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<blockquote data-quote="FormerlyHemlock" data-source="post: 6658534" data-attributes="member: 6787650">It's good when traps have side-effects too. &quot;Not only is your invisible servant dead, but the explosion blew a hole in the bulkhead and the room is now underwater.&quot; Not all trap consequences should be expressed as HP loss if the trap-setter knows what he is doing. It's not like red-shirts are a new or surprising tactic to a BBEG.Possible consequences to triggering a trap:* An obstruction is created (water, stone walls, dropped bridges).* The enemy is alerted to your presence/reinforcements dispatched (bell is rung).* A resource is lost (potions of healing get smashed instead of stolen).* A monster is released (Rancor's cave opens).* Damage is inflicted on the trap-triggerer or those in the vicinity (Indiana Jones boulder trap).A key thing you want in a trap is that either it doesn't go off on a false positive, or false positives are tolerable: a trap which rings a bell is a simple, cheap force multiplier and you can afford to have the kobolds trip is accidentally; but a trap which buries the Dark Wizard's research library in rocks and then pours in magma had better not go off unless someone was about to capture the library anyway. That's part of what makes monster traps so good: if a kobold accidentally triggers the rune summoning the pair of Goristros into the wizard's library, they just eat the kobold, no harm done.Mage Hand won't help much against these kinds of traps.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="FormerlyHemlock, post: 6658534, member: 6787650"] It's good when traps have side-effects too. "Not only is your invisible servant dead, but the explosion blew a hole in the bulkhead and the room is now underwater." Not all trap consequences should be expressed as HP loss if the trap-setter knows what he is doing. It's not like red-shirts are a new or surprising tactic to a BBEG. Possible consequences to triggering a trap: * An obstruction is created (water, stone walls, dropped bridges). * The enemy is alerted to your presence/reinforcements dispatched (bell is rung). * A resource is lost (potions of healing get smashed instead of stolen). * A monster is released (Rancor's cave opens). * Damage is inflicted on the trap-triggerer or those in the vicinity (Indiana Jones boulder trap). A key thing you want in a trap is that either it doesn't go off on a false positive, or false positives are tolerable: a trap which rings a bell is a simple, cheap force multiplier and you can afford to have the kobolds trip is accidentally; but a trap which buries the Dark Wizard's research library in rocks and then pours in magma had [I]better[/I] not go off unless someone was about to capture the library anyway. That's part of what makes monster traps so good: if a kobold accidentally triggers the rune summoning the pair of Goristros into the wizard's library, they just eat the kobold, no harm done. Mage Hand won't help much against these kinds of traps. [/QUOTE]

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