Nym_P_Seudo
2019-01-05, 08:30 PM
The title says it all, folks. I am in need of feedback for a trap that I am attempting to hammer out for my D&D group. I hesitate to call it a puzzle because it's essentially just a gambling game. My PCs are a group of 5, all of them level 15. They are mostly bruisers and have no tricksy wizards or sorcerers that could conceivably muck up the trap. I beseech advice on how to balance the difficulty, as well as tips on how a resourceful PC might manage to break the trap or exploit it in some way. I am aware that the trap may come across as... sadistic to some, but this is the final boss (probably) of the campaign and he's a mean-spirited elder lich by the name of Kael'tirath the Darkener, so he's not expected to baby them. But, what I've cobbled together for the trap is as follows:
The Wagering Scale
In a large, square room, fifty feet wide, long, and tall, stands a man-sized scale of pure gold, a bleached skull affixed to its summit. Upon one of the scale’s weighing platforms rests a golden key. Beside the scale sits an ancient lectern, complete with parchment, quill, and ink. All along the walls of the room are doors strewn with chains, each displaying an iron padlock. Only two doors lack these chains, and instead have three padlocks of gold. Adventurers that enter this room do so via one of the two golden-padlocked doors. Once inside, the door slams shut and the trap activates. In order to proceed or retreat, three golden keys are required to unlock all three padlocks of one door. The entire room is heavily enchanted, and there is no means to remove the golden key from the weighing platform by force. Once the trap is sprung, a spectral image of Kael’tirath will manifest and roughly explain the mechanics of the puzzle. The scale in the center of the room will only release its hold upon the key when an object of equivalent emotional value is placed on the opposite weighing platform. Once an object is placed on the opposite weighing platform, then it will trigger the scale and result in a weighing. If the object is found to be of either too much emotional value or too little, then the object will vanish into a pocket dimension under Kael’tirath’s control. However, objects alone are not the only things that can be wagered. Knowledge, emotions, memories, body parts, and even lives can all be wagered by scrawling the words upon a scrap of parchment from the lectern and dropping it onto the scale. Adventurers can perform insight checks to determine how much they desire the key in relation to how much they wish to retain their own items. At that point, a d100 roll will determine if the scale balances or not. The rolls are as follows: 1d20 insight for the key, 1d20 insight for the item wagered against the key, and 1d100 to balance the key and the item. Based on DM discretion, the emotional value of objects weighed will be broken into 4 categories: trivial, low, medium, and high. Each of these categories (excluding trivial) will provide a bonus to the d100 roll depending on how many iron doors are open [see the bonuses grid below].
0 – 2 Iron Doors
3 – 5 Iron Doors
6 – 7 Iron doors
Trivial worth
0%
0%
0%
Low worth
30%
20%
10%
Medium worth
20%
30%
20%
High worth
10%
30%
50%
The total value of the 2 d20s along with the worth bonus will subtract from the necessary value that the adventurer must roll on the d100.
For example, Krugg the druid places a feather belonging to his recently-deceased bird friend upon the weighing platform when 0 iron doors have so far been opened. The value of the feather is approximated at 'medium' due to its emotional significance. Krugg rolls a 12 (after mods) on his first d20 and a 10 on his second d20. Those numbers are added to the value bonus of 20 derived from the value table, resulting in a total of 42. That 42 is subtracted from the final d100 roll, and thus Krugg is now required to roll a 58 or higher on the d100 to properly balance the scale and acquire the key.
For every incorrect weighing, an item is lost, but the golden key upon the scale is also lost. The key will transmute from gold to iron and Kael’tirath’s spectral manifestation will proceed to pick up the key and use it to unlock one of the chained doors. Behind the chained doors are several hazardous effects that will slowly kill anything trapped within the room. The hazards include: 1. A portal to the Plane of Fire which deals fire damage. This portal affects everyone in the room as soon as it is opened and again after an unsuccessful weighing. 2. A portal to the 531st layer of the abyss, the domain of Vudra, queen of poison, which causes poison damage and disables healing effects on those that fail a constitution save (they can attempt to save again after each subsequent instance of poison damage). This portal affects everyone in the room as soon as it is opened and again after an unsuccessful weighing. 3. A portal to the Plane of Ice known as Frostfell, which causes cold damage and decreases movement speed by 20 feet per turn. This portal affects everyone in the room as soon as it is opened and again after an unsuccessful weighing. 4. A portal to the Plane of Air which releases powerful winds that force everyone in the room to make a strength save or be thrown 1d4x10 feet and take bludgeoning damage. This portal affects everyone in the room as soon as it is opened and again after an unsuccessful weighing. 5. A portal to the deepest reaches of the Shadowfell which so long as the portal remains open will sap the will from everyone in the room, forcing them to make wisdom saving throws to perform any actions. On a failed save, they collapse into a heap of lethargy and despair and do not perform the action. 6. A portal to the Far Realm which soaks the room in reality-warping insanity, forcing everyone to make an intelligence save or be randomly afflicted by one of the Long-Term Madness effects found on page 260 of the DMG. 7. A portal to the void of space which saps all oxygen from the room, forcing everyone within to hold their breath and then eventually suffocate after 1 minute + constitution mods. These 7 portals will be opened in ascending order, once for every incorrect weighing. Once all 7 portals are open, then weighings may continue until suffocation without any additional effects occuring. It requires ~30 seconds to select an item and weigh it. After a key (either gold or iron) is removed from the weighing platform, another will manifest in its place. (Optional rulings: The DM may choose to cause the portals to ‘reset’ once a successful weighing occurs, at which point the portals will snap shut and all negative effects will end.)
