How do you use traps?

[Ry]

I try to make traps part of something else. Like a set of traps connected to some levers that are part of a puzzle, or a bunch of pits that make a fight with goblins more interesting. Which is to say, basically, I try to make my traps TRAPs (see sig).

 

[Graybeard]

I don't use traps very often. When I do, they are in an area that makes sense for a trap and they are not deadly (except for perhaps 1st level). An occasional door, chest, etc. Most of the time, I use illusionary walls and basic traps designed to slow down the party. One trap I used in a cave was a greasy area in the center of a sloped floor. Failed reflex save sends you down the slope and into a cage.

 

[WhatGravitas]

The rogue missing the trap and somebody getting hit 1d8 spears doing +10 attacks for 1d8 damage... I dunno. Not exiting enough.

I like these traps... during a battle with skeletons!

To elaborate: Traps are really fun, if you put them mid-battle, probably one-sided. And it makes sense, verisimilitude-wise: If the evil lich can raise some skeletons and put them in a room with the command "destroy puny mortals", then it'd make sense to put some spear traps in the room - if the skeletons trigger them, no loss, if the puny mortals trigger them... fun!

Cheers, LT.

 

[Jhaelen]

It seems to me that most traps are impractical or illogical in most dungeons - they're added to give the rogue something to do, or to eat up some of the party's resources.

Yup, exactly.

Personally, I try to set up dungeons that make sense regardless of whether or not PCs ever come by to rob the place.

Exactly what I do - if I bother to place traps at all.

Take, for instance, the room in Indiana Jones and the Temple of Doom with the lowering spiked wall and the spikes shooting up from the floor. [...] While I want interesting traps, I want them to be in the dungeon for a purpose, not just to show off how neat a trap it is.

I doubt there's any way to justify that kind of traps in any logical way. They get their 'wow-factor' from the very fact they're totally illogical. It's just like those endlessly complicated mouse-traps that rely on chains of weird domino-effects that are so fascinating to many people but are obviously completely impracticable.

So... how do folks use traps in their games?

Very sparingly, only the most basic traps that are cheap to create, easy to maintain and easy to evade by the place's inhabitants.
Their main purpose is typically to alarm the inhabitants to the intruders' presence or to be used dynamically when a combat is already underway.

 

[Whisper72]

Well, since traps are built to keep people away from something, that is what I use traps for.

Magical traps and wards when the current residents are still alive.

Mechanical traps on vaults of tombs, where the only other encounters will be with constructs or (relatively) mindless undead which are specifically placed there to be guardians, preferably in conjunction with traps.

In the wilderness, I also use traps used to delay or entrap prey.

 

[wedgeski]

I have Rogues with insane Search skills, and a party which is quite thorough in its exploration of your average dungeon. Thusly, I use traps, although I like to make them multi-part, complex-challenge-type affairs. I also have a Rogue/Wizard PC in one of my games, so magical traps that stretch his combined expertise to the limit are great fun.

One thing I have never liked is the idea that a trap has a CR and is worth fixed XP. Simple traps, if I use them, never do. Complex ones which require several die rolls and -- ideally -- contributions from the rest of the party, I still award XP for, but on an ad-hoc basis.

 

[Nailom]

I use traps that're more like riddles than actual traps. Easy to find, big and hard to come around.

 

[delericho]

So... how do folks use traps in their games?

Sparingly. When I do use traps, I prefer the 'encounter traps' as described in Dungeonscape to the 'regular' traps from the DMG. Too often, the latter are either simply found and disarmed by the Rogue, or not found, do their damage, and healed after. Either way, they're a bit dull.

When I do use traps, though, I generally do make them deadly, though. They tend to either be fairly obvious (see below) or non-instantaneous, but I have no qualms about them killing off PCs who aren't prepared/lucky/smart.

How do you add interesting traps to a dungeon while still providing a reason for that trap to be in the dungeon?

Start by considering who built the dungeon. This will determine whether there should be traps, and of what form. Consider also the current occupants, if different. (Perhaps the lair was built by Orcs, which suggests few traps, but has been taken over by Kobolds, which suggests lots of sneak snares, spikes, pits and narrow tunnels.)

This gives you versimilitude.

Then, think of the cool visuals, cool effects, and other such things that you'd really like to spring on the PCs. This builds the core mechanics of the trap. Then, determine where and how it will be hidden, and what clues (if any) you should give.

Be sure to give some thought about whether it should be possible for the dungeon inhabitants to get past the trap, and how they would go about doing that. Consider also whether they have young who might accidentally wander into the trap... and whether the adults would actually care.

What sort of traps have you found most and least effective (not necessarily from a 'Tricked the party' standpoint, but from a 'This was really fun and made sense' standpoint)?

One thing I've done a couple of times is make the trap really obvious, but force the PCs to run the gauntlet anyway, by engaging them in combat at the same time, or imposing a strict time limit that makes the question of whether to disarm the trap or not something they have to consider.

Also quite fun are traps that smart PCs can use to their advantage - activating the scything blade just as the Orge charges, or what have you.

 

[Nifft]

As a big "don't go there" sign. I once threw some in just for kicks, and the PCs never went past the first one. They're really scared of traps I guess.

So when they ask about robbing a dragon-bank, they hear, "Yeah, the dragon's a fearsome foe, and the vault is a death-trap." So they don't rob dragon-banks. :\

In other words: mostly, I don't.

Cheers, -- N

 

[blargney the second]

I use traps as encounter areas that monsters use to their advantage. Adventurers fall into the trap, then when they're about half in and half out, baddies come a-running. They're usually pretty exciting encounters.