any areas in which this occurs) then I'd be 100% convinced its just an oversight on the builder's behalf and will/should be fixed. Perhaps letting them know exactly where would help out.
The more likely case is that it just followed someone there, which can happen with any monster really. It blows, but there's not much to be done about it. The saves on the paralysis are also definitely attainable.
I'm sorry, but ATing into one of these is pure bullshit, no matter how much of a 'chance' you have if you 'make some lucky rolls'.
Sounds like a thing that you should find a DM to help you fix.
Its not bullshit, its simply a sometimes-unavoidable aspect of the game.
I've had my day ruined by deep lizards doing the same thing in the underdark. Like Caddies and others have said, this is not something easily fixed, and is often the fault of characters dragging the critters to the transition and leaving them there.
Personally, I would like to see a DM notified when this happens so the critter can be moved away rather than leaving it there to gank the next poor sod that comes along. That is an OOC courtesy that would solve these sort of problems (as long as a DM is around of course :p )
It can be bullshit AND an often-unavoidable aspect of the game.
Just because you have to deal with it doesn't mean you can't think it's craptastic.
Well.. yeah. I agree with that Jayde Moon, but the OP was asking for a fix, which is not really possible.
As far as I know every spawns usually spawn outside of the visual range of transitions to avoid this kind of unpleasantness.... But they will or can always be drawn by other fleeing/careless characters.
I have seen werewolves spawn within view of transitions, this would have meant instant death for me if I did not get the new computer.
I believe Oroborous once spoke of spawns being able to go back to their starting point after losing their lock on a player. Something along the lines of a "default point" they always returned to? Please jump in here Oro if you could...
actually in the -new- bogs which is quite cool btw. there is a cube that seems to move around the west point into the south bogs. however due to the fact that there is a sand reef on the transition from the west point, the cube seems to move there, then block the exits and it sits right in front of the TA.
hope that helps.
That's where it has happened to me twice, the transition between the Southern Bog and the Rugged Cliffs. It's particularly bad on the Rugged Cliff side because it blocks almost the entire path.
This would be the same one that tried to get me!
Looks like we have an actual culprit, a cube with a patrol that can be tweaked or removed.
Not necessarily, though if that's the case it will be adjusted.
Could be that they are just consistently lead to ATs.
Carry around extra invis potions and loose 'em that way. Simple as that, just ask any arcane potion brewer, it's most likely they'll have it.
I've had stuff so close to the transition the only avoidance by invis would be pre-emptively downing one in the previous area. Also cubes may see invis, because other oozes can. Unsure on that.
One spot to note: When coming from the Lake of Steam area into the Webbed Wood, there is a spider spawn where the critters can see you as soon as you transition. It's irritating.
Yes, Luke, check the OP. It's getting engulfed by a cube before your screen even finishes loading up and you swivel the camera around to see what's going on. You ain't swallowing any potions.
And yes, Allatum is right, there is a spider spawn just NW of where you AT into the webbed wood from the Lake of Steam.
If you are just one person AND the spawn only has ONE spider there, you're usually safe. But if more than 1 person is ATing or there are multiple spiders in the spawn, they'll see you.