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Pathfinder shenanigans: The Chest of Doom.
12 years ago
General
I recently started playing a game of Pathfinder over Skype with a few people from roll20.net (a site that provides a virtual tabletop and dice rolling system for pen and paper gaming of all types). We play every Tuesday from 4 PM EST until whenever is a good time to stop. Last night, we certainly found a good place to stop when we ran into a certain obstacle. Our group consists of a greedy alchemist, a bloodthirsty ogre ranger (that I particularly dislike), a wise zen archer monk, a stalwart barbarian, a quiet fire wizard, and me, the humble witch. Read on, if you will:
Our group is in the process of exploring a dungeon filled with Troglodytes. It used to be a small settlement belonging to some planar travelers, but the Trogs trapped them in the center of the dungeon. We have been tasked with clearing out the Trogs, helping ourselves to whatever loot we find as we explore.
We had just managed to fight off four groups of Trogs at once - an extremely difficult battle that we just barely survived. Having cleaned out several rooms at once, we decided a bit of a loot-fest was in order. We loot a few of the rooms, level up (YAY!), then come upon what used to be a shop.
Knowing the potential for good loot when we see it, we take 20 on the search in the shop, but find that the Trogs have already thoroughly looted it. However, we do notice a door behind the counter, most likely leading to a storage room. We figure that maybe the Trogs haven't gotten around to looting that yet. There were certainly a lot of shelves around here, so the store was probably pretty well-stocked. Sure enough, the barbarian and the wizard ease open the door and find a very impressive-looking chest sitting in the back of a small room.
Still riding high on our victory, the barbarian steps into the room with the wizard right behind him. As they are about to talk about opening the chest or searching the backroom, they get interrupted with the absolute worst thing any player wants to hear: "roll a reflex save."
Every player lets out a collective, silent, "Oh S---....," and the dice come down. A huge block of bronze falls through the doorway and pins the wizard to the ground, but he manages to roll in such a way that it doesn't hit anything -too- vital. The barbarian isn't so lucky. He's trapped in the room, and a huge guillotine-shaped blade swings out of the wall and takes a chunk out of him. Thankfully, he's a barbarian - he has an absolutely absurd amount of hit points for level 2, and he's still got about half his health left. Since neither myself nor the alchemist have the strength needed to lift the bronze slab off of the wizard, I run to go get the ogre while the alchemist starts thinking about how he can possibly blow the bronze slab apart - ignoring the obvious consequences of either melted bronze pouring over the wizard below, or just the explosion turning him into chunky salsa.
I manage to return with the ogre and the monk before the alchemist has created any explosives, and the ogre manages to haul the bronze slab off of the wizard, who hobbles out of the doorway and into the next room to recover. The bronze slab seems to catch on something and returns to its resting state. Meanwhile, the barbarian is still in the small room, patching up his injury.
But there's still the chest in the room, just waiting to be opened.
The gleaming metal of the chest attracts the attention of the alchemist, who, saddened that he didn't get to blow something up, decides to walk into the small room and use his explosives on- "roll a reflex save."
Once again, there's a moment of silence in the group, and the "Oh S---" is instead an "Oh F---." The alchemist isn't so lucky with his roll, and he's pinned by his spine under the slab of bronze. He's at -1 HP and unconscious. Additionally, the barbarian still hasn't found his luck, because he finds himself in the path of the swinging blade again, which takes an even bigger chunk out of him. Even his crazy high max HP doesn't save him this time - he's now on the floor at -7 HP, and has 5 rounds to stabilize himself before he bleeds out. Normally this would be a simple matter - I have a healer's kit and a really good heal skill, so I can stabilize him without a problem. However, now the ogre cannot make his strength check to lift the bronze slab, so I can't reach the barbarian.
The alchemist manages to stabilize himself, but the barbarian is not so lucky. In the very last round before the barbarian bleeds out, the ogre finally manages to lift the door, but the barbarian still cannot make his roll to stabilize and bleeds out. He's totally dead, and there's nothing we can do for him. We mourn his loss, and take a few moments to check out his gear to divide his possessions, and to carry the alchemist into the next room to recover as well. We also move one of the shelves in the store into the doorway to brace the slab of bronze. So now we've lost our barbarian, and both the wizard and alchemist are severely injured. I'm starting to talk about taking -another- rest (we had recently taken one) for these guys to lick their wounds and prepare healing spells.
But there's still the chest in the small room.
This time, the monk, our wisest team member, who has forsaken most material possessions, decides to try and tumble into the room around the blade to get at the chest. The DM thinks that, being a monk, he'd be good at this kind of thing, and since he knows where the trap is coming from by now, he get a bonus to his roll.
He does not roll well. In fact, he almost botches. However, there are two other rolls that go spectacularly well. Those rolls? The blade's rolls to hit him. It rolls two crits. He is immediately sliced in half at -22 HP and totally dead. This time, the DM is merciful, and says that the monk manages to throw the chest towards the group just before he bleeds out. And what was in the chest? a masterwork shield that no one wants (we already have three more in a pile nearby), a masterwork artisan's tool for book-binding (no one is a book-binder), a harpoon with attached rope (no one uses a harpoon, and we already have rope), and some nondescript shoes.
Suffice to say, the DM calls the session after that since we now need people to roll up two new characters, and two other people in the party are close to death.
