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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Empirate" data-source="post: 5852842" data-attributes="member: 78958">I use traps very, very sparingly. Only one in three dungeons even has traps in my games, although sometimes everyday law-abiding citizens install traps on their cashboxes to deter burglars. When traps are there, I try and make them into a game-changer: if found, the dungeon suddenly becomes quite a bit easier; if not found, much of the dungeon's challenge revolves around the trap's effects.For example, a hallway rigged with poison arrow firing crossbows might have the arrows come from holes in the walls - so the walls are actually just blinds, with small crawlspaces behind. These crawlspaces, once found, can be used to navigate the entire dungeon, and maybe even circumvent difficult monster encounters. However, if the trap is not found, the poison arrows hit automatically with high-DC Str poison. That will make climbing a certain wall later on very difficult, carrying heavy loot is hard as well, and fighting... well, you know.Or in the case of a simple alarm, a) every guardpost is manned by skeleton crews (as in, minimal manpower, not undead), most of the guards are sleeping, the PCs easily get surprise rounds in every fight etc.; or b) the whole guard force is ready and in battle dress, waiting with locked and loaded crossbows behind fortifications.Or the trap splits the party, teleporting half of them to the other side of the dungeon. If found, it can possibly be rigged to teleport the whole party near the treasure vault.Or the trap constantly summons in new monsters, and once activated, cannot be turned off by any means. The monsters are summoned at random to every part of the dungeon, so the party better be quick about their business, before all the corridors are crammed with summoned beasties.This makes traps meaningful, and possibly fun to play around with. It also rewards creative players. However, don't do this all the time. It severely impacts the whole dungeoncrawl. As said above, I only use traps in about every third dungeon.</blockquote>

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