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Message: <blockquote data-quote="jbear" data-source="post: 5813243" data-attributes="member: 75065">You are thinking about traps the wrong way. A good trap is not: "You're walking down the corridor and ... gotcha! you fall into a hole! Mwahahaha!" This adds nothing to the game or adventure in general. There is no tension created apart from the players continually being pedantically careful about every passage they walk down and every door the open.The tension should start when the trap is discovered. "Something here is amiss" is a good start. Perception reveals little clues that get the PCs alarm bells ringing. The more they discover the more the tension grows as they realise they are going to have to deal with the trap somehow. Simple example using a rudimentary trap like a hidden pit. It blocks the passage way completely, let's say 15ft wide. It goes for 20 ft. A pretty difficult jump. At the end there is 5 ft of space (15ft wide) and the passage ends with some type of stone carving in the wall of a lion with an open mouth. Something glints from within the mouth.So PCs have their objective: get to the lion head carving to see what is shining. They know there is either a massive jump or they need to use flight or teleportation to avoid the pit. So the party spots the trap. No big deal. Now they have to figure out what to do about it.Smart adventurers might make the false surface drop and climb down to the bottom of the pit with the intention of climbing up the other side. They might not check that the bottom of the pit is where the real trap is. A pressure plate opens small holes along the base of the pit and acid begins to pour in. They might spot that too, or at least a few clues that make alarm  bells ring so they attempt simply to jump/fly/teleport. They may not check that the other side also has a pressure plate (it's quite far away at 20ft to spot properly) that causes the lion mouth to roar, a sonic blast that pushes the PC back towards the trapped pit.etc etc etc.If your going to just throw in a  hidden pit in a room full of goblins, they deserve to be thrown into the pit by your avenger. But if you put some thought and work into your traps so that they aren't "gotcha traps", they are an obstacle that needs be dealt with no matter what the situation, an added and constant factor that has to be taken into account apart from the room full of goblins, one not so easily turned to the PCs advantage as a pit in the middle of the room.</blockquote>

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