Post/Author/DateTime	Post
LachlarlanIII 07-01-07, 01:50 PM	How fast do Immediate Reset traps reset? Is it immediately, or does it reset once per round? Ex. During combat, PC One readies to move across a trap as soon as it is triggered. PC Two triggers the trap. PC One's ready goes off and moves across the trap, but is hit by the trap because it was an immediate reset. I've encounted two such traps at low APL, one of which was an intro mod, and each time it was ruled (after arguments) that the trap immediately reset for the next person who triggered it regardless of time spent. I've checked the DMG errata and FAQ but couldn't find any answer. Sorry if that was a bit confusing.
LachlarlanIII 07-01-07, 01:58 PM	If they reset immediately (no action) this can lead to encounters being much tougher than normal. Ex. Undead beastie is in a room that has an Inflict Light Wounds trap with a touch trigger that has an immediate reset covering the entire floor. If it is a immediate (no action) reset, that means said undead will be getting healed during every character's turn because it is always in contact with the trap.
clannagh 07-01-07, 07:50 PM	The thing to bear in mind is each players turn within the round is the same simultaneous 6 seconds repeated over and over again for the sake of game play. Hence its not as if player "A" walks across the floor and 6 seconds later player B does it. They both walk across the floor simultaneously. Gamewise there are no simultaneous actions that would be unmanagable .. we use Initiative order an artificial construct to facilitate play .. but it is still the same 6 seconds repeated. Technically if the party is iniative order and entering a trapped room the GM should probably wait until everyone has announced their actions for the round before announcing the trap has gone off. Taking this into account its hard to see how it could reset "every turn" when every turn is actually the same 6 seconds.
Frumpkis 07-01-07, 09:10 PM	The thing to bear in mind is each players turn within the round is the same simultaneous 6 seconds repeated over and over again for the sake of game play. Hence its not as if player "A" walks across the floor and 6 seconds later player B does it. They both walk across the floor simultaneously. Gamewise there are no simultaneous actions that would be unmanagable .. we use Initiative order an artificial construct to facilitate play .. but it is still the same 6 seconds repeated. Technically if the party is iniative order and entering a trapped room the GM should probably wait until everyone has announced their actions for the round before announcing the trap has gone off. Taking this into account its hard to see how it could reset "every turn" when every turn is actually the same 6 seconds. Eh, I don't think the intent of the rules is that everything within those 6 seconds happens all at once. If everything happened simultaneously, readied actions would not work (eg. You ready to shoot the wizard when he casts a spell. The wizard starts to cast, but your ready action goes off; you shoot and drop the wizard. But, in the world of simultaneous actions, the wizard still casts his fireball and drops YOU, preventing you from ever having shot him with your bow. *brain explodes as paradox sets in*) Or, to use your example, if all 6 PCs wanted to walk across a trap, you'd have 6 people walking shoulder-to-shoulder and squeezing through the same 5-foot space. I think it's really more like: - 1st second (out of the 6-second round): Character A walks across the trap. - 2nd second: Character B follows and also walks across the trap. - etc. But getting back on topic, this is an issue I've encountered as well, and so far as I know, there's been no official answer. Personally, I rule that immediate-reset traps mean just that - they reset immediately after they are triggered....not after 1 round has passed. However, you can probably expect table variation on this one.
LachlarlanIII 07-02-07, 09:42 AM	But getting back on topic, this is an issue I've encountered as well, and so far as I know, there's been no official answer. Personally, I rule that immediate-reset traps mean just that - they reset immediately after they are triggered....not after 1 round has passed. However, you can probably expect table variation on this one. That's where my second example comes in. Theoretically, if a character ends his movement on a touch triggered immediate reset trap, he's still touching it during each other character's turn. Hence, he should be triggering it during each other character's turn, or he should be preventing it from ever resetting. Thus, my conundrum. :) Another example would be a pit trap that has an immediate reset. If immediate reset means immediately, then the trap would always reset before the triggerer ever fell.
Some_call_me_Tim 07-02-07, 04:57 PM	The way I visualize it is that if turns were truly simultaneous, each character would be in the area of effect at the same time. Since each character takes his turn separately each interacts at apparently different times. I would rule it can affect each character only once per turn. It might be easier to have this happen on each individuals turn or at the end of the round depending on circumstances. The DMG (p. 24) touches briefly on the topic of simultaneous action. It basically says what clannagh did, that you don't do anything until the end of the round. I think it has a lot to do with the nature of the trap. If it was a melee attack trap then I might do each character individually as it was triggered by them since this represent each setting it off as they pass. It also allows for the first person to be shot-first giving the other some reaction time. If it was an area of effect I would probably wait until the end of the round. Such as a fireball trap would represent a group being caught in the flames.