Caltrops?

[Silverblade The Ench]

oh no worries, yer half-right
a standard caltrop may well work on a horse...but it might not, it's small, can easily be rammed into the ground rather than the hoof, etc.
So, small ones are less effective versus horses, and also a danger to your own infantry.
but they are awesoem ways of screwing up enemy advances or protecting camps (simple minefield).
Drop enough and horses will get hurt, but if you really have to stop cavalry the larger ones are better, and will impede your own infantry less.

On solid gorund like say a dungeon, caltrops are easier to see, but since they won't be trodden into soft ground, they will hurt more often.
Now...glass, semi invisible caltrops and the like might be an idea...caltrops filled with alchemists fire...or throwing ordinary ones into a spell that makes fog and thus conceals them, etc

probably require a Stelath versus Perception check to spot them as well.

Infantry Caltrops, simple weapon, Int vs Reflex (skill dictates how good they are).
Victims are allowed a Perception versus Stealth (of user) to notice them.
Damage: Slowed (until victim heals or regenerates 1hp or more).
You can treat square as hindering terrain to avoid harm by carefully walking through if you know they are there (takes 3 squares to move through)
bag of caltrops 1lb fillls a (10'x10') area and can be thrown to 5 squares.
Large creatures get a +4 AC bonus due ot the clatrops small size.
Huge and some other creatures (common sense applies!) are immune to them.
Creatures that charge through caltrops are automatically hit as soon as they enter the first square

Cavalry Caltrops, simple weapon, Int vs Reflex (skill dictates how good they are).
Victims are allowed a Perception with +5 bonus, versus Stealth (of user) to notice them.
Damage: Immobilized (until healed 1 hp or more).
You can treat square as hindering terrain to avoid harm by carefully walking through if you know they are there (takes 3 squares to move through)
bag of caltrops 1lb fillls a single square and can e thrown to a range of 5 squares (they are much larger and heavier, so fewer per bag)
Huge creatures get a +4 AC bonus due ot the caltrops small size
Gargantuan and some other creatures (common sense applies!) are immune to them.
Creatures that charge through caltrops are automatically hit as soon as they enter the first square

Sound ok?

 

[Nytmare]

Caltrops would be extremely lethal to anyone on a mount (The Original intention of Caltrops in rl). If a horse steps on caltrops they are out for a while, or dead from being crippled in the middle of battle. But since you obviously don't want everyones mount being destroyed whenever they step on caltrops, you should just amplify the damage a bit. Just a thought.

I can attest, from the personal experience of barely surviving a 6 year old with a lego fetish, the innability of said 6 year old to clean up after himself, and several late-night and barefoot forays across the living room, that caltrops are also extremely lethal to human beings.

Is there a trap or hazard that can be reformatted into caltrops for the NPC end of things? Maybe a re-tweaked Spear Gauntlet?

 

[ArtofSymmetry]

Parent Legos, superior weapon, Int vs Ref
Victims are NOT allowed a perception check versus user Stealth
Damage: Angered until child laughs
You can treat one living room as difficult terrain until the end of the Encounter
One set of legos fills a 10x10 living room and can be thrown 5 squares
Mother Creatures get a +4 AC bonus vs Legos, Father Creatures get -5 to AC
Teenagers or Adults with no Children are immune to legos
Parent Creatures that run or are raiding the fridge through legos automatically get hit.

On a more serious note, if your looking to use Caltrops in a realistic setting. You could also try to implement the following medieval-ish traps (Note: Not sure if any of these are covered in Handbooks, not bothering to look, and not all of these are temporally realistic)

Burning Logs: Logs that are held up by a wooden partition thingy and soaked in oil, set them on fire and let em loose. Set DC vs Ref maybe

Killing Pits: a hole with wooden or metal spikes, covered with branches and leaves and such. Int vs Perception check to spot. Depending on the size of the Pits, some creatures are not affected. (I.E - One designed for a gargantuan creature would not be set off by a medium or small creature)

Burning Hay Carts: Oil Soaked Hay + Cart = Fun. Reflex vs Dexterity of the pusher?

Burning Oil: Maybe not, this was a pretty much one hit kill. But if you want it. It'd prolly be Reflex vs Set DC. Then ongoing fire dmg till Save Ends.

There are plenty of others these are just some ideas.

 

[fissionessence]

This is really weird, because I was just thinking about caltrops earlier.

I was watching Tomorrow Never Dies tonight with my girlfriend, who has been playing D&D with me recently, and I James Bond's BMW dumped some caltrops out for the car behind him to run over. I said, "Hey, you can use caltrops in Dungeons & Dragons, too," and then I realized that I couldn't remember what they did, which probably meant there was no 4E version.

I checked the compendium later, and the only two results were kobolds from two different issues of Dragon/Dungeon. One of them drops caltrops in one square, and the first medium or larger creature to enter that square is subject to an attack vs Reflex to take damage and be slowed. The other kobold drops the caltrops in an area burst 1, and a creature that enters one of the affected squares without treating it as difficult terrain automatically takes some damage.

So then I come home and see this thread . . . weird.

~

 

[Starfox]

The other kobold drops the caltrops in an area burst 1, and a creature that enters one of the affected squares without treating it as difficult terrain automatically takes some damage.
~

This seems like a pretty nice rule.

 

[MarauderX]

Thanks for the responses. Perhaps it will be part of Adventure's Vault II, and have ongoing poison/acid/fire/radiation/disintegration too.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

Thanks for the responses. Perhaps it will be part of Adventure's Vault II, and have ongoing poison/acid/fire/radiation/disintegration too.

are you being fasicious?!

the kobold caltrops were so bad, iirc, because they were meant ot be poisonous, magical etc, and deadly enough to make them dangerous as an adventure item? (Deus Ex Machina).