Caltrops?

[MarauderX]

Are there mundane caltrops listed in the rules to date?

Thanks in advance -
~MX

 

[misalo1]

Nothing I've seen to date.

 

[Gruns]

No official caltrops that I know of, but they're easy enough to just make up. Standard action to apply them to a square, and whatever square they're on is difficult terrain for people that aren't wearing heavy armor. Or something.
Later!
Gruns

 

[Griogre]

Didn't one of the pre release dungeons have Kobolds with Caltrops? I think it was an attack vs. ref and on a hit the character was slowed (save ends) with an aftereffect of the character having its speed reduced by one until the end of the encounter.

 

[Starfox]

I kind of miss caltrops too, but I'd want a very simple mechanism for them - making terrain difficult ground in a Close Blast 3 as a standard action seems about right.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

the kobold ones were pretty nasty actually as they were poisoned etc iirc?

My suggestion is this:
Caltrops, simple weapon, Int vs Reflex (skill dictates how good they are).
Damage:1 (they aren't that lethal!), and Slowed (save ends).
but can treat square as hindering terrain (takes 3 squares to move through without harm)
bag of caltrops 1lb fillls a close blast 2 (10'x10') area
Huge and some other creatures (common sense!) are immune to them.
Charging creatures make a secondary attack on them, fail = they fall prone and suffer further 1d4 damage.

caltrops are not about killing...it' about tactics...unless you use poison!

 

[AbdulAlhazred]

the kobold ones were pretty nasty actually as they were poisoned etc iirc?

My suggestion is this:
Caltrops, simple weapon, Int vs Reflex (skill dictates how good they are).
Damage:1 (they aren't that lethal!), and Slowed (save ends).
but can treat square as hindering terrain (takes 3 squares to move through without harm)
bag of caltrops 1lb fillls a close blast 2 (10'x10') area
Huge and some other creatures (common sense!) are immune to them.
Charging creatures make a secondary attack on them, fail = they fall prone and suffer further 1d4 damage.

caltrops are not about killing...it' about tactics...unless you use poison!

I think I'd even just leave out the 1 damage due to its 'minion popping' ramifications. 1 damage is trivial anyway, so it doesn't diminish the effect much. The 'slowed by 1 till end of encounter' seems kind of nice as well, but maybe its too much trouble to bother with keeping track of.

 

[ArtofSymmetry]

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.

 

[Silverblade The Ench]

Abdul,
hm yeah good point on "minion popping", well "slowed until save" or maybe "Slowed until healed" I think then works good, IMHO

ArtOfSymetry,
cavalry caltrops were often different and quite specific, infantry caltrops MAY stop a horse or such, but much larger ones specifically for horses were used, with spikes up to 3 inches in length, rather than only 1 inch, from what I've read.
Those would cause serious injury, however, humanoids would see and avoid them unless concealed by very thick undergrowth or the like.

 

[ArtofSymmetry]

I stand corrected, I was speaking from general knowledge. Sorry.