D&D 5E The "General Nature" of a Trap

[Bill Zebub]

And what would cause a caster to spontaneously use a spell slot? If a trap is telegraphed, presumably you could find it with a narrative search.

Dumb spell.

 

[Micah Sweet]

as much as i'm always ready to take the one-off jab at caster supremacy we do NOT need another thread generated for that topic again any time soon.

Fair enough. I was mostly kidding.

 

[Tonguez]

Something else I am just now realizing about this spell, it is not an ongoing detection type spell. The duration is "instantaneous." Thus, you need to already have a pretty good idea there might be a trap around and in what direction to look when you cast it.

I've been rewriting a bunch of spells for my VF5E project and this one just moved to the top of the list.

Dont rewrite, just delete

 

[Lanefan]

I'm not convinced there's any value to having Find Traps as a spell option at all. All it does is take value from the rogue who should be handling stuff like this IMO. The fact that spell itself makes very little logical sense (how does it discern traps? What criteria does it use, and is that criteria determined?) is icing on the empty calorie cake.

The one place Find Traps does make sense is for finding magical traps (e.g. effects from Glyph of Warding, Magic Mouth, Alarm) that a typical Rogue wouldn't have a chance of finding as there's no physical clues.

 

[el-remmen]

I am going with a version that does tell you were a trap is but not what it is or what it does. But it also tells you the location in a general sense, "on the door" or "a portion of the left wall past the arch," "the steps."

That seems like more fun and still gives a rogue something to do and something for the party to engage with, not just slide past or auto set off. It also gives advantage on finding Glyphs and Symbols (since they are by description nearly invisible - so knowing where they are should help a lot but not necessarily reveal them).

Oh and I am making it have a duration of Concentration, up to 10 minutes.

Edit to further add: That in my game, cleric spell list is determined by god (not domain) choice and only two gods grant this spell (the god of knowledge and secrets, and the god of luck and gambling).

 

[UngeheuerLich]

I'm not convinced there's any value to having Find Traps as a spell option at all. All it does is take value from the rogue who should be handling stuff like this IMO. The fact that spell itself makes very little logical sense (how does it discern traps? What criteria does it use, and is that criteria determined?) is icing on the empty calorie cake.

It finds glyphs of warding and the alarm spell.
Also convenient if you don't want to spend too much time searching for every inch. And if there is a lot on stakes, to make sure the rogue did not roll too low.

 

[MarkB]

1d6 possible "general natures" of traps:

1. Witty
2. Charming
3. Vicious
4. Morose
5. Lazy
6. Aloof

 

[Lanefan]

I am going with a version that does tell you were a trap is but not what it is or what it does. But it also tells you the location in a general sense, "on the door" or "a portion of the left wall past the arch," "the steps."

I have it that the trap area glows green to the caster only. Thus, if a staircase was trapped to turn into a slide the whole staircase would glow even though the trigger is specifically the 7th stair down.

 

[el-remmen]

1d6 possible "general natures" of traps:

1. Witty
2. Charming
3. Vicious
4. Morose
5. Lazy
6. Aloof

Make it a d8 and add

7. Verbose
8. Amorous

The trap of #7 is once it gets talking you can never get away. Be sure to mention the possibility of #8 during Session #0 and remember your safety tools!

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

Finding Magical Traps is an Arcana roll. That's the wizard's job. (or, I guess, anyone with arcana)

For "general nature" I'd say it would tell you if there's a "trip wire" or "pit trap" or "blow dart trap" or "deadly sliding stairs trap".

Basically, if I were playing FATE and I were to make up an 'aspect' for a trap, that's how the spell would describe it.

Importantly, it shouldn't give you a clue as to how to find or disarm the trap.