www.roninarts.

com A Dozen More Dungeon Hazards

A Dozen More
Dungeon Hazards
by Philip Reed Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons®
Player’s Handbook

Welcome to A Dozen More Dungeon nothing to your campaign it does give other pub-
Hazards, a direct sequel to the short PDF, A lishers permission to use this material as long as
Dozen Dungeon Hazards, that I wrote late in they follow the open game license (see the end of
2004. This new release gives you both more of this PDF).
the same, in the form of new fogs, fungi, and
slimes, it also presents four environmental and
terrain hazards.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Philip Reed has been working professionally
Anyway, enough out of me. You didn’t buy in the roleplaying game industry since 1995. In
this PDF to hear me ramble on (especially since that time he has worked for such companies as
you can catch my nonsense on most popular RPG West End Games, Privateer Press, and Steve
messageboards) so I’ll cease my typing of a lame Jackson Games. Today Philip spends his days at
introduction without value and move directly to home running Ronin Arts, writing and designing
what you spent your money for. new games, and reading whatever books interest
him at the time. To learn more about Philip Reed
OPEN GAME – and Ronin Arts – please visit
CONTENT www.philipjreed.com/php and www.roni-
narts.com.
All of the text of this PDF is presented as
open game content. While this means absolutely

Environmental and Terrain Hazards

One of the common bits of feedback I received more than a few “environmental/terrain” hazards
on A Dozen Dungeon Hazards was the expecta- that I felt were worthy of expansion beyond
tion that the PDF would deal with more than just scratches in my notepad. If you have any specific
new slimes, molds, and fungi. When I sat down to ideas for hazards you’d like to see me develop
write this sequel I spent a considerable amount of please feel free to e-mail your suggestions to me at
time making notes on possible hazards that weren’t [email protected]. If I use your
slimes, molds, or fungi. Unfortunately, even after suggestion I’ll give you credit and a free copy of
an afternoon of consideration I couldn’t devise the PDF in which your idea appears.

For more PDFs please visit and www.roninarts.com.

A Dozen More Dungeon Hazards is copyright © 2005 Philip Reed. All text in this book is designated as open game
content. You may not distribute this PDF without permission of the author. Dungeons & Dragons® and Wizards of
the Coast® are Registered Trademarks of Wizards of the Coast and are used with permission.

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www.roninarts.com A Dozen More Dungeon Hazards

