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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Quickleaf" data-source="post: 7149741" data-attributes="member: 20323">Thanks for your replies <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" /> Very helpful!Yeah, in principle I agree with you, but my dilemma there was how to justify treating what are essentially Animated Pillows as a trap, when other animated objects in the room like a Rug of Smothering are defined monsters with HP & Antimagic Vulnerability?Yah! Slightly horrifying is good! Actually...if you look at the Rug of Smothering, that grapples automatically if it hits. That's par for the course for 5e monster design. There's very very few cases of "hit, then make a grapple check"; all of the ones I've seen have been "hit, and the target is grappled (escape DC X)."Good question. Here's my reasoning. Look at the Rug of Smothering: "and the target is at risk of suffocation." I've seen that interpreted in two very different ways by DMs:(1) PCs are always assumed to be holding their breath unless they're unconscious. So really the rug of smothering poses no great threat against conscious adventurers. It's much more of a resource-drain encounter OR a monster to be combined with other traps/monsters than reduce PCs to 0 hp and then the rug of smothering goes after the downed PCs.(2) PCs are only assumed to be holding their breath when they're clearly prepared (e.g. about to dive into water or about to plunge into a room full of gas), otherwise (such as in the heat of a fight) their ability to survive without air is measure in rounds. In this case, the rug of smothering is a very scary thing in and of its own right.RAW either of these interpretations could be right.So my intention is to do a monster write-up that clarifies how it's supposed to be interpreted for the DM. I'm imagining a trait like this, derived from the assassin's Assassinate trait...[SECTION]Breath-stealing. During its first turn, the killer pillow has advantage on attack rolls against any creature that hasn't taken a turn. Any hit the killer pillow scores against a creature that hasn't acted yet prevents the creature from holding its breath.[/SECTION]Well, the thing is "2d6 suffocating" has no meaning in 5e. Suffocation circumvents HP. That's my dilemma.By comparison, the rug of smothering deals 10 (2d6+3) bludgeoning damage...but that is it's own thing apart from the risk of suffocation, and could easily be interpreted as the rub crushing a creature's rib cage.True enough! Other design elements in this encounter for 15th-16th level include...<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A maelephant (CR 11).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">An intelligent Rug of Smothering (CR 2).</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Slaves, some of whom might have their own agendas complicating the scene.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Diaphanous Curtains (CR ? trap?), animated objects inflicting forced movement and confusion.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">Killer Pillows (CR ? trap?), animated objects blinding/restricting speech/suffocating.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">A trap of some kind, still designing it.</li> </ul>Hmm. Maybe the solution is not to use Animated Objects as a model at all, throw out the Rug of Smothering, and design it all as an elaborate trap...</blockquote>

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