What's up with the green hands in The Depths (Descension) Path of the GIants

[Tarkus the dog]

What's their purpose?

They are just there to damage you and take a bit of your time, other than that they serve no purpose. Maybe from a Roleplay perspective they do, trying to warn the character/player or something "wooof, we are the spooky hands and all these decorated corpses around us tells you that the path ahead is very dangerous".

I get that, but from mechanical standpoint they make no sense.

You need roughly 50 reflex to make it through unharmed ( and then you have to roll at least 7 ). What??? Might as well pump that baby to 100 for a good laugh, but I really don't expect anyone passing through that to make the save(s).

[The Rambling Midget]

It's only one save. Most parties I go with, about half make it through on their first or second try. It's not that bad.

[Hazard]

It might stop monks from just wooshing past to grab loot, or something?

I don't know the purpose but I think it's pretty funny. Humbles a party when they have to fall on their butt a few times.

[TimeAdept]

It's only one save. Most parties I go with, about half make it through on their first or second try. It's not that bad.

The triggers overlap and if you don't know (metagame) the right area to walk you can be forced into 4-6.

[Skibbles]

Sadly you can even dispel them but it'll still trigger. The text says the statues try and prevent you from moving, so I guess it's part of highlighting that an old ruin still has some power in it.

[Ecthelion]

It might be fun to put a little enigma there allowing to disable the hand.
Chars with high reflex should still be able to bypass it, but if this is implemented, something should be done about preventing passage by spamming activation of the spell (Often it ends up running in and keep going straight through the damages).