FireLance
Legend
In a room with crushing walls. With a hole in the ceiling through which more oil is being poured.Say whaaaa!!! Nothing beats a pool of oil and ye olde flint golem.
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
I want to make a gauntlet - and not the glove kind.
- Thread starter Obryn
- Start date
InVinoVeritas
Adventurer
Swinging scythes from hidden recesses.
A pool of acid with a block of soda lime above it. If you drop the lime into the acid, the acid is neutralized, but generates a lot of heat in the process.
For more fun, have a room filled with a large pool of water. Have a canoe on the near shore. On the bottom of the canoe are large strips of metallic potassium. Fun chemistry experiment: dropping potassium in water will cause the potassium to dissolve into the water. The pH of the water rises as hydroxide separates from the water molecule to combine with the potassium. The free hydrogen atoms combine and bubble out of the water. The action of potassium with the water will cause heat to be generated. The heat ignites the hydrogen. Canoe goes boom.
The passage is blocked by a giant metal plate. Nearby, a large metal wheel stands, surrounded by a wooden dais on a metal floor. Turning the wheel lifts the gate, but also generates a large static electric charge in the wheel--and the turner. When the turner steps off the wood dais and onto the metal floor, the turner is grounded and the charge drains off suddenly, shocking the turner.
A pool of acid with a block of soda lime above it. If you drop the lime into the acid, the acid is neutralized, but generates a lot of heat in the process.
For more fun, have a room filled with a large pool of water. Have a canoe on the near shore. On the bottom of the canoe are large strips of metallic potassium. Fun chemistry experiment: dropping potassium in water will cause the potassium to dissolve into the water. The pH of the water rises as hydroxide separates from the water molecule to combine with the potassium. The free hydrogen atoms combine and bubble out of the water. The action of potassium with the water will cause heat to be generated. The heat ignites the hydrogen. Canoe goes boom.
The passage is blocked by a giant metal plate. Nearby, a large metal wheel stands, surrounded by a wooden dais on a metal floor. Turning the wheel lifts the gate, but also generates a large static electric charge in the wheel--and the turner. When the turner steps off the wood dais and onto the metal floor, the turner is grounded and the charge drains off suddenly, shocking the turner.
FireLance
Legend
Not sure if this is too much detail for this thread, but:
In an adventure I ran recently at a local game day (slightly modified from the first adventure in my Eberron campaign), the PCs entered an old dungeon to discover a Large statue of a dust devil (which they had fought eariler in the adventure) in the center of a room. The twelve squares around the dust devil all had carvings on them: the three in the NW quadrant of the room were carved with arcane sigils, the three in the NE quadrant of the room had of holy symbols, the three in the SE quadrant had carvings of weapons and armor and the three in the SW quadrant had pictures of plants and animals. The statue itself radiates magic.
To be frank, the purpose of the carvings was just to get all (or most of) the PCs in the room instead of having them send only one guy in to check out the statue while the rest stayed safely outside.
In both the games I ran, all the Arcane PCs gathered in the NW quadrant, the Divine PCs in the NE quadrant, the Martial PCs in the SE quadrant and the Primal PCs in the SW quadrant. Physical or magical interaction with the statue (touching it, or better yet, deliberately trying to invoke its power) causes two things to happen:
1. A secret passage opens.
2. A strong gust of wind erupts from the statue, attacking everyone in the room: +10 vs. Fortitude (so it's not entirely a railroad; I have a small chance of rolling low, after all.
). Those hit are pushed through the secret passage into another room and stunned for one round. Once this happens, the wall of the other room starts to move. After one round, it will close off the secret passage. During this round, those still in (or just outside) the statue room have a choice: run in after the other PCs or stay where they are. If they stay where they are, the secret passage is blocked off by the moving wall after one round and they miss out on the next encounter (again, no railroading! 
).The PCs who end up in the room beyond the secret passage face the following non-standard trap-like skill challenge:
In addition to the crushing wall, the PCs should also notice that sand starts filling the room and a howling wind roars through the room making concentration difficult (-2 penalty to all checks). There is a door on the opposite wall of the room, but what appears to be a spiked ball of force is directly in front of the door. Ask the PCs to roll initiative. The room acts on initiative count 10.
The room is 8 squares by 8 squares at the start of the encounter. On initiative count 10, the wall advances one square (pushing adjacent PCs one square when it does so). Each round, a PC can prevent the wall from moving for one round by making a DC 16 Strength check. The PCs can stop the wall completely by finding the mechanism with a DC 16 Perception check and disabling it with a DC 16 Thievery check.
