Illusionary Oasis

Here is another installment of exTRAPaganza, our Thursday over-the-top trap series. 

I just spent a week in the desert…

The players enter a large, dry, hot cave. As they begin making their way down the cave, the entrance collapses, so they have no choice but to move on. The cave gets hotter and drier; hot enough to affect them. As they make their way further, they come upon what seems to be a cool oasis. The air here is cooler and there is even a pool of water. The air and pool are illusions. If they decide to stay at the oasis, the air will eventually cook them. The pool is even worse. It is actually molten copper, but will remain seemingly like water until either the character ingests it or is immersed in it.

Interaction	PFRPG:	D&D 4e:
Air
Effect	Moderate Survival Check each round or take APL points of fire damage.	Moderate Endurance Check each round or take ongoing 5 per tier fire damage.
Oasis
Detecting Illusion	Very Hard Will Save. Detect magic will also show strong illusion magic.	Very High Bonus Attack vs. Will or character will not detect illusion. Also, any type of detect magic spell or ritual will show it.
Effect	Hard Survival Check each round or take APL * d6 fire damage.	Hard Endurance Check each round or take ongoing 10 per tier fire damage.
Pool
Detecting Illusion	Very Hard Will Save. Detect magic will also show strong illusion magic.	Very High Bonus Attack vs. Will or character will not detect illusion. Also, any type of detect magic spell or ritual will show it.
Effect	Immersion – Very Hard Reflex Save or take APL * d10 fire damage per round. Leaving pool takes 1 full round, and then the character continues to take APL damage for 1d4 rounds. Ingestion – Very Hard Fortitude Save or character dies. If saves, still takes APL * d10 fire damage and 4d6 Fortitude damage.	Immersion – Very High Bonus Attack vs. Reflex or character takes ongoing 30 per tier fire damage. Once out of pool (full round action) the ongoing effect can be ended with a save. Ingestion – Very High Bonus Attack vs. Fortitude or character dies. On a miss, character takes ongoing 30 per tier fire damage (save ends) and ongoing 1d6 Fortutude Damage (save ends)

Bullseye Flame Jets

Here is another installment of exTRAPaganza, our Thursday over-the-top trap series. 

I was looking for something a little different and real time…

The characters enter a room. On the far side is a chasm about 100 feet across. A target has been placed on the far wall. It has 3 rings and a bullseye. Once they are all in the room, several jets of flame shoot out from the walls, engulfing the entire room. The characters will have to shoot the target to turn off flame jets. The rings are labelled 1, 2, 3 and 5. Each time one of the rings is hit, it turns off that many number of jets.

Interaction	PFRPG:	D&D 4e:
Target
Detecting that the target and jets are connected	Moderate Perception check.	same as PFRPG
Flame Jet Damage	Each jet does 1d4 damage per round to everyone in the room. There are APL * (number of characters) jets in the room.	same as PFRPG
Target AC	4 x (target value) + APL	same as PFRPG

Not Proficient Mosaic

Here is another installment of exTRAPaganza, our Thursday over-the-top trap series. 

I have no idea what inspired me for this trap… Just wanted something with a simple puzzle element and a little different.

The players walk into a large room. On the back wall is a mosaic, depicting what looks to be an adventuring party. There is a ranger, a cleric, a wizard, a rogue, and a fighter. However, upon closer examination, the mosaic figures each have the wrong weapon. The fighter is holding a dagger, the cleric the sword, the wizard a bow, the rogue a wand,and the ranger a mace.

Once in the room, the door locks. Each round, the mosaic figures will attack the party until the correct implement is placed in their hand. In order to do this, certain skill checks, as below must be made. Once a character has the correct implement in hand, attacks cease from that character. Once all characters have implements in hand, the doors open. When an implement is replaced, the old implement stays with the current mosaic character until the proper checks are made to move it.

