Crushing Pit Trap
One of the exits from this room is a metal door bearing a sign that reads “Invited Guests Only.”
Door. A character that makes an Engineering or Investigation check discovers that the door’s insides contain complex machinery.
The door is locked. Opening the door without using the proper key causes the room’s floor to collapse. A creature can make a thieves’ tools check to pick the door’s lock. On a failure, the door remains locked and the floor collapses. On a success, the door unlocks but the floor still collapses. On a critical success, the door unlocks and the floor doesn’t collapse. Opening the door in any other manner (except for using the proper key) causes the floor to collapse.
Floor. A successful Perception check or an examination of the floor reveals unobtrusive seams and hinges, as if the entire room is the lid of a pit trap.
When the floor collapses, all creatures in the room plummet into a 30-foot-deep pit, taking 10 (3d6) bludgeoning damage from the fall. Two opposite walls inside the pit then begin moving inward. Roll initiative. Each round on initiative count 10, the pit narrows by 5 feet. When it reaches 0 feet, each creature inside the pit takes 21 (6d6) bludgeoning damage. The trap is then disabled. After 1 hour, the walls of the pit retract to their starting position and the floor snaps back into place.
- A creature that can reach both walls of the pit (most creatures have a reach approximately equal to their height) can make a Strength check to keep the walls apart.
- A creature using an object wide enough to reach both walls makes its Strength check to prop open the walls with advantage . On a Critical Failure, a nonmagical object is destroyed, and a magical object is damaged. A magical object damaged a second time is destroyed.
- A creature can make an Engineering check to determine how best to slow the walls. Success or failure on this check doesn’t result in a trap Success or Failure. A success on this check grants advantage to the next ability check made against the trap within the next minute.
- With a Strength check, a creature can jam spikes under the walls of the pit, triggering a Success.
- The pit’s walls are smooth and slippery. A creature climbing them must make an Athletics or Acrobatics check, making no progress on a failure. Success or failure on this check doesn’t result in a trap Success or Failure.
Potential Outcomes
Critical Failure or Failure. The walls continue closing.
Success. The walls stop moving until the end of the triggering creature’s next turn.
Critical Success. The pit’s walls move 5 feet apart. Moving the walls back to their starting positions disables the trap.