The lessons from this? 1) If you encounter a treasure chest in a secluded area, assume there are traps; 2) If you encounter a trap, and do not see the mechanism triggering it, assume it has re-armed itself; 3) if you still need to get beyond said trap, do NOT use your own body to do so. Use a corpse, nearby materials, or anything else to experiment and trigger it safely, then pass beyond once it is safe; and 4) no merchant's chest is worth the lives of 2 party members.
THE CHEST OF DOOMOur group is in the process of exploring a dungeon filled with Troglodytes. It used to be a small settlement belonging to some planar travelers, but the Trogs trapped them in the center of the dungeon. We have been tasked with clearing out the Trogs, helping ourselves to whatever loot we find as we explore.
We had just managed to fight off four groups of Trogs at once - an extremely difficult battle that we just barely survived. Having cleaned out several rooms at once, we decided a bit of a loot-fest was in order. We loot a few of the rooms, level up (YAY!), then come upon what used to be a shop.
Knowing the potential for good loot when we see it, we take 20 on the search in the shop, but find that the Trogs have already thoroughly looted it. However, we do notice a door behind the counter, most likely leading to a storage room. We figure that maybe the Trogs haven't gotten around to looting that yet. There were certainly a lot of shelves around here, so the store was probably pretty well-stocked. Sure enough, the barbarian and the wizard ease open the door and find a very impressive-looking chest sitting in the back of a small room.
Still riding high on our victory, the barbarian steps into the room with the wizard right behind him. As they are about to talk about opening the chest or searching the backroom, they get interrupted with the absolute worst thing any player wants to hear: "roll a reflex save."
Every player lets out a collective, silent, "Oh S---....," and the dice come down. A huge block of bronze falls through the doorway and pins the wizard to the ground, but he manages to roll in such a way that it doesn't hit anything -too- vital. The barbarian isn't so lucky. He's trapped in the room, and a huge guillotine-shaped blade swings out of the wall and takes a chunk out of him. Thankfully, he's a barbarian - he has an absolutely absurd amount of hit points for level 2, and he's still got about half his health left. Since neither myself nor the alchemist have the strength needed to lift the bronze slab off of the wizard, I run to go get the ogre while the alchemist starts thinking about how he can possibly blow the bronze slab apart - ignoring the obvious consequences of either melted bronze pouring over the wizard below, or just the explosion turning him into chunky salsa.
I manage to return with the ogre and the monk before the alchemist has created any explosives, and the ogre manages to haul the bronze slab off of the wizard, who hobbles out of the doorway and into the next room to recover. The bronze slab seems to catch on something and returns to its resting state. Meanwhile, the barbarian is still in the small room, patching up his injury.
But there's still the chest in the room, just waiting to be opened.
The gleaming metal of the chest attracts the attention of the alchemist, who, saddened that he didn't get to blow something up, decides to walk into the small room and use his explosives on- "roll a reflex save."
Once again, there's a moment of silence in the group, and the "Oh S---" is instead an "Oh F---." The alchemist isn't so lucky with his roll, and he's pinned by his spine under the slab of bronze. He's at -1 HP and unconscious. Additionally, the barbarian still hasn't found his luck, because he finds himself in the path of the swinging blade again, which takes an even bigger chunk out of him. Even his crazy high max HP doesn't save him this time - he's now on the floor at -7 HP, and has 5 rounds to stabilize himself before he bleeds out. Normally this would be a simple matter - I have a healer's kit and a really good heal skill, so I can stabilize him without a problem. However, now the ogre cannot make his strength check to lift the bronze slab, so I can't reach the barbarian.
The alchemist manages to stabilize himself, but the barbarian is not so lucky. In the very last round before the barbarian bleeds out, the ogre finally manages to lift the door, but the barbarian still cannot make his roll to stabilize and bleeds out. He's totally dead, and there's nothing we can do for him. We mourn his loss, and take a few moments to check out his gear to divide his possessions, and to carry the alchemist into the next room to recover as well. We also move one of the shelves in the store into the doorway to brace the slab of bronze. So now we've lost our barbarian, and both the wizard and alchemist are severely injured. I'm starting to talk about taking -another- rest (we had recently taken one) for these guys to lick their wounds and prepare healing spells.
But there's still the chest in the small room.
This time, the monk, our wisest team member, who has forsaken most material possessions, decides to try and tumble into the room around the blade to get at the chest. The DM thinks that, being a monk, he'd be good at this kind of thing, and since he knows where the trap is coming from by now, he get a bonus to his roll.
He does not roll well. In fact, he almost botches. However, there are two other rolls that go spectacularly well. Those rolls? The blade's rolls to hit him. It rolls two crits. He is immediately sliced in half at -22 HP and totally dead. This time, the DM is merciful, and says that the monk manages to throw the chest towards the group just before he bleeds out. And what was in the chest? a masterwork shield that no one wants (we already have three more in a pile nearby), a masterwork artisan's tool for book-binding (no one is a book-binder), a harpoon with attached rope (no one uses a harpoon, and we already have rope), and some nondescript shoes.
Suffice to say, the DM calls the session after that since we now need people to roll up two new characters, and two other people in the party are close to death.
The lessons from this? 1) If you encounter a treasure chest in a secluded area, assume there are traps; 2) If you encounter a trap, and do not see the mechanism triggering it, assume it has re-armed itself; 3) if you still need to get beyond said trap, do NOT use your own body to do so. Use a corpse, nearby materials, or anything else to experiment and trigger it safely, then pass beyond once it is safe; and 4) no merchant's chest is worth the lives of 2 party members.
Why did this Barbarian only have a 12 constitution score?