Even if the stuff we saw on our previous post was pretty hazardous, none of it counts as a “hazard” in mechanical terms.

The main difference is that Terrain is entirely passive. It might do something when you step on it, or it might allow a character to perform some special action when next to it, but it never initiates any interaction.

Hazards, on the other hand, have enough “agency” to count as a monster for encounter building purposes. They can make attacks, and can also be disabled by the methods outlined in its description. Traps are the most popular example of hazards, but these rules can also model dangerous terrain features that weren’t built to do harm on purpose. Obviously, unlike real monsters, traps and hazards don’t use tactics. They just follow their “programming”.

Traps and hazards have their own set of roles:

  • Blasters make ranged or area attacks. A crossbow trap is the most popular example.

  • Lurkers can disappear for a while after making their attacks, so dealing with them is harder. A blade trap that retracts into the wall is a good example.

  • Obstacles impede movement, both by their presence and with attacks that slow the target down. They might block passage entirely or require characters to make tricky movement or puzzle-solving skill checks to pass.

  • Warders are alarm systems. They can have damaging attacks too, and will make them as soon as they detect intruders, but their main function is to warn others about the presence of those intruders. The alarm might only sound once, or keep sounding while the hazard persists. In truth, this seems to be kind of a catch-all category. If the hazard can’t conceal itself after attacking and doesn’t really impede movement, it’s a warder. A shrieker mushroom is a non-damaging example.

In the summarized descriptions below, I always start with a description of the hazard’s nature and appearance, what it does when triggered, and how to avoid or disable it.

Arena Hazards

This subsection details hazards that might be found in the many gladiatorial arenas of Athas. They’re placed on purpose to make things more “interesting”, but they’re not really traps per se.

Worthy Sacrifices of Draj

This is a 3-by-6 square pile or corpses with their hearts torn out. Animated corpses, that will try to grab, pull, and gnaw on anyone they sense nearby. It’s a Level 8 Obstacle.

PCs can notice the corpses are animated with Perception or Religion. The pile makes opportunity attacks that damage and grab against any character who steps adjacent to it. Roll Initiative for it after the first such attack. On its turn, it will try to pull any grabbed victims into itself, dealing the same damage as the initial attack and inflicting ongoing 10 necrotic damage while the victims remain inside.

A PC can choose to make an Acrobatics test when they step adjacent to the pile to avoid the opportunity attack. They can disable it either by good old fashioned violence (70 HP, resist necrotic, vulnerable radiant), or by improvising an exorcism with Nature and Religion. This is a complexiy 1 skill challenge where each failure deals 5 necrotic damage to the PCs.

Blood Trees of Gulg

These are large trees with red leaves. The main arena in Gulg has about a dozen of these planted in a semi-random arrangement. Their trunks completely fill a square and count as blocking terrain. Their branches stretch 3 squares in every direction from the trunk.

The rumor that these trees have red leaves because they feed on blood is false. The leaves are naturally red, and the trees are mostly harmless. They only turn carnivorous when they’re about to bloom, you see.

There’s no fixed blooming season - the timing for that is rather random. For this specific arena, at most 3 trees might be dangerous at a time. The rest are still blocking terrain, of course.

Blood Trees are level 9 Warders. Their presence is obvious, and a Nature or Perception check can allow a PC to notice that a given tree is “primed” and what its reach is (it’s 3).

When someone steps into that reach, the tree makes an opportunity attack that damages and knocks prone on a hit. On its turn, it apparently uses another set of branches to make attacks against Fortitude to damage, poison and fling away anyone it hits with those. That’s ongoing 5 poison (save ends), plus a secondary attack that makes a 5-square push on a hit.

Blood trees can be destroyed by violence (100 HP, resist 10 poison); and a PC can succeed at a Nature check when stepping into their reach to avoid the opportunity attack and be ignored by the tree for the rest of the encounter.

Obsidian Façades of Urik

The arena in Urik is a former pit from an obsidian mine. Its walls are wickedly sharp and good enough at absorbing heat that by noon the arena resembles a huge natural air fryer. Guess when fights take place.

Characters inside the arena are exposed to Sun Sickness, a disease detailed in the Dark Sun Campaign Setting that probably represents heat stroke and dehydration. The walls are a variable level Obstacle, and moving adjacent to them subjects the character to an attack that deals mixed physical and fire damage that rises with tier. Characters doing so on purpose can attempt an Acrobatics check to avoid this.

Next up

Wilderness hazards! Because the world itself is also out to get you.