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Message: <blockquote data-quote="MarkB" data-source="post: 3020591" data-attributes="member: 40176">The situation is too setting-dependent. Yes, as players, we know darn well that there's a good chance the lever is trapped, but in the situation as presented, is there any reason other than metagaming why this would be so?Levers are designed to be pulled to achieve some function. The only reason to trap the lever (as opposed to, say, a flagstone in front of the hidden door) is as a deliberately-sadistic "gotcha" trap.Now, many BBEGs may indeed be sadistic and favour such traps. If there's reason for the characters to think they're up against such a being as they explore the dungeon, then the trap is not unfair, it's the sort of thing they should be expecting.If, however, they don't have prior reason to expect such a thing, making the first one they encounter impossibly powerful is unfair.And in response to the "life isn't fair" comments: D&D isn't life, nor is it some kind of lesson in the world's inherent unfriendliness. It's a game, played for fun, and as such it should meet some standards of reasonable fairness.</blockquote>