The sand gradually makes movement through the room more difficult. In the first round, after initiative count 10, the PCs have to make a DC 12 Acrobatics check each round or treat the floor as difficult terrain. On the second round, the DC increases to 16 and in the third round it increases to 20. After initiative count 10 on the fourth round, the floor is difficult terrain and the PC have to make a DC 12 Acrobatics check each round or spend an extra square of movement to move into each square. The DC increases to 16 on the fifth round and 20 on the sixth round. After initiative count 10 on the seventh round, the PCs must make a DC 12 Athletics check to move one square. From the eight round on, the DC increases to 16.
A PC looking for the source of the sand realizes that a nature spirit is bringing the sand into the room with a DC 16 Nature check. The PCs can get the spirit to stop with two successful DC 16 Nature checks, or scare it off with two successful DC 16 Intimidate checks (or one of each).
A PC who examines or tries to stop the wind realizes it is created by divine magic with a DC 16 Religion check. The PCs can get the wind to quiet down (removing the penalty to all checks) with two DC 16 Religion checks or two DC 16 Diplomacy checks (or one of each).
On initiative count 10 each round, the ball of force makes a melee or ranged attack against the PC closest to the door: +5 vs. Reflex; 1d10+4 force damage. A PC who examines the ball realizes it is created by arcane magic with a DC 16 Arcana check. The PCs can dispel the ball with two DC 16 Arcana checks.
The door is locked by four locks. The Lock of the Arcane is covered with arcane sigils. It can be broken if it takes 10 points of damage (it has AC 12, other defenses 10), but it has resist 10 to all damage except damage from arcane spells. A character who examines the lock and succeeds on a DC 16 Arcana check can unlock it with another DC 16 Arcana check. Similarly, the Lock of the Divine is covered with carvings of holy symbols, has resist 10 to all damage except damage from divine prayers, and can be unlocked with two DC 16 Religion checks; the Lock of Nature has carvings of plants and animals, has resist 10 to all damage except damage from primal evocations, and can be unlocked with two DC 16 Nature checks; the Lock of Craft has carvings of weapons and armor, has resist 10 to all damage except damage from martial exploits, and can be unlocked with two DC 16 Thievery checks.
Obryn
Hero
Good point!
It's insanely stereotypical, but honestly - that's what I'm looking for. A good archetype to throw at my players.
We're at 17th right now. And the gauntlet will be in the Shadowfell, in the city of Gloomwrought. I imagine it will be set in a "pleasure den" of the shadar-kai, where they can watch this bloodsport for fun and gambling - but that's flexible. And the guy running it may be a lich - who knows? Anyway, he's set up a series of tests and seeded each section with great treasure. The further you go, the more dangerous it gets, and the more valuable the treasure becomes, much like a video game - and life!
I'm also thinking of adding in a myth that the only one who made it through was a disguised exarch of Avandra, but that's unnecessary.
I have no fears about temporarily crippling or even killing a PC here, and I'll make that super-clear up front.
FireLance - I think I might steal some stuff from that.
I plan to be as cruel as possible.-O
MortalPlague
Adventurer
...must spread xp around before giving it to Firelance again... 
I ran a similar gauntlet in a beholder's tomb in the Underdark (mid paragon 4th edition). They entered a room that would begin to fill with water. It wasn't too tough to smash through the doors (venturing deeper), but the water continued to flow. Indeed, the water would slowly fill up the dungeon behind them, urging the PCs to keep moving.
Out of the water room, our intrepid adventurers were suddenly met with a band of goblins led by a goblin tomb raider, Kibble Deepdelve. She commanded her minions to attack, since she wanted all the treasure for herself. The room she was in was long, about twenty feet wide (with a few alcoves housing doors), and as the PCs walked in, the boulder traps were triggered.
So... one long room. Two boulders rolling along ten-foot wide 'tracks', going opposite directions, scissoring back and forth through the chamber. The boulders' path meant that the PCs would have to move to dodge them every turn, which created some really interesting movement in the combat. There were a handful of spear traps that would jab a spear up from the floor. The boulders would break these if the PCs were clever enough to trigger them at the right moment (or were unfortunate enough to be pushed onto one by the boulder). The room was filling with water (slowly, but enough to be a nuisance). The goblins were attacking them. A small group of goblins were attempting to break through a locked door, and upon their success (whenever they succeeded on their check), they unleashed a clay golem. Absolute pandemonium.
Following that encounter, they went through a few small rooms and then into another large room. This one had a bunch of undead (including a few insubstantial ones), and was divided into two sections. The first half of the room was a swinging scythe trap, where two scythes would attack each turn (hitting a randomly determined row of squares). The same thing was repeated on the second half of the room, on the far side of a ten foot clear zone. The clear zone had bars drop on either side, and the walls began to roll together. There was a panel in the center which would stop the walls from moving, but it had to be found, unlocked, then deactivated.
The rogue (scouting ahead) got stuck in the middle. She just managed to disarm it with the walls two rounds away from crushing her.
