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I have a druid in a game I run that has a horse.
He likes to take his horse everywhere.
In an up coming session I know there is a Rigged Rope Bridge.
Pretty straightforward trap.
Four ropes and three of them fall away when so much weight applied.
Reflex save to grab the rope that doesn't fall.
Would the horse get the reflex save if it fell? If yes how do I describe it? horse grabs the rope with its teeth? leaps 30 ft to the land? falls in such a way to not get hurt?
Automatic fail because horses can't grab. Don't even bother rolling. I have seen all the narrow pipes that people have tried to stuff their mounts through.
The player of course will see this trap as aimed at his mount, but realistically such traps should give way under standard human weight as well.
Part of me suspects my druid maybe losing a horse tonight... Thank you.
It is easy for a game master to place PCs in a trap or situation in which there is no save vs certain death. It is also possible for a game master to place PCs in situations in which they lose class abilities for extended periods with no chance to resist such loss at all.
Yes, a game master can set up a trap that auto-kills an animal companion. Yes, a game master can create a dungeon with a one-way entrance that is entirely filled with an anti-magic field.
If I found myself in a game with this kind of a game master, I would very quickly find myself a new game and a new game master.
Thinking about this ... if you want to avoid inflicting auto-fail situations on your players, there are lots of ways to fix this.
Back in town, before the adventure begins, a mysterious stranger / shady rogue / magic shop dealer offers the party a deal on "Horseshoes of Feather Falling."
At the bridge, let each hero have a perception check to see that the ropes are frayed or the structure is unsound. Bonus for rogues detecting traps and PCs with Knowledge (Engineering).
Before the druid takes his horse on the bridge, say, "You know, that bridge looks rickety. You sure you want to bring your horse over it?"
Is there a burly strongman in the party? Give him a chance to grab the rope with one hand and grab the horse (or another falling character) with the other hand.
With hints and chances to avoid the auto-fail situation, the failure is no longer automatic ... and becomes fair.
Automatic fail because horses can't grab. Don't even bother rolling. I have seen all the narrow pipes that people have tried to stuff their mounts through.
The player of course will see this trap as aimed at his mount, but realistically such traps should give way under standard human weight as well.
It seems implausible to me that weight-activated traps would only trigger once the full party is on it. A trap that requires the weight of more than 3 people to trigger is not a very good trap, and due to the nature of bridges it'd be kind of hard to make the whole thing fall when weight is only applied to a specific area.
I wouldn't make the horse fall to his death unless the horse is the first one on the bridge. I'd allow allow a save to get entangled in the ropes.
Automatically killing the druid's horse, no save, no matter what, is really cheap.
Carry Companion spell, or wand?
Reduce Animal isn't likely to be enough, but a pet-master Druid should have that wand.
I know exactly what encounter that is. Suffice to say I think the horse would fall. Have the PC make a perception check to see if he notices how the ropes are rigged.
I am going to run my group through that as well. ...Rise of....
Would the horse get the reflex save if it fell? If yes how do I describe it? horse grabs the rope with its teeth? leaps 30 ft to the land? falls in such a way to not get hurt?
I know this is too late to be useful but...
Early on in a Rise of the Runelords game I ran, we had a similar situation. Rope bridge, horse, falling issue. I did as you, offering a Reflex save to grab onto a remaining strand.
Big drama.
Natural 20 for the horse.
I described it as you mention, with the horse miraculously biting onto the rope and it - somehow - not breaking. Because 20.
The party managed to repair the remaining bridge bits quickly (only one of four strands were broken) and managed to roll well enough to get the horse back onto the bridge.
Here's where it gets good... the horse became an ongoing thing. I won't bore you with details, but over time, it became the paladin's mount. Because... the horse was actually a human fighter who had been polymorphed by <bad guy later in the AP>. "Did you tell him/her about the horse?" became a major party slogan when interacting with NPCs that wanted to know things about the party. The paladin eventually ceased to be due to a poor pull on the deck of many things and the horse just vanished. Next campaign (Mummy's Mask), I'm a player, and I opted for a half-orc cleric of Gorum who woke up not really knowing who he is, or how he got into this body. He's that horse, reincarnated. I had him preferring oats for breakfast, and defecating in the street when practical, again, without him knowing why. Sadly, he eventually died. (Amusingly, his replacement PC is currently impersonating him, because reasons beyond the scope of this story. Party is aware, but his personality lives on.)
One awesome line when the (Runelords) party got speak with animals up and learned the horse was a man...
Q: So, what's it like being a horse?
A: Pretty good once you get used to <being intimate with> horses.
That single natural 20 gave us a massively memorable NPC, and then a PC whose legacy lives on years later.
Q: So, what's it like being a horse?
A: Pretty good once you get used to <being intimate with> horses.
That line resonate inside soul. You poet?
I have a druid in a game I run that has a horse.
He likes to take his horse everywhere.
In an up coming session I know there is a Rigged Rope Bridge.Pretty straightforward trap.
Four ropes and three of them fall away when so much weight applied.
Reflex save to grab the rope that doesn't fall.Would the horse get the reflex save if it fell? If yes how do I describe it? horse grabs the rope with its teeth? leaps 30 ft to the land? falls in such a way to not get hurt?
I'm assuming this is from an adventure path or prewritten adventure to have the falling rope bridge?
I also assume there are some sort of perception checks to notice and disable device checks to stop it from working (or at least an alternative path around the bridge).
I don't know the weight trigger amount, but I'm assuming a party of 3 or 4 is enough to set it off, so the horse should probably weigh enough on it's own. PCs get a reflex save to grab the rope and not fall, but the horse...well it doesn't make sense for the horse to be able to grab onto anything. If the PCs don't notice the trapped bridge the horse will fall, probably to it's death.
I'm assuming this is from an adventure path or prewritten adventure to have the falling rope bridge?
I also assume there are some sort of perception checks to notice and disable device checks to stop it from working (or at least an alternative path around the bridge).
I don't know the weight trigger amount, but I'm assuming a party of 3 or 4 is enough to set it off, so the horse should probably weigh enough on it's own. PCs get a reflex save to grab the rope and not fall, but the horse...well it doesn't make sense for the horse to be able to grab onto anything. If the PCs don't notice the trapped bridge the horse will fall, probably to it's death.
RotR. Perception and Disable Device doable. Sadly our group whiffed it going in and we lost our Tetori Monk and Goblin Barb for a bit. I believe it's like a hundred foot fall give or take into water.
I'll just quote the chorus of a great song and say this horse should "Learn to swim."