Need help populating a trap room.

[Theodred theOld]

I have a dungeon room in mind for tomorrow nights session and was wondering what the playground had to say. Narrow cut tunnels open into a cavernous chamber with a round area of discolored stone in the center of room 120' diameter with a stone pedestal containing a small box made of shiny obsidian. Above the pedestal, near the ceiling, a large steel disk 6' thick and the same diameter as the circle on the floor can be seen. The box opens easily and contains nothing more than a single copper piece. The trigger is tripped when the lid is closed. Steel bars, to close for a medium creature to squeeze through, extend from the perimeter of the circle to the ceiling and the disk drop slightly with a loud clang. Every 2 rounds a plate will drop. Each plate will have a few 5' openings starting at 4 and decreasing with each 2' layer. When all layers have dropped it resets and begins again until the trap is disabled. I was thinking a pair of boggles and a bunch of skeletons. Gestalt party consists of paladin 3//binder 3 and rogue 3//barbarian 1/spellthief 1/? 1. Potentially adding druid 3//swordsage 3 but this guy is a bit of a wild card. Any thoughts? Sorry for length, I really should use [sp]

[Gildedragon]

Plates from where? what 2' layers (layers of what?)

note that the rogue will not be fighting much, so the combat side of the encounter ought be mostly tailored to the paladin (idea being that if they are efficient and pally draws the fight away from the rogue, then they will finish faster than if they insist on fighting everything together).

there are 2 traps here: one is the disks, the other is the bars. have separate spot and disable device checks for them.

for monsters: oozes are pretty great as trap monsters; some zombie boggles?

[OldTrees1]

Well, with 4 valid 5ft squares (decreasing with each 2' section) and 2-3 PCs you are not giving the monsters much chance of surviving more than 2 rounds. That raises a question: Are the PCs supposed to defeat the monsters and the trap or merely survive the monsters while defeating the trap?

[Theodred theOld]

The plates will have been visible at the ceiling of the chamber from the start and I was thinking boggles because they'd be able to dimension door or just squeeze through the bars before each plate drops. The "disable" switch will take the form of some candles that need to be blown out(swift action?).

[OldTrees1]

The plates will have been visible at the ceiling of the chamber from the start and I was thinking boggles because they'd be able to dimension door or just squeeze through the bars before each plate drops. The "disable" switch will take the form of some candles that need to be blown out(swift action?).

Just checking:
The 2-3 PCs would be trapped(by bars in a 120ft diameter circle) underneath the 120ft diameter discs. Discs(2' thick) fall every 2 rounds*. The first disc has 4 5ft holes, then 3 holes, then 2 holes(poor PC), then 1 hole (poor PCs), then 0 holes (ouch)? That is 4-6 rounds before the PCs are in deep trouble.

*Every 2 rounds means the boggles will spend every round either entering or leaving.

Swift actions are rarely used by your PCs, they are a good choice for a "blow out candle" action. Although I would allow the Rogue to make use of a standard action somehow (they might think of an idea).

[Theodred theOld]

Thanks for the heads up on timing. Maybe every 3 rounds

[Inevitability]

The vengeful spirits of those killed by the trap, perhaps?

[Theodred theOld]

The vengeful spirits of those killed by the trap, perhaps?
Being incorporeal would be a big advantage in this particular scenario.

[Andezzar]

Being incorporeal would be a big advantage in this particular scenario.Incorporeal enemies would also be a huge PITA for mundane characters at level 3. Without magic weapons they have no chance of harming them, with magic weapons the spirits still have a 50% miss chance.

[Inevitability]

Incorporeal enemies would also be a huge PITA for mundane characters at level 3. Without magic weapons they have no chance of harming them, with magic weapons the spirits still have a 50% miss chance.

Put some Oil of Magic Weapon in another room. There, done.

[Andezzar]

Put some Oil of Magic Weapon in another room. There, done.Why would someone provide the intruders the means of destroying his guards?

[Inevitability]

Why would someone provide the intruders the means of destroying his guards?

Ghosts are free-willed undead. You want to have something to prevent them from wiping out your entire dungeon should they rebel.

[OldTrees1]

Ghosts are free-willed undead. You want to have something to prevent them from wiping out your entire dungeon should they rebel.

True, which is why you would not rely on consumables. Incorporeal really should be left alone for 2 more levels (when PCs start getting the option to afford weapons that can hit them).

Plus, are there even any incorporeal beings with a low enough CR to add multiple to this encounter (that already has a trap mind you) without making the EL explode above the APL - 1 thru APL + 3 range? Is that still true after accounting for the abnormally high synergy between incorporeal and the trap?

[Theodred theOld]

Post-game update: the encounter played out fairly smoothly. A pair of boggles harrassed the party for a few rounds but were soon overwhelmed by the rogue-barian. When the first plate dropped a number of skeletons came with it and each subsequent layer brought more. After a frantic fight the rogue-barian was stabbed to death by the skeletons while tumbling toward one of the openings in the next plate (RIP Ames). Poor guy only needed a 6 on the roll. He rolled a 1. Then 2 out of 3 skeletons crit. Them's the breaks I guess.