I ran a similar gauntlet in a beholder's tomb in the Underdark (mid paragon 4th edition). They entered a room that would begin to fill with water. It wasn't too tough to smash through the doors (venturing deeper), but the water continued to flow. Indeed, the water would slowly fill up the dungeon behind them, urging the PCs to keep moving.
Out of the water room, our intrepid adventurers were suddenly met with a band of goblins led by a goblin tomb raider, Kibble Deepdelve. She commanded her minions to attack, since she wanted all the treasure for herself. The room she was in was long, about twenty feet wide (with a few alcoves housing doors), and as the PCs walked in, the boulder traps were triggered.
So... one long room. Two boulders rolling along ten-foot wide 'tracks', going opposite directions, scissoring back and forth through the chamber. The boulders' path meant that the PCs would have to move to dodge them every turn, which created some really interesting movement in the combat. There were a handful of spear traps that would jab a spear up from the floor. The boulders would break these if the PCs were clever enough to trigger them at the right moment (or were unfortunate enough to be pushed onto one by the boulder). The room was filling with water (slowly, but enough to be a nuisance). The goblins were attacking them. A small group of goblins were attempting to break through a locked door, and upon their success (whenever they succeeded on their check), they unleashed a clay golem. Absolute pandemonium.
Following that encounter, they went through a few small rooms and then into another large room. This one had a bunch of undead (including a few insubstantial ones), and was divided into two sections. The first half of the room was a swinging scythe trap, where two scythes would attack each turn (hitting a randomly determined row of squares). The same thing was repeated on the second half of the room, on the far side of a ten foot clear zone. The clear zone had bars drop on either side, and the walls began to roll together. There was a panel in the center which would stop the walls from moving, but it had to be found, unlocked, then deactivated.
The rogue (scouting ahead) got stuck in the middle. She just managed to disarm it with the walls two rounds away from crushing her.
Zelligars Apprentice
Explorer
It was suggested that I post this here. So, that's what I'm doing. Enjoy!
Zelligars Apprentice
Explorer
Oh, and one more thing...
Have you thought of the classic "fight with skeletons in a room slowly filling with water"? The artists really love that one for some reason.
Have you thought of the classic "fight with skeletons in a room slowly filling with water"? The artists really love that one for some reason.
Bullgrit
Adventurer
The PCs enter through a secret door. Once inside the good-sized room, the secret door closes and locks, with no way to open it from this side. The room has no other exits, but each of the four walls has a alcove big enough for a human to stand in.
After a few moments, clicks and bangs are heard overhead, and the ceiling starts to slowly lower. In 60 seconds, the ceiling will crush to a flat smear anything in the room. The alcoves are safe from the crush, so anyone human-sized or smaller can take refuge there. (Of course, two or more small beings could possibly stack up in one of the alcoves.)
The "fun" part of this is if there are more PCs than will fit in the alcoves, watching the Players/PCs decide who doesn't get a safety spot. Who's gonna die?
The ceiling raises back up after a minute.
To twist this idea:
Same as above, but the floor of the room is strangely sticky and spongy. When the ceiling reaches down to crushing level, it instead pushes whatever is on the floor (like the PC who couldn't get to safety) through the floor and into the room underneath (1d6 damage for falling to the lower floor).
Maybe the room below is filled with treasure, and the one PC (or more) whom everyone abandoned gets the opportunity to have first choice of the loot.
Maybe the room below is a "court room" situation where the one who was pushed down has to plead a case to have the ceiling in the room above raised, and his friends released. Otherwise the ceiling stays down and the PCs who took "safety" from the ceiling are actually the ones who are trapped -- forever. Cue maniacal laughter.
Bullgrit
After a few moments, clicks and bangs are heard overhead, and the ceiling starts to slowly lower. In 60 seconds, the ceiling will crush to a flat smear anything in the room. The alcoves are safe from the crush, so anyone human-sized or smaller can take refuge there. (Of course, two or more small beings could possibly stack up in one of the alcoves.)
The "fun" part of this is if there are more PCs than will fit in the alcoves, watching the Players/PCs decide who doesn't get a safety spot. Who's gonna die?
The ceiling raises back up after a minute.
To twist this idea:
Same as above, but the floor of the room is strangely sticky and spongy. When the ceiling reaches down to crushing level, it instead pushes whatever is on the floor (like the PC who couldn't get to safety) through the floor and into the room underneath (1d6 damage for falling to the lower floor).
Maybe the room below is filled with treasure, and the one PC (or more) whom everyone abandoned gets the opportunity to have first choice of the loot.
Maybe the room below is a "court room" situation where the one who was pushed down has to plead a case to have the ceiling in the room above raised, and his friends released. Otherwise the ceiling stays down and the PCs who took "safety" from the ceiling are actually the ones who are trapped -- forever. Cue maniacal laughter.
Bullgrit
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