Interaction	PFRPG:	D&D 4e:
Ranger
Detecting and moving implement	Hard Perception check to detect that mace is moveable. Hard Will save to remove mace and place it on cleric.	Hard Perception check to detect that mace is moveable. High bonus attack vs. Will or unable to move mace and place it on cleric.
Attack	2 characters in room get shot by an arrow – High bonus attack vs. AC for APL/2 * 8 damage.	same as PFRPG
Cleric
Detecting and moving implement	Hard Perception check to detect that sword is movable. Hard Fortitude save to move sword and place on fighter.	Hard Perception check to detect that sword is movable. High Bonus Attack vs. Fortitude to move sword and place on fighter.
Attack	Channel – Hard Will Save or all characters in room take APL * 6 damage.	High Attack bonus vs. Will or all characters take APL * 6 damage.
Wizard
Detecting and moving implement	Hard Perception check to detect that bow is movable. Hard Reflex save to move bow to ranger.	Hard Perception check to detect that bow is movable. High Bonus Attack vs. Reflex to move bow to ranger.
Attack	Magic Missle – Each round APL +1 magic missiles are fired. Each individual missile will strike a random character for 1d4 + 1 damage. A character can be struck multiple times.	same as PFRPG
Rogue
Detecting and moving implement	Hard Perception check to detect that wand is movable. Hard Arcana check to move wand to wizard.	same as PFRPG
Attack	Sneak Attack – Random character is attacked, High Bonus Attack vs. AC or character takes (1d4 + APL + (APL * 6)) damage and is staggered for one round.	Sneak Attack – Random character is attacked, High Bonus Attack vs. AC or character takes (1d4 + APL + (APL * 6)) damage and is dazed. (save ends)
Fighter
Detecting and moving implement	Hard Perception check to detect that dagger is movable. Hard Reflex save to move the dagger to the rogue.	Hard Perception check to detect that dagger is movable. High Bonus Attack vs. Reflex to move the dagger to the rogue.
Attack	Cleave – Attack one random character in room with a high bonus attack vs. AC for APL * 8 damage. If it hits, attack another random character. Repeat until it misses or all characters have been attacked.	same as PFRPG

Clock Room

Here is another installment of exTRAPaganza, our Thursday over-the-top trap series. 

The version of ntp that we’re using in our client is old and outdated, so I need to update it. However, we rely on some very specific behavior, so I have to modify the new client to deal with it. This got me to thinking about time().

The characters enter a room filled with clocks on the wall. Each is clicking away loudly, and each has a different time. The relative time difference between the clocks adversely affects the passage of time in the room. There are 41 + d20 clocks in the room, all showing a slightly different time. Depending on the overall time difference, time will either pass more swiftly (more clocks are fast than slow) or more slowly (more clocks are set slow than fast).  Here’s the kicker – Once everyone is inside the room, the doors shut and lock, and can only be opened when time is “normalized”. Each round spent in the room results in 1 point of damage to each character in the room. (adjust up or down to change the difficulty). Feel free to say “tick tock” every time you deal the damage.

When determining clock status, set 1 clock to the correct time and 20 fast and 20 slow. The other d20 clocks are either fast or slow (50/50 chance). For every 3 clocks out of whack (i.e. 32 clocks fast and 28 clocks slow) time passage changes by one increment. Free actions become swift, swift become move, move become standard, standard becomes full round, and full round actions take 1 round more. If time is 6 clocks out of whack, a full round would take 3 rounds, a standard action would take 2 rounds, a move would be a full round, a swift would be a standard, and a free would become a move.

Should perception check fail to locate the correct clock, let them think they succeeded, and have them set the clock accordingly, adding one more to the pool of skewed clocks.

For fun, add a small imp that runs around the room, resetting clocks.

Interaction	PFRPG:	D&D 4e:
Detecting whether time is running faster or slower
	Moderate Int check (swift)	Same as PFRPG (quick)
Locating a fast or slow clock
	Moderate Perception check (move equivalent)	Same as PFRPG
Setting clock correctly
	Hard Perception check and Moderate Int check (standard action)	Same as PFRPG

Feats Don’t Fail Me Now!

Here is another installment of exTRAPaganza, our Thursday over-the-top trap series. 

This isn’t really so much a “normal” over the top trap, but it is very annoying.

As the characters enter the room, they see barely visible tendrils of shadow or force about the room. They seem harmless, however, whenever  a character uses a feat that he specifically has to activate, such as power attack, vital strike, etc, the tendrils will attack as per below.

Interaction	PFRPG:	D&D 4e:
Using a Combat Feat
	High bonus attack vs. AC or lose 1d3 Dex and becomes staggered for 1 round.	High bonus attack vs. AC or lose 1d3 Dex and become dazed (save ends).
Using other Feats
	Hard Reflex Save or take d6 * APL damage plis be knocked prone.	High Bonus Attack vs. Reflex or take d6 * APL damage and be knocked prone.

Barrel Room

Here is another installment of exTRAPaganza, our Thursday over-the-top trap series. 

I’ve been doing barrels all week. So why should today be any different? The entire floor of the room contains barrels. The floor is lower than the door, so the tops of the barrels are at normal floor height. Each barrel is sealed and filled with oil. However, several of the tops are weakened to the point where anyone stepping on one will fall through. As the characters walk through the room, several nasty looking, spiked barrels roll out from hidden compartments in the walls towards the characters. When they hit a character of the far wall, they burst into flame. Any opened barrels will also catch fire, and if there’s enough, the whole room will go up.

