Design and Developments: Dirt, Rocks and 10' halls

[vagabundo]

Since he was only referring to really deep pits, then I don't think it is going to be an issue. It is probably hard to just dig a 100ft deep pit on a whim when fighting orcs... I seriously doubt it is going to be a dominant strategy.

On the other hand, letting PCs just dig a set of 5ft-10ft deep pits probably won't be lethal to orcs, but would open up interesting tactical opportunities that would be hard to take advantage of in 3E.

If PCs can actually move enemies into a pit, then it lets the DM construct a deep pit of chasm as a specific part of an encounter, to perhaps enable the PCs to defeat an enemy that they might not be able to defeat otherwise, and I think that is interesting.

Digging a pit is not easy, esp in a rockly dungeon. I've been doing a lot of gardening this summer and even with picks and shoves it is damn slow work. No maybe a couple of dwarves with the right equipment and background could bang out a couple of 5-10ft pits in a dungeon in a day, but it going to be a noisy tiring process. God help them if they get attacked half way through..

Actually the whole process seems kinda cool, I really hope they attempt it.

 

[Jinete]

Finally some mechanics! And I'm liking what I'm seeing. There are a few things i hope are clarified in the rules though:
how does a character recognize doomspores? (knowledge check?)
what happens if somebody lobs a fireball (or equivalent) in doomspore terrain?
does a creature in the area of the cloud when created take the damage twice in the same round if it also begins it's turn in the cloud?

other than that I think interactive terrain rules will be a great addition.

 

[IceFractal]

In agreement with wedgeski, I think that in the actual DMG/adventure this will be expressed in a much more concise form, but that the form itself would need explanation, so it wasn't used.

For instance, you could describe the poison like this:
Fortitude attack (+10, 1d10 plus poison 5/weakness)

And have the poison rules specify that a poison in the form X/Y does X ongoing poison damage, has Y effect, both effects last the same time and are resisted with the same save, and having enough poison resistance to negate the ongoing damage also negates the Y effect.

But if he just wrote that, people would be complaining that it's not clear what it even means.

 

[Wepwawet]

Meh.. These doomspores and terrain stuff is sooo lame!

LOL
Not really, I just wanted to complain a bit, otherwise I feel like I'm saying nothing

Yeah, I love these ideas, the bits of rules we see (although nothing really new) and the Doomspore creature/mushroom.
I'm already imagining an Apocalypse Now battlefield with this mushroom smoke

 

[Hussar]

I love the smell of mushrooms in the morning. Smells like ... Oh look pretty colors and the walls have HAIR!!!!



Liking this a lot. Thanks John Snow for the info as well.

I know that I've seen some adventures that had standardized terrain effects so that you could simply shorthand them into a particular room. Thought it was an extremely good idea. This takes that idea a few steps further. Groovy.

 

[Mathew_Freeman]

I like the sound of it all.

Doomspores are the kind of thing that make an easy encounter against a bunch of skeletons (say) into a challenging and fun encounter that the players talk about afterwards. I approve muchly.

 

[Fifth Element]

WTF? So much for speeding up combat. That's not terrain, that's turning a 5 foot step into a Greek Epic.

Terrain: Barglerocks.

If the player steps on a barglerock and it's a Tuesday they take a Reflex +12 attack or suffer 1d12 points of fire damage, unless they are immune to fire, or they have some sort of resistance to fire, or they are flying. Then, they also suffer 5 points of ongoing fire damage. Again, if they are immune they don't suffer this damage. Unless they are bloodied and it's no longer Tuesday. If the player is resistant to fire, they suffer 3 damage. Barglerocks recharge themselves every Thursday, and they don't talk.

Methinks you protest too much. Way too much.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Digging a pit is not easy, esp in a rockly dungeon. I've been doing a lot of gardening this summer and even with picks and shoves it is damn slow work. No maybe a couple of dwarves with the right equipment and background could bang out a couple of 5-10ft pits in a dungeon in a day, but it going to be a noisy tiring process. God help them if they get attacked half way through..

Actually the whole process seems kinda cool, I really hope they attempt it.

Move Earth or Disintegrate might make digging a bit easier. But at that level, pits (regardless of depth) might not be a real problem for most PCs and monsters...

 

[Glyfair]

B) It seems the doomspore only affects bloodied characters, which I presume means roughly wounded characters; that seems mightily strange.

From previous comments made: Bloodied means you are at half hit point or less.

C) What does "a target hit by a doomspore is weakened and takes ongoing poison 5" mean?! Is there a "to Strength" or something missing or implied there?!

I don't know about weakened, but poison sounds like they are going with the D&D minis poison mechanic where you take a certain amount of damage each turn if poisoned. That may just be the default with other variations (such as being weakened as well in this case).

 

[Imaro]

Methinks you protest too much. Way too much.

Eh, I wouldn't be so quick to dismiss his complaints. It does add more complexity to an encounter (as in it's more to keep track of). My personal opinion on the matter is that this will (just like AoO) create a stronger need for some type of battlemat and minis. Whether this is a good idea or not...it sounds fun, but like the major complaint about 3.5, for the players. For the DM it's another thing to track (placement, movement and effect).

They've done this type of thing in D&D 3.5, I specifically remember the second room in the armory in Shatered Gates of Slaughtergarde where the wooden pillars holding the ceiling up can be destroyed to cause a cave in. I'm not sure how in depth or how integral I would want something like this to be for encounters. I like Exalted's method of basically leaving it up to the players and GM to use the scenery in stunts and providing a general bonus for integrating the terrain into their actions. It's when you start quantifying every actual specific effect (and thus creating more that has to be accounted for, tracked, etc.) that it, IMHO, it starts to become something of a headache. I mean let's look at this for a minute...

If any creature enters a doomspore's square (or uses a standard action to kick or poke at it, if within reach), a doomspore releases a cloud of spores that provides concealment to all creatures within its own and adjacent squares. Furthermore, a bloodied creature in the area of a cloud when created, who moves into the cloud, or begins its turn in the cloud, is subject to a Fortitude attack (+10) that deals 1d10 points of poison damage on a hit. In addition, a target hit by a doomspore is weakened and takes ongoing poison 5 (save ends both conditions; creatures with immunity to or resist poison 5 are immune to the weakened condition also).

This cloud (and its effects on a bloodied character) persists for the remainder of the encounter (or for 5 minutes). Once the cloud settles, the doomspore can't produce another for 24 hours.

I have to keep track of...
1.) whether any PC/NPC or Monster enters a doomspore's square.
2.) whether any PC/NPC or Monster touches the doomspore.
3.) The concealment it's spores create.
4.) Which characters are bloodied and in it's area already, move into the area during combat or begin their turn in it's area.
5.) Make a Fort attack against said character for 1d10 poson damage.
6.) If #5 is succesful apply a weakened condition to target
7.) Again if #5 is succesful apply poison damage each round (that character doesn't save...I think) for the entire encounter.

In the end it just seems like alot to go through for a sideline enhancemment of an encounter. I think this may be one of those things that sounds good in theory and on paper, but has the potential to really slow combat down.