D&D 5E Mage Hand and Trap Avoidance

[Retreater]

They did not disarm it, they set it off remotely.

Hmm. So if they keep setting off traps remotely, then they find themselves blocked out of the areas they need to access, destroying treasure, alerting nearby enemies, and setting off traps that roll down the hallway to get them.
Just blindly setting off traps is a foolish way to proceed in an adventure.

 

[KYRON45]

Hmm. So if they keep setting off traps remotely, then they find themselves blocked out of the areas they need to access, destroying treasure, alerting nearby enemies, and setting off traps that roll down the hallway to get them.
Just blindly setting off traps is a foolish way to proceed in an adventure.

That would depend on the adventure, the trap and the reason for the trap in the adventure.

 

[Fanaelialae]

Again, the real issue is that Mage Hand is free. I mean, the real real issue is that the trap was a typical boring D&D trap, but the fact that bypassing it was "free" was boring and kind of a problem because the boss' loot was behind it.

It's free in terms of the adventuring day, but does have an opportunity cost (you could have taken a different cantrip).

Similarly, a 10' pole has a minor gp and encumbrance cost, but typically no cost in terms of daily resources. While the pole can be less useful than mage hand (a trap you need to be further away from) it can also be better than mage hand (a trap that requires more than 10 lbs of pressure).

Personally, I see little difference between using mage hand or basic supplies to disable simple traps. Mage hand is just another tool in the players' arsenal, which may or may not be useful depending on the particulars of the scenario.

EDIT: Just read your explanation of the trap. Since it was a trapped drawer, couldn't they just as easily have tied rope around the drawer handle and opened it from across the room?

 

[Reynard]

The simplest solution is to make traps require more then 10lbs of force to trigger. Stepping on a tile that triggers the trap for instance can easily require more then 10lbs of force to activate. Also any magic trap could in theory be programmed to not trigger off things like mage hand/unseen servant.

Also as a note if the PCs are being cautious with mage hand or 10ft poles and the like they are inherently moving slowly so you can have the enemies doing something during that time. Including gathering up all their treasure and fleeing so by the time the players get to the treasure room/vault it's been emptied.

After the Big Fight, the PCs needed a long rest and so they locked themselves in a room. They thought the whole dungeon was cleared except the one room marked DANGER and locked from the outside. They forgot about one goblin they had seen lock himself in the pantry and did not know about another.

While they rested, one goblin slipped out of the dungeon, after opening the DANGER door and letting the zombie out (which the PCs had to fight after their rest). The other goblin tried to get to the (now dead by PC) boss' treasure chest -- which was trapped. That is how they found the treasure chest, with a dead goblin twisted by rigor in front of it.

The finding the trap and examining the corpse was all fun and engaging. But the climax of popping off the trap from across the room was boring and, like I said, since mage hand is a cantrip it did not even cost the PCs anything to do it. Boring.

If I were to rewrite that trap and wanted it to matter, I think I would make opening the chest drawer caused the door to the room to slam closed and lock, and the poison gas would be enough to fill the room (rather than just the immediate space of the chest). But then, like I said, I like big complex traps that present REAL danger.

 

[Reynard]

Hmm. So if they keep setting off traps remotely, then they find themselves blocked out of the areas they need to access, destroying treasure, alerting nearby enemies, and setting off traps that roll down the hallway to get them.
Just blindly setting off traps is a foolish way to proceed in an adventure.

If I were designing an adventure from scratch, that is something I could do if I wanted to punish them. I don't want to punish them. I want them to be clever. But I don't want traps to be boring, either. So more complex things that might REQUIRE mage hand are a better choice, IMO.

 

[KYRON45]

After the Big Fight, the PCs needed a long rest and so they locked themselves in a room. They thought the whole dungeon was cleared except the one room marked DANGER and locked from the outside. They forgot about one goblin they had seen lock himself in the pantry and did not know about another.

While they rested, one goblin slipped out of the dungeon, after opening the DANGER door and letting the zombie out (which the PCs had to fight after their rest). The other goblin tried to get to the (now dead by PC) boss' treasure chest -- which was trapped. That is how they found the treasure chest, with a dead goblin twisted by rigor in front of it.

The finding the trap and examining the corpse was all fun and engaging. But the climax of popping off the trap from across the room was boring and, like I said, since mage hand is a cantrip it did not even cost the PCs anything to do it. Boring.

If I were to rewrite that trap and wanted it to matter, I think I would make opening the chest drawer caused the door to the room to slam closed and lock, and the poison gas would be enough to fill the room (rather than just the immediate space of the chest). But then, like I said, I like big complex traps that present REAL danger.

How did you want them to engage with the trap?

 

[Reynard]

How did you want them to engage with the trap?

I think you are misunderstanding me: the fact that this was a dumb boring simple trap with a one shot versus one PC is the problem. Mage hand just exacerbates it by meaning it doesn't even get to tag anyone. Mostly I blame adventure designers (even really well liked ones like the author of this adventure; no I won't tell you who) for putting in dumb simple boring traps.

 

[KYRON45]

I think you are misunderstanding me: the fact that this was a dumb boring simple trap with a one shot versus one PC is the problem. Mage hand just exacerbates it by meaning it doesn't even get to tag anyone. Mostly I blame adventure designers (even really well liked ones like the author of this adventure; no I won't tell you who) for putting in dumb simple boring traps.

You knew what the trap was before the party got to it.
You could have either not used the trap or replaced it with a different trap.
The party was just responding to what they encountered. If you are familiar with the parties dynamics, you knew that they would have used mage hand.
If it was a kobold and they just stabbed it, is that a boring use of an attack?
Mage hand was the hammer they had to deal with the nail that was the trap.

Maybe I don't know what it is you are trying to convey.
Is this another one of those "man i hate D&D but i love it so much" type things?
Are there other systems that do traps better?
Were like 100 years into 5e....everyone knows you can't hurt a party with 3 dragons, a sharknado and the flu at once, let alone a gas trap.

 

[Mannahnin]

You knew what the trap was before the party got to it.
You could have either not used the trap or replaced it with a different trap.
The party was just responding to what they encountered. If you are familiar with the parties dynamics, you knew that they would have used mage hand.
If it was a kobold and they just stabbed it, is that a boring use of an attack?
Mage hand was the hammer they had to deal with the nail that was the trap.

Maybe I don't know what it is you are trying to convey.
Is this another one of those "man i hate D&D but i love it so much" type things?
Are there other systems that do traps better?
Were like 100 years into 5e....everyone knows you can't hurt a party with 3 dragons, a sharknado and the flu at once, let alone a gas trap.

I feel like the OP answers or anticipated most of your questions. Maybe a re-read?

 

[TiQuinn]

You knew what the trap was before the party got to it.
You could have either not used the trap or replaced it with a different trap.
The party was just responding to what they encountered. If you are familiar with the parties dynamics, you knew that they would have used mage hand.
If it was a kobold and they just stabbed it, is that a boring use of an attack?
Mage hand was the hammer they had to deal with the nail that was the trap.

Maybe I don't know what it is you are trying to convey.
Is this another one of those "man i hate D&D but i love it so much" type things?
Are there other systems that do traps better?
Were like 100 years into 5e....everyone knows you can't hurt a party with 3 dragons, a sharknado and the flu at once, let alone a gas trap.

Maybe he was just running an adventure as written, didn't have time or inclination to modify this particular encounter, ran it, and was just underwhelmed?