The Trap Thread

[dungeon blaster]

What devious, deadly traps have you designed?

Here's a few I'm planning on using in an upcoming adventure.

Illusory Boulder and Pit Trap
Area: Hallway
Description: 40 ft. from PC's, illusion of ceiling dropping, becoming a ramp of sorts. Suddenly, a boulder rolls down the ramp, speeding towards the PC's! What do they do? They run of course...right into a pit trap 30 ft. down the hall. Since they were running, they do not get a reflex save to avoid falling into the pit. The pit is 10x10 ft. and 20 ft. deep. At the bottom is a gelatinous cube. PCs who fall into the pit do not take falling damage, but they are automatically engulfed.
Optional: The boulder is real and rolls into the pit, dealing damage as a falling object.

Falling Ceiling Pit Trap
Area: Any
Description: 10x10 ft. pit, 30 ft. deep. A small recess with horizontal iron bars spaced 18 inches apart (a ladder) allows trapped PCs to climb out. 20 ft. up, one of the horizontal bars releases the "ceiling", a 10x10 ft., 3 ft. thick slab of rock. PC sandwhich.

False Safety Trap
Area: Hallway
Description: 10x10 ft. pit, 30 ft. deep. This pit is fairly easy to notice, so PCs will not have any trouble avoiding it by leaping over the pit. Unfortunately, there is a trigger plate on the other side, causing the ceiling to swing down and slam the PC backwards into the pit. The PC not only must climb out of the pit, he must also find a way to move the pivoting ceiling that is now blocking the hallway.

Pudding Trap
Area: Any
Description: Trigger plate unlocks a trapdoor in the ceiling, dropping an 18,000 lb. black pudding onto the unfortunate PCs. All PCs in the area take falling object damage as well as acid damage and are considered grappled.
Option: Instead of dropping a pudding onto the PCs, a trapdoor in the floor could dump the PCs into a pudding-filled pit.

Bloodfiend Locust Trap
Area: Any
Description: Forcecage surrounds PCs while summon monster spell summons a bloodfiend locust swarm inside the forcecage.
Option: Replace locusts with abyssal ants, scarabs, or cloudkill/deathfog/incendiary cloud spell.

 

[RithTheAwakener]

i really like these, except for the pudding trap. ive never been a fan of puddings.... must have been all the 2nd edition modules i ran thru back when i first started dnd. the boulder and falling ceiling traps are quite positively evil, the false trap is hilarious

id love to have a campaign with a bunch of traps in them for once. im constantly being railroaded.

do you plan on killing all the PCs? cuz i think this would work very well for that

 

[demiurge1138]

A trap I designed, but never got a chance to use in the lair of a bunch of dragon-sultist kobolds (the party decided to go get information from someone else):

The Deadly Hallway is a kobold kill-zone, used to herd foolish tresspassers into a narrow, cramped hallway filled with arrow slits and kobold snipers behind them. Those fortunate enough to escape the snipers find themselves in a world of hurt.

The trigger plate is immediately in front of the Hallway's only exit. When activated, the steel floor of the hallway slides open for thirty feet, plunging all but the triggering adventurer into the pit. This adventurer is usually dealt with by another wave of snipers, but may be left alone for amusement.

At the bottom of the pit are poisoned metal stakes, and when the alarm of the compound is set off, a kobold perches in an alcove behind a wall to first pour oil into the pit, then throw a tindertwig and escape to the sound of burning adventurers. Any fortunate to cling to the small overhang of the recessed wall may not live to regret it, as the floor's edges are razor-sharp and snap back after a matter of seconds, severing any ropes and fingers in the way and plunging the handless victim into the pit with his colleagues.

I also remember a DM I played under who killed his players (before I joined) with a collapsing staircase that folded back to reveal an adamantine meat-grinder.

Demiurge out.

 

[shilsen]

False Safety Trap
Area: Hallway
Description: 10x10 ft. pit, 30 ft. deep. This pit is fairly easy to notice, so PCs will not have any trouble avoiding it by leaping over the pit. Unfortunately, there is a trigger plate on the other side, causing the ceiling to swing down and slam the PC backwards into the pit. The PC not only must climb out of the pit, he must also find a way to move the pivoting ceiling that is now blocking the hallway.

I've done this with a permanent wall of force on the other side. Lots of fun

Another one:

Pain in the Neck Trap

Best used in the lair of a species that is small. In a tunnel in an area where one can assume intruders will be hurrying, have a thin metal wire placed horizontally across the tunnel and embedded into the walls on either side. Suppose the PCs are charging into the chamber beyond, hoping to surprise those there, or are pursuing a group of enemies down the tunnel. The small creatures pass safely under the wire, while the first medium-sized pursuer gets a chance to decapitate himself.

I used this in a kobold lair and it completely derailed an attack, with the first charging PC taking major damage and collapsing in a heap, causing those behind to pile up into him, making them great targets for the kobold archers.

 

[rbingham2000]

I've always been partial to the mechanical traps myself.

I remember a Metroid comic in Nintendo Power that had Samus trip a pressure plate when exploring some ruin and then a spike comes out of the floor and punches right through her armor and through her shoulder. Serious ouch.

Another good one is a pressure plate in a preferably big room, and when it's tripped, the floor starts collapsing from the other side and falling into this huge pit full of nasty (spikes, undead, crocodiles, lava, take your pick). The door's shut and barred behind them and there's only a few rounds before the collapsing floor makes it to the PCs -- what do you do?

Also cool if it's done right -- a gigantic convex lens at the top of a sealed-off room, which focuses sunlight that's been bounced off several big-ass mirrors elsewhere in the dungeon. When sunlight is focused through a lens, it gets hot as hell, as anyone who's roasted ants under a magnifying glass can testify. Unless they can find a way to get the hell out of the room, the PCs are going to be cooked alive.

