1 see text for description of weapon

CALTROP: The caltrop is a specially crafted set of metal
spikes used to impair an opponent's movement. The spikes on a
caltrop are set in a tetrahedral pattern, so that when a caltrop is
tossed on the ground one spike will always point up. Caltrops
are scattered in the enemy's path, and when so scattered require
the foe to slow down or stop and pick out a caltrop-free
path, or have their foot/feet come down on an unseen spike.

For eah caltrop dropped in a 5-foot-square area, there is a
5% chance that an individual not on the alert for such hazards
will step on it. This chance is cumulative, so if a party being
chased through a dungeon corridor 5 feet wide stops to drop 20
caltrops in a 5-foot length of hallway, it is 100% likely that their
pursuer(s) will step on at least 1 of the dropped caltrops.

The spikes will always do damage on a successful "hit."
although this damage is adjusted by the footwear of the person
or creature stepping on the caltrop. Those weaing no footwear
of any type will take normal damage plus 1 point for each
caltrop trod upon; those wearing soft leather boots will take
normal damage for caltrops traversed; and those wearing thick
sandals or hard leather boots will subtract 1 point of damage
done by any caltrops they happen to encounter (with a minimum
of 1 point of damage taken on any single "hit"). Magic
boots (such as Boots of Elvenkind) which are made of soft
leather should be treated as hard leather for purposes of determining
damage, and any magical boots of hard leather will
enable the wearer to walk on a caltrop and take no damage (as
long as the person doesn't do something foolish like trying to
jump up and down on hte things in rapid succession, which
tends to impale the footsies). To completely avoid a chance of
receiving damage, it is required that a gruop passing the
caltrop-strewn area stop and select a safe path, a process
which requires 1 round for each 10-foot-square area passed
through (with a minimum expenditure of 1 round in any case).

Characters who want to toss caltrops all over the dungeon
should be allowed to do so, with a time requirement of 2-5
segments for each 10-foot-square-area so trapped (with a minimum
time of 1 full segment for a 5-foot-square area). It
shouldn't be too difficult for the DM to keep such activity in
check, considering the encumbrance value of each one of
these 4-inch-tall-weapons. The DM may wish to stipulate that
special precautions be taken to prevent carried caltrops from
puncturing packs. (It could be amusing to watch an unwary
party turn to flee and tromp all over their own caltrops that have
fallen through the new holes in the backpacks).

by Randy Bowman

New Weapons

Equipment

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Dragon #61

Dragon magazine