Small, cuddly, and explosive (comments appreciated)

[ValarX]

Actually, I meant that each Poepoe does 1d6, not 6d6 and 1d6 extra. With the rules on creatures occupying a space, it shouldn't get that bad if you play strictly by the book.

That would work better, but I still think a trap full of 20 of the little guys would be a great group killer. Or even better, maybe someone let lose an entire horde of invisible poepoes into their dungeons. The creatures would never attack the PCs only freak out and explode whenever one of the PCs stepped or landed on them. So, about every ten minutes roll a d20 and on a roll of 1 someone accidentally kicked one of the invisible poepoes. The party will spend all their time looking for traps that aren't there or trying to track down invisible wizards that don't exist. Since nothing remains of the poepoe there would be no evidence that a creature actually caused the explosion. Forget having encounters, a poepoe filled dungeon should take care of any intruders. Would really make PCs paranoid too, coming to rooms filled with nothing, walking down halways with no encounters, only have random damage affect them every so often.

 

[Arc]

ValarX, that is a stroke of bloody genius. The only problem is keeping the poepoes in the area. If the dungeon is a natural cavern, amble vegetation in the area could provide for a poepoe colony, and soft dirt would provide ideal burrowing ground. Several spells could be used to keep the poepoes in the area, such as illusions at the entrance (Phantom Smell, to react with pheramones, perhaps?). Even without invisibility, random creatures that popped up around the party and exploded would keep the party on their toes. Continuing the pheramones idea, safe paths could be created, or mobile scent carriers used by the dungeon residents. Also, explosions act as excellent warning devices, allowing dungeon residents to hear intruders. I'd say, that when used as a trap, poepoes should be roughly cr 3 or 4, though I could be wrong.

 

[Arc]

Now the real laugh would be when the party has encountered a few poepoes, and has learned of their danger. Present a situation like this:

DM: "You turn the corner, and see a group of 6 (insert medium power monsters) at the end of a 40' hall. The hall is made of soft dirt braced upwards by wooden supports, and at the end, meets with a stone room that the monsters are in. Make spot checks."

Everyone rolls, most pass.

DM: "You realize that the holes in the soft dirt are poepoe tunnels. Right before your eyes, you see heads pop out of the holes in rapid succession, as 50 poepoes appear out of the very walls."

Party: "Poepoes?! Did you say 50 poepoes?! Run!"

DM: "Ummm... guys? Guys?"

 

[ValarX]

ValarX, that is a stroke of bloody genius. The only problem is keeping the poepoes in the area. If the dungeon is a natural cavern, amble vegetation in the area could provide for a poepoe colony, and soft dirt would provide ideal burrowing ground. Several spells could be used...

I've determined that the poepoe is probably a CR 3 creature, due to nothing other than the sheer damage capacity (although anyone is welcome to contradict me on this one). I'm glad you like the idea of a poepoe trapped dungeon and also glad that you had the good sense to note that the creatures would need to have a normal living environment (food, burrowing).

 

[ValarX]

Here's another idea on a poepoe trap, and a fairly nasty one. Have a treasure chest that is both locked and magically trapped (normaly). Upon opening the chest a contingency spell is released which casts flawless teleport on a poepoe colony transfering 10 of the creatures into the chest, followed by a ghost sound of a large explosion. Players will assume that the magic radiating from the chest is due to either the trap or the contents of the chest itself. And since poepoe colonies replenish rather quickly, you could trap quite a few chests in this manner without worrying about loss of ammunition. I'd also recommend using a note to the player who opened the chest telling them what the contents of it actually was. Makes for great amusement value having one of the players trying to convince the others that the contents of the chest that just exploded was ten gerbils.

 

[wizardoftheplains]

PoePoe
Tiny Magical Beast
Special Attacks: Unstable Chemistry
---

lol. living firecrackers! i'd bet they'd soon be banned in most kingdoms.
you made my day. i'll spring these on the party next gaming session.

gary