Making a death trap

[Zellsantal]

As the name of the board I am trying to make a death trap to go against the players of my game. The idea is using time stop and setting up a thin wire that be very hard to see up high enough that if some one that is riding fast on a horse could very well have their heads cut off. A coup de grace. The idea is that my npc cast time stop at the incoming party and once cast he would quickly go set up thin wires high enough to be level with their necks. However I don't know by raw that could be done or if my npc would have enough time (say he got all four 4 rounds with the spell) and not sure what be a reasonable DC to save against it. All the players would be level 20 but still I though it be fun to see if they could live though such a thing if that make sense? Though I am a Dm I still want to have some ruling and balance with this idea. So what the rest of you think and or what can you suggest?

[liquidformat]

afb but I think there is garrote wire in one of the books, maybe BoVD that would be a good place to start. Alternatively you could probably make it into a reflex save or die...

[Telonius]

This sounds like a (much) more dangerous version of the "Razor-Wire across Hallway" trap. The standard version is CR 1 and does 2d6 damage. There are rules in the link for how to create various sorts of other traps.

If you have access to Complete Scoundrel, there's also the "Combat Trapsmith" prestige class. 5 levels, and the capstone allows you to set up one of your Combat Traps as a standard action. The combat traps don't do anything nearly as drastic as what you're saying, but a few Sleep effects could have a similar result.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

There's really no precedent for what you've proposed. On top of that, if the villain is casting Time Stop, the party is probably high enough level to skydive without a parachute and easily survive the 20d6 damage of terminal velocity. So a wire thin enough to deal noticeable damage to their (potentially armored) necks wouldn't be strong enough to do its job. The best shot you have at making this work within the rules is to have a +1 Vorpal wire ready, put it across the corridor during your Time Stop, then you would roll an attack for it against each party member and only a natural 20 (and a confirmation roll) could decapitate one of them. Otherwise you're looking at the mediocre 2d6+1 damage for a trap of that type with an enhancement bonus.

Why not use that Time Stop to put a Prismatic Wall in front of them that they'll rush through?

Or Disintegrate a section of floor under them, then Transmute Rock to Mud on the ceiling above it, so they'll fall into the hole and be buried in mud, then you dispel it to turn it back into rock?

Or any number of other tricks that are valid and work within the rules?

[Telonius]

I guess it's likely that the party's high enough level to be protected from [death] effects. And I do think there would be something very satisfying about getting a near-epic-level party to fall victim to something as relatively simple as a mundane wire trap. No magical aura to detect; just a spot check between the party and the consequences. Kind of a classic Tucker's Kobolds feel to it.

[Zarrgon]

The basic idea that a simple mundane trap trick would automatically kill 20th level characters just does not really work in D&D.

And to wait until the 20th level characters are riding mundane horses very fast is a bit odd....assuming the demi god characters would ever do that. But your foe would need to be invisible or better and then teleport right in front of the riding characters. Then cast time stop. Then hope they get four rounds to....string a mundane wire right in front of the neck of each character. Then when time stop ends...get away somehow.

Even if you could do it...a simple mundane wire is no real threat to a 20th level character. When you start to say stuff like ''the wire is so sharp" and they are riding "so fast" that it's a reflex save vs death....well, you are not even vaguely following the D&D rules.

Check out the Glave of Doom a 25CR mechanical trap:

Spoiler: Glave of Doom

Show

Glaive of Doom Trap: CR 25; mechanical, location trigger; automatic reset; Atk +45/+40/+35/+30 melee (3d8+17plus poison, Huge cold iron +1 glaive); poison (megapede poison, Fort DC 44 resists, 2d6 Con + 1d4 Dex/2d6 Con +1d4 Dex; one dose per triggering); Search DC 55; Disable Device DC 50. Market Price: 1,102,808 gp.

So to do this you'd need magic....maybe even a monster....like an animated wire +1 vorpral, or something like that.

[Zellsantal]

Sorry for not saying this sooner but thanks for your thoughts guys, might be a bit harder then I thought but Ill see what I can do.