D&D 4E Traps in 4e?

[kerbarian]

Has anything been revealed about how traps will work in 4e? That was always one of the mechanics that slowed things down for us in 3e -- if you want to have any chance of spotting a trap before you walk into it, you can move at best 5'/round, and that's if everyone lines up single file behind the rogue.

That's not exactly my image of a heroic adventuring party, and it requires the players to spend a lot of time specifying movement details that (IMO) the characters should be able to figure out on their own if you just say that they "walk down the hallway".

 

[Shroomy]

They said some of 4e developments concerning traps were featured in Secrets of Xen'drik. I haven't read that section of the book, so I really can't comment on it beyond this statement.

 

[Rechan]

I think that traps are going to be more Big Productions. In Dungeonscape they seem like very involved things - gaudy and showy like the Bolder in Indiana Jones, herding PCs in a direction rather than a bear trap on the floor that soaks up a CLW.

From the way that Traps were discussed in the Podcast released after GenCon, it sounds like traps are going to fill the same niche as monsters: they are Encounters that fill a Role. Allow me to illustrate.

An Ogre is the monster-equivalent of a Defender. He's on the front line smashing into the party. A pendulum blade that swings back and forth and cuts anyone who tries to get by is a Defender trap. An Assassin Vine is like a controller; it entangles and grapples. A pit trap is like a controller; it tosses people down a hole and prevents them from traveling.

So it wouldn't surprise me if you have a pendulum blade in front of a pit trap, and the pit trap is in front of two goblin strikers sniping from cover. The PCs have to defeat the traps just to get to the goblins firing on them.

 

[Li Shenron]

Has anything been revealed about how traps will work in 4e? That was always one of the mechanics that slowed things down for us in 3e -- if you want to have any chance of spotting a trap before you walk into it, you can move at best 5'/round, and that's if everyone lines up single file behind the rogue.

That's not exactly my image of a heroic adventuring party, and it requires the players to spend a lot of time specifying movement details that (IMO) the characters should be able to figure out on their own if you just say that they "walk down the hallway".

That depends on the players' style... In the games I've played traps are actually too fast for my tastes. A saving throw or 2 skill checks and that's it.

If the problem is paranoid PCs that check every 5ft square of ground, then the DM can help them getting rid of their bad habit in a few ways: first, avoiding random placement of traps (put them only where it makes very sense to have a trap); second, remember that a trap doesn't need to be hidden to be a threat. If the purpose of the trap is to block, it doesn't need to be hidden.

But these issues are IMO quite edition-free. What 4e could do as an improvement (for my tastes) would be for example to make traps more complicated to beat than with a single skill check. Also, Rogues could have an "auto-spot" chance like elves with secret doors, that would take some paranoia away.

 

[D'karr]

Traps will be more like the Encounter Traps featured in Secrets of X'endrik.

Encounter traps are easier to find as the Search DC usually does not require a rogue to find. They can be avoided that way. However, disarming them is not as simple. Once the trap is triggered you can usually disable the trap in the square you are occupying and the ones next to you, simply by destroying the attacking mechanism, but that is time consuming. Encounter traps also stay activated for several rounds allowing the players to attempt to disable them or avoid them. They act on their own initiative round so players can react to them.

They are usually more elaborate and occupy lots more space. Think of the Idol scene in Raiders of the Lost Ark. As the idol is removed the whole room turns into a trap. The Rolling Boulder starts to descend, the dart room starts to trigger and it is time to run for your life.

They are more interesting than the single pit trap effect, but they are way more devious and dangerous once triggered. Getting attacked multiple times by spears or darts on the traps initiative can easily kill a low level party.

 

[hong]

I too would like traps to be deemphasised as a mundane occurrence, instead being turned into major (components of) encounters in their own right, like Rechan described.

This would also free up the rogue from having to be the party's bomb disposal guy, allowing it to take up the light/fast warrior niche. Mang, I hate bomb disposal with all of my body, etc.

 

[Lord Zack]

I think they should implement Encounter Traps. But the simple traps should remain and should remain/become simple. Traps being implemented into combat encounters is also a good idea.

 

[Rechan]

I think they should implement Encounter Traps. But the simple traps should remain and should remain/become simple. Traps being implemented into combat encounters is also a good idea.

My one concern about Encounter traps is that not all dungeons are suited for it. The pyramid crypt, the path to the treasure Vault in the Dread Fortress, yes. But how does something living in a CAVE break the walls and engineer a room-sized trap instead of a simple pit trap or a falling stone?

Encounter traps depend on the environment, and some environments where traps are necessary do not give to encounter-style traps.

 

[Lord Zack]

Well there's that geyser trap in Dungeonscape. They could be natural phenomena instead of manufactured traps.

 

[hong]

Cave-ins. Quicksand. Unstable floors. Fast-flowing rivers. Etc.