Fellow DMs, I have something of a dilemma. I need some exciting trap ideas. I've browsed both Tasha's, XGtE, and the DMG but I'm struggling to come up with some original trap ideas. Everything seems so generic or cliché. I mean come on, who hasn't seen a pit trap at some point, or one that shoots darts or a net. I need something interesting for my players. They are well acquainted with D&D and together we have run through a virtual gauntlet of traps in our sessions. But after a few years, the traps seem more like a background hazard than something the players should take seriously.
In a few months I hope to run my players through a homebrew campaign. I have plenty of NPCs and literal piles of dungeons. The players are something of a mixed group, some enjoy puzzles, others simply like to watch them be solved. So I'd appreciate it if you could tell me your most exciting, complicated, treacherous, heinous, nightmare-inducing traps worthy of living forever in the dark corners of an evil mastermind. Let the death saves roll!
For future ideas on traps, think out of the box using glyph of warding to contain a spell which weakens the trapped player/players. Then you follow up with a damaging spell or trap for extra potency.Picture the following scenario:
Maybe they're walking through a hall with a tile floor. The tiles each take up a 5 ft. area. One such tile which covers a fragile, glass framework like bird bones, hardly strong enough to keep the tile up. They step on this tile and fall down. The glyph is triggered, casting a slightly re-flavored hex before the rest of the trap triggers. They get a few cuts from the sharp glass unless they're wearing armor that you feel would protect against the glass, dealing around 1d4 slashing damage; HOWEVER, the hex makes it deal and extra 1d6 necrotic damage. It also gives disadvantage on one ability score and checks made with that score. This would all fit in one turn and work as a low-level trap for players above 1st level (1d4 + 1d6 averages to about 5 damage, which is very devastating to low levels; this would also include the extra damage done over the next hour) but below 4th level (This would still work over time for 4th level, just not as well).
If the players are in levels above these, then simply have it cast at 5th level, cursing them for 24 hours. All attacks for the next day deal extra damage. This is stressful if you are working in a time frame because they can't rest to let it wear off and do not have a spell to remove the hex. You could also add in a standard dart trap for extra damage because of the hex. If the dart does 1d6 piercing damage, and you add on another 1d6 necrotic, and they take damage from the glass, the average damage would be 11 total. 2 (1d4) slashing + 3 (1d6) necrotic (from hex), then another 3 (1d6) piercing damage + 3 (1d6) necrotic (from hex). That would easily weaken a tanky party member, and cause them to take more damage in the future.
Another good trap idea is what I would consider a "knife in the dark", let me explain. The party approaches a door, upon which they find a standard dart trap. They disarm the trap easily, thinking they have saved themselves; however, that is when the concealed trap is sprung. A player carefully removes the thin, stone panel which covered the dart trap. By touching this panel, they trigger a glyph of warding. The glyph casts arms of hadar on all the creatures within range of it, dealing 2d6 necrotic damage to everyone within 10 ft. of it if they fail their STR save, or half a much on a successful one! Imagine the looks when they realize they triggered a trap by trying to stop a simple 1d6 piercing damage dart from hitting them.
If this doesn't scare your players, there are two more glyphs of warding which trigger just before the other ones. Unknown to the players, two of them triggered glyphs on the way there by stepping on two panels. Maybe they had the hex spell on them, causing the lead two party members to take an extra 1d6 necrotic damage. that averages to about 10 (3d6) necrotic damage on a failed save for the two people with hexes, and 7 (2d6) for those without it. You could also have the glyph with arms of hadar on the dart itself, so if they remove the dart to stop the trap from working or get hit by the dart, they still take damage. That could be anywhere from 7 (2d6) necrotic and 3 (1d6) piercing damage, to 3 (1d6) piercing (dart), 3 (1d6) necrotic (hex from the dart hitting), 7 (2d6) necrotic (arms of hadar), and another 3 (1d6) necrotic (hex).
That would average to 14 (4d6 from hex + hadar) necrotic damage and 3 (1d6 from dart) piercing damage, for 17 damage if they have the hex! That would also be a moderately dangerous trap for a party.
Basically, the characters are rushing to destroy an artifact that, if found by the other side, will be used to release an ancient evil. The campaign is also set in Theros, which is essentially a Greek themed setting.
Edit: I can adjust any DCs or damage dice to be appropriate for their level as they progress through the campaign. So don't worry about your traps being too "low level" as I can always use the premise of the trap and alter to be more work less deadly
Here are two of the embarrassing traps that I create to be used in an upcoming game. they may need a little polish but you may get a general idea.
Stairs Trap
This staircase descends steeply downward. In the central section is one step that affects each creature within 10 feet each time it is stepped on. All beings in the area of effect fall prey to a reverse gravity spell, striking the sloping ceiling above the stairs for 3(1d6) points of damage and then falling down, striking the steps for another 3(1d6) points of damage, as well as tumbling down the stairs.
A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals the step. and disabling it requires a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check. If a character fails to disable the trap, the step’s trap can no longer be disabled.
