D&D General Is this a fair trap?

[pemerton]

I've sblocked the trap description:

Spoiler

A room contains a 10' cube pit in its centre, with a rope stretched taut between a ring in the bottom of the pit, and a narrow hole in the ceiling through which the rope passes.

There is treasure scattered on the bottom of the pit.

The pit is in fact filled with a Gelatinous Cube (which the PCs can't see either because the GM rules it is naturally invisible, and/or because it has an Invisibility spell cast on it).

The rope is covered in chemicals that (i) protect it from being dissolved by the Cube, and (ii) render it highly flammable. This (ii) becomes relevant should the PCs try to burn the Cube once they discover it (which may be a particularly attractive tactic because it is hard to attack the cube when it's down in the pit), because the rope is in fact supporting a large stone block that sits in the ceiling above the pit (by passing through a hole in the middle of the block, over a hook/pulley that hangs from the true ceiling above the block, and then splits or is knotted into four strands which run to each corner of the block, thereby suspending it).

If the rope burns, the block falls and splats the Cube over everyone, paralysing them. And on top of the block is a Yellow Mould which releases its deadly spoors if subject to a violent fall.

And here's the source:

Spoiler

Roger Musson, in Best of White Dwarf Articles v 1, p 41 (I don't know which number of the magazine it was first published in; but it's late 70s or maybe 1980).

 

[Lanefan]

Heh - any trap that involves one of those critters is fine by me! I love those things!

That said, it's a nasty trap. Grimtooth would be proud. Further notes under the spoily tag...

Spoiler

If a party was cautious enough to look carefully down the pit I'd give them a chance to notice something odd about the perspective (due to light distorting through the 'Cube; I wouldn't make it invisible per se but it wouldn't have any half-digested bits floating in it); and if they were cautious enough to sniff carefully I'd give them a decent chance of noticing an odd smell (either from the chemicals on the rope or from the 'Cube itself) Never mind the odds are extremely high that anyone jumping out to the rope to use it as a means of getting down into the pit will notice the chemicals.

That the pit is only 10' deep, meaning the 'Cube fills the whole thing, makes the trap fair; once the 'Cube is discovered it's defenseless, and the party can just chop it up with melee weapons while fairly easily retrieving anyone who it paralyzed. If the pit was, say, 30' deep it'd be different; their only means of defeating the 'Cube would be either missile fire or burning fire, never mind how much harder it'd be to retrieve anyone who got paralyzed down there while going for the treasure.

 

[clearstream]

I've sblocked the trap description:

Spoiler

A room contains a 10' cube pit in its centre, with a rope stretched taut between a ring in the bottom of the pit, and a narrow hole in the ceiling through which the rope passes.

There is treasure scattered on the bottom of the pit.

The pit is in fact filled with a Gelatinous Cube (which the PCs can't see either because the GM rules it is naturally invisible, and/or because it has an Invisibility spell cast on it).

The rope is covered in chemicals that (i) protect it from being dissolved by the Cube, and (ii) render it highly flammable. This (ii) becomes relevant should the PCs try to burn the Cube once they discover it (which may be a particularly attractive tactic because it is hard to attack the cube when it's down in the pit), because the rope is in fact supporting a large stone block that sits in the ceiling above the pit (by passing through a hole in the middle of the block, over a hook/pulley that hangs from the true ceiling above the block, and then splits or is knotted into four strands which run to each corner of the block, thereby suspending it).

If the rope burns, the block falls and splats the Cube over everyone, paralysing them. And on top of the block is a Yellow Mould which releases its deadly spoors if subject to a violent fall.

And here's the source:

Spoiler

Roger Musson, in Best of White Dwarf Articles v 1, p 41 (I don't know which number of the magazine it was first published in; but it's late 70s or maybe 1980).

Why is it "hard to attack the cube when it is down in the pit" once a party is aware of it?

 

[Shiroiken]

The description is odd enough that it should automatically give the players pause. This should trigger them looking around before interacting with anything. So long as Investigation and Perception gives them clues to it, it's perfectly fine.

 

[R_J_K75]

Its a trap, so as long as there is a chance for it to be detected, avoided, escaped or survived then its fair.

 

[Crimson Longinus]

No, it is a stupidly implausible and convoluted nonsense trap.

 

[R_J_K75]

No, it is a stupidly implausible and convoluted nonsense trap.

I don't see any group of adventurers bumbling into this. I cant imagine any scenario where the DM gets more than two sentences into describing this room before the players figure out its a trap of some kind. I prefer simpler, blatant traps that the party has no choice but to interact with. IME the more complex a trap is, the more "moving parts" it has they just end up being clunky and never work as planned.

 

[Reynard]

My favorite trap I ever employed was an elevator deathtrap. The PCs get into the elevator and pull the lever. The elevator drops just 10 feet into the shift, cutting off escape.. That action also breaks the glass holding the gelatinous cube above the elevator which proceeds to burn through the ceiling. The cube then drops into the elevator, engulfing everyone, before burning through the floor, causing everyone to fall 40 feet onto spikes.

The Aristocrats!

 

[Li Shenron]

No, it is a stupidly implausible and convoluted nonsense trap.

To me, the only nonsense would be if a trap was actually fair.

 

[R_J_K75]

I was running a group of players through Undermountain early into 3E, and designed this trap. The group came to a standard 10' x 10' corridor, I forget how long. As they all crossed the threshold the door behind them closed and locked. There were small holes visible in the ceiling which they assumed were for darts. As they cautiously proceeded they unknowingly triggered a pressure plate which released a caustic gas 2 rounds later that ate away any of their metal equipment that didn't save. All they had to do was run, but they stood there dumbfounded as their weapons and armor disintegrated. 2 out of 7 players were left without armor and weapons. Funny thing, the actual trap was the group of sword spiders waiting at the other end of the corridor.