D&D General What Are Traps For?

[Fanaelialae]

I use them primarily for verisimilitude.

Does it make sense for something to be trapped? Is whatever is being protected particularly sensitive, and/or rarely accessed? Then yes.

If it doesn't make sense for something to be trapped, then no. One of my biggest turn offs as a player is having traps in areas or on objects that are clearly being used frequently. How do the people living in the dungeon not die to their own traps? All it takes is having an off day (they didn't sleep well, or they're drunk) and suddenly they're dead/maimed by their own trap.

To a secondary degree, attrition and puzzle do factor in, but only if the first criteria has been met. As a result, apart from alarms, I only occasionally use traps.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

An iron smelter, a complex mill, even a ship can be a puzzle trap.

Those are potentially hazardous environments, not traps. They aren't built to kill you, or even stop you from moving past them. The "game effect" may be identical to a puzzle trap, but the intent is entirely different.

I suppose there probably is some real world person who's rigged their house with an actual puzzle trap because they subconsciously want the police to arrest them but only if they're clever enough to get past it, but that's still not a sane choice.

 

[Reynard]

Right. So like...to spitball an example

Let's say the players are following up on rumors of an uncovered ruin from the time of the Genie-Rajahs, the Tower of the Leashed Flame. They do their research and prep work, set out, complete their Undertake a Perilous Journey through the desert wastes, and find the Tower. There's a magical trap to get in; that would be a "puzzle" trap, particularly since it would be something the original efreet occupants would want to be able to disable so they can enter safely. I'm imagining something like, I dunno, a pathway of colored flames, and the players must pass through the colors in order of their importance to the original inhabitants, from the "lowest" flame (the yellow-orange of utterly ordinary, mundane flame) to the "highest" (silver-white, the color of the magical, or possibly divine, Smokeless Fire). Their research would have prepared them for this in various ways (e.g. a successful Spout Lore roll would tell them the direct meaning; a partial success would instead note something like, "You remember reading that this group considered light and color to be sacred; their regalia looked like this" (quickly drawn flag of six colors.)

Once they get inside, they would expect nastier traps, because the Genie-Rajahs were very protective of their treasures and abandoned them during the exodus to Jinnistan only because they fully intended to come back for them. (In general, this did not happen. The desert is full of Genie-Rajah ruins that the Jinnistani have, in many cases, completely forgotten about, or no longer care to recover.) So maybe they have a room with Old High Jinnistani script above the door saying, "The Death Of All Flame." That should be a BIG clue to the players that there's something very nasty inside. From there, you take other steps to indicate something like a Sphere of Annihilation, e.g. "You notice a strange dip or hole in the floor, off to one side, which seems out of place with the decor of the tower. The hole's edge is perfectly circular, and the stone is perfectly smooth, as smooth as if it had been finely polished, though with the dust and neglect of two millennia, it's hard to tell." And another: "As you walk around the room, you can hear near the plinth a very soft sound, like wind. Which is strange, because the tower should be able to keep the draft out, it's made of stone fused together by efreet fire-magics, without need for joint or mortar. Something near, or perhaps under, the altar in the center of the room, seems to be drawing air in. That's definitely weird."

Very cool. I like it.

And, finally, if they were to do anything that would put something they value (limbs, treasure, important objects, etc.) at risk of being annihilated, I would (as usual) ask the ritual phrase: "Are you sure you want to do that?"

I wa with you up until here. I consider this too much the GM putting their thumb on the scale.

 

[Wofano Wotanto]

My favorite explanation for complex, weird, deadly puzzle traps is from Earthdawn, where there is a named Horror (demon, essentially) that is trap filled dungeons.

Yes, that's a good one, and almost certainly an inspiration for 13th Age's living dungeons concept. Most of those aren't just a mass of traps and have their own monster ecology, but there's no reason you couldn't have an all-traps LD. It would be seriously terrifying to walk into a living dungeon and find all it's former monstrous denizens dead, caught in traps and left on display like a butcher bird's prey. That thing's going to be mean...and hungry.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Only a loon builds an actual "puzzle trap" where the victim is intended to solve it, with clues and hints and stuff to fiddle with. They belong in funhouses and mad wizard's lairs, and they're really more about testing the players' patience and problem-solving skills more so than the PCs' abilities.

