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So I'm running "Within the Circle" by Sam Brown (Dungeon #130). After passing the first encounter, the PCs move north along the river toward the Muckdweller village and completely fail to notice the trap in the road (a 10' pit). The lead PC is a Paladin on horseback, leading by about 10'. His horse sets off the trap and they both tumble in.
It was pretty funny.
Needless to say, I've got to ask. Has anyone ever had a PC riding a horse set off a pit trap before? How did you handle it?
Hmm funny, I bet there was laughing all around the table. I've never had a situation quite like that. If it's just a pit it seems pretty straightforward that it would do falling damage and other PCs would try and help the Paladin out of the hole (and the antagonists would use this to their advantage). How did the party respond?
Wouldn't there need to be extra damage to the paladin, especially if the horse manages to trample him in his nervousness? An immediate Handle Animal check, with a substantial penalty, would be calle for, IMO. If the horse goes in front feet first, and then the Paladin falls in head first, followed immediately by a very spooked horse - well, there's some serious damage there. Very comical, BTW.
If the paladin has the Ride skill (and I hope he does), I would have called for a Ride check to see if the paladin could leap free in time (possibly using the DC for executing a quick dismount). If the paladin then failed that check he would plummet into the pit with the horse and take 1d6 damage plus maybe another 1d6-2d6 damage if the horse fell on him (though I might give him a Reflex save to avoid being caught under the horse).
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I wouldn't worry about the details too much. The horse fell in, so that's 1d6 damage for falling 10 feet. The Paladin fell in, that's 1d6 damage for falling 10 feet.
Some might argue that the Paladin didn't fall the 10 feet, and if you make other adjudications, you're really only doing it on a case-by-case basis. If you can't be consistent, you probably shouldn't make the ruling.
We've had various animal companions in all kinds of wierd situations. The last got to be really annoying as I had a tiger and EVERYWHERE we went involved climb checks. We were constantly all hauling the tiger as a group. And that is where the tough part would be here. Getting the horse out of the hole will involve ropes, and probably should involve pulleys.
Laughing as I read this. Back in college we had an ongoing second ed game with a gnomish wizard for the party arcanist. He got more mileage out of the "Mount" spell than any other. He used it to hunt for traps: summon a horse and then have it walk ahead. We thought that was pretty clever, but the incident we all remember to this day came several sessions later.
The party was inside a castle, under attack. Our bold wizard ran up to the battlements, and poked his gnomish nose over the side to see a ladder and a half dozen enemy warriors climbing his way. He paused for a second to think, then cast Mount. Now I don't recall how specific the spell write-up was, but our reading of it was that the horse appeared in front of you. I don't know another 1st level spell that not only finds and disarms traps but also summons multi-hundred pound weights to drop on people.
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Thanks for all the feedback guys.
1) I had the Pally role a Ride check. He failed.
2) I had the Pally role several Handle Animal checks to calm the horse. He failed.
So ...I added 1d6 dmg to the horse, 1d6 to the Pally ...and let him make a Handle Animal check every round (at a culmative +1) to calm the horse or suffer another 1d6 crushing damage as the horse freaked out and nearly crushed him to death.
It nearly killed him.
The thing that saved him was the party wizard and a well placed Sleep spell. It took the party about 2 days of digging to get the horse out....
~Jaye
I don't know another 1st level spell that not only finds and disarms traps but also summons multi-hundred pound weights to drop on people.
This is one of our group's running gags: Using summon monster/nature's ally to call into being some poor critter a decent distance above the enemy.
Of course, someone else then has to cast Major Creation to add the bowl of petunias and Ventriloquism to provide the "Oh no, not again."
I don't know another 1st level spell that not only finds and disarms traps but also summons multi-hundred pound weights to drop on people.This is one of our group's running gags: Using summon monster/nature's ally to call into being some poor critter a decent distance above the enemy.
Of course, someone else then has to cast Major Creation to add the bowl of petunias and Ventriloquism to provide the "Oh no, not again."
Nothing like a falling whale and a pot of omniscient flowers...
Whale, speaking of the ground with which it is about to impact and liquify thereupon: "I wonder if it will be friends with me."
Speaking of falling whales and a pot of flowers, did anyone play Fallout 2 and find the aforementioned whale and flowers? I did, but I didn't get it then.
I also found the Bridgekeeper (from Monty Python) and managed to get the best armor in the game. Ran across Arthur & his Knights, too. :D
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My groups Iron Heroes campaign had a funny event involving a horse. We were up against mounted bandits and one of them was charging us. The Tank of the group charged right back. Not only did he stop the horse in its tracks, but he also knocked it back five feet. Priceless! Needless to say, the rider surrendered.
I played in a game where one of the party members was about to be eaten by a roper, so the wizard commanded his summoned celestial dire badger to jump in the ropers mouth. The DM ruled that it gave the captured character one round as the roper swallowed the badger...
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My groups Iron Heroes campaign had a funny event involving a horse. We were up against mounted bandits and one of them was charging us. The Tank of the group charged right back. Not only did he stop the horse in its tracks, but he also knocked it back five feet. Priceless! Needless to say, the rider surrendered.
Ouch. That must have been a lucky roll for your Tank!