Monday, November 10, 2008

E3 (Trapped Hall)

This is a better trap than the goblins' chest in that it can create some tactically interesting situations if a character triggers it, and can involve a number of party members in overcoming the challenge. In fact, in 4th Edition, what was originally a single trap can now become four separate traps, each posing its own hazard to the party. I suggest the following encounter for a party of five adventurers:

Total: 600 xp (Level 2 Encounter)

This hallway has been lengthened to six squares and the slashing cage trap now occupies three of them. The portcullises drop down on either side of the trapped area, and the pit is now 15 feet in length. All three squares are subject to the slashing glaive attacks. See the stat blocks below for full details on the augmented series of traps.

Stat blocks:


6 comments:

gamesmeister said...

Hey Scott,

Nice work on the traps, except there is a slight problem with the Iron Portcullises. The trap is described as affecting all creatures within the trapped squares, but is triggered as soon as a creatre steps on any square...in other words, it's not possible to affect more than one creature. I'd recommend triggering the trap when the central (of the three) squares is stepped on instead.

Scott said...

Ah, I see what you mean here. While there are a handful of ways it could affect more than one creature (any action that moves more than one target before the action finishes), it is very unlikely that any will cause this trap to be triggered. When I go through and revise a few things I'll make the change you suggest.

Starfox Musings said...

In the original, the statues' weapons could be sundered. I represented this thus: The statues can be disabled by violence; they have AC 16 and 50 hp each. Characters not being attacked by them can use coup-de-grace.

Scott said...

Ah, I forgot to provide a way to attack the glaives, you're right. I wouldn't allow players to make coup-de-grace attempts, though. The glaives (and statues) are objects, not creatures, as part of the trap, and probably shouldn't be considered helpless. Object damage values are designed based on the idea that they are objects and thus are not subject to the same rules as creatures are. That said, I see no rule that explicitly prevents coup-de-grace attempts against objects. I think it's just probably against the rules as intended.

Scott said...

The trigger information for the iron portcullises trap has been fixed, and the glaives can now be sundered.

Mysteria said...

I'm now running this (finally, play-by-post really does move sloowlyy) and I'm interested to see if my party thinks about using the traps against Nualia. That could be possible, but I'm not sure they can pull it off. Otherwise, I've had to change things around quite a bit as they managed to bypass the entire first level of Thistletop, entering through the "Tentamort Hunting Ground" instead.