Meridian Conduit Ward | Fantasy Hazard Generated by CharGen

The hazard

This defensive array was designed to protect a vital conduit by turning its own energy into a weapon. In the encounter Stop Zaricia from breaking the conduit, it makes the battlefield a contest for position and time: the array lashes at anyone near the conduit while its unstable pulses threaten to help Zaricia finish her work.

Complex
Magical
Electricity

Stealth: (expert) to notice the concealed control filaments and subtle movement of the vanes before the ward activates; the array is visible once active.
Trigger: The ward activates when a creature damages the conduit, attempts to disable the vanes, or enters a space within 10 feet of the conduit while carrying a drawn metal weapon. Once triggered, it rolls initiative.
Disable: Three successes are required to disable the hazard. Thievery (2 actions) severs a control filament; Crafting (2 actions) stabilizes the vane assembly; or Arcana (2 actions) safely grounds a pulse. A critical success counts as two successes. A critical failure causes the hazard to immediately use Conduit Shear against the acting creature. A creature can attempt each skill only once per round.
Initiative: Perception +18
Routine: On its turn, the ward performs two actions in this order: Conduit Shear, then Feedback Surge. It uses Conduit Shear against a creature adjacent to the conduit, preferring Zaricia if she is in range, otherwise the nearest creature. Feedback Surge targets the conduit. The ward cannot use Feedback Surge if the conduit is already destroyed.
Reset: The ward resets automatically at the start of its next turn after being disabled, unless its control filaments are severed or its vanes are destroyed. A creature can spend 2 actions adjacent to the array and attempt Thievery or Crafting to keep it disabled; on a success, it remains disabled for 10 minutes.

Damage

Immunities

Critical hits, Object immunities, Precision damage

Resistances

Physical 5 (except adamantine)

Weaknesses

Cold iron 10, Electricity 10

Effects

2

Conduit Shear
DC 28
The field lashes a creature adjacent to the conduit. The target attempts a Reflex save. Critical Success: No effect. Success: electricity damage. Failure: electricity damage and the target is pushed 10 feet away from the conduit. Critical Failure: electricity damage, the target is pushed 15 feet, and it falls prone.
Feedback Surge
DC 28
The field turns toward the conduit itself. Zaricia or another creature damaging the conduit before the hazard's next turn deals an additional electricity damage to it. A creature adjacent to the conduit can spend 1 action to ground the surge with a Crafting or Arcana check; on a success, the additional damage is prevented.

Special rules

Telegraphed Pulse.The ward's routine begins on the turn after it is triggered. It can take 2 actions per turn, and its actions occur in the listed order.

Conduit Interlock.If the conduit is destroyed, the ward immediately shuts down. The conduit itself is not part of the hazard's statistics and uses its own object statistics.

Spotting it

Discovery

A creature that succeeds at a Perception check notices the vanes twitching in advance of each pulse.

Perception

+18

Stop it

Signs of dangerA dry metallic ticking speeds up whenever someone approaches the conduit. · Loose tools slowly roll toward the vanes, then snap back when the ward pulses. · The conduit emits a rising whine just before the field lashes out.

Countermeasures

DC 28Three successful Thievery checks disable the hazard. Each check requires 2 actions; a critical success counts as two successes, and a critical failure triggers a pulse.
DC 28A creature adjacent to the conduit can use 2 actions to attempt a Crafting check to brace its stabilizer. On a success, the hazard loses its next Conduit Shear action; on a critical success, it loses that action and Zaricia cannot damage the conduit with her next attack.
DC 26A successful Arcana check using 2 actions suppresses one routine action for 1 round. A critical success suppresses two actions.
The vanes can be attacked (AC 28, Hardness 12, HP 48, BT 24). Destroying them disables the hazard, but any attack that reduces them to 0 HP deals damage to the conduit.

In short

The hazard can be disabled with three successful Thievery checks to sever its control filaments, or disrupted by holding the conduit steady with a Crafting check.

Its story

What it looks like

A ring of copper vanes surrounds the conduit like the ribs of a collapsed umbrella.

Why it is here

Protect the conduit from intruders and sabotage, even at the cost of escalating danger to the conduit itself.

Who made it

The Meridian Foundry, whose engineers built the array to guard conduits against sabotage.

Lore

The Meridian Foundry built these arrays to retaliate against anyone tampering with power conduits.

Where it is found

A chamber, gantry, or industrial vault containing the conduit Zaricia is trying to break.

Variants

Grounding Cage: Replace Conduit Shear with a pull that drags a target 10 feet toward the conduit on a failed DC 28 Reflex save, leaving it grabbed until it Escapes.

Dormant Foundry Ward: The hazard is inactive until Zaricia strikes the conduit. Its first routine includes only Feedback Surge, creating a brief warning before Conduit Shear begins.

Overloaded Array: Increase Feedback Surge's bonus damage to 3d6, but each successful Crafting or Arcana check to ground it suppresses the hazard for 1 round.

Plot hooks

A foundry engineer insists the ward can be safely recalibrated, but their notes suggest the original safety interlock was removed.

The conduit carries a signal or power source that Zaricia needs for a larger ritual, and the ward's feedback may expose what she intends to do with it.

A surviving Meridian control key can disable the ward remotely, but is held by a rival faction that wants the conduit destroyed.

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