RPG Evolution: The Pit Problem

Pits and other obstacles tell a lot about a party's power level.

Pits and other obstacles tell a lot about a party's power level.

art-6574883_1280.jpg

Picture courtesy of Pixabay.

It's the Pits

The basic concept of a pit trap is predicated on several factors. It's probably hidden (and thus potential victims don't simply walk around it). It's deep enough that falling to the bottom will hurt. And it's steep enough that it's not easy to get out of. But a party's ability to circumvent says a lot about a party's power level at a glance.

In 5th Edition Dungeons & Dragons, a party's power level can give them access to magic that easily bypass these types of traps and challenges like them (e.g., a cliff instead of a pit). Once these abilities and traits become accessible to characters, the trap is no longer an obstacle. Certain types of obstacles are therefore only a challenge for certain levels. If a party levels up mid-adventure, this can significantly change the difficulty of the game.

Of course, a party's ability to deal with these challenges are determined by the PCs' class abilities. A party composed of only fighters will have a much tougher time than one with a wizard or cleric. For the purposes of this thought experiment, we're using those two classes as a barometer for when spells become available (and thus their minimum level they get access to it).

Detecting the Pit

The best way to deal with a trap is to avoid it. Spells like clairvoyance (3rd level spell/5th level caster), arcane eye (4th level spell/7th level caster) and scrying (5th/9th) make the risks of scouting ahead trivial. They still don't reveal actual traps however; true seeing (6th/11th) addresses that. By 5th level, parties with spellcasters who are prepared can avoid most traps that rely on surprise.

Avoiding the Pit

Assuming the pit is detected, avoiding it is the next obvious step. Misty step (2nd/3rd) hops right past most obstacles, while fly (3rd/5th) speeds up movement in three dimensions. Freedom of movement (4th/7th) nullifies any trap that involves any form of restraint. This is why flight matters if it's part of a species' trait because it easily circumvents traps like this, giving 1st level characters the power of a 5th level wizard.

Surviving the Pit

Pits inflict damage in a lot of ways, the most obvious being from the fall. Feather fall (1st/1st) and enhance ability (2nd/3rd) addresses the falling itself, and a wide variety of spells deal with the aftermath to nullify the potential damage, like gaseous form (3rd/5th) or stoneskin (4th/7th). If the pit has poison spikes at the bottom, protection from poison (2nd/3rd) helps reduce the damage, while flooded pits can be addressed with water breathing (3rd/5th). Again, by 5th level most of the threats a pit pose can be nullified.

Implications for Design

Game designers don't always know what characters will face their challenges, so at best they can recommend for or against certain classes or levels. By 3rd level sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards can use misty step to jump past most traps that require walking through them. 5th level opens up movement in three dimensions for sorcerers, warlocks, and wizards with the fly spell and water breathing. By 11th level, most mechanical traps are probably not going to work against PCs who are prepared. This doesn't mean that the entire party can benefit from these spells, that the party has enough spell slots to address the problem, or that they even prepared the right spells to begin with.

Game masters also need to be aware of these power jumps. As characters level up, their access to certain spells can significantly change how challenging an encounter is. What might be a problem in one encounter could be a breeze in the next.

Spells themselves have limitations. As one of my players pointed out, the fly spell requires concentration, so if the warlock who cast it was knocked unconscious it could be disastrous for the other two flying party members. Spells can be countered and dispelled, which could be brutal for PCs deep underwater when their water breathing spell fails.

In a level-based game like D&D, magic is part of how the game works. But it's also what separates adventurers from mere mortals who have to spot, jump, and climb out of pits.
 

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Michael Tresca

Michael Tresca

Stormonu

NeoGrognard
Some pit trap ideas
  • Pit traps with enhanced gravity
    • Gravity extends above the pit trap X meters
    • Gravity extends out from the pit trap X meters
  • Black holes disguised as pit traps
  • Pit trap with tentacled denizen that likes to grab people
  • Pit trap in a wall that changes gravity to run horizontal to ground
  • Pit that's not a trap, but instead where you've got to go for something wicked cool. But unfortunately, the secret door only opens once the spikes at the bottom have tasted blood - lots of blood (ie, at least 25+HP worth of blood)

Also @talien loved that image, I spent 30+ seconds just staring at it 😵‍💫
Don't forget the ever classic, open 10' pit, with an illusion/cover over the real pit just past the open one. <Edit: Dangit @TaranTheWanderer , you beat me to the punch>

Similarly, the open pit trap with nearby planks of wood for crossing - that have been cleverly notched or weakened so they snap when the party is half-way over.

Also, I think my all-time favorite is the one in White Plume, where the preceding floor/wall/ceiling is frictionless.
 

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Lanefan

Victoria Rules
My favourite is a pit trap that's actually the top of a greased chute that sends the victims down to the next dungeon level, spitting them out through a one-way door into a cage or similar. I've used this a few times, and the result every time has gone like this:

1. One or two victims go down the chute trap.
1a. Something minor attacks the victims at the bottom to keep them busy.
2. Remaining people at the top send someone down by rope or flight, who then realizes there's more to this than a simple pit.
3. People at the top have a tough decision to make: whether to carry on where they are or to intentionally go down the chute.

It's that decision in point 3 that makes it worthwhile for me. I've seen it go both ways - some parties have reconvened at the bottom of the chute while others have remained split.
 

