Pits are a lurking danger that have spelled the doom of countless adventurers. Pits can be used to kill, injure or trap intruders, to block progress or to prevent escape. An explorer trapped in a pit with no way of getting out is at the mercy of the first creature or character to discover their predicament.

Use this list, to add pieces of interesting dressing to the pits in your dungeon! 

1. Brackish water about six inches deep fills the pit.

2. Mushrooms and fungi grow in the pit.

3. The air in the pit is musty. Mould and fungus grow on the floor and walls.

4. Bent and broken spikes jut up from the floor. Dried blood coats many of the spikes; but there are no other signs of previous victims.

5. Rubble litters the ground; treat the pit’s bottom as difficult terrain.

6. The pit’s walls are slightly moist, but are not wet enough to hinder climbers.

7. Small holes pierce the bottom few feet of the pit’s walls. They are too small for any creature larger than a cat or other tiny creature to enter.

8. Several rotting rat corpses lie about the pit.

9. A skeleton of a human male is huddled in one corner; both his legs are broken and his equipment is rusted or rotten (and worthless—although this is a good spot to place an item the characters might need later).

10. Brackish water about one-inch deep fills the pit.

11. An upturned rotting table lies at the bottom of pit.

12. Brackish water about five-foot deep fills the pit.

13. Greenish, moist slime covers the pit’s floor and walls.

14. Iron spikes—serving as a rudimentary ladder—are rammed into one wall.

15. Burnt torches lie scattered about the pit’s floor.

16. The dead, frozen remains of a large patch of brown mould covers one wall; the mould is harmless, but the temperature is slightly chilly in the pit.

17. Iron spikes—serving as a rudimentary ladder—pierce one wall. Several are loose, however; a character climbing them may fall back into the pit.

18. A single bent and rusty iron spike protrudes from one of the pit’s walls.

19. Water oozes from the pit’s walls, making climbing out harder. Mud coats the pit’s floor.

20. A high pile of rubbish and detritus fills the pit; the pile reduces falling damage by 1d6.

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The material in this article appears in Dungeon Dressing: Pits, which is available in 5e, Pathfinder 1, Pathfinder 2 and OSR editions.

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