"Trap Schmap. I've got Magic Missle..."

[vic20]

In a game I'm running the party came across a room with 3 traps. I was worried about the potential lethality of the encounter, as the group's resources were low, and it was over their level (though not much). As it turns out, there was maybe a round and a half with any sort of actual threat as the group figured out what the threat-ranges of the traps were, at which point they stood on the other side of the line and attacked the traps via Cloud of Daggers.

It made me uncomfortable how easily the encounter was dispatched. Once you put a hit point value on an inanimate object, the encounter (minus other environmental factors such as more bad guys getting in the character's faces or what-not) can be "solved" without rolling a single die. I mean, I could have made them roll damage for each attack, but knowing that there wasn't really a time constraint (at least not an immediate one) it seemed pointless.

After the game I tried to find something about attacking traps or objects or whatever in the DMs guide to help mitigate my discomfort, but it appears that I played it by the RAW.

Am I missing something?

 

[Cadfan]

What were the three traps?

There are basically two things that stop the "I smash the trap" solution from working. First, traps usually surprise you. So while you could smash them from across the room, you don't know to do so until its too late. Second, traps usually attack you in areas where you can't stand out of their reach, so you have to suffer the trap's effect while you attack it.

 

[Stalker0]

There's also a question of how long it takes to blow up the trap.

If two rounds of magic missile takes out a trap, okay. If it takes 10 rounds of casting and blasting, then someone might take notice.

That said, its okay for this tactic to work some of the time, just throw in the occasional screwball once in a while.

 

[amysrevenge]

The implementation of traps is the only major problem I have with 4E. As a DM I would tend to avoid using them, and be aware that if I did use them, they wouldn't have the standard impact.

When I play, we NEVER deal with traps in any other way than direct damage. In fact, we will often ignore living foes in a mixed encounter to take out the traps first, then turn our attention to the living foes. I've even gone so far as to use a Daily power on a particularly nasty trap with a "dazed" effect on its attack.

 

[Nebulous]

After the game I tried to find something about attacking traps or objects or whatever in the DMs guide to help mitigate my discomfort, but it appears that I played it by the RAW.

Am I missing something?

I think i know the trap you're talking about, IF it's from a published adventure. If so, i'm adding a Stone and Iron Golem to the same encounter just to mix things up. Not your typical nigh-indestructible golems, but something to scare the players into running and moving while the traps activate.

And yes, if the players find a safe place to target a trap, they can eventually disable it. You might want to consider in this case either extending the reach of the traps, or greatly reducing the area the PCs have to run around in.

I opted for big mean things chasing them.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

I see nothing wrong with traps that can be disabled, even easily. If you can't disable traps, then Rogues REALLY suck.

Perhaps the person who set them wasn't the best trapmaker.

But if you're really concerned, there are other things you could try- perhaps disabling those traps is the trigger that sets another.

Or the traps are intended to be speedbumps/distractions while the REAL threat emerges from elsewhere...

 

[ExploderWizard]

Were the traps easy enough to find that a quick glance from far back revealed them all? If so then perhaps they deserved to be destroyed easily.

Its a good idea to put traps in some nooks and crannies that require getting close to it to see it. At the same time the destruction method of trap removal should set it off. If the trap is out of LOS from a safe distance then it can't be targeted easily. This will help make sure the one with searching/ finess removal skills actually take some risks to do the job.

 

[Filcher]

Were the traps easy enough to find that a quick glance from far back revealed them all? If so then perhaps they deserved to be destroyed easily.

Maybe the visible traps were the decoys and hidden traps are still lurking ....

 

[UngainlyTitan]

I also don't have a problem with traps that are taken out easily. I would try to make it more profitable to disable traps rather than just blast them out of existance. Not that you had to option in this case as they had figured out the angles of effect and knew they were standing in safe ground.

 

[vic20]

Thanks all for the responses.

Yes, it is from a published adventure. I think the "adding creatures" solution seems good. It's really just a matter of me going learning how to design (or adjust) encounters to avoid this kind of thing.