character or creature has lost his balance and

COLLAPSING falls, tumbling down the stairs until he either
CHAMBER (CR 2) encounters another figure (see below) or hits bot-
Either through natural causes (such as an tom. The character suffers normal falling dam-
earthquake) or artificial causes (such as a room age,
rigged to collapse), adventurers sometimes find If a character or creature tumbling down a
themselves forced to move through or flee a cav- flight of crumbling stairs encounters another fig-
ern chamber or dungeon room as it is collapsing ure he stops moving, remaining prone where he
around them. encounters the other figure and must make a DC
When moving through a collapsing chamber 15 Fortitude save or be shaken for 2 rounds. The
a character or creature must make a successful figure that halted the fall must make a DC 10 (+5
DC 15 Reflex save at the start of each turn – on a per 10-feet that the tumbling character has trav-
failed roll the character or creature suffers 1d6 eled) Reflex save or he begins falling down the
points of damage from falling rock; if the check crumbling stairs.
fails by more than 10 then the character or crea- It is possible that after the characters manage
ture is knocked prone and pinned under a large to move past a flight of crumbling stairs they’ll
piece of rubble. A DC 15 Strength check – made enter an area with a . . .
by either the pinned character or an ally – is
required to move the rubble and free the trapped DESTROYED
character or creature.
A room will continue to rain rock and debris
FLOOR (CR 1)
If a chamber collapses (see above), we can
for a number of rounds equal to one-half its area
only deduce that somewhere above a floor is
in square feet after which point the chamber has
affected. There are two stages at which a charac-
collapsed, the entire area now treated as difficult
ter or creature could be forced to interact with a
terrain.
destroyed floor, both of which follow.
Example: A 10-ft. by 10-ft. room, if collaps-
As the floor is undergoing destruction, falling
ing, will continue to be treated as a collapsing
away beneath the adventurers’ feet, a character or
chamber obstacle for 50 rounds.
creature must make a DC 15 Reflex check each
It is the DM’s call as to whether or not the
round or be swept up in the collapse of the floor,
chamber has collapsed completely and is now no
falling to whatever room of chamber is below.
longer in existence. A truly terrifying encounter
Depending on the distance fallen the character or
could end with the collapse of a dungeon, leaving
creature may suffer falling damage. The floor
the characters running toward the surface as the
continues to crumble away from an amount of
entire complex comes down around them. Any
time as if it were a collapsing chamber (see
stairs they encounter on the way out could be
above).
treated as . . .
After the destruction has ended, the room’s
floor either no longer exists (in which case it is an
CRUMBLING obstacle and not a hazard) or it is nothing more
STAIRS (CR 1) than random stepping stones held together by a
In the older dungeons, and in natural caverns, weak, soon-to-collapse framework of stone or
stairs are not always properly maintained and wood (depending on the dungeon’s construction).
over time they begin to show signs of age, crack- Moving through a room with a destroyed floor
ing and shifting under the weight of anyone using requires a DC 15 Reflex check for each square
them. entered (the character gains a bonus to this save
Any character or creature moving up or down equal to one-half his ranks in Jump) – on a failed
a flight of crumbling stairs must make a DC 15 check the character slips at which point he must
Reflex save each square of movement (DC 25 if make a second DC 15 Reflex check (in order to
moving faster than a walk) – on a failed check the grab the edge of whatever remaining floor por-
tion he was leaping to) or fall to whatever room

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www.roninarts.com A Dozen More Dungeon Hazards

of chamber is below. Depending on the distance clouds of billowing, heated steam shoot forth
fallen the character or creature may suffer falling from the newly-formed steam vent. Steam vents
damage. are rarely encountered individually but, rather, in
Truly cruel DMs will, of course, combine the groups of six or more, each about 5-feet apart.
collapsing chamber and destroyed floor hazards The cloud from a steam vent expands out to fill
into a single, terrible event. In such an event the the square in which the vent stands and all adja-
affected characters must make a separate check cent squares.
for each hazard, making the collapsing chamber Anyone entering a cloud-filled square suffers
check first – if the first check fails the character 3d6 points of subdual damage per round from the
suffers a penalty – equal to two times the amount intense heat of the steam. A successful DC 15
of damage suffered by the falling rocks – on his Fortitude save (made each round of exposure)
check for the destroyed chamber hazard. reduces the damage to half.
A steam vent can be capped, though if it is
STEAM VENTS (CR 2) the underground pool’s only release the cap will
be blown off within 2d4 hours. Capping a steam
Natural stalagmites sitting atop underground
pools of boiling water, steam vents form when vent requires a heavy rock or other object that can
the pressure beneath grows so powerful that is be wedged into the opening. Capping a vent is a
blasts the top off of the stalagmite at which point full-round action.

