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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 7916642" data-attributes="member: 12731">Confused, the condition, not Confusion, the spell.SPOILERThe four "dream pollen pods" have one +12 attack each, plus one extra attack when the trap is sprung. A hit cause some damage, but most importantly trigger the special effect:Hallucinogenic Pollen A creature hit by the trap’s pollenspray must succeed at a DC 20 Will save or it is confusedfor 1 round and takes a –2 status penalty to Perceptionchecks and saves against mental effects for 1d4 hours.On a critical failure, the penalty is instead –4.Since the pods won initiative (rolling 19 on the initiative check) all three melee fighter heroes were damaged and confused when they got to act (DC 20 is hard on 1st level), inflicting damage only on each other. (The pods actually missed two out of five attacks even though no hero has more than AC 18) The penalty to mental damage is not important here and now; but will be a serious drawback in the final showdown with the evil BBEG of the chapter.The two remaining characters made an ineffectual attack (a cantrip I believe; unlike 5E ranged attacks is NOT king in PF2; dealing less damage and with lower attack bonuses. The pods have AC 18, very respectable at 1st level) and went and collected the door.Then the first combat round was over, and it was the pod's turn again. It easily downed the one or two melee heroes still standing (can't remember exactly), and the two unharmed heroes plopped back the door to block any further pollen attacks.It was me who quickly realized the fight was headed for a TPK (not that it's hard to predict how a combat will end if three out of five heroes are knocked unconscious before a single point of damage has been dealt to the enemy... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" /> ) so I encouraged them to break off the combat, in order to drag away their unconscious friends to safety, and stabilize them before they could die.To give a complete confession, I fudged the roll when it was time to determine which random creature the confused character closest to the wagon entrance should attack - by that time, I realized that if I randomized a "you charge the pods" result, that character would likely just die. I was aware I likely came along as as a hardass dick GM when I announced they all attacked each other, but in reality I likely saved at least one life that way, by preventing anyone from running inside the wagon... <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f609.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=";)" title="Wink    ;)"  data-smilie="2"data-shortname=";)" />One of the players wasn't ready to give up, arguing they could take out the pods safely from a distance, and the other player had to convince him it wasn't worth the risk, and that they didn't have the time. In the end though, they saved the pod-infested wagon "for later".</blockquote>

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