Trap Inspiration from MMOs

180

Today we’ll look at the trap below:

180 Degree Teleporter

A small, deep chasm is in front of you. It looks like it can be easily jumped.

Type: magical; Perception DC 30; Disable Device 30

Trigger location; Reset None

Effect

There is a teleporter on the far side of the chasm. It immediately teleports the character to the same spot, but rotated 180 degrees. In order for the jump to succeed, the character must traverse the chasm twice, once on the way to the portal and then back to the original jump point, thus use 2 times the distance for the DC. Those that fail fall into the chasm, either by failing the original distance, or hitting the portal and then falling.

This trap was directly inspired from two events within World of Warcraft. The first event happened to us on a raid. We were running back from a complete raid wipe and several of us were automatically following one particular character. As we were navigating the dungeon, we all heard, “Ooh, sandwich” on Teamspeak, and watched as the lead character plowed his way straight into a lava pit. Of course, all of us that were following joined him in the lava bath mere moments later.

The second thing was something that would happen to me often when I would enter a dungeon instance. To enter an instance, you would run your character through a portal, where you’d be teleported to the inside of the dungeon. Well, many times, the teleport would spin me around 180 degrees. Since I’d usually be on auto-run, my character would then immediately run right back out of the dungeon as soon as I entered.

Naturally, if you put these mechanics to creative use, you can end up with something hopefully fresh and new. You just have to keep your eyes open to unusual occurrences that can be used in traps.

For more traps, please visit Trap-a-Day!

3 thoughts on “Trap Inspiration from MMOs”

  1. Michael Allen

    I like this idea, but the Stat Block is incomplete and you have a few mechanical issues.
    These comments are all based on information in the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game CRB Chapter 13, Environment, Traps.

    1. Unwilling targets get a will save to negate the effect – see the teleport spell description. 5th level Spell means a DC 17 Will Save negates.

    2. The correct trigger is probably a proximity trigger or a visual trigger. The proximity trigger description in the CRB specifically addresses flying creatures and how they don’t set off location trigger traps.

    3. Calculating CR is as follows:

    The Minimum CR is 7 (Base CR is 1 plus 5 for a 5th level spell plus 1 for a proximity or visual trigger). In areas of still air (proximity trigger description CRB) you could get away with a mechanical trigger, reducing the minimum CR to 6.

    For the more likely CR 7 incarnation, the maximum depth of the chasm is 140 feet (the average damage from that fall is 49.5 which is equivalent to the +5 bump from the teleport spell). If the chasm is any deeper, you will need to calculate the CR based on the average damage as detailed in the traps section of Chapter 13.

    Also you might want to include a note in the description that the trap affects the first person crossing only. If it affects multiple targets, the maximum depth of the chasm is 50 feet (17.5 average damage). Remember the Average Damage CR is doubled when a trap affects multiple targets. So in this case the average damage can only be a CR 2 (doubled to 4) before you start exceeding the teleport CR adjustment.

    Its a great trap – and I really like how it is inspired by other gaming experiences. Keep em coming!.

  2. Good points and an excellent explanation.

    I guess I assumed that the Reset: None implied that it only affects the first through.

    As for the CR, I based this on a dimension door effect, not teleport, which would give it a base CR of 5, but I added one for the lack of will save, giving it a CR of either 6 or more based on damage.

    I also envisioned it as more of an “area portal” rather than an actual spell trigger, thus the Trigger: location.

    Thanks for the comments though. Details like these are very helpful and appreciated!

  3. Michael Allen

    Yeah – I could see Dim door as the powering spell. Its a great visual though – I really enjoyed the concept.

Leave a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Shopping Cart
Scroll to Top
×