Maybe my ability to think three-dimensionally is not working too well, but I cannot understand how the Crawler Cage in Kings of the Rift is positioned in the room. I am having problems specifically with understanding how Charlgar would be able to hurl characters over his shoulder into the room with Awesome Blow. In the first place, Awesome Blow does not work like that; the creature cannot move closer, so this prevent Charlgar from performing the illustrated attack below:
C = Charlgar
P = PC
D = Door to crawler cage
- = Wall
0 = empty space
Before
- - - -
0000|
00CC|
00CCD
00P0D
- - - -
After
- - - -
0000|
00CC|
00CCD
0000P
- - - -
I believe this is the writer is trying to describe, but it doesn't work. The opponent must be 10 feet farther away from the creature using Awesome Blow after the attack. Even if it was allowed however, it seems like it would take several shots with Awesome Blow to get the PC back into the cage, and by then Charlgar would probably be toast.
The issue with Awesome Blow does not affect my main concern though, which is how the cage is positioned. It seems to me like the cage is flush with the floor of Area 5 and rises up thirty feet from there. But if that is the case, then Charlgar would simply be throwing PCs against the bars of the cage since one wall of the cage bars would be blocking the door. The two openings in the cage are on the top and the bottom, so Charlgar clearly can't throw them through one of those without violating a number of laws of physics. The way I envision the cage from a side view (assuming each space is 5 feet) is as follows:
- = Walls
D = Doors
C = Cage walls
* = Cage suspension
t = Cage top window
b = Cage bottom
Area 7
|
v
- -|0*00*0 A
00|0*00*0 r
00DCt t t tC e
00DC0000C a
- - -C0000C 6
00|C0000C
00DC0000C
00DCbbbbC
- - -
^
|
Area 5
Remember this is a side view, not a top-down view.
Anyway, I just don't see how Charlgar could toss the PCs into the cage, even if I could wrap my head around getting Awesome Blow to allow him to toss PCs over his shoulders. Anyone else had hangups with this?
My understanding is that there's no "cage wall" on the side against the opening into the room - that "side" of the cage is formed of the rock wall itself. The cage has "doors" up and down, but is just mounted flush against the wall so that you can walk straight into it from the room.
Well, Wilmot has to be able to reach into the cage with the kuo-toa pincer and since the adventure doesn't mention the door into the room has any way to be locked or barred, I don't think it would be that safe to throw a carrion crawler in there. Besides that, the adventure says Charlgar tells Wilmot to open the cage when he hurls the PC.
Anyway, when I ran this, I nixed the whole idea. I decided the cage could be ascended and descended via a pulley system and that the top was flush with the floor. If the occassion came up, Charlgar would have bull-rushed a PC (with improved bull rush) into the cage, but the PCs handled him pretty quickly and he surrendered before getting the opportunity.