How often do you use traps?

[rawgt3]

you should use traps at least once every five seconds ...nah?!
just have a combat trapsmith PC
ta ta

 

[rawgt3]

also you don't need a dungeon crawl to have traps, you can have them out side too
nothing says hunting like a beartrap/falling net/spiked pit/avalanche!

 

[Tetsubo]

I *very* rarely run anything that looks like a dungeon crawl. I am far more likely to use a trap in a natural setting like the wilderness or a natural cave system (obviously one that is occupied). I do use them in a classic "raid the ancient tomb" or "storm the evil wizard's tower" sort of a scenario. But that doesn't happen often. I do use concealed or secret doors and passage though. Just ones that are hard to access rather than trapped.

 

[Aus_Snow]

also you don't need a dungeon crawl to have traps, you can have them out side too
nothing says hunting like a beartrap/falling net/spiked pit/avalanche!

True dat. Also, they're good for security or laughs in some dwellings, strongholds, etc. As long as you (being the owner) don't forget that they're there. Quite the embarrassing way to go, I imagine.

 

[Kylas]

Newbie DM that loves traps

I probably use traps bout 10-20% of the time. My group's rouge has a system so that speeds up play. For most doors it's: Search, listen, mirror under door (if possible). For corridors his retractable 10ft pole comes in handy. If the party is not rushed he'll scout ahead with rope around waist. Hes managed to survive so far and other than 'room is trap' he usually sets or finds my traps without wasting game time.

This doesn't mean my whole dungeon is littered but i usually have one or 2. I actually have a request. I'm really into puzzles, and riddles but I'm not too creative. Is there any website that might have interesting puzzles/riddles to integrate into your campaign instead of full dungeons or adventures.

 

[Aus_Snow]

I actually have a request. I'm really into puzzles, and riddles but I'm not too creative. Is there any website that might have interesting puzzles/riddles to integrate into your campaign instead of full dungeons or adventures.

I can't vouch for them, but here are some.

 

[MichaelK]

I'm not a big 'trap' person and I don't usually do dungeon crawls. But they do come into the game. In fact universally 100% of safes in all my games ever have been trapped... and that's about it. But the people who can afford safes love their sophisticated traps.

Generally I remember to put traps in more though when there's a rogue in the group. Otherwise I mostly forget. I've gone an entire 1-20 campaign without any traps at all as far as I remember.

 

[ejja_1]

I put my dungeon crawls together Gygax style

In other words they are rolled randomly out of the DMG.
This results in anywhere from 40 to 60% on average, with 50% of those being trapped treasure.
But I don't really do a lot of dungeon crawls, on average it's 1 out of 4 adventures involves a dungeon crawl.
In fact our last 5 adventures have been deep woods or open plains.

 

[Kmart Kommando]

My Iron Heroes players followed an enemy into an ancient temple with a bunch of traps, and as soon as they hit the entrance, they were rolling twice for searching each square. :\
It got boring pretty quick. It was the first traps in that game, after something like 20 sessions.

Needless to say, they found all the traps, except once when they forgot to check twice. Though they did set off a few trying to disarm them.

I think next time I'll use Iron Heroes' idea of traps as damage zones, instead of an object to be found and defeated. Walk into a room, and the darts start shooting out of the walls, or the blades start swinging. Save or take lots of damage, or save and take half of a lesser amount of damage...add fluff as desired.

 

[Ogrork the Mighty]

They need to make traps...

A) More interesting;

B) Scale better with level advancement;

and

C) More than just a Search/Disable Device/Reflex check.