Posted on April 14, 2015April 14, 2015 by Rory Toma — Leave a comment

Trap Tuesday (Duty in Drak’kal): Sewer Gas Trap

Sewer Gas Trap CR 4

Type mechanical; Perception DC 22; Disable Device DC 21
Trigger proximity; Reset auto
Effect unprotected flame sources are extinguished (no save); targets gain nauseated condition for 1d4 rounds (DC 15 Fortitude save to be only sickened for 1 round); after 1 round open flames explode (1d6 damage in a 15-ft.-radius, DC 15 Reflex save for half damage); causticity (targets take 1d4 acid damage per round in 100-ft.-radius, no save)

Despite recent renovations, the sewers in the Three Sisters are quite old and still contain many hazards. Some of these dangers are obvious and bear murderous intent, but others are innocuous; due to collapsing tunnels and blockages, dangerous fumes build up in pockets of air trapped behind debris or waste. These sewer gas traps can easily be dislodged by a wandering party (or sometimes even from vibrations from above or below). When it hits, a sewer gas trap can extinguish flame, cause explosions, and in some deadly cases, be caustic or toxic. Creatures with the scent ability automatically notice a sewer gas trap.

Posted on March 10, 2015March 10, 2015 by Rory Toma — Leave a comment

Trap Tuesday: Null Trap

Null Trap CR 5

Type magical; Perception DC 29; Disable Device DC 29
Trigger proximity; Reset none
Effect target’s Perception check for an associated trap automatically fails (DC 15 Will save negates)

The null trap is layered on top of another trap. When a target gets close to the trap (usually within 5 ft.-10 ft.), it modifies their memory to believe that they have already searched the item or area and found it to be free of hazards.

The null trap is often paired with hastily prepared devices that may not be hidden very well or are otherwise inelegant—it is a simple yet reliable way to bolster the effectiveness of almost any trap, especially mechanical ones. The null trap has also been known to be employed as the sole protection device, but instead of having the target believe they’ve found no traps, it instead leads a target to believe he has found something so complex and ghastly that it is well beyond their abilities (deterring any attempts at trying to disarm it).

Posted on February 3, 2015January 30, 2015 by Rory Toma — Leave a comment

Trap Tuesday (Forsaken Frontier): Banshee Reeds

Banshee Reeds CR 11

Type magical; Perception DC 35; Disable Device DC 35
Trigger location; Reset none
Effect delayed sonic burst (after 1 round; exhaustion; no save); delayed scorching sirocco (after 2 rounds; 18d6 fire and bludgeoning damage; DC 27 Fortitude halves); delayed disintegrating wail (after 3 rounds; 180 damage; DC 28 Fortitude negates); multiple targets (all targets in a 40-ft.-radius); special (targets with SR 29 or greater are immune)

Constant warfare has left its mark on the plains of the Disputed Territories, some areas soaked in blood so often that the local flora has been mutated into deadly hazards capable of killing men by the score. Sapahualpa reeds that grow on these crimson-painted prairies can soak up the dying energies of so many creatures that they roil with the power of death itself, transformed into dangerous banshee reeds.

Searching the location of an expended banshee reed always reveals a small piece of equipment, bone, or some other effect of a soul killed long ago. While saphualpa reeds are most commonly found in the Rungkung Jungles, their deadly counterparts have spread much further and the borders of each territory in the Forsaken Frontier are littered with banshee reeds. Perhaps the greatest threat a banshee reed poses is how innocuous it seems; the leaves of the plant makes it look very similar to regular sapahualpa reeds, and only when one is close enough to see the petals does the danger become clear.

Posted on January 27, 2015January 26, 2015 by Rory Toma — Leave a comment

Trap Tuesday (Lands of Ludolog): Glitched Boulder

Glitched Boulder CR 11

Type magical; Perception DC 35; Disable Device DC 35
Trigger location; Reset none
Effect Atk +24 melee (instadeath); multiple targets (all targets in a 10-ft. line)

Hidden in the soil of the The Dig are several glitched boulders. When a tunnel is created underneath one it hovers briefly before falling, killing anything underneath it. Sometimes these natural traps can be unearthed by the vibrations caused by excessive movement. During combat there is a 10% chance that a glitched boulder falls into a tunnel within The Dig. It hangs in the air for one round before falling, instantly killing any creature it strikes.

