[Eberron] Ticking Time-Bomb Room

[Afgncaap5]

I want to put my level 1 Eberron players into a room with a ticking time bomb (loosely modeled on the Clockwork Bomb from 4e). I don't want the room to necessarily kill all the players, but I do want the danger of that very thing to be a real possibility (sort of like that classic D&D dungeon that has a massive rolling boulder, but strong instructions to the DM to never actually let it kill the players so long as they're actively trying to get away from it). So, I'm trying to figure out what would be a "fair" layout. I'm taking the DMG's recommendation of 2d10 being "Dangerous" as my general target. I'm trying to figure out if what I've got is more or less reasonable, but please lemme know if you think I'm going too dangerous with this.


The Bombs: 2 Clockwork Bombs, each ticking violently. They'll explode in 3 turns, each doing 1d10 damage from super-heated shrapnel. The ticking violently shakes the bomb, so at every turn on the bomb's initiative (+0), if it's on the ground it moves (1d8 to determine direction), or if it's in someone's hand they'll need to make a DC 14 Strength or DC 12 Dexterity check to hold it.

Room contents:

-Locked steel door
-Reinforced plate-glass window within the door with watching Sword Of Liberty agent behind it
-Stack of Newspapers
-4 unlabeled barrels (2 containing flour, a third containing spare bolts for machinery repair, and a fourth containing gunpowder)
-Folded up tarp
-Empty paint bucket

A Dexterity check of 12 can open it, but the intense vibrating of the devices impose disadvantage. Things in the room could be used to try to dampen the explosion, but most of them would only reduce the bomb's die damage by 1 (to a d8) or not be reliable at containing the bomb since the bomb always tries to move before exploding (though skilled entrapment techniques might nullify the bomb's mobility.) The barrels of flour could probably block the bombs if they were behind it, but the gunpowder barrel would count as a d12 bomb if it's caught in the blast of the other two without the players checking it, and the barrel of bolts would merely reduce the damage to a d4. All explosives in the scenario allow a DC 12 Dexterity save to halve the damage.

How's that sound?

[JackPhoenix]

It sounds horrible because you're putting gunpowder in Eberron.

It's propably fine. 2d10 can potentially kill low-health character outright, and knock even tanky characters unconscious, so I'd be careful with that, especialy if they've already faced some encounters, or are about to get into fight without a rest in between, but they've got ways to avoid or weaken the explosion... however, as I player, or a fellow GM, my main problem with the scenario would be "what's the point?" What is the villain trying to get out of this? If he wants to kill the character, why such contrived scenario instead of just stabbing them? If it's supposed to be a trap, why waste resources on something so weak, especially if you give them means to avoid the explosion. If you just want them caught, you've succeeded, why bother with the bomg?

[Afgncaap5]

Ah! Good catch on the gun powder, I'll change that to lantern oil...

This is actually an alternate plan that might not come up; basically, the players are trying to follow a lead, and this is the room they'll be asked to wait in if they just go up and act like they're the contacts. A lone humanoid knows not to mess with four people dressed like adventurers, but also knows that the contact already arrived so he knows they can be safely killed if they're just led into the room with the explosives.

[NecessaryWeevil]

If I were a player, I might assume that the barrel of bolts would create additional shrapnel and be more dangerous, not less. Might want to ensure the players understand all the stakes.