[PlaneTouchedOne]

I'm putting together a low level adventure module and one of the traps I'm thinking about using is basically a stone walled pit with algae covered sides with a depth of 70' but flooded with water 40' down (for a depth of 30'). The flooded pit will also be full of leeches. My question is how to handle the damage for this...becuase water can be as hard as a brick wall if you fall from the right height. I'm thinking about taking off 1/2 a hitpoint per round in the water to account for the leeches, a fortitude save every 10 rounds in the water to avoid disease, and a fortitude save every 10 rounds to avoid passing out from blood loss...but I'm open to new ideas.

[WoeTheSinner]

For damage I say you do 1d4 if the person is unaware of the trap and 0 if they jump in of their own accord, meaning if they dive in. Falling onto water can be just as deadly as rock but not at a height of 30 feet. The 1/2 hp per round is fine as long as the pit is FULL of leeches and i mean full cause leeches dont do much damage to their host. The disease thing is a good idea and every 10 rounds is cool by me. The blood loss thing though, I say if they take more than 5 hp of dmg then start making fort saves every round or pass out. How hard will it be to get out of this pit? Since the characters will have to keep swiming how hard witht he climb dc be, wha with the algae and all? What lvl chracters approx do u plan to spring this on 1-3 4-7 ? i can be more handy with more details

-Woe

[PlaneTouchedOne]

I'm designing it for 1-3 level characters. The pit will be full of the leeches. The DC to climb out of the pit will be 30 (with algae counted in). There will be a small tunnel (1' in diameter) leading out from the bottom of the flooded pit, I'm thinking about a DC 10 spot check for that. I haven't quite decided where the side tunnel will lead to but it will get the players back together in a short time and will get them further ahead. I want the characters to have to use teamwork and intelligence rather than brute force to solve the problem of getting the trapped character(s) out.

[WoeTheSinner]

i like it, dc 10 spot check seems fine by me, then they either swim through or climb out with help from a party emember with a rope because i don't see them scaing the wall with dc 30 ... i like it

if you want another trap you can't go wrong with a room full of red black and white tiles in a repeated pattern (black red white ... etc) then you make every other color the trap trigger, i.e. first row of 3 its red then for the second row of 3 its white then black and so on. They step on the wrong tile poison needles shoot from the wall 1 dmg DC 11 1d2 str (+5 on the needles attk roll) and the trap does not rearm, its an easy little trap to figure out with a tiny bit of patience and some experimenting.

[Rintaran]

I like it. But I think it might be a bit much for a party between lvls 1-3. Maybe 4-6.

The spot check for the tunnel should be atleast DC 15 though. If the water is filled with leeches (enough to cause damage per round) then it's going to be both brackish and filled with leeches (an imediment to sight). You're also going to require swim checks for them to escape.

Is this a stagnant pool, or is the water changed regularly? If it's stagnant, then the chance of getting diseased should be MUCH higher. The PCs have open wounds because of the leeches, and they're in bacteria-filled water. I'd make the check every other round at the very least..

[BrotherMouran]

Interesting design but this is a potential party-killer at levels 1-3. Even a rogue with good ranks in climb will be hard pressed to climb out of this. A plate-wearing class stands a fair chance of drowning to death and if they do survive they will be deprived of their armor and gear. Any arcane caster just won't have the HP's to survive for long if the fall doesn't kill them outright. Anyone who contracts the disease will likely suffer it's full effects as your clerics will not have any means of countering it yet.

If you're the sort of DM that enjoys torturing their parties, go for it. I'd look for something a little more tame for characters of these levels.

[WoeTheSinner]

bah quit nagging the man ! i say go for it ! hehehe unfortunately upon reflection one must agree whith what has been stated . . . might i sugest the tile trap untill the party is high enough in lvl to handle your trap ?? ::wink wink, nudge nudge::

[corellon]

sounds good...but as everyone has said...wait untill they are a higher level....

[PlaneTouchedOne]

I think I'll just save the water pit trap for a higher level, so I can get the most out of it. I might use and abandoned, uncaped well though. It would be about 60' deep with 20' of water in it. Climb DC of 15, search DC of 15, DC 20 reflex save. Maybe I could also just have a special "leech" trap where a vat leeches drops on your head in a tunnel. If nothing else it'll add to the atmosphere.

I had already thought of using an alternating gold and platnium tile trap...but I was going to make it for higher level, with an algorithm that shifts as you walk across the floor (the PCs might know the first algorithm with a hint as to the following ones), with the price of screwing up as being trapped inside the little rubies that are inbeded into the tiles.

[corellon]

make the leech trap triger on the first person that goes in...

[Rintaran]

I'd set up the leech trap to trigger on the SECOND person that steps on the tile trigger. The one in front is usually expendable and it's better to hit'em where it counts. Plus, if they're actively watching their steps, they'll think it's a safe step. It's very devious, and if you connect it with a falling wall trap that falls down on one side of the trigger, you can effectively split the party and then get them into all sorts of trouble. }

[corellon]

or the first at the end of the tunnel..and on the last when he enters.....so they will be stuck..

[WoeTheSinner]

i dunno if this counts as a trap but it was cool so i thought i'd mention it. About 2 years i go I was plying in a nifty little game when we were scurrying in some random tunnels under some random city and BAM! the floor caves in! (standard falling dmg/ref saves) ... we fell into an aparent forgotten toomb. We find a crypt we find glowing magical itmes that we think are coll we take them...we sell some the items and keep others...3 sessions later (4-5 weeks game time) we come back to where we sold the items...the store was burned down and the shopkeep was killed...strange...a few days after that same thing happens to a blacksmith we sold a mithral axe head to...turns out a mumy is chasing down the items we stole and killing anyone who touched them...considering we were lvl 5 this was a big deal.

I just though that was a really cool thing...consequences for taking fromt he hidden toomb without asking any questions

-woe

[corellon]

it is neat..but it sounds like the recent mummy movie...

[WoeTheSinner]

heh I had never noticed that but I guess your right

I guess its like every mummy movie ever...oh well i still like it

-Woe