If the glitched boulder strikes a monster that has taken damage in the previous 1d4 rounds, however, all monsters on the level are instantly killed and the miniworld that the PCs are on becomes stuck; they are unable to progress until they return to the surface and allow the miniworld to reset (over a period of 6+2d4 hours hours). A monster otherwise killed by a glitched boulder is destroyed and the party may progress normally.

Posted on October 21, 2014October 20, 2014 by Mike Myler — Leave a comment

Trap Tuesday (Macabre Manses): Omnidirectional Doorways of Confusion

Omnidirectional Doorways of Confusion CR 8
Type magical; Perception DC —; Disable Device DC —
Trigger proximity (alarm); Reset none
Effect Upon entering the Macabre Manse, the entire estate and all of its inhabitants are transported to Fomalhaut’s home dimension, where some rather strange things can occur.

Doorways and other portals malfunction after they have been passed through and can lead to areas that make little or no sense at all (similar to dimension door).
While dimensional travel into this plane is possible from anywhere, travel outside of this plane appears to be impossible.
Peering outside the mansion reveals a vast environment of swirling gases in a variety of colors and hues.
Cardinal direction is useless here since up and down are relative only to a character’s current position.
Exiting the mansion is possible, but not recommended. Stepping outside requires a DC 30 Reflex save to resist being swept away in the hurricane force winds that constantly barrage the Macabre Manse.

Each time a person passes through one of the omnidirectional doorways of confusion (a door, window, or portal of any kind), roll 1d100 (possibly twice, depending on the first result) to determine the location they come out on the other side.

d100    Destination
1-4       Room 1; 15% chance that door leads outside
5-7       Room 2
8-9       Room 3
10-13   Room 4; 20% chance that door leads outside
14-16   Room 5; 33% chance that door leads outside
17-19   Room 6; 25% chance that door leads outside
20-22   Room 7
23-25   Room 8
26-27   Room 9
28        Room 10
29-31   Room 11; 33% chance that door leads outside
32        Room 12
33-37   Room 13; 70% chance that door leads outside
38-40  Room 14
41-42   Room 15
43-44 Room 16; 50% chance that door leads outside
45-47 Room 17; 75% chance that door leads outside
48-49  Room 18; 33% chance that door leads outside
50-51   Room 19
52-53   Room 20; 66% chance that door leads outside
54-55   Room 21; 66% chance that door leads outside
56-57   Room 22; 66% chance that door leads outside
58-59   Room 23; 66% chance that door leads outside
60-61   Room 24; 98% chance that door leads outside
62-63   Room 25; 98% chance that door leads outside
64-65   Room 26; 33% chance that door leads outside
67-68   Room 27
69 Room 28
70-71   Room 29; 33% chance that door leads outside
72 Room 30
73 Room 31
74-75   Room 32
76-77   Room 33
78-79   Room 34; 50% chance that door leads outside
80-81   Room 35; 50% chance that door leads outside
82-83   Room 36; 33% chance that door leads outside
84-85   Room 37; 50% chance that door leads outside
86-87   Room 38; 50 chance that door leads outside
88-89   Room 39; 50% chance that door leads outside
90-91   Room 40; 33% chance that door leads outside
92-93   Room 41; 50% chance that door leads outside
94-96 Room 42; 98% chance that door leads outside
97-99   Room 43
100      Room 44

Once a single object has passed completely through a doorway, the destination is completely random for each following object. Objects and creatures that are transported outside land directly in front of the entrance to the Macabre Manse within 30 feet of the estate’s front doors.

Due to the nature of this trap it is extremely easy for party members to become hopelessly separated from one another. Omnidirectional doorways of confusion can be tricked however; if a creature is tethered to another creature or a permanently affixed object in one room, they may pass into a new room and return to the original room. This is otherwise impossible as each doorway changes its destination instantaneously, regardless of which side the creature is on.

[Submitted by Jeremy Kleve!]

Posted on October 7, 2014October 7, 2014 by Justin Andrew Mason — Leave a comment

Trap Tuesday (Macabre Manses): The Roof is on Fire!

The Roof is on Fire! (CR 10)
Type supernatural/physical; Perception DC —; Disable Device DC 40 (500 gallons of holy water)
Trigger destruction of the fleshdoll stage; Reset none
Effect When Madam Sutradhara is killed the destruction of the fleshdoll stage is triggered, erupting into a pyre of hellfire. The spirits of PCs trapped within fleshdolls are released and awaken 1d4 minutes later to find themselves each lying alone in one of the beds in the mansion. Unfortunately by the time they wake, the entire structure is engulfed in flames caused by the artifact’s destruction. The mansion is literally burning down around party and they have to withstand the damage caused by the heat of the flames, endure the inhalation of smoke, navigate their way through the fiery, smoke-filled hallways, and dodge falling, flaming obstacles as the roof begins to collapse inward!

