Great puzzles/traps that you've used/been fried by...

[Anthraxus]

There was this trap on the stairs of one module I DM'ed. One of the steps was rigged so the surface of the step would break, if it was stepped on in just the right way(like a 10% chance each time someone put weight on it). The step itself was hollow, and a couple feet deep(IIRC), lined with downward and inward pointed dagger-like blades. There is a chance a character's leg gets caught, and they have to free themselves to escape. By chance, the entire party went up and down the stairs 2 or 3 times before the trap got someone, and it was a big suprise!

And totally unrelated to the trap, they were being chased by a slow moving, nigh-invulnerable monster. It was a great gaming moment, as the monster turned the corner and slowly oozed it's way down the corridor the unlucky character was trapped in.

I believe there is a similar trap in that Legends and Lairs $5 compilation book.

Fun! (But they got out of the trap though. Dang.)

-A

 

[Hypersmurf]

There was this trap on the stairs of one module I DM'ed. One of the steps was rigged so the surface of the step would break, if it was stepped on in just the right way(like a 10% chance each time someone put weight on it). The step itself was hollow, and a couple feet deep(IIRC), lined with downward and inward pointed dagger-like blades. There is a chance a character's leg gets caught, and they have to free themselves to escape.

The Stair Snare, by Mark O'Green and Edward Schoonover. Grimtooth's Traps, p29.

-Hyp.

 

[Salad Shooter]

I don't know if it was in a netbook of traps, or an adventure, or a supplement, or if it was the creation of my own mind, but there was this fun trap that was basically an acoustically perfect hallway with glass walls and small drains in the floor. Have something that prevents the PCs from exiting the hallway once they get in, and then the noise of their boots (unless their REALLY lucky) will shatter the glass walls...which are all thats holding the acid in its tank. Glub glub. FIzzzzzzzz......

 

[Hypersmurf]

Have something that prevents the PCs from exiting the hallway once they get in, and then the noise of their boots (unless their REALLY lucky) will shatter the glass walls...which are all thats holding the acid in its tank. Glub glub. FIzzzzzzzz......

It's a similar concept to "Is it the Piccolo, or is it Memorex?", by Brandon Corey. Grimtooth's Traps, p8

-Hyp.

 

[RangerWickett]

I had an acoustic trap once. The entry hallway before this room has cloth padding on the floors and ceiling, as does the door that leads on to the next chamber. When they open the door, they see a huge room, two hundred feet across, a perfect hemisphere, with intricate designs all along the walls. The room is dark, so it's impossible to see the ceiling. At the far end, they can maybe barely make out another door that looks like the exit.

When the first person steps in, they hear their footsteps loudly, and take 1d6 points of sonic damage. If they say anything to the party, they take 1d6 points of damage, possibly more if they shout it.

Usually everyone jumps out of the room and they close the door, so they can figure out how to cross the room safely. This can include Move Silently checks (DC 20), a silence spell, dimension door, etc.

If they Move Silently along, someone's gonna get hurt, because you have to make the check every 5 feet you move. But in the middle of the room they find a large key, lying on the floor.

If they use a silence spell, they discover when they reach this key that it has an antimagic field, which was triggered when they entered this room. Suddenly, they're taking damage.

If they dimension door across, they find that the door on the far side is locked with a very heavy lock, such that picking it would be nigh impossible. The keyhole is sized for a very large key.

If they are smart and cast a light spell toward the ceiling to see what's up there, they see a large bell.

The key is on a pressure plate, such that if it is moved (without an Indiana Jones-esque 'put a bag to replace it' trick), the bell activates, rocking the room with incredibly amplified noise, dealing 10d6 points of damage every round, and requiring Fort saves (DC 25) to avoid being deafened.

Oh, and just in case they get snarky and try to keep the antimagic key as a tool, the spell wears off in an hour or so, and the villains in the temple are psionic.

 

[diaglo]

you da smurf. tell em big blue.

you can also buy the cheesy Book of Challenges from WotC. not even close to Grimtooth's but it is 2000ed compatible.

 

[RangerWickett]

This one was rather setting specific, but on a giant living airship, one chamber consisted of a 100-foot high, 40-foot across cylindrical room, with a spiral staircase that went around the wall, up to a balcony at the top. Once the group started climbing up and reached about the 3/4 way mark, the living ship pulled the stairway back into the wall, and started to flood the room with digestive acid.

It was a fairly high-level game, so most people managed to either cling to the wall with insane climb checks, or cast featherfall, or grab onto a flying ally. But two people fell to the bottom, one passing out from the impact. Rescuing them proved fun.