Please forgive the brick of text, but I wanted the trap to be as intelligible as I could make it (we'll see if it actually is or not). Please provide whatever feedback you can about this thing. I did not include damage numbers because I can't for the life of me conclude how much damage should be done. I feel like it should be very low values in the realm of like 1d6 per portal, or perhaps 2d6, because the PCs are expected to remain in the room for an extended period.
The Wagering Scale
In a large, square room, fifty feet wide, long, and tall, stands a man-sized scale of pure gold, a bleached skull affixed to its summit. Upon one of the scale’s weighing platforms rests a golden key. Beside the scale sits an ancient lectern, complete with parchment, quill, and ink. All along the walls of the room are doors strewn with chains, each displaying an iron padlock. Only two doors lack these chains, and instead have three padlocks of gold. Adventurers that enter this room do so via one of the two golden-padlocked doors. Once inside, the door slams shut and the trap activates. In order to proceed or retreat, three golden keys are required to unlock all three padlocks of one door. The entire room is heavily enchanted, and there is no means to remove the golden key from the weighing platform by force. Once the trap is sprung, a spectral image of Kael’tirath will manifest and roughly explain the mechanics of the puzzle. The scale in the center of the room will only release its hold upon the key when an object of equivalent emotional value is placed on the opposite weighing platform. Once an object is placed on the opposite weighing platform, then it will trigger the scale and result in a weighing. If the object is found to be of either too much emotional value or too little, then the object will vanish into a pocket dimension under Kael’tirath’s control. However, objects alone are not the only things that can be wagered. Knowledge, emotions, memories, body parts, and even lives can all be wagered by scrawling the words upon a scrap of parchment from the lectern and dropping it onto the scale. Adventurers can perform insight checks to determine how much they desire the key in relation to how much they wish to retain their own items. At that point, a d100 roll will determine if the scale balances or not. The rolls are as follows: 1d20 insight for the key, 1d20 insight for the item wagered against the key, and 1d100 to balance the key and the item. Based on DM discretion, the emotional value of objects weighed will be broken into 4 categories: trivial, low, medium, and high. Each of these categories (excluding trivial) will provide a bonus to the d100 roll depending on how many iron doors are open [see the bonuses grid below].
0 – 2 Iron Doors
3 – 5 Iron Doors
6 – 7 Iron doors
Trivial worth
0%
0%
0%
Low worth
30%
20%
10%
Medium worth
20%
30%
20%
High worth
10%
30%
50%
The total value of the 2 d20s along with the worth bonus will subtract from the necessary value that the adventurer must roll on the d100.
For example, Krugg the druid places a feather belonging to his recently-deceased bird friend upon the weighing platform when 0 iron doors have so far been opened. The value of the feather is approximated at 'medium' due to its emotional significance. Krugg rolls a 12 (after mods) on his first d20 and a 10 on his second d20. Those numbers are added to the value bonus of 20 derived from the value table, resulting in a total of 42. That 42 is subtracted from the final d100 roll, and thus Krugg is now required to roll a 58 or higher on the d100 to properly balance the scale and acquire the key.
For every incorrect weighing, an item is lost, but the golden key upon the scale is also lost. The key will transmute from gold to iron and Kael’tirath’s spectral manifestation will proceed to pick up the key and use it to unlock one of the chained doors. Behind the chained doors are several hazardous effects that will slowly kill anything trapped within the room. The hazards include: 1. A portal to the Plane of Fire which deals fire damage. This portal affects everyone in the room as soon as it is opened and again after an unsuccessful weighing. 2. A portal to the 531st layer of the abyss, the domain of Vudra, queen of poison, which causes poison damage and disables healing effects on those that fail a constitution save (they can attempt to save again after each subsequent instance of poison damage). This portal affects everyone in the room as soon as it is opened and again after an unsuccessful weighing. 3. A portal to the Plane of Ice known as Frostfell, which causes cold damage and decreases movement speed by 20 feet per turn. This portal affects everyone in the room as soon as it is opened and again after an unsuccessful weighing. 4. A portal to the Plane of Air which releases powerful winds that force everyone in the room to make a strength save or be thrown 1d4x10 feet and take bludgeoning damage. This portal affects everyone in the room as soon as it is opened and again after an unsuccessful weighing. 5. A portal to the deepest reaches of the Shadowfell which so long as the portal remains open will sap the will from everyone in the room, forcing them to make wisdom saving throws to perform any actions. On a failed save, they collapse into a heap of lethargy and despair and do not perform the action. 6. A portal to the Far Realm which soaks the room in reality-warping insanity, forcing everyone to make an intelligence save or be randomly afflicted by one of the Long-Term Madness effects found on page 260 of the DMG. 7. A portal to the void of space which saps all oxygen from the room, forcing everyone within to hold their breath and then eventually suffocate after 1 minute + constitution mods. These 7 portals will be opened in ascending order, once for every incorrect weighing. Once all 7 portals are open, then weighings may continue until suffocation without any additional effects occuring. It requires ~30 seconds to select an item and weigh it. After a key (either gold or iron) is removed from the weighing platform, another will manifest in its place. (Optional rulings: The DM may choose to cause the portals to ‘reset’ once a successful weighing occurs, at which point the portals will snap shut and all negative effects will end.)
Please forgive the brick of text, but I wanted the trap to be as intelligible as I could make it (we'll see if it actually is or not). Please provide whatever feedback you can about this thing. I did not include damage numbers because I can't for the life of me conclude how much damage should be done. I feel like it should be very low values in the realm of like 1d6 per portal, or perhaps 2d6, because the PCs are expected to remain in the room for an extended period.