By John Grigsby, Staff Reviewer

While the Dungeon Master's Guide and, if you have them, Traps & Treachery and Traps & Treachery II offer a good assortment of traps, sometimes you need something a bit more specialized. Pharaoh's Revenge is just such a trap. It was originally designed for an adventure I put together set in an Egyptian-style setting in which the characters had to explore a trap-filled tomb. I felt that this one was particularly in the style of the adventure, and so I present it to you here.

Mechanics
CR 4; mechanical; location trigger; manual reset; DC 20 Reflex save avoids; multiple targets (all targets in a 10-foot-by-10-foot room); never misses; Search DC 20; Disable Device DC 25. Market Price: 8,800 gp.

As soon as the trapped area is entered, stone walls (540 hp; hardness 8; break DC 50) slam down on both sides and sand begins to fill the room from multiple holes in the ceiling. The constant flow of sand means that a Concentration check (DC 10) is required for any spellcasting and after 3 rounds, those trapped within are rendered unable to effectively move, as their limbs are entombed by the sand (or are extended at an angle so as to be almost useless). After 4 rounds, sand fills the entire chamber and those within begin suffocating.

Recall that a character can hold her breath for 2 rounds per point of Constitution. After this period of time, the character must make a DC 10 Constitution check in order to continue holding her breath. The save must be repeated each round, with the DC increasing by +1 for each previous success.

When the character fails one of these Constitution checks, she begins to suffocate. In the first round, she falls unconscious (0 hit points). In the following round, she drops to -1 hit points and is dying. In the third round, she suffocates.

Furthermore, until it is reset, this trap effectively blocks a corridor in which it is placed, since intruders must now pass two stone walls in order to proceed. Truly fiendish DMs may wish to rule that hacking at a stone wall will quickly ruin a weapon not specifically designed for such.

This trap proved extremely effective in the adventure I used it in, and I actually managed to catch two unwary characters. One survived, but only barely, and the other suffocated while the remainder of the party tried to break down the wall. A DM could, if desired, alter the design slightly so as to make it automatically reset (perhaps dumping the contents of the room into a large pit after a certain amount of time has passed) and could also add a bypass switch, but since this was designed as a tomb trap, I felt these elements were not necessary.