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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jester David" data-source="post: 7049477" data-attributes="member: 37579">I like my verisimilitude, so I try to be logical. Traps need a makers and if creatures use a passage they should have a way around the trap, or their should be a way to deactivate the trap. You don't poison a doorknob you use repeatedly everyday because you're going to forget and trigger the trap.I have a few different types of traps in my games. Just like I have a few different roles for monsters. There are the low damage gotcha traps. These are there for flavour, to get the players acting cautious, and take off a few hit points. Wear down the characters slightly and extend the adventuring day. Like a mook fight or a guard. They typically have a single usage. They might also serve as an alarm.Then there's the more dangerous repeating variant of the above that has to be disarmed. This keeps the rogue occupied, or requires some creative thinking to bypass. But they're not that deadly as they're noticed when they're triggered. It might get one or two characters at most.Then there are terrain traps. These just make combat interesting. Pit traps, dart firing pressure plates, jets of fire, etc. Stuff to make the party pay attention to the battlemap.More deadly traps should have some sign. A dead body. An obvious colour coded pressure plate. A giant looming boulder. Some clue in the room that screams "trap!", so the players know something is up but they just don't know exactly what. This is more a skill challenge or excercise in creativity thinking, as the goal is not to trigger the obvious trap.I don't use passive Perception for traps, unless it's a deadly trap. That's more a usage of Investigation. Finding a trap is much more active. I might allow Perception for some signs or clues in a hallway of the player says they're looking. Similarly, looking at an entire room isn't going to reveal much. I request that my players examine certain areas and specify where they're looking.</blockquote>

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