hong said:
Replace them with things that fight back.
I try not to overuse traps - but on the other hand, if my players put points into searching for (and especially disabling) traps, I want them to feel like they've used them wisely. Traps are often overused and not logically thought out.
Black Moria said:
I also have some traps designed such that they can't be disarmed by conventional means because the trap mechanism is behind a barrier of some sort, like a door or wall. It means that the party has to be creative to bypass or negate the trap.
Koewn said:
The only ones that were of any interest, really, were the ones the party couldn't get around
I find that this is my view a lot of the time, too. The problem with it is that it cheapens or obviates the need for the disable device skill... I'm considering using disable device as a "disable or bypass device" sort of skill. I'm thinking of
Raiders of the Lost Ark; when Indy locates the dart trap in the final chamber at the very beginning of the film, he finds the trap, but there's no plausible way to "disarm" it. Instead, he bypasses it, by avoiding the pressure plates, at least for a while. Of course, Indy sets off every trap in the place...
Joshua Randall said:
For a different perspective, I look at traps this way: they are yet another way to force the PCs to use up resources.
...<snip>
So I don't mind that (sometimes) the trap is solved with just a die roll. After all, combat is solved with just a bunch of dice rolls, yes?
True, but I'd really prefer the traps to have as much personality as the monsters. Memorable traps that involve the entire party would be more fun, from my perspective. Both as player and as DM.
Koewn said:
A table from the last room acts as a tower shield to block poison darts. Candlewax seals up exhausts for sleeping gas. All that fun *thinking* gets taken out back and shot by the Disable Device skill. Sure, a good rogue player will come up with that sort of stuff when making his roll, but often times Disable Device is like...Fireball. It's a "spell" the rogue "casts" to "kill" the trap, and the mechanics of the game support doing it that way.
I like that - alternate possibilities in terms of how to bypass traps and challenges. I always try to give the PC's the benefit of the doubt in those cases.
I've tended to reduce the number of traps, but try to make the ones that are there more interesting. I don't do traps a lot; but I do like to run the occasional "heavy trap" dungeon as a change of pace.
DonTadow said:
Traps are a wierd bunch. Traps are the only encounter thing in the game that is meant for one person to deal with.
That sums up my issues with it as well