Add Ambush as an explicit trap category

[whysper]

There is clearly no hope for you

[Mercules]

Most of these situations have dm text for them, they are activated by having x number of skill points for (instert relevant skill here).

Yes, but most of the DM text is so vague as to have no meaning. Things like, "You notice by the footsteps many Kobolds have come this way recently." and "You hear many voices up ahead." There are numerous places where you get this ~warning~ and nothing happens or it is nothing more than flavor. "By the tracks in the dust you can see someone has dragged something heavy through here."

[Clay]

great idea OP!

[Velqor]

This thread has a great idea.

/signed

[kamimitsu]

You're referring to a specific conditional inserted by the quest designer, while I'm talking about a generic "Ambush" and "Locking Door" warning icon. It takes more development effort to write a line of dialog and have the narrator recite it and bring that asset all through the workflow.

I mentioned several quests containing this kind of thing, and I think most of them don't have any notification. Note that a message after the ambush triggers doesn't count as a warning. I haven't retested all of these recently, but I did play them on rogues:

Taming the Flames: Come into a room, doors shut around you, mephits and elementals are killed to get out. No warning.
Delera's Tomb: Come into a room, portcullis shuts behind you, undeads are killed to get out. No warning.
VON5: Come into a room, door shuts behind you, warforged are killed to get out. No warning.
Twilight Forge: Talk to the final NPC, he aggros and attacks, doors shut behind you, never opens again. No warning.
Wizard King upper chambers: Kill the miniboss, the floor falls out and door shuts behind you, never opens again. No warning.
Wizard King central/lower chambers: Go into a room, doors seal in front and behind you, undeads and/or golems are killed to open them. No warning.
Black Mausoleum: Open a chest, floor falls down, forcefield seals behind, pull a lever and wait 5 minutes to open it.
Ritual Sacrifice: Step into a hallway segment, forcefields seal in front and behind, elementals are killed to open them. No warning.

It is true that several of those have warnings after the ambush happens. Looking at Ritual Sacrifice as a specific example, it has DM text both for when the monsters appear and when you defeat them. "Another ambush! You must be getting close". But what I am looking for is a way to know there was something there before it happens.

Presently the most common occurrence is that one player who has done the quest before warns everyone else about it, and they're prepared for the trigger that way. I'm hoping for something that'll equalize that gameplay experience with groups who haven't done the quest before. A locked room ambush can be much more dangerous if you stumble into it as an actual surprise, meaning that it's hard to balance the encounter to be challenging both to parties with and without knowledge that the attack is coming.


Indeed, that's why I omitted it from the list in the first post.

New Invasion fits that list, as well. I love to scout ahead to see if I can find the portals or drops and save the party running around needlessly. Unfortunately, I often end up in a locked room with a bunch of angry elementals. 'Say Goodnight Shiz.'

[zulrasha]

Just a thought, I like idea of knowing the gate is going to lock behind you but I dont see how you could disable a group of mobs from running up and smacking you. Some would say you could stop the gate from closing then you could run back to the group. BUT how do we know that the gate closed itself rather than one of the monsters in the ambush pulled a lever to close the gate.

[Hafeal]

I like the idea.

I keep thinking of STK where the spiders come out - I don't recall a warning there. Also, in the the new "old" quest in Korthos, a gate slams down and 2 mummies come out and attack ... I can't remember the name of the quest right now ... there is no warning there as well.

In House K 5-7 levels quests and several Necropolis quests there are several rooms that have doors shut behind you and the party is often split because someone isn't close enough to the rest of the group. I don't recall warnings for most of these.

[Angelus_dead]

that is wrong, those rooms with 2 golems and 1-2 mummys are timed, you can sit them out

No, it's not wrong. Do you understand the difference between: "kill to open" and "only opened by killing"? The fact that you can also wait for a timer does not mean that killing the monsters isn't the intended and fastest way to get the doors open.

As covered above, if the scouting player gets locked in with monsters and has to hide in a corner to wait for the doors to open, the party is still being punished for allowing someone to go up ahead, because their progress is delayed.

[Bardolier]

You're referring to a specific conditional inserted by the quest designer, while I'm talking about a generic "Ambush" and "Locking Door" warning icon. It takes more development effort to write a line of dialog and have the narrator recite it and bring that asset all through the workflow.

Agreed. You want to keep things simple for the developers to increase the likelihood of a change being implemented. While there are a lot of cool things you can do with something like this, keeping it simple improves the odds of it happening and still nabs you the requested gameplay change.

[Mr.Jerry]

Very good idea here. I hope it is noted.

[Surrealistik]

/signed. Excellent idea. Other ideas like allowing rogues to disable closing door traps would also be welcome additions.

[Cyr]

/signed

[MikeTheApostate]

Awesome idea, /signed

[caution]

/signed

I support this idea because Spot currently is the skill of noobs, and none of my rogues even bother wasting a point in that silly skill. At least that may make it useful again (outside of my other idea to provide a bonus to saves/disables for spotted traps).

[Maxelcat]

Approved!

If you can figure out if touching the chest spews fire, then you should know it seals the room. (Maybe not with what shows up)

otherwise its "Magic"... which high level rogues still get a chance to figure out.

[Valindria]

Cool idea.

[AylinIsAwesome]

/signed


Please implement this devs.

[JollySwagMan]

Bump!

and /signed

[Akrilus]

ever wonder why there are skull 'carvings' on the floor in certain places in dungeons....piles of bones?

*/flashbacks of some not so great runs in Delera's Tomb* (is a great example)


sometimes you just gotta look down, the signs are already there people, just need to open your eyes a little wider

[ARcdevil]

I approve coming from a ranger that invested a lot in hide move silently and spot