Cool trap idea

[Kzach]

I was just flicking channels and saw a documentary on Aussie flora and fauna and found out, unsurprisingly, that we have a particularly nasty plant species that is known to cause excruciating pain that can last for months or even YEARS.

The plant in question is called the "Gympie-Gympie" if you want to look it up.

Suffice to say that the pain this plant causes is so severe that it can kill. Given my particularly evil mind, this immediately made me think that it would make an EXCELLENT trap

Imagine having the PC's walking through some botanical area, hanging vines covering an entrance, they enter and... ARGH! Bwah-hahahaha. Good times.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

WOW!

I looked it up to see just HOW bad it is.
Gympie Gympie: Once stung, never forgotten - Australian Geographic

Some quotes:

Being stung is the worst kind of pain you can imagine; like being burnt with hot acid and electrocuted at the same time

Australian ex-serviceman Cyril Bromley...told of an officer shooting himself after using a stinging-tree leaf for “toilet purposes”.

I remember it feeling like there were giant hands trying to squash my chest,” he said. “For two or three days the pain was almost unbearable; I couldn’t work or sleep, then it was pretty bad pain for another fortnight or so. The stinging persisted for two years and recurred every time I had a cold shower.

To stat it, I'd look over variant poison rules (it uses a neurotoxin). I'd also allow knowledge (nature) and druids to have a chance to spot it.

What a nasty, nasty thing.

 

[Dioltach]

I encountered this one a few years ago when I was in Cairns and took a tour through the bush in an amphibian truck. When the guide pointed the plant out and told us what it could do, the whole group, in unison, shifted a few inches away from the sides of the truck.

As the guide told it, even after the initial pain has gone, for up to two years any contact with cold air or water, for example when you open a fridge, will set it off again.

On the same tour we saw crocodiles and a python in a tree only feet from the truck. But the stinger plant was definitely the scariest thing we encountered.

 

[fireinthedust]

Definite quest, too! You'd have to give them a way to get rid of it.

I'd guess static penalties due to the distracting pain? M&M does it using Nausea for pain.

 

[Piratecat]

Holy crap. That's brutal, and would indeed make a horrible trap.

 

[The Red King]

I'm not surprised. Almost all of the evil/poisionous/deadly/scary animals and plants are from Australia!

 

[Random Axe]

Definitely a nasty real-world item, but in game terms isn't it only a temporary inconvenience, up until the moment a Neutralize Poison is cast? It's certainly not ever going to see the multi-year-pain in a D&D setting.

 

[Aberzanzorax]

I'd say variant poison rules could make this more than a temporary nuisance.


e.g. the diseases in Nyambe have spell resistance versus the cure disease spell.



For this poison, I'd probably go with some similar effect since it is purportedly so long lasting. Another alternative would be that remove poison/slow poison would remove the poison, but not the DAMAGE the poison did (the pain in cold or wet circumstances). Maybe require regenerate or heal for that?


That's just off the top of my head, though...there are dozens of variant poison systems out there for d20, some of which have entire books/pdfs dedicated to tweaking the rules on the subject to make poisons relevant at higher levels, or even just to be more "poisony".

 

[The Red King]

I'd say variant poison rules could make this more than a temporary nuisance.


e.g. the diseases in Nyambe have spell resistance versus the cure disease spell.



For this poison, I'd probably go with some similar effect since it is purportedly so long lasting. Another alternative would be that remove poison/slow poison would remove the poison, but not the DAMAGE the poison did (the pain in cold or wet circumstances). Maybe require regenerate or heal for that?


That's just off the top of my head, though...there are dozens of variant poison systems out there for d20, some of which have entire books/pdfs dedicated to tweaking the rules on the subject to make poisons relevant at higher levels, or even just to be more "poisony".

Yes, just saying it hurts all the time doesnt get you anything unless your players are good role players. Maybe a neg adjustment to charisma when the pain sets in? Stress checks to see if the pain interrupts a skill check or combat? You could do a lot with this.

Definitely a nasty real-world item, but in game terms isn't it only a temporary inconvenience, up until the moment a Neutralize Poison is cast? It's certainly not ever going to see the multi-year-pain in a D&D setting.

It would be a problem if you were low level, didnt have a cleric or magic item that could cast the curitave spell, or didnt have the cash to pay for one.

 

[El Mahdi]

That plant is even more evidence that the maxim "What doesn't kill you only makes you stronger" just isn't true.

It's actually "What doesn't kill you leaves you messed up for a really really long time, and you're never the same again!"