D&D General [+] TRAPS! a positive thread

[Imaculata]

I had a nasty trap in one of my dungeons, where a pressure plate hidden on one of the steps of a descending staircase, triggers two sharp blades.

As soon as someone steps on the trigger, a blade swings sideways from the stairs, into the ankles of the victim. Meanwhile a second blade unfolds at neck level, and swings at the victim from the front, with the intent of beheading them.

Pc's can spot a small horizontal shaft in the wall, where the 2nd blade comes out, if they look for it. They may also spot some minor blood remains at the bottom of the stairs. The 1st blade in the stairs however, is hidden completely from view when descending the stairs.

 

[Quickleaf]

I did a pretty straightforward Bladed Roller Trap in a dungeon that my players explored (see sketch). What made it interesting were 3 things...

1. Attention to detail with clues/foreshadowing
2. Obstacle of the previously triggered stone block obscuring line of sight & limiting who could get through
3. Trap activated when weight was released from pressure plate

 

[dogoftheunderworld]

In a d20 Modern/Future campaign, I had a button marked "Do not push this button".

Spoiler: they pushed the button.

"It's got a button! Push it! Push it!"

Trap from long ago... underground gas pocket. The tunnel starts on an upward slant, then goes back down. At the highest point is a natural gas pocket. Party with torches: sparks the gas for a little boom. Party with magic light/darkvision: starts to feel woozy and needs CON saves to avoid passing out. Just a friendly reminder that terrain matters

 

[Urriak Uruk]

My favorite trap is a door. A door with hinges on the bottom instead of the side. Pull the handle and you pull a stone slab on top of you!

 

[Imaculata]

Another favourite trap of mine:

The party enters a section of a rectangular tunnel, where the floor is oddly clean. No sand on the floor at all. A single person can scout ahead and believe the tunnel to be safe, because the trap only triggers when two or more people enter it.

The tunnel is like a one-way seesaw with a counter weight; put enough weight on one side, and it tips down, emptying its contents (you and your party) into a pit filled with spears, hidden beneath the tunnel. Once reliefed of the weight of adventurers, it automatically resets, thanks to a counter weight.

A simple elegant trap, that punishes parties that rely too much on a single rogue scouting ahead.

 

[Voadam]

I like traps appropriate for the narrative.

In the Reign of Winter Adventure Path I was running there was an encampment with evil tricksy fey and regenerating ice trolls.

The party saw a couple enemy winter fey fly into some thatch huts, noting they flew in the door and up into the eves of the short huts. The plate armored inquisitor fighter drew her sword and charged full speed in, looking up to strike the first fey she saw and threaten them before they could cast more spells. She specifically said to charge all the way in to the back where it looked like they had flown to.

She charged right in to crash through the covered pit of the hut where none of the winged fey had to walk to get to their roosts in the eves.

 

[Voadam]

When expanding on Lord of the Iron Fortress the party was breaking into a Rakshasa's mansion in an extraplanar gate city where he had a bunch of powerful dangerous prisoners (aboleth, mindflayer variant, etc.) and important things (treasures, powerful dangerous magic, journals) hidden in the basement. He really did not want anyone breaking in to liberate any of that stuff down there so activating big complex traps while he was out in one guise or another seemed appropriate. I remember using a stair flipping scenario with spinning scythe blades from the walls all triggered by stepping on a specific stair as the party headed down stairs to the basement with a further trap on the door at the bottom. The party had to make their own judgment on whether this was a killing field diversion while a safe path was hidden for the rakshasa to use, or whether this was an indication they were on the right track and he placed traps to stop people going in or prisoners coming out the one choke point path down without his knowledge of how to deactivate things to make it safe.

The situation seemed appropriate for a big D&D trap scenario.

 

[Imaculata]

I like traps appropriate for the narrative.

I love those as well. I think sometimes DM's throw around traps in places that make very little sense.

I remember this one session with my friends. We were in a mostly abandoned castle and came upon a throneroom. One of my party members decided to check for traps... there were none of course. But at this point we all bursted into laughing as we started disecting the absurdity of a king trapping his own throneroom.

We imagined scenarios in which a messenger rushed into the throneroom with an urgent message for the king, only to be impaled before he could deliver the message.

And we speculated of how the king constantly forgot to inform his new servants of the trap in the throneroom, and constantly had to find new servants, and then forgot to instruct THEM as well about the deadly trap.

Servant: "Your highness, do you think this trap might be a slight bit inconveni-"

King: "-NO! I only have great ideas! In fact, we should have more traps! How about we trap the privy too?"

 

[Shadowdweller00]

In a d20 Modern/Future campaign, I had a button marked "Do not push this button".

Spoiler: they pushed the button.

One of my personal favorites is just a lever, switch, or button. Or a row of them. No signs, clues, or explanation. They serve no purpose but to trigger something nasty - a disintegration ray; or if a row of interactables, several minor effects. Once I had a wheel that opened flood gates, filling the entire structure with water (not fatal for the PCs at the time). I've rarely had a player NOT break down and trigger the trap just to see what happens. Amusingly, the PCs are likely to use most of the switches or buttons even after the first has caused pain. Because ONE of them has to do something important, right?

 

[Shadowdweller00]

More generally speaking, I like traps as the occasional puzzle for the party, flavor to make the environment seem more interesting or real, as an added twist, or a an occasional source of amusement. Sometimes as an extra tactical complication during combat. I particularly like traps that get the PCs kicking themselves afterward - thinking they should have seen it coming.

Examples:
* A goblin band has set bear-trap like devices throughout their caves. Once enough goblins have been killed by the PCs and the alarm has been sounded, a fair number of the goblins start panicking and trying to flee. The PCs encounter a goblin that got stuck in one of the traps in its haste to get out of the party's way. Cue posssible roleplay with said goblin.

* A tribe of savage humanoids suspends a bunch of boulders from the ceiling of a guard chamber with netting secured by ropes. Enemies or PCs can cut the ropes, causing boulders to fall on combatants below.

* Down a corridor is a dark crack in the flooring, where the corners of several flagstones appear to have crumbled. Of course, it's the covering of a pit trap that flips over if someone (of sufficient weight) tries to look inside.

* Walking down a corridor, the lead PC feels a flagstone sinking beneath her feet; I ask the player how they're going to respond. Within seconds, a grinding sound can be heard from one of the walls. After any initial defensive precautions, nothing ultimately happens. If extensive time is spent searching and breaking apart the walls, the PCs might eventually discover warped and jammed gears inside. Time and neglect has ruined the trap.

* A fallen block of stone, crumbled pit covering, or twisted rusting blade where a trap used to be.

* A room filled with ceramic statues. Searching will uncover handprints in the grime between statues. The statues are harmless if left alone, but have been fitted with magical runes or alchemical compounds that explode if struck with sufficient force or blasted with magic. The handprints are from uneasy former cultists who knew the statues were trapped and tried to crawl past them as carefully as possible; just in case.