Frozen Runes, How Often to Roll Damage?
 

The frozen runes trap on p. 71 of Exploits is described as, "A 30’ stretch of floor covered in Evil Runes casts magic on anyone who passes." The effects are, "Resist Frostbite-15 with HT or suffer 3d injury" with infinite shots.

Rules as written and canonically speaking, how often is the 3d injury levied against the victim? One time no matter how long the delver stands on the floor? Once per hex calling for a separate resistance roll each time? What if the victim stands still in the hex—once per turn?

Seeking page references.

Thanks!

Re: Frozen Runes, How Often to Roll Damage?
 

No answer is possible given those restrictions. The answer isn't clear in the text.

However Kromm has said the intent was that it hits people every time they enter the hall, but only again if they leave and come back in, FWIW.

Re: Frozen Runes, How Often to Roll Damage?
 

Thanks!

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Re: Frozen Runes, How Often to Roll Damage?
 

Evil Runes are traps and like all traps they have to be rearmed. If that time is automatic (which almost all Evil Runes are) they have a time period to which they rearm. Instant rearming periods means you take it every second, gradual rearming periods charge back up over a minute - or whatever their listed time period is.


At least, that's how PK and I worked it (see Dungeon Fantasy Roleplaying Game: Traps (p. 9) - unless I'm vastly wrong in my reading of that box (PK wrote that, not me). Either way, this is how I've always treated Evil Runes.

Re: Frozen Runes, How Often to Roll Damage?
 

Unless a specific trap notes otherwise, Evil Runes cause a one-off effect each time you enter the affected area. This is not "per hex walked" (unless each hex has its own trap), "per second," or anything like that. To be affected more than once, you must normally leave and then return to the affected area. Of course, a specific trap might say that it blasts you once per second, once per yard walked, etc.!

Re: Frozen Runes, How Often to Roll Damage?
 

So my question then becomes if the runes rearm themselves and you're still in the area do you have to leave the location of the runes entirely for them to affect you? What if you stop right in the middle of the line where the runes are and are not? I agree fully with you on the hex walked (which would make its own nasty trap - "Every hex has its own set of Evil Runes. . . Good Luck!"), but it seems counter-intuitive to me that you shouldn't be affected by a trap that's rearmed itself if you are in its area of effect.

Re: Frozen Runes, How Often to Roll Damage?
 

I don't think that I understand the issue here. It seems pretty obvious to me.
Three conditions exist:
A) On the runes.
B) Rolls resistance to the runes.
C) Not on the runes.

B only happens if A happens and only happens again if C happens before A does again.

So in the case of walking say 20' down the hall and standing there for half an hour, you roll once (when you first step in the hall) but if you then step through a door, search that room and come back to the hall you have to roll again.
30/3=10; so the only way this happens is if you drew it inefficiently for whatever reason. In that case it's a partial hex thing, in which case the character can probably either say which side they are on (out of combat) or get a DX or Acrobatics roll to maintain their footing in combat or whatever.

Re: Frozen Runes, How Often to Roll Damage?
 

Pretty much that. Evil Runes aren't meant to be a high-precision effect but rather something that makes revisiting an area a bad idea. Normally, Evil Runes work more like a toll collector ("Welcome back. That'll be $10.") than like a 1-900 number ("That's $1.99/minute."). But as I said, it's possible to have Evil Runes that "cycle" and affect the same person again and again, if that's how you define the trap.

Re: Frozen Runes, How Often to Roll Damage?
 

AHHH! Ok. I thought you were saying it only worked that way. Got it. Cool.

Re: Frozen Runes, How Often to Roll Damage?
 

We have faced Evil Runes that affected/infected every hex in the hallway. DX rolls each turn with an additional -1 per hex you enter after the first, to find a safe place to put your feet. So if you move one step per turn, just a DX roll. If you move 5 hexes, you make one DX-5 roll or take damage once.

The wizard cast Levitate on everyone, which worked well until combat broke out in the hallway. Then we risked having people knocked down/out and onto the Evil Runes...

This variant is pretty entertaining, but I recommend only using it on a fairly modest stretch of hallway, particularly if your group don't have astronomical DX, good Climb scores, Jump skills, Levitate spells, or other ways to have a chance to get most/all of the party over.

Combat on/over/through Evil Runes is always extra-entertaining.