We don’t need no water…
The flames produced by the pyre of the fleshdoll stage (and thusly the flames consuming the mansion) are not normal fire, but hellfire caused by the release of the demon trapped within the fleshdoll stage. It requires blessed holy water of substantial volume (500 gallons) to douse the hellfire flames and prevent further burning of the structure.

A Rude Awakening
From within a groggy darkness you awaken feeling weak and disoriented, but filled with a sense of exuberation as you realize that you are back within your own body, laying on a wooden-framed down mattress in what appears to be a bed chamber. Taking a deep breath, your lungs cough from an itchy, gagging sensation in the back of your throat. Sitting up you see a thick, grey haze of smoke lingering over the room—from the clearing beneath a closed door you see the dancing illumination of a rapidly growing fire! Seconds later the wall adjacent to your resting place suddenly bursts into flame, and a rush of sweltering heat rolls across the entire room!

To determine where Madam Sutradhara placed each of the PCs bodies (and how long it will take them to escape the burning mansion), use the following chart. There will only be the body of one PC in any given room; if a PC already occupies a room that is rolled, roll again to determine an unoccupied room.
d100:               Location where the PC awakens:         Time Required to Escape:
1-20                  Guest Room on 1st Floor (#21) 1 Round
21-40 Guest Room on 1st Floor (#22) 1 Round
41-50 Guest Room on 1st Floor (#20) 2 Rounds
51-60 Guest Room on 1st Floor (#23) 2 Rounds
61-65                Bedroom on 2nd Floor (#34) 4 Rounds
66-70 Bedroom on 2nd Floor (#37) 4 Rounds
71-80                Bedroom on 2nd Floor (#38) 4 Rounds
81-90 Bedroom on 2nd Floor (#41) 4 Rounds
91-95                Master Room on 2nd Floor (#36) 5 Rounds
96-100 Master Room on 2nd Floor (#40) 5 Rounds

Making a Quick Exit
The PCs have the option of jumping through the windows to escape, in which case they bypass the process of having to traveling through the mansion and are immediately safe from the remainder of this trap. Jumping through a window causes 1d6 points of slashing damage from shattered glass, and 1d6 per floors fallen in fall damage (1d6 for 1st Floor, 2d6 for 2nd Floor, and 3d6 from the observatory).

A Mad Dash for Safety
For every round spent inside the burning mansion a PC takes 1d4 points of nonlethal heat damage. During each round of escape, the adventurers must successfully make all of the following saving throws or suffer the associated ill effect:

1) Make a Constitution save DC 15 or become temporarily overwhelmed by smoke and start coughing. If a creature fails this saving throw three times in a row, they are completely overcome and fall unconscious due to lack of oxygen until stabilized by another character with a DC 15 Heal check. If a creature remains unconscious in this state for a number of rounds greater than their total Constitution score, it dies.

2) Make a DC 17 Reflex save or be struck by burning debris as it falls from above. The burning debris deals 1d4 points of bludgeoning damage and 1d4 points of fire damage. If the d20 result of the saving throw is a natural 1 and that creature is on the 2nd Floor of the mansion, the following effect takes place:
Critical Failure while Dodging Debris: Jumping out of the way of falling debris, the creature lands on a part of the floor nearly burned through. It collapses beneath their feet and they plummet to the floor beneath (note: the maps for the 2nd and 1st floors align perfectly to determine where they fall through. This collapse and subsequent fall deals 1d6 fall damage, 1d6 bludgeoning damage, and 1d6 fire damage, and leaves the creature prone and stunned for 1d4 rounds.

A Breath of Fresh Air
Once all of the PCs have escaped to safety the mansion quickly burns to the ground, collapsing into a pile of smoldering ruins with a roiling hellfire inferno at its center.

The roaring flames begin to extend skyward, reaching into thin tendrils that spiral around one another in a flaming vortex. An ominously deep laugh emanates from within the fiery helix followed by the terrified and agonized screams of an old woman.

The flaming, ethereal form of Madam Sutradhara flies out and towards the heavens, but the tendrils wrap themselves around her body. Her voice screeches desperately as she is dragged, flailing, back into the flames. Following a startlingly loud demonic roar, the fire is immediately extinguished and all becomes quiet, leaving only an eerie stillness that resonates from the smoldering remains of the destroyed macabre manse.