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So Tonight I run the infamous trapped bridge at Thistletop. Not my firts time running a group through RotRL, but its quickly proving to be the most interesting.
The Druid has worked hard clearing brambles and other shenanigans to ensure his horse is with him. This is partly due to the lack of a frontline fighter type in the party and the horse filling the role. (Strangest group I've ever had I must confess)
Any rate as I prepare for the bridge crossing I find myself asking a few things and not finding answers.
1. Would a horse fit? I assume yes as the goblins brought one across
2. Would the horse get a reflex save when the trap triggers? It can try to grab the rope with its teeth but that doesn't seem logical seeing a horse hanging by its teeth...
Any advice on handling this would be greatly appreciated
Off the top of my head, a couple of ideas, clearly the goblins managed to get a horse onto the island, so sure it's a big enough bridge.:
1. Make the horse reluctant to cross the bridge - if the party forces the issue, bad things happen.
This sets a bad precedent, I wouldn't recommend this.
2. Allow the horse a reflex save. A successful save gets the horse tangled in the dangling ropes rather that taking a long fall - the horse will obviously need help.
This one gives you a great opportunity to scare the crap out of the players about what is going to happen to the horse, and still causes them all sorts of problems, as saving the horse is NOT going to be quiet work.
Heh, looks like we were typing basically the same ideas at the same time.
wait. how did the horse get through the thistle maze?
The goblins dragged it through after beating it unconscious, if I recall correctly.
Aw c'mon- who can resist the fun of saving a horse that's holding on by it's teeth!
The goblins dragged it through after beating it unconscious, if I recall correctly.
not that horse, the OP's horse!
of course
When I look at the map (in the Anniversary edition), it sure seems the bridge is 10' wide - it's certainly wider than one of the 5' grid squares. So the horse should be able to cross it without squeezing.
I think answers about reflex saves should derive less from rules and more from play style you and your players would like. And it sounds like there may be some dissension. At least from the rogue.
A conventional response would be: I assume this is a warhorse - normal horses do not do combat. Even so, warhorses are trained to fight, not traverse rickety rope bridges over crashing waves. So, a handle animal check should be needed to coax the animal across the bridge. I would give the druid either pluses on the check or a lower dc if using things like speak with animals or charm animal.
Keep in mind, the horse is large and alone is sufficient to trigger the trap. Which I assume is why you asked about the reflex save. Which the horse cannot reasonable succeed at since it has no ability to grab a rope to save itself. The pc's might avoid trouble by exploring the bridge, finding and disabling the trap and then the horse can cross.
However, if your group is more interested in story - the druid and is companion horse are interesting and the technical, "realistic" challenges are less important, then perhaps the horse readily follows the druid and maybe a save indicates the trap fails to trigger at all.
Keep in mind, on the other side of the bridge are considerably more challenging space and access problems for a horse. And the AP is changing just about at this point - a horse will be less and less effective as a fighter substitute going forward. It's probably been fun having it stomp goblins but it will be ill-suited to deal with most of what it will find inside the fort (except for more goblins of course.)
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I'm darn near speechless.
It went worse than I thought.
The Druid decided that the horse was the heaviest of them so it should test the bridge... HE ORDER HIS HORSE TO TEST THE BRIDGE!
The fall was enough to finish off the horse.
It also took me a bit to realize they assumed the bridge had broken, not that it was trapped.
Well, looks like he might find a new equine companion in the very near future...
I couldn't get rid of the warhorse fast enough... it was a cute bit of background, but realistically it was unimaginable that they got it across that bridge - unconscious and dead weight no less - and ultimately it was meaningless in the grander scheme of things.
I added more than enough to make up for its omission, however. ;)
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I couldn't get rid of the warhorse fast enough... it was a cute bit of background, but realistically it was unimaginable that they got it across that bridge - unconscious and dead weight no less - and ultimately it was meaningless in the grander scheme of things.
I added more than enough to make up for its omission, however. ;)
Thats just underestimating sturdiness of well made rope bridges xP
Thats just underestimating sturdiness of well made rope bridges xPI couldn't get rid of the warhorse fast enough... it was a cute bit of background, but realistically it was unimaginable that they got it across that bridge - unconscious and dead weight no less - and ultimately it was meaningless in the grander scheme of things.
I added more than enough to make up for its omission, however. ;)
And apparently the strength of goblins when it comes to dragging a 1,500 - 1,800 pound horse head weight across one... after getting it through a maze of thorn tunnels that are all about 3-4' wide.
Lot of really great things about Burnt Offerings and Thistletop, but the horse wasn't one of them imo.
The idea of goblins carrying or otherwise using strength to move the horse is pretty silly. I always assumed that Gogmurt used charm animal or something like that to convince the horse to cross of its own accord.
I agree the idea of the goblins capturing a horse instead of killing it given their racial enmity is odd. But the idea Ripnugget wants to prove his strength by defeating it in combat makes sense from a twisted goblin in point of view.
I agree the idea of the goblins capturing a horse instead of killing it given their racial enmity is odd. But the idea Ripnugget wants to prove his strength by defeating it in combat makes sense from a twisted goblin in point of view.
I turned it into a camel for the same reason.
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Thats just underestimating sturdiness of well made rope bridges xPI couldn't get rid of the warhorse fast enough... it was a cute bit of background, but realistically it was unimaginable that they got it across that bridge - unconscious and dead weight no less - and ultimately it was meaningless in the grander scheme of things.
I added more than enough to make up for its omission, however. ;)
And apparently the strength of goblins when it comes to dragging a 1,500 - 1,800 pound horse head weight across one... after getting it through a maze of thorn tunnels that are all about 3-4' wide.
Lot of really great things about Burnt Offerings and Thistletop, but the horse wasn't one of them imo.
Imagine all of the goblins trying to carry a horse and putting way too much effort into it. Much funnier than "boo doesn't make sense, skip" :D