my party right now averages 5th lvl, almost 6th. i am designing an encounter to really challenge them. i have a barbarian that uses a fullblade (+1 with throwing and returning) along with a feat that lets him use 2x his str mod instead of 1.5x.; a 6th level gunslinger with a revolver (+1 with luck) and a scatter gun with the far sight target; and a 6th level sorcerer (lesser maximized rod, invisibility wand, fireball wand, and soemthing else) who provides buffs to the other two while staying invisible.
now, the twist i wish to put in is this: would having papers with explosive runes written on them be considered a trap or an extra for when the party searches the bodies, if they survive? and if it is a trap, what would be the cr, since traps get crs?
i originally was going to be super cheesy and have the explosive runes attacked to the sword and weapon, since the weapons would be covered in "mystic" writing to draw the eye towards it, but now, idk if i could do it. what say you, oh fellow pathfinder?
Its a trap.
I would say its pretty close to the flamestrike trap, if not a little worse (the person that reads it doesn't get a save) so cr6.
If it is cast by one of the people they are fighting (and comes out of there spells per day), I would say it is part of their CR, not a trap. Like a summoned monster. Otherwise, IT'S A TRAP!
It can be a trap or just a spell that was cast.
If the PCs are fighting an NPC that can cast it, his leaving them around are part of his CR. Putting them on his minons and allowing only them to read his orders is a great idea since as soon as the PCs try to read it, BANG instructions are destroyed.
"...You and any characters you specifically instruct can read the protected writing without triggering the explosive runes..."
Heck why don't more evil doers do this instead of having those pesky do gooders finding their plans for world domination written on a piece of paper?
If you make it a trap just go through the process of building it as a trap (far more expensive and time consuming)
Base CR = spell level in this case +3
+1 CR per 10 points of average damage => 6d6 = 3.5*6=21 so +2 CR
An Explosive Runes trap would be CR 5 which costs four times as much to have someone make then have someone cast Explosive Runes.
It says in the description of explosive runes that it is a trap. I have made it into a trap stat block for you.
Explosive Runes Trap CR: 4
Type: Magic; Perception: DC 28; Disable Device: DC 28
EFFECTS
Trigger: Spell; Reset: None
Effect: Spell Effect(Explosive Runes, 6d6 fire, Reader gains no save, everyone within 10 ft gains a reflex save DC 14 for half (Save assumes minimum attribute to cast the spell))
It can be a trap or just a spell that was cast.
If the PCs are fighting an NPC that can cast it, his leaving them around are part of his CR. Putting them on his minons and allowing only them to read his orders is a great idea since as soon as the PCs try to read it, BANG instructions are destroyed.
"...You and any characters you specifically instruct can read the protected writing without triggering the explosive runes..."
Heck why don't more evil doers do this instead of having those pesky do gooders finding their plans for world domination written on a piece of paper?
If you make it a trap just go through the process of building it as a trap (far more expensive and time consuming)
Base CR = spell level in this case +3
+1 CR per 10 points of average damage => 6d6 = 3.5*6=21 so +2 CRAn Explosive Runes trap would be CR 5 which costs four times as much to have someone make then have someone cast Explosive Runes.
You use it's average damage (+2 for being Area of effect) OR spell level of highest spell, whichever is higher.
ahhhh missed the line
"For a magic trap, only one modifier applies to the CR—either the level of the highest-level spell used in the trap, or the average damage figure, whichever is larger."
So +2 for average damage and *2 for being multiple targets. CR = 2*2 = 4
Yeah rules!
