C ONDITION Z ONE E FFECTS

A condition zone can inflict a variety of effects, from damage to knocking a character prone. The easiest way to determine how such a zone works is to picture it in your mind. Imagine how the battle might unfold and focus on how the zone affects the combatants. Does a ship rise and fall upon the waves, forcing its crew to keep their balance as they fight a swarm of pirates? Does the stifling heat of a volcano slowly sap an adventurer’s strength?

With that scene in mind, consider the skill or save needed to resist the zone. Then plot out its effects on both a failed check and a successful check.

Save and Skill Check DCs: A condition zone usually

requires a character to make a save or skill check each round to avoid its effects. Before you can determine the Difficulty Class, think about the skill or save needed to resist the zone. Balance is a good skill choice for any effect that involves a

moving environment, such as tremors that can knock the characters prone. The saves fill their niches as usual.

A saving throw’s Difficulty Class should, on average, equal 10 + the party’s level. This gives each character at least a 50 percent chance of success before accounting for feats or ability scores that improve a save. For skill checks, 13 + the party’s level provides you with a minimum. Obviously, you can make the zone more or less dangerous by increasing or decreasing the Difficulty Class. Moving the DC up or down in units of 3 ensures that this change has a tangible impact on the game, as it can account for a high ability bonus or a feat such as Skill Focus or Iron Will.

Attack: In some cases, a condition zone uses an attack

bonus rather than requiring a save or skill check. Any zone that relies on a physical attack that a character could dodge or deflect with a shield likely falls into this category. If a character can take cover against a condition zone, it proba- bly uses an attack against him. The average attack bonus for the zone depends on the party’s level. You can adjust the bonus up or down to represent a deadlier or less threatening attack.

Party Level Attack Bonus Party Level Attack Bonus

1 +2 11 +14 2 +3 12 +15 3 +4 13 +16 4 +5 14 +17 5 +7 15 +19 6 +8 16 +20 7 +9 17 +21 8 +10 18 +22 9 +11 19 +23 10 +13 20 +25

A zone that uses an attack bonus might cause additional effects on a suc- cessful hit. For example, debris that falls from a cavern’s ceiling might knock its target prone. These additional effects can allow characters to attempt saves or checks to avoid them. In the example of the falling debris, a Strength check (DC 10) allows a character to remain on his feet.

Damage: A condition zone’s damage should be tied to the characters’ level,

as shown below. This damage assumes that you use the typical saving throw or skill check Difficulty Class. For higher DCs, you might want to decrease the damage slightly, perhaps treating the party as two or three levels lower. For lower DCs, you can treat the party as two or three levels higher.

The table assumes that the characters suffer half damage on a successful save. If they suffer no damage on a save, you can increase the damage by two or three levels as long as the Difficulty Class isn’t too high.

Party Level Typical Damage

1 1d2 2 1d4 3–5 1d6 6–8 2d6 9–11 3d6 12–14 4d6 15–17 5d6 18–20 6d6

Other Effects: You can use almost any effect imaginable with a condition

zone, as long as it makes sense within the context of the game. A volcanic tremor might knock the characters prone, while gouts of hot steam could cause temporary blindness. The table below lists some common effects aside from damage and sources that could deliver them.

Try to avoid effects, such as stun or sleep, that leave a character unable to act. Otherwise, a character with a poor save or skill bonus might be unable to take any actions during a battle as he misses save after save. Condition zones should present the characters with a barrier to victory, not an effect that ties

their hands.

Zone Effect* Example Source

Blindness Dense fog, steam, flashing lights, illusions

Checked A powerful wind

Deafness Loud noises, a piercing shriek, a magical effect

Entangled Strange plant creatures, thick mud

Fatigued Intense heat, a life-draining magical effect

Prone Tremors, any effect that causes the ground to move

SickenedNoxious gas, a magical effect

* See “States and Conditions” in Chapter Eight: Combat of Iron Heroes.

The list of effects is by no means comprehensive, but it should give you some ideas of how to use condition zones for things other than damage. In any case, an effect should have a duration that is long enough to play a role in the encounter without crippling the character. For a condition zone, most effects that don’t require an action to escape, such as being fatigued or prone, should last for 1 or 2 rounds.

Terrain: Technically, you could consider terrain a condition zone. An

icy coating on a set of stairs causes anyone who walks on it to slip and fall. This sounds like a zone, but the key difference is that the condition zone requires a save or skill check at the start of a character’s action, regardless

of what he then does on that action, while a terrain effect does not. A character doesn’t have to make a Balance check to avoid slipping on ice until he walks on it. On the other hand, a noxious gas that fills a cavern requires a save each round to avoid its effects. Some terrain effects have associated zones, as you can see in the section that starts on page 41.

E

Z

Event zones can be triggered (activated by a character’s action) or timed (activated according to a schedule or by chance). Here are sample stat blocks for a timed event zone and a triggered event zone.

Obelisk of Despair (Timed Event Zone): Once every 4 rounds; Will save DC 16;

on a failed save, causes a –4 morale penalty to attacks and damage for 1d4 minutes.

Cave-In (Triggered Event Zone): Triggered when a character steps on a pressure

plate in the cave floor; Reflex save DC 16; on a failed save, the victim takes 3d6 points of damage from falling rocks.

An event zone stat block starts with a name and zone type in bold, fol- lowed by how frequently it activates (for timed event zones) or what causes it to activate (for triggered event zones). Next comes the skill or save needed to resist it, its Difficulty Class, and the effects of failure.

Triggered or Timed: The stat block notes the zone’s type in parenthesis

next to its name. Mark the zone’s location or area of effect on your map of the encounter area.

Save DC, Check DC, or Attack Bonus: An event zone either requires

a saving throw or skill check to avoid its effects, or it uses an attack to determine whether it strikes a character. The relevant Difficulty Classes or attack bonuses are listed next.

Effects: Event zones inflict damage or other special states on the char-

acters or cause other effects that require explanation. A flash flood pushes the party along each round, while a rolling boulder needs rules to track its movement.

Area: An event zone affects an area or a single target. If it affects an

area, the stat block notes the radius or otherwise describes how it targets the characters.

Special Notes: Some zones have additional special rules or effects.

D

E

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Event zones can be triggered events or timed events.

Triggered events activate in response to an action, such as a character

pushing a button.

Timed events happen on a schedule or in response to an event that the

characters don’t control.

A triggered event zone is basically a trap in the way it functions in the game. When a character steps into a square with a trap’s trigger mecha- nism, the trap activates and either attacks him, such as by firing a cross- bow bolt into his square, or causes an effect that requires a saving throw to resist, such by as releasing a cloud of poisonous gas into the room. Event zones have the same basic traits. When a character or creature enters the zone’s area, the zone activates and attacks or causes an effect.

A timed event zone activates according to a schedule or by random chance. For example, every few rounds, a channel opens and floods the com- bat area with water. While an earthquake wracks a ruined city, there’s a

chance each round that the crumbling pillars within a temple crash to the ground, crushing anyone unfortunate enough to be standing next to them. These event zones occur independently of the character’s actions.

The first step in creating an event zone is to decide which kind to use. As with condition zones, picture the zone and its effect in your mind. Focus on how the zone interacts with the characters and the encounter. If the adventurers must take a specific action that causes the zone to activate, it’s a trig- gered event zone. Otherwise, it’s a timed event zone.