3.x - How Fast Does Someone Ascend Spiral Stairs?

[unseenmage]

Alternatively, how fast would an ancient elevator move?

I had an idea once, to turn the main gate of a settlement into a Custom Magic Trap which made Simulacrums of anyone who passes through.

This was resoundingly lauded as A Very Bad Idea. Especially as, from what I can tell, it would even make Simulacrums of the Simulacrums!
The casting time always bugged me too, I mean who spends 12 hours in a city gateway?

It did get me thinking though about Custom Magic Trap Wondrous Architecture (SBG) and/or Lair Wards (Dr) and where folks tend to spend inordinate amounts of time. Stairwells and elevators both came to mind.
BUT, I have no clue how fast or slow stairs get climbed, nor do I know the speed of primitive elevators.

The idea is to have the magic trap cast the spell on the unwary as they navigate the architecture itself. 12 hours is, of course, out of reach of such a tactic but one imagines a number of stairs to casting time conversion could be useful to some application, surely?

Edit: Hedge maze! A maze or labyrinth could also be an ideal spell delivery locale!

[Yahzi]

I had an idea once, to turn the main gate of a settlement into a Custom Magic Trap which made Simulacrums of anyone who passes through.
Why would anyone do this? Once it was done, why wouldn't people nail the doors shut and put a guard on it?

Nobody spends 12 hours in a staircase. If they did, that would be one humongous staircase. Why not just make the whole city the trap? If you go to sleep in the city, a simulacrum appears, casts Stone to Flesh on you, buries you in a ditch, and proceeds to take over your life. Everyone in the city is, in fact, a simulacrum. It's like body-snatching aliens.

The cool way to play this is to have the players wake up after their first night in the city with only 50% of their levels. They start freaking out, trying to figure out where their levels went. Meanwhile everyone else in the city is telling them to chill out, and also to ignore the fantastic quantity of statues lying around. Then one of the players finds his own statue... and eventually they figure out they are the simulacrums.

[Fouredged Sword]

People move on steep stairs take two squares move movement to move one square of distance. A tight spiral staircase (within one 5ft or 10ft square) would likely count as steep. Broad spiral stairs encircling a large area like the outside of a tower do not impose a movement penalty.

The cuttoff is if the stairs are more or less than a 45 degree incline.

[Ignimortis]

Why would anyone do this? Once it was done, why wouldn't people nail the doors shut and put a guard on it?

Nobody spends 12 hours in a staircase. If they did, that would be one humongous staircase. Why not just make the whole city the trap? If you go to sleep in the city, a simulacrum appears, casts Stone to Flesh on you, buries you in a ditch, and proceeds to take over your life. Everyone in the city is, in fact, a simulacrum. It's like body-snatching aliens.

The cool way to play this is to have the players wake up after their first night in the city with only 50% of their levels. They start freaking out, trying to figure out where their levels went. Meanwhile everyone else in the city is telling them to chill out, and also to ignore the fantastic quantity of statues lying around. Then one of the players finds his own statue... and eventually they figure out they are the simulacrums.

Do you mind if I use this? This sounds friggin' awesome as a subplot, and I've got a group of new players who won't immediately figure out what happened to them, thus preserving the sense of wonder.

[ATHATH]

Why would anyone do this? Once it was done, why wouldn't people nail the doors shut and put a guard on it?

Nobody spends 12 hours in a staircase. If they did, that would be one humongous staircase. Why not just make the whole city the trap? If you go to sleep in the city, a simulacrum appears, casts Stone to Flesh on you, buries you in a ditch, and proceeds to take over your life. Everyone in the city is, in fact, a simulacrum. It's like body-snatching aliens.

The cool way to play this is to have the players wake up after their first night in the city with only 50% of their levels. They start freaking out, trying to figure out where their levels went. Meanwhile everyone else in the city is telling them to chill out, and also to ignore the fantastic quantity of statues lying around. Then one of the players finds his own statue... and eventually they figure out they are the simulacrums.
But if the simulacrums are the ones casting Flesh to Stone (not Stone to Flesh, I hope) on the originals, wouldn't the simulacrums remember casting Flesh to Stone on themselves? Wouldn't a better idea be to have the city cast both Flesh to Stone AND Simulacrum on non-simulacrums?

What happens if someone succeeds on their saving throw against Flesh to Stone? Who buries the statues? Do all new simulacrums spawn in one location, or do they spawn near their original versions?

[khadgar567]

atleast 800 feat long to keep from fastest guy in golarion tough this uses spheres of power to archive that speed with no items on caster class

[Yahzi]

Do you mind if I use this? This sounds friggin' awesome as a subplot, and I've got a group of new players who won't immediately figure out what happened to them, thus preserving the sense of wonder.
Use away! There's an episode of StarGate that does this - you go through the whole episode and only find out the characters you are watching are clones at the end.

Just remember to blow up the city at the end of the adventure. Otherwise your players will find a way to use it against you. :smallbiggrin:

[Yahzi]

But if the simulacrums are the ones casting Flesh to Stone (not Stone to Flesh, I hope) on the originals, wouldn't the simulacrums remember casting Flesh to Stone on themselves? Wouldn't a better idea be to have the city cast both Flesh to Stone AND Simulacrum on non-simulacrums?
Obviously the simulacrums cast Erase Memory on themselves afterwards, because they can't deal with the psychic pressure of knowing they are just copies.

They don't just kill their old selves, because when they die, there's a secret society of Town Elders who dig up their statues, re-flesh them, and let the city make a new simulacrum... which then repeats the process.

So maybe the players find out... they're not even the first simulacrum...