Terrain vs. Traps/Hazards

the Jester

Legend
Okay, so where is the line between a terrain feature and a trap or hazard?

It seems very inconsistent- if a slippery ice sheet is a hazard worth xp sometimes, why are acid burst mushrooms a terrain feature?

Acid burst mushrooms (Dungeon Delve, pg. 59): "If any character begins his or her turn adjacent to or in the mushroom patch square... the fungi release a corrosive burst of gas attacking all creatures in the square and within 1 square: +10 vs. Fortitude, 1d8+5 acid damage. The mushroom patch can be destroyed [stats]..."

How is this not a hazard? It attacks in a close burst 1. Was this just a silly oversight? I seem to recall seeing other similar terrain features in published WotC material too. WTH?
 

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You're right, it IS inconsistant.

Generally tho, the difference is that hazards and traps tend to have counter measures, terrain is just THERE, but if damaging or movement-punishing, allows a saving throw to prevent forced entry.

So the mushrooms, being hindering terrain, can't be countered but you can make the saving throw, rendering it almost useless as something to push things into. Hazards, on the otherhand, are useful to push things into, but can be permanently thwarted.
 

Yeah, I think the boundaries are pretty fuzzy. Even the boundaries between hindering terrain and challenging terrain is not totally clear. Its really up to the DM to decide how to get the results he wants from an encounter and use the appropriate tool. If the terrain is pretty common then I'd use hindering terrain or challenging terrain. I'd use a hazard for a more interesting and special situation that the PCs are likely to interact with in more detail.

Hazards are more work to build, so to a large extent its a choice of where to put your effort.
 

Not to mention, terrain is readily apparent, its danger is obvious, so you don't conceal its nature from the players, like you would with some hazards.
 

I'd suggest to a DM that anything they add that unilaterally helps the bad guys and not the good guys be worth XP. If the PCs are just as likely to hurt the monsters with it, then it's just spice and all good :)
 

Generally tho, the difference is that hazards and traps tend to have counter measures, terrain is just THERE, but if damaging or movement-punishing, allows a saving throw to prevent forced entry.

So the mushrooms, being hindering terrain, can't be countered but you can make the saving throw, rendering it almost useless as something to push things into. Hazards, on the otherhand, are useful to push things into, but can be permanently thwarted.

Yeah, but you can destroy the mushrooms; many other traps or hazards have this as a (or sometimes THE) countermeasure.

Not to mention, terrain is readily apparent, its danger is obvious, so you don't conceal its nature from the players, like you would with some hazards.

Well, in the example given, the pcs have no way to determine that the mushrooms are dangerous until they trigger; at the start of the encounter, in the "what you see/what you know" bits, there are no Nature, Dungeoneering, Perception DCs involving them, and they are mentioned only in passing in the 'boxed text'.

I'd suggest to a DM that anything they add that unilaterally helps the bad guys and not the good guys be worth XP. If the PCs are just as likely to hurt the monsters with it, then it's just spice and all good :)

In the example I gave, it is possible for the bad guy to enter and trigger the acid mushrooms, in which case it will attack the pcs that are close enough too. The bad guy has resist acid 20.

In the example I'm using, the mushrooms are not worth xp... but it sure looks to me like they ought to be worth minion xp at least.

I'm just wondering if there is a rule of thumb here, or if it is really as arbitrary as it looks.
 

Sounds like bad encounter design - no way to spot what they are, bad guy immune to the effects but can trigger it on others who try to fight him, and no xp for it?
 

Well, someone forgot to dot some i's and cross some t's. Little sloppy, yeah.

Personally I would simply allow a Nature check to learn about the mushrooms (maybe its dungeoneering if its underground). Medium DC the character might learn a bit about them, and hard DC he knows what they do.
 


The mushroom patch can easily be fixed to be terrain - change "characters" to "anything".

This allows both sides to utilise it.

As stated previously terrain features are just there and provide something that is impartial - Blood Rock for example.

A Trap/Hazzard is solely there for the purpose of hurting the characters.

D
 

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