Last night I was running a game and the party monk (level 7) was victim to a camouflauged spike pit trap and failed the reflex save.
"Effect 20-ft.-deep pit (2d6 falling damage); pit spikes (Atk +15 melee, 1d4 spikes per target for 1d6+5 damage each); DC 20 Reflex avoids; multiple targets (all targets in a 10-ft.-square area)"
The player reminded me his character had slowfall 20 ft.
"At 4th level or higher, a monk within arm's reach of a wall can use it to slow his descent. When first gaining this ability, he takes damage as if the fall were 20 feet shorter than it actually is. The monk's ability to slow his fall (that is, to reduce the effective distance of the fall when next to a wall) improves with his monk level until at 20th level he can use a nearby wall to slow his descent and fall any distance without harm."
I ruled that his character was able to negate the falling damage but would still be subject to the spikes. Also, the player wanted to use slowfall so that he could jump off of the side of the pit while falling to exit the pit without hitting the spikes.
While the character has a mighty high acrobatics check, I ruled that such a feat would be impossible due to the circumstances of being surprised... ...and also because the whole maneuver sounded ridiculous to me.
The trap's damage ended up being negligible and the adventure carried on, but I was curious as to how all of you would rule the situation. Was my interpretation fair, or even correct? Can Monks ever have nice things? Let me know what you think :)
I would have told him the same thing.
Yes you can negate the falling damage, no you can't negate the spikes.
On the Acrobatics thing...I would have allowed an attempt, with a suitably high DC. I'm all for cinematic stuff like that as long as the character can pull it off.
If he's moving down that slowly, I'd give him a CHANCE to land in such a way that he can avoid the spikes. Maybe allow a second reflex save, give him a bonus to his AC against the spikes' attack rolls, or half the number of spikes he's subjected to.