Falling Church Bell Trap (Help)

[BlackLotus]

I have noticed that there are not any traps that would trap a party member or the entire party inside a cage or a jail cell for 4E. My church bell trap when it has been trigger traps any number of Party Members inside a church bell. Could someone please help me tweek the design of my trap for me so that it would work well in the 4Th edition rules system.

Falling Church Bell Trap Level 5 Hazard
Trap XP 400
Any character that walks on the area underneath the bell tower triggers the trap. A great bell made of cast iron falls rapidly towards the characters from the top of the bell tower. All characters will find themselves trapped inside the bell, when it has finally landed on top of them. Anyone who is trapped inside the bell must find the strength to remove it from the top of them, before they can escape.

Trap: A church bell falls from the top of the bell tower crushing and trapping anyone who enters the area of effect. Anyone trapped inside the bell is considered to be immobilized until they escape the trap.

Perception:
DC: Statement (I look up.), You see a large cast iron bell hanging towards the top of a bell tower.
DC: 14 You notice a rope wrapped around the northwest support column being held taught by someone or something unseen.
DC: 14 You notice a rope wrapped around the southwest support column being held taught by someone or something unseen.
DC: 18 You see the silhouette of a rat man holding a rope tightly in its claw-like hands, behind the northwest column.
DC: 18 You see the silhouette of a rat man holding a rope tightly in its claw-like hands, behind the southwest column.

Initiative (Special)

Trigger:
When any number of characters passes through the archway into the bell tower area, the bell from the top of the tower falls rapidly towards them. The trap attacks all characters in the trigger area.
(DM. The area of effect is marked in red on the Dungeon Master’s battle map.)

Attack:
Immediate Reaction Area of effect 2x2
Target: Each creature in the Area
Attack: +10 vs. Reflex
Hit: 3d8+3 damage, and the target is knocked prone and immobilized.
All targets hit by this trap are immobilized and they are trapped inside the bell. A character must succeed with a Strength check versus DC 25 to free all the characters that are trapped underneath the bell. Any number of playing characters may assist with this challenge. (See Aid Another on page 287 in the PHB.)

Miss: Character takes no damage and shifts 2 squares

Countermeasures:
1. Killing the Ratling Warriors that are hiding behind the two columns triggers the trap prematurely and from a safe distance.
2. Shooting the ropes that are wrapped around the columns from a safe distance triggers the trap prematurely, but it also alerts all the monsters about your presence in the area.
Rope: HP1; AC18
3. Walking around the bell tower avoids triggering the trap.

 

[Keenberg]

The trap seems pretty good to me.

The XP amount you have is equal to a level nine trap, so I'm suggesting DCs for level nine traps. I'd say DCs of between 22-26 would be better suited for a party at level nine. Perhaps the lower DC check should be less... obvious? I suggest "The taught rope wrapped around the southwest support column looks out of place." Draws attention but doesn't suggest a monster is there waiting to spring the trap, which is the obvious point of the difficult perception check.

My two cents. Good luck and have fun!

 

[Amaroq]

Hmmm ... seems like there are two possible uses for this sort of thing.

One is squishy-falling-damage, then pin the characters (I'd probably go with Prone and Restrained rather than simply Immobilized), basically, as though an anvil had fallen on them; if that's your goal, I'd keep it much as written.

The other goal would be to sequester some of the party away from the others while bad guys attack those outside of the bell.

For this, I'd suggest something like what I ran for a portcullis trap today: basically, for Level 3 characters, it was a DC 22 strength check for a character to barely lift up the portcullis enough for somebody else to slide under it. Any number of Aid Another checks could add +2 to this, but everybody lifting wasn't allowed to slip under it. Of course, there were archers on both sides firing in at the all-but-one characters who were trapped in the portcullis area, and too far away to hit with melee attacks.

As that was my goal, the portcullis dropping did no damage; you might aim for something more like X .. X thunder? .. X thunder plus deafened from the concussive noise of the bell landing?

If that's your idea, and you're going to have a lot of monsters outside the bell, be warned that this is going to be a wildly varied degree of difficulty for the encounter: if three members of the party are trapped inside, including two defenders, and they have trouble getting out, those outside are likely to get slaughtered ... if only one or zero members of the party are trapped inside, its going to be a cakewalk for the party.