Interaction	PFRPG:	D&D 4e:
Walking Across Barrels
	Hard Acrobatics check or break barrel top, leaking oil	same as PFRPG
Avoiding Rolling Barrel
	Hard Reflex Save or take d6 * APL damage plus fire attack. The barrels move 20′ per round.	High Bonus Attack vs. Reflex or take d6 * APL damage plus fire attack. The barrels move 4 squares per round.
Barrel into Wall
	Fire Attack.	Fire Attack
Fire Attack
	3* APL * d6 fire damage. Also, if any barrel in your square or adjacent is leaking, take APL *  d6 fire damage per round in square(s).	3 * APL * d6 fire damage. Also, if any barrel in your square or adjacent is leaking, taking ongoing 5 fire damage per tier while in affected square(s).

Treasure Cap

Here is another installment of exTRAPaganza, our Thursday over-the-top trap series. 

I was thinking of some of the traps from Grimtooth’s which were simple and straightforward, but obviously absurd. So we have this…

The characters walk into a room with a large, single-piece stone floor. It also happens to be absolutely covered in all kinds of treasure – coins, jewels, armor, weapons, etc. However, there is volcanic pressure pushing on the floor below. The treasure was set on the floor as an “offering” that also happens to have enough weight to hold it down. Should the characters remove too much treasure, it will explode in a massive volcanic eruption, atomizing everything in a 1000′ radius. It’s up to the GM to determine exactly how much treasure is “too much”.

Time Delay Room

Here is another installment of exTRAPaganza, our Thursday over-the-top trap series. 

I was watching various Sci-Fi, and time is always an issue.

The characters enter a large room. Everywhere in the room are strange effects hanging in the air. Small golden beads, balls of force, etc. Time has been stopped in this room in the midst of a great spell battle. The spells cast still hang in the air. The characters must navigate their way to the other side of the room, without disturbing the time flow. If they do, they will activate one of the spells, which, may in turn, activate another. Have the characters make perception checks to notice spell zones, and Acrobatics checks to avoid setting them off. They should do this every 10′. There are several spells in air. All spells are at CL7, with a DC of 17. When a spell is set off, area effect spells have an n% chance of setting off another zone, where n is the radius or range of the spell in feet. Non area effect spells will target the triggerer. Roll a d8 to randomly determine the spell from below.

Magic Missile

Fireball

Flaming Sphere

Scorching Ray

Lightning Bolt

Ice Storm

Shout

Fear

Interaction	PFRPG:	D&D 4e:
Detecting a Spell Zone
	Very Hard Perception check.	same as PFRPG
Avoiding a Spell Zone
	Moderate Acrobatics check	same as PFRPG

Acid Wash Arch

Trap
Level 6 Blaster
XP 250

The floor and sides of the archway seem to be pitted and worn

Trap: When the archway is traversed, a fine acid mist sprays the archway.

Perception

DC 27: The character notices small, corroded holes in the archway.

Trigger

The trap is triggered when a character enters the archway.

Attack

Immediate Reaction Close Blast 1 Target: All Targets in Blast Attack: +10 vs. Reflex Hit: 1d8 + 3 damage plus ongoing 5 acid damage (save ends)

Countermeasures

The mist can be prevented from coming out with a DC 25 Thievery check, failure triggers the trap.

Upgrade to Elite (500 XP)

Add +2 to attacks and increase attack to close burst 3.

Cement Tumbler Corridor

Here is another installment of exTRAPaganza, our Thursday over-the-top trap series. 

Almost everyday I see a truck from Central Concrete driving down the street.

The characters enter a cylindrical corridor, sloped downward. The floor contains gravel and sand. As the characters make their way down the corridor, it starts to first slowly fill up with water, which happens to be filled with nastiness. Soon after, the corridor begins to rotate, sending water, sand, gravel and characters flying. Slowly, the heat begins to build up, and the sand and gravel form a concrete-like substance, trapping the characters.

Interaction	PFRPG:	D&D 4e:
Detecting the Trap
	Very Hard Perception check.	same as PFRPG
Water
	Very Hard Fortitude Save or take 1d6 Con damage. Continue to take 1 Con damage per round for 6 rounds or until successful Save.	Very High Bonus Attack vs. Fortitude or take ongoing 1d4 Con damage. (save ends)
Rotating
	Very High Bonus Attack vs. flat-footed AC or take APL * 1d4 damage per round.	Very High Bonus Attack vs. AC or take APL * 1d4 damage per round.
Heat
	Hard Survival Check or take 1d6 * APL damage per round.	Ongoing 5 per tier fire damage.
Concrete
	Hard Strength Check each round or become immobilized. If immobilized for 3 consecutive rounds, character is permanently stuck in concrete and must do 50HP of damage to hardness 10 concrete to escape.	same as PFRPG