Well, see above. In my Jewel of the Desert game, long ago (ca. two millennia back), the Tarrakhuna region was ruled by capricious and often-cruel "Genie-Rajahs" (a reference to the IRL myths of the "pre-Adamite Sultans"), powerful noble genies who ruled over their lesser brethren and humanoid servitors/slaves (elves, dwarves, humans, orcs, etc.) The ancient Genie-Rajahs were very powerful, and created a number of artifacts they could use to further that power.

However, for Plot Reasons the party hasn't quite figured out yet (but they're right on the cusp!), the Genie-Rajahs decided to up sticks and wholesale evacuate their civilization to "Jinnistan"--the geographical equivalent of the Tarrakhuna, but located in the magic-infused elemental otherworld, Al-Akirah. They claim this exodus had nothing whatever to do with the legendary rise of the "First Sultan" who rallied the free peoples of the Tarrakhuna and fought back against Genie-Rajah tyranny. The party has learned that this First Sultan did in fact exist, as a real individual person, and was part of why the Genie-Rajahs left, but wasn't the only reason.

However, as part of their exodus to Jinnistan, the Genie-Rajahs for one reason or another couldn't take everything they had with them. So they left behind some of these relics in secret, hidden places, warded and trapped and masked with illusions and all sorts of other tricks, to protect them for the day they intended to return. Given, at the time, most free humanoids were illiterate nomads, and both Wizard-style and Cleric-style magic were essentially unknown to the world, the Genie-Rajahs evidently saw this as a pretty safe bet.

Politics and history and the slow attrition of all the leaders who actually knew the mortal world (Al-Duniyyah) before the exodus, however, have ensured that the vast majority of these sites have never been reclaimed. And, at this point, with humanoid nation-states that actually have teeth to fight back, and the Jinnistani obsession with saving face and keeping up appearances, they'll probably never reclaim their ancient spaces now. It's not really worth the effort, especially since they haven't needed anything in those places for a couple thousand years!

I wrote this part of the world's backstory specifically because it would enable stuff like this. Dungeons and tombs and lost cities and all sorts of other stuff, abandoned by the original owners/makers/inhabitants, but left with Nasty Surprises for anyone who might just bumble in. The magic remains potent, all these centuries later, which simply proves how powerful the Genie-Rajahs were; and how valuable their treasures must be. They were not mad. They were proud--and believed no one could touch them.

They were wrong.

 

[EzekielRaiden]

Very cool. I like it.

I wa with you up until here. I consider this too much the GM putting their thumb on the scale.

I mean, in a certain sense, it is. In another sense, it is me ensuring that I did not fail them--that whatever happens, it is truly because they acted with intent, not because they accidentally stumbled into death or dismemberment or whatever. When stuff happens, my players know it is always because their actions had consequences.

I see it as being like a professor curving their test scores. I need to compensate for the possibility that I wrote a bad test. I don't do this sort of thing very often, mind; it's been many sessions since I last said anything of the sort. As I said, I only ask that sort of question when I have a suspicion that the players would be genuinely upset about the consequence. Not "when anything bad at all would happen." When it would actually damage their ability to enjoy playing, when it would sour the mood.

I am looking forward to bringing in a new player that, I suspect, will be the type to say "yes" when I ask that question though! She's fun, even if she's a chaos gremlin.

 

[Umbran]

Traps are there to change up the narrative within a dungeon.

To prevent or deter interlopers and thieves from making progress or acquiring treasure.

Traps are there to emulate pulp genre fiction, that used el-remmen's narrative conceit to achieve DEFCON 1's stated end.

