Lookout-Scrubber Control Ward | Fantasy Hazard Generated by CharGen

The hazard

The ward is designed to keep intruders away from the workshop controls, not to kill them outright. It punishes anyone who crowds the console with a sharp electrical pulse, while its clattering arms make the control station difficult to approach. The red-handled cutoff and grounding chain offer obvious, dangerous counterplay.

Complex
Mechanical
Magical
Electricity

Stealth: (expert) to notice the charged relay cage and concealed floor cutoff before the ward triggers.
Trigger: A creature enters the 15-foot emanation around the console or Interacts with the controls. The ward activates, rolls initiative, and pulses as part of its first routine.
Disable: Thievery or Crafting (expert) to Disable the relay cage or bypass its control lock. The hazard is disabled after 2 successes. Each attempt takes 2 actions. A critical failure causes an immediate pulse against the creature attempting the check.
Initiative: Perception +18
Routine: The ward takes 2 actions each round. It uses Control-Scrubbing Pulse twice, each time targeting all creatures in its emanation. It cannot pulse more than once against the same creature during a single round.
Reset: The ward resets automatically at the start of each round while powered. If disabled by damage, it can be repaired and rearmed with 2 hours of work and a successful Crafting check.

Damage

Immunities

critical hits, object immunities, precision damage

Weaknesses

electricity 10

Effects

2

Control-Scrubbing Pulse
DC 26
The hazard emits a crackling pulse in a 15-foot emanation centered on the console. Creatures in the area attempt a basic Reflex save, taking electricity damage. On a critical failure, a creature also becomes stunned 1.
Magnetic Snag
On a critical failure against the pulse, the creature's metal gear briefly catches on the ward's charged field. Until the end of its next turn, it takes a -5-foot status penalty to its Speeds.

Special rules

Proximity Trigger.The hazard is inactive until a creature enters the 15-foot emanation around the console or Interacts with the controls. It then rolls initiative and becomes active.

No Friendly Recognition.Lookouts and other creatures can move through the ward's area without triggering it if they remain outside the 15-foot emanation. The ward does not distinguish between hostile and allied creatures once active.

Spotting it

Discovery

A character who examines the console or overhead cage can detect the hazard with a Perception check.

Perception

Stop it

Signs of dangerCopper wires twitch toward nearby metal objects. · A steady sequence of three chimes comes from the console, followed by a brief blue spark. · The floor around the console is marked with scorched footprints and a faded 15-foot warning circle.

Countermeasures

DC 26A creature adjacent to the red-handled floor cutoff can Interact twice to disconnect the ward. This takes 2 actions and requires no check, but the creature must succeed at a Reflex save or take electricity damage from the exposed coupling.
DC 26A creature can use Thievery or Crafting to Disable the hazard, requiring 2 successes. Each attempt takes 2 actions and uses .
DC 28A creature can use Athletics to wrench the overhead grounding chain into the console as a 2-action activity, attempting a check. On a success, the hazard is suppressed for 1 round; on a critical success, it is disabled.

In short

Keep clear of the console's 15-foot pulse zone, use the marked floor cutoff, or disable the ward with Thievery or Crafting.

Its story

What it looks like

A waist-high brass console is ringed by black ceramic insulators and thick copper cables.

Why it is here

To keep lookouts and intruders away from the workshop controls long enough for the crew to respond.

Who made it

Workshop foreman Ilyra Venn, who designed the ward after a rival crew tried to seize the controls.

Lore

A Crafting or Arcana check identifies the cage as a proximity ward linked to the console's power relays.

Where it is found

A crowded workshop, especially one with exposed cables, overhead gantries, and a central control console.

Variants

Grounded Ward: Replace the electricity damage with sonic damage and describe the pulse as a concussive blast from pressure vents.

Foreman's Key: A keyed creature can safely Interact with the controls, but the ward still pulses against other creatures in the area.

Overloaded Relay: The pulse deals 5d8 electricity damage, but the hazard's AC and Reflex DC each decrease by 2.

Plot hooks

The foreman insists the ward is only meant to deter intruders, but a recent modification has made it pulse more often and hit harder.

A captured lookout knows the cutoff procedure but fears the crew will punish anyone who reveals it.

The console controls a machine the party needs to stop, creating pressure to disable the ward while the workshop remains active.

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