Portable Hole + Bull Rush

[Thurbane]

OK, time for another one of my dumb questions.

Say, hypothetically, you had the following situation. The party is fighting a tough, medium-sized opponent. During the battle, the party rogue sneaks around behind the enemy and places a portable hole on the ground. The party's fighter, then bull rushes the enemy, knocking him into the hole. The rogue, with a readied action, steps forward and closes the hole. The party stands around tapping their toes for slightly over 10 minutes, whereupon they open the hole to reveal the (now) suffocated opponent.

Is there anything to prevent this from working, mechanically speaking? What options does someone trapped in a portable hole have for escape? Would they get a reflex save to avoid falling in the hole in the first place?

 

[Jack Simth]

Whenever the party gets creative, the DM has to ad-hock. Very little of this is specifically covered much of anywhere.....

As a DM:

Not really; some items will make it simply not work (Necklace of Adaptation or the Iridescent Spindle Ioun stone), others leave the opponent escape routes (Cubic Gate, Amulet of the Planes), and a couple will really ruin the party's day (any Bag of Holding, Handy Haversack). Also, doesn't work with Constructs or undead.

No save - he had his chance on the opposed strength check for the Bull Rush, although he may have the option of pulling his rusher in with him....

 

[Storyteller01]

I agree with Jack, but if you want to be nice (you can always pull the same trick on the PC's...) you can treat it as a pit trap with the appropriate Ref save.

 

[Jack Simth]

Oh, you can pull the same trick on the PC's reactively - grapple, move the grapple, escape from the grapple - although if they Rogue didn't word the Readied Action reasonably carefully, it's quite possible that the tough opponent is now caged up with one of your allies.....

 

[Thurbane]

Good ideas.

For constructs and others that don't need to breather, how about if the hole is 1/2 full of acid?

Assuming that the captive does not have any magical means of escape at his disposal, is there any other way to get out? I know a bag of holding is pierced by sharp weapons, but a portable hole makes no such stipulations.

 

[Piratecat]

Let's hope the captive doesn't have a bag of holding on him when you push him into the hole. . .

 

[moritheil]

Good ideas.

For constructs and others that don't need to breather, how about if the hole is 1/2 full of acid?

Assuming that the captive does not have any magical means of escape at his disposal, is there any other way to get out? I know a bag of holding is pierced by sharp weapons, but a portable hole makes no such stipulations.

Wouldn't that acid damage the portable hole? I guess you'll be rubbing the hole down with some sort of salve beforehand . . .

 

[Deset Gled]

Sounds like a great bit of strategery to me. No need to nerf it at all.

Other points to consider: The rogue is risking being attacked while he sneaks behind the enemy. Also, the fighter will need at least one feat to be effective at bull rushing, and even then will only be good at it against humanoid opponents. Finally, bull rushing already allows the rogue to get an AoO against the enemy.

 

[cmanos]

by all means, sounds like a fun tactic.