Comments on: Traps & Hazards: The Open Portal

By: How To Use Traps To Make Combat More Intense — Dungeon's Master

How To Use Traps To Make Combat More Intense — Dungeon's Master — Fri, 11 Feb 2011 14:32:05 +0000

[...] Traps & Hazards: The Open Portal [...]

By: Rook

Rook — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 01:36:47 +0000

I’ve got another name for it; the Minion Fountain. But whatever you call it, I like the idea of adding combatants into the fray over time. Nice encounter Ameron.

I also like Skallawag’s falling wall idea. I need to copy these down pronto.
.-= Rook´s last blog ..4e Magic Item Use: A Compromise =-.

By: skallawag

skallawag — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 18:18:25 +0000

In a future adventure, I’m thinking of having the PCs walk down a hallway (in a dungeon) and then have the monsters push the wall down on them from inside of a room. Sometimes the PCs need to be caught off guard, plus a falling wall adds more to the dynamic (i.e. difficult terrain, damage from the wall, partial cover from all of the dust, combat advantage for the monsters, etc.).

By: Ameron

Ameron — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:04:28 +0000

@Neuroglyph
Thanks. I’m glad you liked it. You can always tweak this to have more or less minions come through the portal. Or you can have a full fledged monster come through and then the portal needs to recharge before another can pass. That way the time interval becomes less predictable.

@Mike D.
I’ve run into the “Line Dancing Formation” a lot. In my current game I have the added complexity of two PCs who are predominantly ranged attackers. I struggle to keep things balanced and interesting for the melee and ranged combatants.

I’ve learned that bringing more monsters into combat during later rounds makes for much more interesting combat. It’s important to keep the encounter balanced from an XP point of view, but holding back a few until the third of fourth round and then having them come at the PCs for a different angle can really change combat dynamic.

By: Mike D.

Mike D. — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 04:59:03 +0000

Excellent skill challenge. It also solves another problem I have with most of the encounters I run, which is: they are too static. Everyone just lines up in order to get combat advantage – I call it the Line Dancing Formation. I’m looking for more ways to incentive the PC’s (or the monsters, I suppose) to want to move around the battle field. Your constantly erupting Portal O’ Minions does exactly that.

By: Pathfinder Boon Traps and Other Sh!t I’m Excited About « Save Versus Death

Tue, 02 Feb 2010 22:25:59 +0000

[...] Master: Traps & Hazards: The Open Portal. The first in what appears to be many articles talking about traps and hazards in D&D 4E. In [...]

By: Neuroglyph

Neuroglyph — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:46:08 +0000

Awesome hazard, and fairly adaptable to Characters at any tier, depending on how quickly you let the minions in. .-= Neuroglyph´s last blog ..Review – Blackdirge’s Bargain Templates: Venomous by Blackdirge Publishing =-.