Dungeon Dressing: Portcullises
Portcullises are imposing obstacles for adventurers. Their grid-like construction offers a glimpse of what lies beyond while providing defenders a powerful position from which to strike at interlopers.
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Major Features
The portcullis is linked to a twin further along the passageway. When one opens, the other shuts.
Intricate filigree panels depicting fauna and flora fill the portcullis’s apertures. The pictures may provide clues as to what creatures and monsters lurk beyond.
Glittering crystals are embedded in the portcullis. The crystals function like a hypnotic pattern when exposed to light.
Many worn copper coins are welded to the portcullis.
The iron portcullis is made from magnetised ore.
Semi-precious stones are mounted into the heads of the nails and rivets that bind the portcullis. (The stones are worth a total of 300 gp).
The bars of the portcullis are made from the links of thick ship’s chains.
The portcullis’s mechanism is in reverse; when opened it sinks into the floor.
Constructed from a strange wood the portcullis oozes sap which is poisonous to touch.
The portcullis’s horizontal bars make a concentric square which meets in the centre.
The portcullis’ mechanism has failed while it is in the down position; it cannot be raised (except through brute strength).
A large brass bull’s head motif decorates the portcullis.
The portcullis’s lever mechanism is oversized and requires a special key to operate.
Each second vertical bar is shorter and topped with an eagle-shaped finial.
Vicious spikes protrude from the front of the portcullis.
The portcullis has an array of solid wooden shutters, which can be opened independently of one another.
Delicate slivers of multi-coloured glass forming a beautiful mosaic of a prince riding a griffon fills this portcullis’s grid.
The portcullis has a large aperture set in its centre through which a ballista can be fired. A loaded ballista stands beyond ready to fire. Five more bolts lie on the floor near the ballista.
The portcullis is crafted from cold iron and decorated with flame-like engravings.
The portcullis’s mechanism does not make a sound when the barrier is raised or dropped.
Minor Features & Dressing
Two sets of manacles and chains are attached to the portcullis. Dried blood mars the manacles.
A knight in crumpled armour and dented helmet has his head stuck between the portcullis’ bars.
This partially raised portcullis is wedged open by the body of someone who tried to crawl underneath it.
A pair of spiked gauntlets grasps the bars of the portcullis; bony hands yet remain within.
Lying sundered and smashed, the portcullis has been torn from its housing and left crumpled in front of where it once stood.
A hole has been burrowed through the wall to the side of the portcullis.
This portcullis’s lifting mechanism has been sabotaged and no longer functions. It can only be lifted through brute strength.
The portcullis is half lowered.
Several severely maimed, and comprehensively looted, corpses lie crushed beneath the portcullis.
A porcelain and glass wind chime hangs from the portcullis.
The acrid odour of troll stench billows through the portcullis’s bars.
A dead ogre lies in front of the portcullis; numerous arrows pierce her body.
The portcullis is dripping with a pale yellow, odourless ooze-like substance.
Parts of the portcullis are encrusted with mineral salts and calcium deposits.
The portcullis is breached in the centre; halfling and smaller creatures may squeeze through the gap.
The portcullis radiates evocation magic.
The portcullis is partially raised and is propped open by two large (but sadly empty) metal-bound chests.
A set of tiny bloody footprints and the drag marks of a large object lead up to the portcullis.
A makeshift ram lies before this rent portcullis.
The portcullis has been lifted from its housing and lies on the ground. A muscular human man—crushed into little more than pulp and gore lies beneath.
Credit
This is a short system-neutral extract from GM’s Miscellany: Dungeon Dressing. The book is available in 5e, System Neutral and Pathfinder 1 editions. The OSR edition will be available in early 2023.
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