Traps and the XP Budget

[Xyrlove Woodsoul]

According to the rules, a level x trap is equivalent to a level x monster. But a lot of traps are just one-shot deals, whereas, monsters attack round by round. Right now, I'm not doing any elaborate campaigning, rather, I'm just doing a bunch of dungeon crawls with random encounters. I've been running it by the RAW, and, in practice, it seems to be problematic to say that any level x trap is equivalent to level x monster. Also, many traps seem just as detrimental to the enemies as it is to party members. I mean, I know it's all probably a shortcoming of mine, thus, I'm not flaming, I'm just wondering what i can do to make things more equivalent without bending the rules too much?

 

[the Jester]

Actually, most 4e traps attack every round until disabled.

 

[LostSoul]

One-shot traps should give minion XP.

If the monsters are taking lots of damage from the traps, I think that's cool. That's one of the good features of traps - that players can use them to their own advantage, once they understand how they work. If they are able to manoeuvre the monsters to take advantage of the traps, I'd say they earned the XP.

 

[Camelot]

If you're using a trap that can attack at range, like a dart gun trap, it's like a normal monster, able to attack each round until disabled (which should be just as difficult as killing a normal monster; a few Thievery checks, not just one).

If you're using a trap that only triggers when a player steps on the trigger plate or is standing in a certain area, use multiple hidden trigger plates or make the area larger and have monsters that have forced movement (even if it's just a high Strength so they can bull rush).

If you expect a trap to only be triggered once or twice an encounter, make it's attack equivalent to a monster's recharge or encounter power. That way it will get a good amount of damage out even if it only attacks once. A (save ends) effect is also good for one-shot traps.

See the DMG2 for a much better explanation on customizing traps than I can give.

 

[OnlineDM]

As a DM, if I'm designing a one-shot trap I take that into account when setting its XP. If it attacks with as high an attack modifier as a level 3 monster and deals level 3 monster amounts of damage but only fires once, there's no way I'm giving it the XP of a level 3 monster - probably more like a level 3 minion.