Traps ate my characters!!

[Numion]

Traps can be overused too. Maybe you should lighten up the trappage a bit?

My thoughts too:

WHAM..they both fall prey to an exploding wine cask trap

Isn't an exploding trap a bit extreme for a cask of wine? Whats the point of trapping if said trap would destroy the item it protects (I suppose an explosion would destroy wine bottles)?

IMO traps should have a point to them. Would you protect your property with explosives?

 

[TracerBullet42]

Why can't the rogue simply say "I take 20 and Search every 5'-square of the keep"?

Well, I usually tell them confidently that I have found no traps. Then take my chances...

Can you take 20 when searching for traps? I wouldn't think that you can. Because fumbling could have some severe consequences. Besides...it's more fun to take a chance! If we get hit by a trap, oh well!

But then again, I've always found it more fun to fumble than get criticals. The zaniness that follows a fumble is joyous! But maybe that's just me...

 

[jester47]

Search speeds

A person serching for traps as they walk can seach a 50' long corridor 5' wide in one minute. A 10' wide 25' long corridor takes one minute to serch.

Basicly it takes a character one minute to search 10 squares. I assume walls ands ceilings are checked in this too (but only if the players can see the ceiling!). When a player says they are searching for traps, I ask them what area they are searching and what route they are taking. Then I count the squares, and figure out how long it will take. I then have them make 1 roll for that area. If they fail and there is a trap, and they survive the trap, then they are allowed a new roll for the remaining area, until they have searched the whole thing.

Since most traps are set off if they are not found, I do not allow taking 20 for trap searching. I do allow taking 10 for trap searching, as this does not change the time and a character can do it if undisturbed. Most rogues can find most traps if they take 10. Then again, you have to roll to find that DC 23 trap, and even then there is a pretty good chance you wont get it.

Also, constant searching allows for moving silently at no penalty. This can be very handy in places where the characters are better off undetected.

Also, if you have a group that searches too much, throw in a wandering monster. People ussually stop looking for traps when somthing big and nasty is coming after them.

Player: "I open the door and flee down the corridor!"
DM: "Right into a trap!"

Aaron.

 

[Magic Slim]

Since most traps are set off if they are not found, I do not allow taking 20 for trap searching.

I don't want to turn this into a Rules debate, but there is nothing barring you from taking 20 to Search a 5'X5' square. Of course, it takes 2 minutes (instead of 6 seconds), so going down a 10' X 50' corridor takes 2 X 10 X 2 = 40 minutes, which is a long bring time for the characters, but a 5-second event for the players.

Slim

 

[TracerBullet42]

Of course, it takes 2 minutes (instead of 6 seconds), so going down a 10' X 50' corridor takes 2 X 10 X 2 = 40 minutes, which is a long bring time for the characters, but a 5-second event for the players.

Can you really imagine taking 40 minutes to go down a 50 foot hallway? I can't imagine any hero spending that time. It would take forever to make your way through any dungeon. By the time you make it halfway through, the dragon has already eaten the princess and died of old age...

Sure it only takes 5 seconds of player time...but you can't just ignore the character time taken. And if there's a barbarian in the party, there ain't no way that you're taking 20 down hallways...

Take a chance! Maybe you miss a trap....big deal!

A 50'x10' hallway is pretty common. Go spend 40 minutes in one somewhere and I think you'll see why it's just crazy to take 20.

And thus, I have spoken....again. (not that my words are worth noting...)

 

[jester47]

I don't want to turn this into a Rules debate, but there is nothing barring you from taking 20 to Search a 5'X5' square. Of course, it takes 2 minutes (instead of 6 seconds), so going down a 10' X 50' corridor takes 2 X 10 X 2 = 40 minutes, which is a long bring time for the characters, but a 5-second event for the players.

Slim

I don't want to turn this into a rules debate either... But...

I think you are right. There is no penalty for not finding the trap. Its what you do after. Like disableing it or walking through it if your DM's the kind of guy that would give a 1st level party a DC 35 trap. So a character could take 20 on a search check for traps (wandering monster checks galore!). Thanks for the boot to the head!

Aaron.

 

[Czhorat]

My thoughts too:



Isn't an exploding trap a bit extreme for a cask of wine? Whats the point of trapping if said trap would destroy the item it protects (I suppose an explosion would destroy wine bottles)?

IMO traps should have a point to them. Would you protect your property with explosives?

I agree. Where are they, and who built so many traps into the place? For a main entrance to a lair, temple, treasury, etc. to be trapped makes sense. For certain highly sensitive or personal areas to be trapped also makes sense. A lethal trap in every dungeon corridor is going to decimate careless natives as much as it hurts adventurers.

 

[AnthonyJ]

Taking 20 on searching for traps is perfectly legal, it's just likely to be a bad idea in many areas. In how many dungeons do the monsters really never move, instead sitting there in rooms waiting for adventurers to walk through?

If you want to have plausible traps, think of them as equivalent to mine fields. The point of a mine field isn't killing people (that's just a bonus), the point is to slow down the enemy, and force them to go in the direction you want them to go.

This means traps should be put in places where someone can come and check on them every so often. Even better, they should be located somewhere where you can lure people into them (for example, a pit trap in a hallway is made much more effective by an archer at the other end of the hallway...)