Celebrim

Legend
Some pit trap ideas
  • Pit traps with enhanced gravity
    • Gravity extends above the pit trap X meters
    • Gravity extends out from the pit trap X meters
  • Black holes disguised as pit traps
  • Pit trap with tentacled denizen that likes to grab people
  • Pit trap in a wall that changes gravity to run horizontal to ground
  • Pit that's not a trap, but instead where you've got to go for something wicked cool. But unfortunately, the secret door only opens once the spikes at the bottom have tasted blood - lots of blood (ie, at least 25+HP worth of blood)

Also @talien loved that image, I spent 30+ seconds just staring at it 😵‍💫

Older post but perhaps still relevant:

 


MGibster

Legend
We've had other threads where we've gone on about how magic makes one of supposed pillars of the game, exploration, into trivial obstacles at best. And it's true, a lot of encounters which add tension and drama to a story, like interpersonal encounters, can be made trivial be the right spell. I suppose a DM really needs to design encounters with magical abilities in mind to keep things interesting.
 

GMMichael

Guide of Modos
In a high level campaign, a 2nd level spell isn't much but for a 3rd level party it's a lot. In either case, though, the pit did its job and expended resourses.
If you hand me a pick axe and a shovel, and you tell me I'm supposed to dig a 50-foot pit just to expend resources, then I'm going to look for a new employer.

Clairvoyance and scrying are confined to fixed locations and have other restrictions. I have never seen them detect a pit trap.
I also, have never seen a wizard take arcane eye. a scout is usually prefered.
This is why we invite bards into our parties.

Anyone who's played enough Salt and Sanctuary knows that a pit has one purpose: insta-kill the fool who fell into it. A DM's takeaway is that pits should be rare, easily spotted, and very difficult to clear.
 

bloodtide

Legend
This goes far beyond the "pit problem" and really is a general problem for D&D.

Back before 3E it was common and accepted for nearly all DMs to create endless wonder within the game. Each DM would make and create unique things. And both the Status Que DMs, the Pit of Doom is a 10th level fixed encounter no matter whatever the characters are; and the scaled DM, The Pit of Doom is always three levels higher an encounter then the PCs. And both DMs would make weird, bizarre, strange and unique Pits of Doom.

But....the thing is D&D never comes out and says the DM should "scale up the world" as the PCs go up in levels. Sure the monster encounters...sort of...get....sort of...tougher....by level.

Come 3E and beyond, nearly all creation of anything by a DM is dropped as a basic game idea. And more so you see the rise of the mechanical only type of play. The rules don't have rules for making game rule mechanical pits, so pits are just dropped from the game.

When you get to 5E, few DMs even consider doing anything not in the rules. So a pit for 10th level PCs is just a 'hole in the ground'.

Though, in my game, that pit for 10th level PC has a gravity that pulls things downward....and I don't need page 111 of a rule book to list with game mechanics "pit, gravity" to do it. I can just make it up myself.
 

Clint_L

Legend
This goes far beyond the "pit problem" and really is a general problem for D&D.

Back before 3E it was common and accepted for nearly all DMs to create endless wonder within the game. Each DM would make and create unique things. And both the Status Que DMs, the Pit of Doom is a 10th level fixed encounter no matter whatever the characters are; and the scaled DM, The Pit of Doom is always three levels higher an encounter then the PCs. And both DMs would make weird, bizarre, strange and unique Pits of Doom.

But....the thing is D&D never comes out and says the DM should "scale up the world" as the PCs go up in levels. Sure the monster encounters...sort of...get....sort of...tougher....by level.

Come 3E and beyond, nearly all creation of anything by a DM is dropped as a basic game idea. And more so you see the rise of the mechanical only type of play. The rules don't have rules for making game rule mechanical pits, so pits are just dropped from the game.

When you get to 5E, few DMs even consider doing anything not in the rules. So a pit for 10th level PCs is just a 'hole in the ground'.

Though, in my game, that pit for 10th level PC has a gravity that pulls things downward....and I don't need page 111 of a rule book to list with game mechanics "pit, gravity" to do it. I can just make it up myself.
I've played every edition of the game, and I can't say that I have found it any easier or harder to make traps in any of them. 5e in particular emphasizes DM autonomy - in many ways, it hearkens back to OD&D in this regard. And I have never, in more than forty years, met a single DM who doesn't home-brew to some extent. The kids in my D&D club mash stuff up like crazy and are endlessly inventive.
 

Quickleaf

Legend
Another way to state this:

At 1st level, right out the gate, a jump spell will bypass most pits, and goodberry will provide nutrition in most exploration/hexcrawling.

The power jump starts before you even start playing 5e.
 

bloodtide

Legend
I've played every edition of the game, and I can't say that I have found it any easier or harder to make traps in any of them.
In the general sense, making a trap is just as "hard" or "easy" as making anything else in the game.

5e in particular emphasizes DM autonomy - in many ways, it hearkens back to OD&D in this regard.
Except the DMs are different.

And I have never, in more than forty years, met a single DM who doesn't home-brew to some extent. The kids in my D&D club mash stuff up like crazy and are endlessly inventive.
Sure, most modern DMs love homebrewing their 'perfect' world or other bits and pieces like making a "background". So, sure, you can count that as they make homebrew. But in general, many DMs stick to "safe" homebrew like tweaking things. Mostly it's just taking the offical rules, and changing them a bit.

To keep traps at the "level" of the PCs....the only option is to homebrew beyond the rules. And a lot of DMs are unwilling to do that.
 

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