Okay, I had this trap in Castle Gristlegrim (also noted for Battletech Kobolds), Coyote. It was a room with a murky pool of water. In that murky pool of water was a giant lobster in stasis. Stasis ends when any living thing enters the water. No party in their right mind is going anywhere near that water...They think.
Tied to the tail of the lobster was a wire that went through the wall, over a set of pulleys and a saw blade, up to the roof. Above the center of the pool is a block of water soluble wax covering 50 KILOGRAMS of sodium (this comes back to haunt me later).
An alcove on the side of the room on the left wall as you look in has a treasure chest. The chest has an easily disabled (DC20) yet really hard to find (DC35) set of triggers. When the chest is unlocked, a sound bubble spell goes off in a 15' radius to keep the rogue from hearing any screaming, and in the hall outside, the right wall sprays a mist of honey droplets on the PCs. When the rogue opens the lid, the left wall sprays fire ants all over the party (heavy armor, LOL). At that point, they are considered to be attacked by a swarm of army ants, and instead of saving vs distraction, they have to save to avoid jumping in the water.
When they do, the lobster comes out of statis and goes totally haywire on anyone in the water...Also pulling the rope around its tail across the saw blade, dropping the block of wax/sodium into the water. Now there's a time limit (1d4+3 rounds) before the big kaboom (8d6, 20 ft radius, ref sv DC20 for half, nobody in the water gets to save).
That's how it was SUPPOSED to happen. Here's how it really went down:
Fighter doesn't like the room layout at all, has the cleric cast resist energy (cold) on him, and goes back to the level 3 vending machine room (never gives you correct change for a torch, btw, and the trail rats taste like a dire rat shat in them), and got a patch of brown mold out of the corner, which they had previously avoided.
He then walks back, tosses it in the water, and suggests that the party check out some other rooms first. They come back later to a frozen pool with a block of wax sitting on it. They take the loot, THEY TAKE THE SODIUM (party has a bomb now, LOL), and then
they melt the ice away from the lobster and send Lefty the torch-bearer back to town for a couple of barrels of butter.
I fucking hate them. I hates them
forever.
