D&D General [+] TRAPS! a positive thread

[Reynard]

Seeing as how the other traps thread devolved into a heated discussion of fluid dynamics, I thought we should have a thread where we share our favorite traps -- ones we encountered, ones we designed, ones we read about, or just ones we made up right now!

The rules: be positive and fun and give positive and fun feedback. if you hate traps, or demand long calculations to be able to enjoy traps, or any of that sort of thing, this is not the thread for you, please and thank you.

I'll open with my trap from the previous thread that was one of my favorite "gotchas" against a party:

My favorite trap I ever employed was an elevator deathtrap. The PCs get into the elevator and pull the lever. The elevator drops just 10 feet into the shift, cutting off escape.. That action also breaks the glass holding the gelatinous cube above the elevator which proceeds to burn through the ceiling. The cube then drops into the elevator, engulfing everyone, before burning through the floor, causing everyone to fall 40 feet onto spikes.

I should note that this trap was in the "foyer" of the dungeon and the party pretty blithely stepped into the elevator expecting they weren't actually in the danger yet. The poor fools. But they were high enough level no one died.

 

[Dioltach]

In a d20 Modern/Future campaign, I had a button marked "Do not push this button".

Spoiler: they pushed the button.

 

[J-H]

I generally don't use traps, as they often end up as rollplay instead of roleplay.
They also are risky in that they can often be a "You rolled poorly passively and didn't see the trap, so you lose hitpoints" with no interaction opportunities.

The risk of this can lead to a bunch of stuff that I consider un-fun, where the party examines every room in exhausting detail and spends hours going down a corridor. Some people like this. I'm not one of them.

I do have one spot in my current campaign that is trapped. It is obviously trapped, and it's a multi-layered trap. This is a high level party.

Spoiler: length, and if you're fighting Aztec Aaracokra, stay out

The entry room has a trap, with an old burnt skeleton as a strong hint that HERE BE TRAPS. From there, there's a path into a hallway with a teleportation circle across the way, and then a long hall protected by the fog from Guards & Wards, 3 pressure plates that set off a lightning bolt trap that shoots all the way down the long hall, and an intersection with a compulsion trap that sends someone either down a pit to a room where an Illusory Dragon spell is triggered, or into a room with multiple Symbol spells that will go off when viewed, and which might be lethal if someone's already taken damage or rolls poorly. The lightning bolt trap can be disabled by speaking a word in a particular language related to a wheel of colors that's clearly visible from all the way down the hall IF you are keyed into the G&W so that the fog doesn't block your vision.

After reaching the end of the hall, there's more fogged hall on one end, and then a door. If you don't speak the password when entering the room, you get zapped by a Sickening Radiance trap. Then there's a Rug of Smothering and four Helmed Horrors that can attack while people are still dealing with the trap.

After that, the rest of the living area is clear.

There are multiple opportunities for interaction, for rescuing party members who are stuck or in trouble, and for folly.
The trapped area is livable, such that someone who belongs there can simply walk through it all by simply saying the same word twice based on a clear and easy to use method.
The party has the opportunity to walk away... but of course we all know they won't.

 

[Istbor]

Talking about traps just reminds me of an argument I had with my players about environmental hazards and the distinction between the two.

The outcome being that whenever one of said players mentions environmental hazards, I will groan.

 

[Cadence]

Never used it or gotten to play it, but I'll never forget this one from Dragon Magazine 83...

 

[Umbran]

Note: I edited in the common "[+]" symbol for a positive thread into the title.

 

[loverdrive]

Not exactly a trap, but it's my favorite riddle ever.

So.

There's a door. Door leads to a large room with a single giant (or lich, or god, or whatever, but it's something dangerous and powerful).

Should the players open the door and enter, giant asks them: "Who the hell are you? Turn around and leave!".

Solution? Turn around. And leave.

 

[not-so-newguy]

In a d20 Modern/Future campaign, I had a button marked "Do not push this button".

Spoiler: they pushed the button.

I... always fall for it, but first I need to do the following for about 30 minutes before I push the button, pull the lever, or yank the cord.

 

[Sacrosanct]

Having grown up in the 80s, I'm a fan of traps in dungeon crawls. The Indiana Jones era had a big influence on me lol. Two of my favorite traps from early modules were:

1. The teleportation trap in Oasis of the White Palm (I think). Where you fell down a pit which at the bottom teleported you to the top. Rinse and repeat. Forever.

2. Hidden Shrine of T. the octopus head that if someone touched it, was stuck to it as it spun in an ever increasing speed ala merry go round. Suspecting a trap, the party necromancer animated a skeleton, which touched it. And set off the trap. Fairly humorous watching a skeleton spin faster and faster, bits falling off, until it completely disintegrated and sent bone shards all across the room lol.

 

[Charlaquin]

I generally don't use traps, as they often end up as rollplay instead of roleplay.
They also are risky in that they can often be a "You rolled poorly passively and didn't see the trap, so you lose hitpoints" with no interaction opportunities.

Yeah, this leads to gameplay I find quite boring. Fortunately, this problem can be solved by doing two things:

1. Telegraph the presence of traps. Players can’t interact with traps if you don’t give them the opportunity to do so, so make sure players can determine that a trap is present from the description of the environment alone. Don’t gate this description behind a passive perception DC or make the players declare they’re looking for traps and roll to find it, just describe clues to the presence of the trap. Ideally, you want the players to catch on so they can interact with the trap. Failing that, you want them to feel like they at least could have caught on, and to be able to identify why they missed it.

2. When players do trigger a trap, give them another opportunity to interact with it. Instead of just dealing damage or telling them to make a saving throw or whatever, describe something about the trap activating - the click of the pressure plate, the twang of the trip wire, the sliding of rock on rock as a mechanism moves into place, whatever. Then let them describe what they do in reaction. Based on this description, consider changing the type of saving throw to be more appropriate to their reaction, or giving them advantage or even automatic success on the saving throw if it seems appropriate based on their reaction. Or disadvantage/automatic failure, if their reaction would actually make the trap harder to avoid.