Fogs, Fungi, Mold, and Slime

Expanding on the selections found in A Dozen to a point that it is no longer resembles a door. Fire
Dungeon Hazards, the following eight entries can damage of any type completely destroys a patch of
be used when your players begin to get comfort- door moss.
able with the hazards typically encountered in your
dungeons. There’s nothing more rewarding than
watching a player that feels he knows everything
DOPPLEGANGER
about your campaign stumble into trouble as he MOLD (CR 7)
disregards the gray cloud of fog that fills the next The unholy melding of a patch of yellow mold
room. that has slain an unsuspecting doppleganger, this
mold is found in only the deepest levels of dun-
DOOR MOSS (CR –) geons and natural caverns. Doppleganger mold,
when encountered in its natural form, appears as a
This dark brown and gray moss that grows up
grayish growth that clings to the floor, often grow-
a wall appears – from a distance – as a common
ing over dead plants or the rotting remains of a
wooden doorway. From a distance of 30-feet a DC
small animal or creature. Doppleganger mold is
25 Spot check is required to identify the moss as a
rarely seen in this form, entering it only after it has
hazard, otherwise the potential victim sees the
not detected a living character or creature for 72-
patch of moss as a door. The DC decreases by 4 for
hours. In this form, doppleganger mold is harm-
every 5-feet closer to the moss that the adventurer
less.
moves.
The form in which doppleganger mold is most
Door moss has no destructive capabilities of its
frequently seen – and the form in which it is a dan-
own. Instead, cruel dungeon designers place patch-
ger to unsuspecting adventurers – is as a small ani-
es of door moss at the end of long, twisted corri-
mal or object. Like a mimic, a patch of dopple-
dors in an attempt to lure intruders into a mechan-
ganger mold changes its color and shape to resem-
ical or magical trap, usually hidden behind the
ble any object or creature that has come into con-
moss with a trigger set about 15-feet out. If left
tact with the mold in the past. Anyone approaching
unchecked for more than a week door moss grows
within 10-feet of a typical 5-foot patch of dopple-

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www.roninarts.com A Dozen More Dungeon Hazards

ganger mold when it is in this form activates the fog has formed around. Example: An ancient red
mold which automatically spews forth a cloud of dragon’s fog would inflict 7d10 points of dam-
poisonous spores. All within 10 feet of the mold age and have a CR of 5.
must make a DC 15 Fortitude save or take 1d6
points of Constitution damage. Another DC 15
Fortitude save is required 1 minute later – even
HARMONIC LICHEN
by those who succeeded on the first save – to (CR +1, SEE TEXT)
avoid taking 2d6 points of Constitution damage. This white growth hangs from cave and dun-
Fire destroys doppleganger mold. geon ceilings and grows slowly down surround-
Seeing a patch of doppleganger mold for ing walls and stalactites and, in rare cases, reach-
what it is requires a DC 35 Spot check when at a es the floor where it begins to slowly spread out-
distance of 20 feet. The DC decreases by 4 for ward. Harmonic lichen only forms near a large
every 5-feet closer to the mold that the adventur- patch of harmonic mushrooms (see A Dozen
er moves. Dungeon Hazards), even though the destructive
sonic blast unleashed by a patch of harmonic
DRACONIC mushrooms typically destroys all other hazards
around it.
FOG (CR 3*) A 5-foot square patch of harmonic lichen is,
This dark red-colored fog is a near-symbiot- by itself, harmless. The lichen’s true strength is in
ic hazard found only in the lairs of red dragons acting as a reverberating device for the sonic
that are of a mature age (or older). Draconic fog blast of a patch of harmonic mushrooms – the
forms from the melding of the breath of a red damage caused by a harmonic mushroom’s sonic
dragon and the dragon’s great treasure trove, the blast is increased by +1d6 for every patch of har-
fog slowly growing until it completely covers monic lichen within 25-feet of the mushrooms. A
the dragon’s treasure chamber, the dark reddish patch of harmonic lichen increases the CR of
haze suspended just a few feet above the harmonic mushrooms in the area by +1 to CR 4.
ground. Draconic fogs are rare, encountered in Fire completely destroys a patch of harmonic
only one out of every thirty dragon’s lairs, and lichen. A patch of harmonic lichen cannot survive
few adventurers ever find themselves forced to if the mushrooms it was created by are destroyed.
contend with a draconic fog.
A typical patch of draconic fog appears as a
40-ft. square, two-feet above the ground and
HELLISH FOG (CR 4)
Existing where a tear has appeared, opening
only three feet thick. Entering a patch of dra- to the elemental plane of fire, a hellish fog is a
conic fog forces DC 20 (+2 for each age catego- dark gray cloud of superheated steam that ran-
ry beyond mature of the dragon that the fog has domly unleashes blasts of fire. The size of the
formed around) Reflex save as the fog suddenly planar tear determines the size of the hellish fog,
springs into a blast of searing flame, much like though the largest patch ever encountered cov-
that of the red dragon from which the fog was ered a 50-foot square area. A character or creature
born. If the save succeeds the fog has no effect standing inside a patch of hellish fog at any time
on the character or creature that entered the fog suffers 1d4 points of fire damage each round.
patch. If the check fails, the victim is subjected Each round that a character or creature is
to a terrible, burning flame that inflicts 4d10 within 10-feet of a patch of hellish fog there is a
(+1d10 for each age category beyond mature of 20% chance that the fog will erupt, spreading
the dragon that the fog has formed around) great bursts of flame. Anyone within 10-feet of –
points of fire damage A patch of draconic fog or directly in a patch of – the hellish fog when
can be dissipated harmlessly with gust of wind this occurs suffers 8d6 points of fire damage; a
or a similar spell. DC 15 Reflex save reduces the damage to half.
*The CR of a patch of draconic fog is Repairing the planar tear is the only thing that can
increased by +1 for every two age categories destroy a patch of hellish fog.
(round up) beyond mature of the dragon that the

