D&D 5E Mage Hand and Trap Avoidance

[Reynard]

You knew what the trap was before the party got to it.
You could have either not used the trap or replaced it with a different trap.
The party was just responding to what they encountered. If you are familiar with the parties dynamics, you knew that they would have used mage hand.
If it was a kobold and they just stabbed it, is that a boring use of an attack?
Mage hand was the hammer they had to deal with the nail that was the trap.

Maybe I don't know what it is you are trying to convey.
Is this another one of those "man i hate D&D but i love it so much" type things?
Are there other systems that do traps better?
Were like 100 years into 5e....everyone knows you can't hurt a party with 3 dragons, a sharknado and the flu at once, let alone a gas trap.

I said in the OP this was a rant and that I was running a prewritten adventure. I don't know what more you want.

 

[grimmgoose]

Ooooh if you hate that, wait until they get arcane eye.

It just kills dungeon exploration. Had a player use it to map out an entire dungeon, and then afterwards he said, "this kinda feels like I'm cheating".

I don't think it's cheating, but it is incredibly boring. Why is this spell in the game?

 

[Reynard]

Ooooh if you hate that, wait until they get arcane eye.

It just kills dungeon exploration. Had a player use it to map out an entire dungeon, and then afterwards he said, "this kinda feels like I'm cheating".

I don't think it's cheating, but it is incredibly boring. Why is this spell in the game?

The same wizard player is already doing the "send the familair 100 feet ahead" schtick. That is going to go bad eventually.

But this campaign is a sandbox so it isn't like dungeons are going to be the only thing they do. I will be a little more circumspect about the adventures/locations I put in, though.

 

[KYRON45]

I said in the OP this was a rant and that I was running a prewritten adventure. I don't know what more you want.

I don't want anything.
I'm interpreting what you wrote and responding to it.
It's a lame trap. I agree. I think traps are lame in general. BUT.....you used it. The party responded to it with the tools they had within the rules framework as it is. DMs need to prepare not only for what the advuture outlines, but also for how the party reacts.

I 100% agree that all pre-written adventures need some work.
WE have to custom tailor what we are doing to make it do what we need. There is NO way an adventure designer can anticipate ALL possible outcomes from everyone who ever plans to use their material.

Do you want me to say: Yeah that trap was terrible and mage hand just ruins everything...who reads pre-written material to prepare? Psht....(enter publishers name here) screwed us again with shoddy work.

I'm just ranting too now. Were all volunteers here.

 

[Reynard]

There is NO way an adventure designer can anticipate ALL possible outcomes from everyone who ever plans to use their material.

That isn't even a little bit what this is about.

I'll reiterate:

Traps that can be resolved with Mage Hand are garbage.

 

[TiQuinn]

I 100% agree that all pre-written adventures need some work.
WE have to custom tailor what we are doing to make it do what we need. There is NO way an adventure designer can anticipate ALL possible outcomes from everyone who ever plans to use their material.

Do you want me to say: Yeah that trap was terrible and mage hand just ruins everything...who reads pre-written material to prepare? Psht....(enter publishers name here) screwed us again with shoddy work.

I think that's a cop out at this point. Designers who have been working on D&D adventures for awhile should definitely know that a basic trap disarmed via mage hand is both expected, and boring, and they should be striving to do something different.

Of course experienced DMs know that they have to modify adventures, but why do we have to do it ALL the time? Is it too much to ask for some work on the part of the designer to provide something a little more original?

 

[Reynard]

It might actually be interesting to have a benchmark list of what 10 points of force can actually accomplish. How much does a treasure chest lid weigh? How much force does turning a doorknob take? Can you pluck a hair with 10lbs of force?

 

[KYRON45]

That isn't even a little bit what this is about.

I'll reiterate:

Traps that can be resolved with Mage Hand are garbage.

I've agreed with you on this more than once.
Are you just looking for people to agree with you or did you want a conversation and maybe some advice or general commentary?
That's the part of this that i must not be getting.

Boring traps are boring and boring players are boring and boring spells are boring.
But as a DM i can honestly say that boring DMs that present boring players with boring traps knowing that they will use a boring spell to overcome the obstacle might also be boring.

Sometimes we play the game and sometimes the game plays us.

 

[Retreater]

Traps that can be resolved with Mage Hand are garbage.

MOST traps are garbage.

If you're talking about a tripwire across the floor that fires a hidden bolt that might hit a character and do 4 points of damage, you know, the easiest thing to do is just ignore that. I've run published adventures for years and didn't have the time or inclination to edit them too much. Also, I wouldn't have the time to keep running "non-challenges" for the group.

To me, it's not just that they found an easy way to bypass a challenge. That, by itself, is awesome and clever. It's when it is used over and over again that it ceases to be awesome or clever. At that point, either cut out those challenges or make the repeated method stop working.

If you're going to keep the bland traps, combine them with combat encounters. That way your wizard has to choose between mage hand to disarm the trap OR blasting the goblin with a firebolt.

 

[KYRON45]

It might actually be interesting to have a benchmark list of what 10 points of force can actually accomplish. How much does a treasure chest lid weigh? How much force does turning a doorknob take? Can you pluck a hair with 10lbs of force?

And you feel all of that should be taken into account and provided for in an adventure? I don't buy adventures so you're probably right.
We play the game differently.