|
So I am trying to figure out how the intersection traps work in Xin-Grafar, the city on the Isle of Terror in the module The City of Golden Death . If you don't know the module I will explain how the traps are set up.
The avenues of the city, each 40 feet wide, are clear of debris making them the logical route to use to go through the city. There are 8 intersections in the city where 4 avenues meet in a cross formation. The area off of the avenues and intersections is the ruined city itself made up of collapsed buildings and destroyed furniture and the like.
The trap itself consists of a small canal, I'm thinking maybe an inch wide by an inch deep with runes carved into it. The canal runs across each avenue about 5 feet before entering the intersection. Due to that location, the canal also runs 5 feet into the ruins on either side of the avenue so that it can make a 90 degree turn and cross the next avenue that leads into the intersection. Once a party member crosses the canal, a summoning trap is activated with the creature appearing and attacking the person who set off the trap.
Could someone please explain to me why anybody would build a trap like this? Is there any party in existence that, even if they don't know for sure it's a trap, goes around it?
The trap only goes 5 ft into the ruins of the city. It costs the party 15 to 30 feet of extra movement to go around the intersection.
Now, my party is level 9 and I've been adapting the encounters as we've gone through this module. My plan is to make this a Summon Monster VIII spell so the Perception DC is 33. However, I've got one character who's got a +21 Perception check at this point. Even on the off chance that he doesn't make the Perception check to realize that this is a trap, the party would choose the safe option and just go around.
Wouldn't it be easy to cover the canals with an illusion? Maybe even add a Nondetection spell so that the trap is harder to find. This way no one knows the canals are there unless they actively search and succeed on a Perception check.
Sure, after the first intersection the party will go around ALL of the other intersections. That's okay. I may even choose to expand the area of the trap with each successive intersection or add traps around the edges of the trap area. But the way the trap is currently designed makes no sense to me at all.
It definitely sounds weird.
I can safely say that my players would probably trigger the first one--I don't do a lot of stuff on my games that encourages paranoid, overly cautious play. Not a fan of "gotcha'!" moments-- and then avoid the rest.
Maybe if there were a few other equally unusual and specific things going on at the intersections, it would be less obvious? Like, if the stones making up the segments of road that go around these little gutters were carved with pictographs and made of a different sort of stone, and the center of the intersections were big, elaborate mosaics or something?
I think the idea is in the right direction; traps should be telegraphed so an alert party that recognizes patterns should be able to avoid them after they see a couple in action.
But these super-intricate details remind me of AD&D-style dungeon crawls, which...were really boring? I mean, as far as an actual narrative goes.
Since it's a magic trap, you can have it go off with a proximity trigger of 30ft (or more) if you want.
Also remember that Perception DCs increase by 1/10DC per 1ft that they are away from the trap, so that DC 33 could easily turn into a 36 or 38 DC if they're 30ft or 50ft away.
|
|
IIRC there is a time limit, but not a super time-crunch. However I experienced the module a player, not a GM.
You are correct, there is a time limit but it's not too difficult to make it out of the city in that time.
Like it takes forever to get through the ruins when there is a nice open 'totally not trapped' path to follow.
I don't think I could justify the kind of time it would have to take to get through the ruins and around the intersection in order to make it really inconvenient. They have 66 hours, with 2 eight hour rests in that time, to get to the center of the city and out again.
I can safely say that my players would probably trigger the first one--I don't do a lot of stuff on my games that encourages paranoid, overly cautious play. Not a fan of "gotcha'!" moments-- and then avoid the rest.
My players are just cautious enough that they would decide to walk around something that COULD BE a trap.
But these super-intricate details remind me of AD&D-style dungeon crawls, which...were really boring? I mean, as far as an actual narrative goes.
It is pretty much a dungeon crawl with no narrative. I'm hoping to add some improv narrative as we go.
Maybe if there were a few other equally unusual and specific things going on at the intersections, it would be less obvious?
That's a good idea. I was considering having the entire intersection contain runes instead of just the channels.
I think the idea is in the right direction; traps should be telegraphed so an alert party that recognizes patterns should be able to avoid them after they see a couple in action.
Unfortunately, unless they really act out of character, they are unlikely to see any of them in action. Plus, the way the trap is designed just doesn't make sense to me. Why would you put a trap down that he is so, so easy to bypass. Especially when the idea is to convince people to leave the city and when these traps were designed by Tar-Baphon: someone who is really, really powerful.
Since it's a magic trap, you can have it go off with a proximity trigger of 30ft (or more) if you want.
That's not a bad idea. There is an alarm spell that triggers the summoning trap when someone crosses over one of the channels. I could just make the alarm spell range out an extra 20 feet.
Unfortunately, unless they really act out of character, they are unlikely to see any of them in action. Plus, the way the trap is designed just doesn't make sense to me...
Agreed. I'm all for telegraphing traps (in my last dungeon, every large area of rubble contained a sort of falling rocks trap, and every wall with cave paintings and runes had a Bestow Curse trap. My players put the pieces together pretty quickly and started avoiding both, and they also realized that the traps were new additions to the area, which was a little foreshadowing for later on), but this one is a little too obvious and weird. It's not a big hole with a sign over it that says "SPIKED PIT TRAP, CR6", but it feels close.
|
|
I had another thought. Instead of hiding the trap, put something in the middle of the trap that they would want. So, they have to set off the trap in order to get it. The adventure is a little lean on treasure and I was going to add some magic items for them anyway. Plus, there is a trapped pile of gold later in the adventure so the idea of trapped treasure is kind of already established in the adventure.
