Calculate damage from deadfall type of trap

nick_coffin · 07-08-2019, 12:25 PM

I'm running a dungeon in which an intelligent enemy has stacked a number of crates and barrels in front of a false wall in a corridor. The enemy is hidden behind the false wall, and when the party passes by, it knocks the pile of junk onto them (the pile is balanced so that this doesn't take much effort).

The top of the pile are several water barrels, full, each weighing about 100 pounds.

The enemy's goal is two-fold: damage (of course) and cutting off the rearmost members of the party to pick them off.

Once triggered, what would be the chance that a barrel hit a PC? Is it the "random" chance (9 or less) per PC per barrel in the area?

How much damage would the barrel do? The fall from the top of the stack would be ~3 yards, which is 1d+2 from the table on DFE p67.

Is a sturdy barrel full of water considered to be Unliving or Homogenous (DFE p102). If Homogenous, the damage would be 3x, or 3d+6.

Final question: In your judgment, how well would the junk block the corridor? Or, said another way, how many rounds would it take to for those cut off by the pile of junk to reach those who are now under attack by the enemy?

~~evileeyore~~ · 07-08-2019, 01:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick_coffin

Once triggered, what would be the chance that a barrel hit a PC? Is it the "random" chance (9 or less) per PC per barrel in the area?

Yeah, just like a deadfall trap.

Quote:

Is a sturdy barrel full of water considered to be Unliving or Homogenous (DFE p102). If Homogenous, the damage would be 3x, or 3d+6.

Sounds about right.

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Final question: In your judgment, how well would the junk block the corridor? Or, said another way, how many rounds would it take to for those cut off by the pile of junk to reach those who are now under attack by the enemy?

Treat it as treacherous ground Exploits pg 35.

Anthony · 07-08-2019, 03:08 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nick_coffin

Is a sturdy barrel full of water considered to be Unliving or Homogenous (DFE p102). If Homogenous, the damage would be 3x, or 3d+6.

Homogenous means it's the same stuff all the way through, which is certainly not true in this case, so I'd probably go with Unliving (or Homogenous but base hp on the empty weight of the barrels).

Black Leviathan · 07-09-2019, 01:12 PM

Generally speaking I don't get that complicated with traps. You're hard pressed to find something worth dropping on someone that will do less than a die or more than two. I put a weighted chest with square edges at 1d+2 Cr and a bolder with rounded edges at a die even. Even a bamboo frame with sharpened spikes would probably only do 1d+1 or so of damage but impaling.

In most cases when players want to build a trap I use the traps skill as a weapon skill and make ranged or close combat modifiers apply as applicable. So your trap is more likely to hit high SM targets less likely to hit the Halfling. Traps always make wild-swings or blind shots unless they're specifically designed to target someone in a particular action like someone standing still in front of a door or a chest. If the trap dumps 6 barrels on anyone in the 4 hexes after the trip wire then it's something like a ranged attack with a ROF of 6 and a pop-up attack penalty for covering 4 hexes. If a tripwire fires 8 crossbows down a hallway, I just use suppressive fire with an ROF 8 and the hallway width as the window for the supression.

07-08-2019, 12:25 PM	#1
nick_coffin MIB Join Date: Aug 2004	Calculate damage from deadfall type of trap I'm running a dungeon in which an intelligent enemy has stacked a number of crates and barrels in front of a false wall in a corridor. The enemy is hidden behind the false wall, and when the party passes by, it knocks the pile of junk onto them (the pile is balanced so that this doesn't take much effort). The top of the pile are several water barrels, full, each weighing about 100 pounds. The enemy's goal is two-fold: damage (of course) and cutting off the rearmost members of the party to pick them off. Once triggered, what would be the chance that a barrel hit a PC? Is it the "random" chance (9 or less) per PC per barrel in the area? How much damage would the barrel do? The fall from the top of the stack would be ~3 yards, which is 1d+2 from the table on DFE p67. Is a sturdy barrel full of water considered to be Unliving or Homogenous (DFE p102). If Homogenous, the damage would be 3x, or 3d+6. Final question: In your judgment, how well would the junk block the corridor? Or, said another way, how many rounds would it take to for those cut off by the pile of junk to reach those who are now under attack by the enemy?

07-09-2019, 01:12 PM	#4
Black Leviathan Join Date: Sep 2018	Re: Calculate damage from deadfall type of trap Generally speaking I don't get that complicated with traps. You're hard pressed to find something worth dropping on someone that will do less than a die or more than two. I put a weighted chest with square edges at 1d+2 Cr and a bolder with rounded edges at a die even. Even a bamboo frame with sharpened spikes would probably only do 1d+1 or so of damage but impaling. In most cases when players want to build a trap I use the traps skill as a weapon skill and make ranged or close combat modifiers apply as applicable. So your trap is more likely to hit high SM targets less likely to hit the Halfling. Traps always make wild-swings or blind shots unless they're specifically designed to target someone in a particular action like someone standing still in front of a door or a chest. If the trap dumps 6 barrels on anyone in the 4 hexes after the trip wire then it's something like a ranged attack with a ROF of 6 and a pop-up attack penalty for covering 4 hexes. If a tripwire fires 8 crossbows down a hallway, I just use suppressive fire with an ROF 8 and the hallway width as the window for the supression.