Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.

Reply to thread

Message: <blockquote data-quote="Aberzanzorax" data-source="post: 4678589" data-attributes="member: 64209">You gave me an idea!The "triple portcullis" (assumption is 3rd ed, but could be adapted for 4e) Trigger: a magic fountain in the middle of the room (it has an alarm spell triggering the trap). Who can resist a magic fountain? Portcullis the first: the entry door. Portcullis the second: the exit door. Portcullis the third (the pain in the butt one): this is a horizontal grate with 3 by 3 inch holes. It falls on the players, including extra weight. Falling a mere 10 feet, it does 1d6 damage.  In 3e allow a str check with "aid another" from everyone in the room to hold it up. In 4e, I'd assume a skill challenge might be warranted here. So the players now are left holding up a heavy metal portcullis, or, having failed the check, are stuck with a mere 2 feet of clearance...i.e. they are prone.  Then, kobold rogues, goblin rogues or somesuch belay down from the ceiling and start stabbing the players through the grates. Their extra weight warrants a new strength check with a +2 to the difficulty. Players have a -4 to hit if prone (or if not prone, they are busy holding up the grate, lose their dex bonus, and must make str checks every time they are injured). The attackers have a +4 to hit. On top of this, both sides benefit from a +4 to AC from cover...yielding a totaly of no penalty to hit from the attackers, but a total of -8 to hit for the prone pcs. EDIT: forgot to remember the +1 for "higher ground" of the guys on top. To make it more deadly:1. Add spikes (poisoned or not) to the falling portcullis.2. Add alchemist fire or some other grenade attack that isn't affected by cover.3. Add a creature that can attack in such a small space: a swarm of rats for example.4. Add a creature that can move back and forth: Kobold vampires or ghosts. Ghosts wouldn't have to worry about the cover, while vampires could gaseous form through the grate.5. Instead of just one grate, make two, with the top one having much larger holes. Then give the attackers reach weapons. Players can't fight back unless they have crossbows or reach weapons.</blockquote>

Verification