Anyways, enough random babble - what's your goal for this trap?

 

[BlackLotus]

Hmmm ... seems like there are two possible uses for this sort of thing.

One is squishy-falling-damage, then pin the characters (I'd probably go with Prone and Restrained rather than simply Immobilized), basically, as though an anvil had fallen on them; if that's your goal, I'd keep it much as written.

The other goal would be to sequester some of the party away from the others while bad guys attack those outside of the bell.

For this, I'd suggest something like what I ran for a portcullis trap today: basically, for Level 3 characters, it was a DC 22 strength check for a character to barely lift up the portcullis enough for somebody else to slide under it. Any number of Aid Another checks could add +2 to this, but everybody lifting wasn't allowed to slip under it. Of course, there were archers on both sides firing in at the all-but-one characters who were trapped in the portcullis area, and too far away to hit with melee attacks.

As that was my goal, the portcullis dropping did no damage; you might aim for something more like X .. X thunder? .. X thunder plus deafened from the concussive noise of the bell landing?

If that's your idea, and you're going to have a lot of monsters outside the bell, be warned that this is going to be a wildly varied degree of difficulty for the encounter: if three members of the party are trapped inside, including two defenders, and they have trouble getting out, those outside are likely to get slaughtered ... if only one or zero members of the party are trapped inside, its going to be a cakewalk for the party.

Anyways, enough random babble - what's your goal for this trap?

The Church Bell trap is a simple hazard located inside a Cathedral dedicated to the True God. A magical dagger has been placed out in the open, beneath the trap to lure the players to that location; otherwise, the trap itself can be easily by passed. The boardgame called, Mouse Trap, was the inspiration for the hazard that I created that would test the players, making sure that they are looking for traps while traveling through the Cathedral. The adventure itself was designed for 4 playing characters who have started at first level, but by the time they reach the church bell trap, the PCs should have earned enough experience to reach 3rd level.

Anyhow thankyou for your help and I'll use the design changes that you have suggested.

 

[BlackLotus]

The trap seems pretty good to me.

The XP amount you have is equal to a level nine trap, so I'm suggesting DCs for level nine traps. I'd say DCs of between 22-26 would be better suited for a party at level nine. Perhaps the lower DC check should be less... obvious? I suggest "The taught rope wrapped around the southwest support column looks out of place." Draws attention but doesn't suggest a monster is there waiting to spring the trap, which is the obvious point of the difficult perception check.

My two cents. Good luck and have fun!

The Church Bell Trap is an elite trap designed for a party of adventurers that should be at 3rd level when they reach this point. It is an elite trap because of the high amount of damage that the falling churchbell will inflict on the unsuspecting adventurers that triggered the trap. I try to protray my ideas in my adventure as realistic as possible and more than likely no one is going to survive, after having a half of ton of metal landing on top of them.

Thankyou for your help and I will be using some of the changes that you have suggested.

 

[the Jester]

Well...

According to the DMG2, a 5th level trap or hazard's medium limited damage expression (i.e. the damage for a one-time-only damaging attack) is 3d8+4.

Sounds to me like you have a good but non-elite trap. I'd change the xp value to 200 and call it good.

 

[BlackLotus]

Cool, thanks for the information! If you are the same Jester that helped me in designing the 4E version of the ratlings, I'll give you credit for your design input in my next book. Hopfully I'll have it out sometime next fall.

 

[Amaroq]

Note that you can also award him forum Experience Points, if you are so inclined: bottom left corner of his post, there are three icons; the middle one is a scale (weights); click that to award XP.

 

[the Jester]

I am indeed the same Jester.

On the subject of trap design- the DMG2 has a great section on it that gave me an epiphany about how to make a simple concealed 10' deep pit trap work in 4e (it's a minion). I recommend it very highly.

 

[BlackLotus]

Jester, I already have a False Floor trap in the earlier part of the adventure, which is quite similar to the concealed pit trap that you have mentioned. Except that my trap leads into an underground dungeon complex that the PCs must find a means of escape. It actually worked very well during our play test session...