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www.roninarts.com A Dozen More Dungeon Hazards

PIT MUSHROOMS SPECTRAL SLIME (CR

(CR 2) 5)
These gray, stone-colored mushrooms are This bright blue, almost-translucent slime is
quite large, many growing to fill a 20-ft. or even sometimes formed when a spectre or ghost is
30-ft. cube, all of which – excluding the mush- destroyed on a material plane world. A patch of
room’s top – is buried deep beneath the ground. A spectral slime radiates an unnatural aura that
pit mushroom grows to suit its surroundings, affects animals that come within 30-feet of the
changing color and texture to match the sur- slime; the animals refuse to willingly approach
rounding cavern or dungeon. A DC 20 Spot check closer to a patch of spectral slime. Like most
is required to notice a pit mushroom. slimes, a patch of spectral slime clings to walls,
Any character or creature that enters any floors, and ceilings in patches, reproducing as it
square in which a pit mushroom exists must consumes victims’ levels. The slime drops from
make a DC 20 Reflex save or fall into the mush- walls and ceilings when it detects movement (and
room’s soft, damp body as the top instantly possible food) below.
breaks away. Due to the spongy, soft nature of Living creatures that come into contact with
the pit mushroom the fall inflicts only half dam- a single 5-foot square of spectral slime gain two
age but for every round a character or creature is negative levels and one additional negative level
inside the pit mushroom it suffers 1d4 points of for each additional round that they remain in con-
damage as the mushroom’s internal acids eat tact with the spectral slime. The DC is 15 for the
away at its victim, rapidly consuming flesh. 10 Fortitude save to remove a negative level. For
points of fire damage per 5-foot square of the pit every three negative levels bestowed a spectral
mushroom’s size are required to completely slime grows in size by one 5-foot square.
destroy the hazard. On the first round of contact, the slime can be
Less dangerous pit mushrooms, virtually scraped off a creature but after that it must be
identical to those described above but without the frozen, burned, or cut away (dealing damage to
acid attack, have been encountered in the past the victim as well). Anything that deals cold, fire,
(CR 1). or holy damage, or a remove disease spell
destroys a patch of spectral slime. Spectral slime
PLANAR has no effect against wood or metal.

MUSHROOMS (CR –)
Growing in patches of thousands, planar
mushrooms are small, silver-colored growths that
completely dominate the corner of a dungeon or
cavern room in which they grow. A typical patch
of planar mushrooms covers a 10-foot square
area.
Unlike most hazards, planar mushrooms do
not cause direct damage to any characters or crea-
tures that come within the mushroom’s area of
influence. Instead, there is a 15% chance that
anyone coming within 10-feet of a patch of pla-
nar mushrooms will be automatically transported
to a random plane or demiplane – planar mush-
rooms are a natural, chaotic type of planar gate.
Standing in a patch of the mushrooms increases
the chance of being transported away to 25%.
Fire destroys a patch of planar mushrooms.

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