Now I just need to figure out what magic items would grab their attention from 50 ft away that they would be willing to set off a trap in order to obtain.
|
|
So, wait, is the canal just a square box around the intersection or are there canals running the length of the avenues and then they make right angles to join together with the canal coming from the other avenue before the intersection?
Because if it's the former, yeah, that is weird.
If it's the latter, then you'd activate the trap by trying to enter the ruins to bypass the intersections anyway.
Why would you put a trap down that he is so, so easy to bypass. Especially when the idea is to convince people to leave the city and when these traps were designed by Tar-Baphon: someone who is really, really powerful.If the purpose of the trap is to help convince people to leave the city, rather than just kill everyone, it would make sense to allow people a way to bypass the trap, but only if they're heading towards the desired exit.
The canal I'm talking about, let's call it a channel instead so it doesn't sound like the same thing, forms a square around the intersection. The channel is separate from the canals.
I wish you could see the diagram in the adventure. The channel, runes inscribed in it, forms a square around the intersection, with ruins drawn at all four of the corners of the intersection. Unless there is some kind of barrier at the corners blocking access to the ruins, which isn't mentioned in the adventure, anyone could literally just walk around the intersection, in to or out of the city.
So I am trying to figure out how the intersection traps work in Xin-Grafar, the city on the Isle of Terror in the module The City of Golden Death . If you don't know the module I will explain how the traps are set up.
The avenues of the city, each 40 feet wide, are clear of debris making them the logical route to use to go through the city. There are 8 intersections in the city where 4 avenues meet in a cross formation. The area off of the avenues and intersections is the ruined city itself made up of collapsed buildings and destroyed furniture and the like.
The trap itself consists of a small canal, I'm thinking maybe an inch wide by an inch deep with runes carved into it. The canal runs across each avenue about 5 feet before entering the intersection. Due to that location, the canal also runs 5 feet into the ruins on either side of the avenue so that it can make a 90 degree turn and cross the next avenue that leads into the intersection. Once a party member crosses the canal, a summoning trap is activated with the creature appearing and attacking the person who set off the trap.
Could someone please explain to me why anybody would build a trap like this? Is there any party in existence that, even if they don't know for sure it's a trap, goes around it?
The trap only goes 5 ft into the ruins of the city. It costs the party 15 to 30 feet of extra movement to go around the intersection.Now, my party is level 9 and I've been adapting the encounters as we've gone through this module. My plan is to make this a Summon Monster VIII spell so the Perception DC is 33. However, I've got one character who's got a +21 Perception check at this point. Even on the off chance that he doesn't make the Perception check to realize that this is a trap, the party would choose the safe option and just go around.
Wouldn't it be easy to cover the canals with an illusion? Maybe even add a Nondetection spell so that the trap is harder to find. This way no one knows the canals are there unless they actively...
I believe I just ran the adventure as it is written and didn't fret too much about anything the party might bypass along the way. There are always times when the party's abilities will make them breeze through a trap, environment, or encounter and other times when they might struggle for a lack of the proper tools. Just let it fall where it may. The way the streets are aligned, the party pretty much has to cross it once or twice, but if they are smart, they can avoid extra encounters when necessary. I think when I ran the City of Golden Death, I tried to play up the dangers of wandering through the ruins rather than staying on the road, and then when the countdown is activated, it is fun to play up the urgency behind it.
|
|
So, here's what I did or am going to do. The party has reached the babau encounter.
The intersections used to have illusions of piles of gold in them. Since this is the seemingly easiest treasure to get, past groups have found this out and dispelled the illusion.
The two northernmost traps have been trapped by Iramine so that if the party goes around the intersection, the trap drops gold stones on the channel, setting off the trap.
The other option, and one I'm considering, is that the babau, hunting the party instead of just attacking at the bridge, set off the trap on purpose.
So, here's what I did or am going to do. The party has reached the babau encounter.
The intersections used to have illusions of piles of gold in them. Since this is the seemingly easiest treasure to get, past groups have found this out and dispelled the illusion.
The two northernmost traps have been trapped by Iramine so that if the party goes around the intersection, the trap drops gold stones on the channel, setting off the trap.
The other option, and one I'm considering, is that the babau, hunting the party instead of just attacking at the bridge, set off the trap on purpose.
Perception DC is 30 for the trap, so the party will probably not notice the first one and may not notice the others. I would be good with them only setting off one.
The babau tactic won't work as "The fire elemental always attacks the first PC who triggered the trap, pursuing him throughout the city."
|
|
So, here's what I did or am going to do. The party has reached the babau encounter.
The intersections used to have illusions of piles of gold in them. Since this is the seemingly easiest treasure to get, past groups have found this out and dispelled the illusion.
The two northernmost traps have been trapped by Iramine so that if the party goes around the intersection, the trap drops gold stones on the channel, setting off the trap.
The other option, and one I'm considering, is that the babau, hunting the party instead of just attacking at the bridge, set off the trap on purpose.Perception DC is 30 for the trap, so the party will probably not notice the first one and may not notice the others. I would be good with them only setting off one.
The babau tactic won't work as "The fire elemental always attacks the first PC who triggered the trap, pursuing him throughout the city."
Whom does the elemental attack if an object, say a piece of gold plated stone from a ruined building, crosses over the channel?