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T O P I C    R E V I E W
Knight of the Gate Posted - 17 Nov 2010 : 05:35:07
So, one of my weaknesses in designing encounters is that I'm always reluctant to use traps, feeling that no player wants to lose a PC to a device (rather than to an opponent). As a result, I don't have much experience in designing unique and deadly traps; thus I come to my fellow scribes for an assist.
The scenario; the PC party- Cleric 18, Loremaster 18, Paladin 19- has recently lost its rogue (player took a job offer across the country). Coincidentally, they are about to brave Dun-Tharos, currently occupied by the Rotting Man. What sort of traps would an Epic Disease Druid employ in his rotting tree-dungeon of Ultimate Disease-y Doom?
For the record, I've altered canon on the RM and Dun-tharos. If you're interested in knowing (and to maybe spark some ideas on cunning traps)you can read the following; if not, just jump to the next para. (Non-canon starts here) IMG, the RM is a Worm that Walks (a template from the ELH which changes a creature's type to 'ooze' and makes him a large bipedal mass of maggots... I thought it was a better fit than the half-fiend he is in canon) and Dun Tharos is... a bad, bad place. It has been a Weave Anchor since the dawn of the Weave, and the earliest Eladrin immigrants to Toril used that power to bind the creature that destroyed Tintageer- a creature from the Outer Realm that is some unholy hellbroth of Moander/Jubilex/Ghaunadar-style rot, madness, and filth. Talona wanted the RM to release this creature, as she believed that she had the means to control it. She was wrong, and has bluntly told him to stand down. Alas, he is thoroughly corrupted by the thing's whispers now, and is is receiving his spells from it directly. In short, the PCs are up a nasty creek without a paddle unless they can stop the RM from completing his task.

Sooo... what I need are traps of 3 types: 1)Druidic traps- these are the ones I'm really having trouble with, beyond using a load of Walls of Dispel Magic/Thorns/Fire or summoned beasties; 2) The underlying Narfelli traps from millennia ago- I can see a few of these surviving to the present day; and 3) traps that are somehow evocative of the Outer Realms- inducing involuntary shapechange or madness, etc.
Many thanks in advance for any help,and further thanks and apologies to anyone who read this whole post.
5   L A T E S T    R E P L I E S    (Newest First)
Alystra Illianniis Posted - 17 Nov 2010 : 16:44:27
By all means, do! I love those books for the diversity and varying degrees of lethality on the traps in them. They have everything from simple entrapment or determent traps to some of the most gruessome ones I've ever seen.
Knight of the Gate Posted - 17 Nov 2010 : 15:08:20
quote:
Originally posted by Alystra Illianniis

Hmm, for Druid/RM traps, I once ran across one in my Traps and Tretchery books that appeared to be a hanged man in a small clearing. When anyone attempts to pull the unfortunate soul down, however, the trap is sprung, and what appears to be a dead guy, is actually a cleverly crafted "scarecrow" with an illusion on it, which releases a cloud of lethal spores that cause a disease much like mummy rot. I don't recall the DC or CR for this, but it's simple, can fit in almost anywhere, (including indoors, suspended from a beam or some such) and is not only fairly devious, but fits your theme.



That's both incredibly cool and incredibly cruel. In it goes!
Alystra Illianniis Posted - 17 Nov 2010 : 06:59:31
Hmm, for Druid/RM traps, I once ran across one in my Traps and Tretchery books that appeared to be a hanged man in a small clearing. When anyone attempts to pull the unfortunate soul down, however, the trap is sprung, and what appears to be a dead guy, is actually a cleverly crafted "scarecrow" with an illusion on it, which releases a cloud of lethal spores that cause a disease much like mummy rot. I don't recall the DC or CR for this, but it's simple, can fit in almost anywhere, (including indoors, suspended from a beam or some such) and is not only fairly devious, but fits your theme.
Knight of the Gate Posted - 17 Nov 2010 : 06:12:43
I like it, Jorin. So if you were to assign a CR to this, what would it be? (ballpark, since the CR system kind of falls to bits at these levels). This one is going in; many thanks.
Any others, ladies and gents?
Jorin Embersmith Posted - 17 Nov 2010 : 06:01:07
I think the Narfelli traps would involve binding or enchantment spells of some sort. I recently thought up a trap like this which is based primarily on one I read in KoDT a few years back.

In the middle of a consecrated/hallowed room is a drinking fountain on a short pedestal. it radiates magic as Conjuration moderate, and appears to be activated by a small peddle inset into the base. The first player to drink from it receives a Panacea effect (as the spell) as well as 1D10 temporary hitpoints.

All seems lovely...this is obviously a room previously used by a goodly priest as a rest stop or safe haven!

The party is unlikely to cast another detect magic on the room, so what happens next should come as a complete shock.

The next person to use the fountain is subject to a Geas with the mental command "remain perfectly still". At the same time, the fountain recedes into the pedestal. One round later, the 30-ton pillar suspended in the ceiling directly above the pedestal is released!

KER-SQUISH.

Search DC 40 (ceiling is rarely inspected closely, and covered by a permanent Major Image of standard ceiling tiles
Disable Device DC 30 (Jamming the pillar would work)

For the mage who has Arcane Sight or Detect Magic always on, +10 to reflex save to snatch the victim out of the way.

Also, after the trap has been negotiated, the room itself can actually be used as that safe haven.

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