 

[Evilhalfling]

the death slide
the entrance to a kobold lair was a chute it droped 30 feet before leveling out like a slide. a lever at the bottom would cause blades to extend into the chute . The first set of blades was near the bottom, if there was an impact on them a second set would be triggered halfway up.
Moral - If a kobold dives into a chute do not follow him!

This was a spur of the moment trap as I didn't think anyone would actually chase the kobold into its layer. The party was only 3rd level!

Dragons Pit trap.
1. Dig a pit
2. fill bottom of pit with breathweapon (fire, acid or icy water only)

Dragon fishook trap
dangle fishing lines from ceiling, with hooks in each line, put bells at the end of each line. This is to alert you of those pesky flying invisable adventures. running through the fishhooks will cause multiple attacks for d4 damage, safely below your DR threshold if you are in a hurry - it may also entangle weaker foes.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

One of my Favorites:

PC's come into a room with a big Buddha type statue (not a buddha per se, just anything in sort of a Buddha pose with a big, round pot belly at PC level). In the statues belly button is a big gem (or keyhole or ring or some item to get the PC's interest).

When a PC examines the Belly Button he must make a Search check (I vary the DC based on the parties capabilities, but I ALWAYS boost it up by +5 DC for idiocy). If they fail the belly of the statue comes into a viscous goo and tries to engulf the PC's head (this can either be done as a Reflex save for the PC, 15-25; or as an Touch Attack/Grapple for the trap, usually BAB of cleric of party's average level).

If engulfed, their head is pulled into the statue's belly (Scare the PC by making him get ready to make those Fort saves vs suffication). Next round, a metal pipe goes through the goo & forcibley inserts itself into the PC's mouth & down into his gullet (if they try to resist, they take 1d4 damage as it busts through their teeth). Next round it begins to convolse & pump something into their stomach. Next round it ejects them from the goo.

What did it pump. Well anything you want really. Poison, Tea, Mylanta, Beer, Chum. My favorite is a quart of Oil of Slipperness laced with about a dozen caltrops. Slow, painful death (roughly 1d4 damage per minute for 2d4 hours; those 2d4 hours coincide with painful constant bursts of uncontrolable, violent, episodes of bloodly diareha). If PC survives (usually due to clerical aid), they suffer a -2 to most checks for 3d10 days as their system recovers.

That trap shows that is wasn't just an evil bas**** that built the dungeon, but an evil, SADISTIC bas**** built this dungeon.

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

Just an ordinary underground passage....

I can't remember if I made this one up, or saw it somewhere...

Natural Gas Trap

In an underground tunnel, the passage starts to slope upward gradually. Over about 200 feet, the passage slopes up and back down (this can be natural or man-made "hill"). Natural Gas fills this area and has no natural escape. The gas has no scent and is virtually undetectable.

1. PC's using torches or other flammable lighting source ignite the gas causing a fire-ball like explosion: 6d6 damage, Reflex DC 16 for half.

2. If the gas is not ignited (possibly re-filled after being ignited once), and the PCs try to traverse the sloped hallway, about 60' in they become lightheaded. Start using the suffucation rules for the rest of the hallway

 

[BlackMoria]

This trap is a creation of my own and is a 'signature' trap that I am known by with the various groups I play with (they can expect this baby at least once in any campaign I run).

Setup: A room or wide hallway with a very high ceiling. The higher the better but I suggest a mininium of 50 ft.

Trigger. The intial magical trap is a Reverse Gravity field. If triggered, the party falls upward towards the ceiling. The triggering of the first trap sets off the second magical trap which is a blade barrier spell midway between the floor and ceiling. The halpless party 'falls' through the blade barrier (if max, that is 15d6 damage) and hits the ceiling (assuming a 50ft ceiling, that is 5d6 falling damage) and triggers either a greater glyph of warding (10d6 damage) .... or if you are a real rat bastard, a symbol of death.

The reverse gravity field terminates due to a targetted dispel magic trigger and the party now falls to the floor, through the blade barrier (another 15d6 damage) and hits the floor for a final 5d6 damage.

So, the tally is 5d6 + 15d6 + 10d6 + 15d6 + 5d6 damage for a total of 50d6 potential damage.

A solid five skulls using Grimtooth's trap rating.

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

So, the tally is 5d6 + 15d6 + 10d6 + 15d6 + 5d6 damage for a total of 50d6 potential damage.

A solid five skulls using Grimtooth's trap rating.

Sorry, I personally (both as player & DM) hate traps like that. 50d6 or 10 ton block of stone falls on their head & kills them flat. Either way their dead. Just in your way you get to be a bit more descriptive & roll all your d6's at once.

I have never cared for the instant death traps, or the much worse, lets see how complicated & how many dice rolls we can make traps. I know they have been aroudn for a long time. But, as DM, I take no pride in going into elaborate detail about HOW this theif's instant death for 666 d6 of damage varies from that thief's 668 d6 of damage. Death is death, if you're gonna do instant kill, don't play with your doomed PC's.

For me, give me traps that don't guarentee a kill or take a very long time to kill, or severly inconviecne the party. Sure killing the thief hurts the party. But, chopping his left leg off hurst the party just as bad & slows them down.

I just feel trap design should be geared tocoming up with new challenges for the party to overcome & new ways of hurting the party (not just +xdx). I mean (aside from the occasionaly epic game) does 50 d6 really that different from 100 d6?

Sorry, old school player who is tired of those old Instant Death (but this one is soooo different from the 50 others you have encountered this level); Tome of Horrors I'm looking your way.