IamTheTest
First Post
My PCs are going to be facing some traps soon, Im just not sure what kind yet. What are your favorite kinds of traps?
Describe your favorite traps
- Thread starter IamTheTest
- Start date
ZSutherland
First Post
I'm not fond of the way traps are presented in the DMG. They are considered encounters, but they're short, completely mechanical, and rather binary. By that I mean, they either find and disable the trap or it springs on them. As long as they survive it, they get the xp for the encounter, even if they don't seem to learn anything from it. Also, I hate how badly it slows down the game if they're making search checks every 5 feet.
As such, I prefer puzzle/riddle traps, preferably with multiple solutions. I've used traps where the PCs must answer a riddle etched into the base of a statue or it becomes animated and attacks them. Either the correct answer or the destruction of the statue opens the next door. It sounds Zelda-ish, but block puzzles can be fun. Set up a room where the PCs must arrange objects into a certain order or shape by pushing them in the right order, or inserting them into holes in the wall properly. Use a pressure plate on the wall or floor that resets everything but also has a nasty effect, like filling the room with a foot of water, mimmicking a summon monster spell, or steal a mechanical trap from the DMG as a penalty for reset.
These sorts of traps allow all the players to be involved instead of just the rogue and while they potentially slow up the game as much as the listed traps, at least it's time they spend talking instead of making endless search checks.
Good luck,
Z
As such, I prefer puzzle/riddle traps, preferably with multiple solutions. I've used traps where the PCs must answer a riddle etched into the base of a statue or it becomes animated and attacks them. Either the correct answer or the destruction of the statue opens the next door. It sounds Zelda-ish, but block puzzles can be fun. Set up a room where the PCs must arrange objects into a certain order or shape by pushing them in the right order, or inserting them into holes in the wall properly. Use a pressure plate on the wall or floor that resets everything but also has a nasty effect, like filling the room with a foot of water, mimmicking a summon monster spell, or steal a mechanical trap from the DMG as a penalty for reset.
These sorts of traps allow all the players to be involved instead of just the rogue and while they potentially slow up the game as much as the listed traps, at least it's time they spend talking instead of making endless search checks.
Good luck,
Z
John Morrow
First Post
IamTheTest said:
The best trap design I've seen was in the Hackmaster adventure Little Keep on the Borderlands (though it might have appeared elsewhere). Basically, goblins have sections of floor that are strong enough to support a golbin but not strong enough to support heavier humans and other creatures. What makes this design so great is that it's something that the goblins can largely ignore in their day to day life but which will catch unwary PCs and makes a lot of sense. In the adventure, the trap is marked, in goblin, with a warning that they should cross the area one at a time (so they don't trigger the trap with more weight). That gives the PCs a clue that something is up if they pay attention. Not easy to assign a CR to, though.
Another good trap is to include a lever at each end of a hallway. The PCs need to decide whether the level sets the trap or unset is. It's always interesting if the objective is for the PCs not to pull the lever. Again, this is something that the inhabitants can live their life around without having to worry about trapping themselves
Two that managed to snag my players were a simple covered pit trap in an otherwise untrapped tomb (they let down their guard) and a Symbol of Pain with a curtain over it (open the curtain or look at the symbol and it triggers). The latter is another one of those cases where the goal is to leave well enough alone.
Dark Dragon
Explorer
Grimtooth's Book of Traps is really worth a study.
My favorite from that book: The turning hallway...put a Black Pudding in the lower cavern and a death Tyrant (with antimagic eye, of course) in the upper cavern...(the players learned that a normal, unmagic torch still has its use...unless it is not stored in a bag of holding that is useless in an antimagic field)
Also quite nasty: Pit and Rock...PC falls into a pit (with poisoned spears or the like), Rock falls from the ceiling - into the pit. And each round the rock deals damage (some d6, depending on rock size).
Yep. I'm evil.![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
My favorite from that book: The turning hallway...put a Black Pudding in the lower cavern and a death Tyrant (with antimagic eye, of course) in the upper cavern...(the players learned that a normal, unmagic torch still has its use...unless it is not stored in a bag of holding that is useless in an antimagic field)
Also quite nasty: Pit and Rock...PC falls into a pit (with poisoned spears or the like), Rock falls from the ceiling - into the pit. And each round the rock deals damage (some d6, depending on rock size).
Yep. I'm evil.
DragonSword
First Post
My favourite trap is in the TSR Book of Tricks and Traps. It's a door that, if you open it, has a fist attached to it that punches the opener in the chest and then closes the door. The only way to disable the trap is to knock first.
You'd be surprised...
You'd be surprised...
From Dragon 174, a pit where the bottom narrows to the point a medium sized creature is trapped. Add a murder hole above with flaming oil or acid and scratch off one high level PC. As a varient, I would make a space beneath the narrow section filled with vipers. They can kill any small creatures falling in as well as bite the feet and legs of those stuck.
MrFilthyIke
First Post
My faveorite trap is the RPG sale, that always lure me to part with my cash :\