 

[aco175]

The Goonies movie shows a variety of traps and locations that act as traps that need to be solved to get the pirate treasure. It is a nice clue hunt with the treasure map and the skull key. If it was a D&D world, there could be undead skeletons that attack along with oozes and constructs, but in the movie there are only traps and the BBEGs that are always just behind them.

I use some traps but like to foreshadow that I am using them so it does not slow the game down that much. The last adventure had a pirate cave where treasure was hidden. The main room had some skeletons but also had a pit trap that was sprung right before a door leading to another chamber. Then, in a couple rooms there was a hall with another pit trap before these doors. I did not feel like a gotcha if the PCs did not check since they now knew the pirates used traps. I did allow a Perception check to notice the ground or suck before they stepped on it.

Another time there was a pit trap in a room with some goblins and the PCs ran to the goblins to attack and I had the PC roll with disadvantage to notice it.

 

[bloodtide]

I love traps and use them in RPGs often. Starting in the '20's was the "trap filled adventure" story that was popular for the next couple decades in comics, books, movies and TV shows. As a kid, many decades later, I could buy a whole box of "trap filled adventure" comics and books for $1. And a couple years after that I started playing D&D and the first couple of editions loved traps too....

Encounter Traps: I'd call the first kind of trap Encounter Traps. They are no different then a role playing or combat encounter. Saying they are just for "attrition" is too limiting. RPGs like D&D are about resource management and attrition as basic features. Your character has a set amount of items and 'life force'....use them wisely.

While there are simple traps, just like simple combat and role playing encounters, the real fun of traps are the Problem Solving Traps. A trap of more size and detail that the players must figure out a way to by pass. They were quite popular before 3X. This was the sort of trap you could just just lazily "disable" with a roll. You had to figure out a way past the trap: for real. And by "real" I mean the Players, not the characters, would have to Problem Solve and get past the trap. Some published traps might give ways past it, but a lot of them would just say something like "if the PC can figure out some way to block the opening" and leave it vague like that. There was no more modern idea of "PC uses game action Clever Idea and picks up Item A and uses it to block opening A", rolls some dice...and everyone is amazed how the "character" got past the trap.

Encounter Traps also cross with Encounter Hazards, and the two do mix together seamlessly. Hazards are just about always natural environments, though they can be created too.

Puzzle Traps stand out as the "weird" traps made by crazy folk or such. But note puzzle traps do have other uses. Some common ones are as tests: the maker of the trap wants to test the person to get an expected result. The other common one is the gatekeeping type trap: made to make sure only a person of a fairly specific knowledge and intelligence can get past the trap.

With the passing of Old School play....traps lost a lot. Newer, younger players...nearly all of them casual players could not...or did not want to "solve or bypass" traps or anything else in the game For Real. 3X D&D saw the rise and big overwhelming push for an all "equal" Straightforward Mechanical Game. Player encountered Trap Type Six of EL 11, and must roll higher then a 15 to "disarm/bypass". And this has carried on to today.

Many gamers today, nearly anyone who has started playing in the last 20 years or so....just see traps as a pointless thing that "gets in the way" of Real Gameplay. They see no point in endlessly doing "oh a trap, we disarm it...again" and "Oh no a trap we take x damage....again" as it's dull and boring. Though that is just about all of modern traps.

As an Old School DM may game is famous for Hard Fun Nightmare Fuel traps. The typical casual player is "not ready" for the type of traps with will encounter in my game. Often this leads to character death and the player stomping away mad. One out of every couple players does "get it" though, and become a fan of Hard Fun traps.

 

[MarkB]

Puzzle traps are often either tests of identity or tests of worthiness. The test-of-identity ones won't give you clues to their solution themselves - you'll find the clues in the notes of previous failed explorers, or by examining mechanisms that have been exposed through damage and decay. The test-of-worthiness ones require that you display the traits valued by those who made them in order to solve them.

Puzzle traps, like riddles, require a delicate balance, because their purpose in game terms is to make players feel smart and clever for having solved them. Make them too easy and the players won't feel like they were challenged. Make them too difficult and they'll fail to solve them, and feel like they've been made fools of.