Two successful DC 14 Dexterity saving throws checks avoid getting slammed one for each the ceiling and floor. Failure on the second check results in the character tumbling down to the bottom of the steps and being knocked prone. Any character in the way of the tumbling character must make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or fall down the steps and be knocked prone.
Anyone falling as far as the bottom of the staircase causes a magic mouth to appear on the south wall; it merely laughs in a male voice.
Dance Hall
Four couples dance along the floor in a speedy waltz and move in random directions along the floor.
Any character who comes in contact with failure of a DC 14 Dexterity(Acrobatics) check is bumped by one of the couples attracts their ire and initiate combat
If the character asks to “cut in” they can take over as a dance partner. A DC 14 Charisma(Performance) to show the character's skill as a dance partner on a success the character is taken from one end of the room to the other. On a failed the character is slapped in the face taking 2(1d4) bludgeon damage and initiating combat.
Combat is the dancers moving across the floors slamming into the players. The creatures I had in mind was Animated Armor
Another suggestion is to check out Book of Challenges: Dungeon Rooms, Puzzles, and Traps on Dmsguild. While it is 3rd Edition there is a lot of good ideas that can up upscaled to 5e.
Grimtooth's Traps or any of the series from Flyiing Buffalo. Incorporate Stone Cursed or other creatures into the trap designs that you already have to complicate the solutions some.
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“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Ravnica had modify memory wards that made people forget they had been to a place. What about a ward that makes you forget you've been down a corridor so you do a loop? They'd have to mark the corridors or something to avoid forgetting
Breathless
A fun trap I considered was the suction corridor. The corridor has a gust of wind that pushes everyone away from the opposite end where the exit or shut off is. You can combine it with a pit trap that it pushes people into or also make it take all the air out of the room so people also suffocate.
Ghost curse
A trap which cast mislead on a player. So they keep walking as the duplicate while they're body is left invisible in the corridor. Strictly speaking this isn't in the rules of spell but a funny trap concept. The party walks through a corridor and suddenly their ghosts who cant touch anything. They need to find a way to wake up their invisible bodies as ghosts.
Radiation leak
sickening radiance is a brutal effect that mimics radiation. You can just put it in a room with something that wastes time like a lock to pick or a maze and it adds an extra challenge. You can remove the damage and just make it exhaustion so it's easier but the basic idea of the trap is they need to stay out of the light and or plan their actions carefully to get in and out in under 5 turns.
Time lock
It's just a room with a button that sets off a timer where both during which both doors are locked and afterwards the next door opens. Freaks players the hell out if you combine it with flashing lights and sounds of whirring. If they push the button it restarts the timer and all they have to do is leave it to count down. It works like a game of chicken and really paranoid parties will get stuck for hours.
It's totally safe Take something dangerous like a wall of fire and use illusion spells to hide some aspect of it like the smoke and heat from the fire. If they always use detect magic they'll think the fire is an illusion because of the spells on it and superficial investigations will detect the oddities.
Enemies abound
This room has illusions causing players to attack each other. Basically when they enter the room they see illusions of monsters. The monsters go last initiative and hit the same to hit and damage as the players did but to each other at random. Each of the hits causes an intelligence saving throw, when they succeed the spell end. This is basically the effects of the enemies abound spell
I highly suggest looking and designing traps as encounters and creative problem solving more than just a skill check/s.
The reason why traps start to feel boring is because in essence the are all the same mechanically. Spot trap or fail to/ disarm or avoid trap or fail to / Take damage or don't.
One interesting trap I've seen is a store room, someone has rigged up some vials of alchemist fire jenga ontop of a 10ft stack of sacks, crates, etc, to fall if anything disturbed.
The players can think of ways dealing this this and the reward is the alchemist fire and what ever you choose to be in the crates. If they fail the vials fall, the room catches on fire, the person who failed probably get a few doses of alchemist fire on them that need to be put out by the party as the room burns.
When you do traps like this, the trap becomes a puzzle as well as a trap, but the solution to the puzzle is something that your players can create with their characters abilities/items.
Traps starting short easy combats is also way more interesting than just having them deal damage on a failed save. Essentially a mimic is a kind of trap and there is a reason why it's one of the most fun and iconic monsters in the game. A trap that animates some an undead corpse is a great way of allowing a paladin to have a possible use for divine sense.
You can also position traps so that players can get creative and possibly use them against enemies. If you position traps so that smart players can potentially lure dumb monsters into them it really starts to encourage out of the box solutions to combats and makes players think past just the actions on their sheet.
One thing can be fun is to take a movie(s) and steal all the traps from it. People absolutely love it when they figure out you are doing Indiana Jones movies.
I think one thing that is underrated in D&D is placing combinations of multiple traps and/or the environment: Do not place traps alone. Make them part of a bigger setup. Or even a setup where disarming one can put you into the path of another.
For instance, if there is a spike trap at the bottom of the stairs that you are ascending, the middle of the stairs might contain a trap that flips the stair treads into a flat slide and makes you slide right back into the trap. Of if a one side of a room/corridor has has a blade trap, the other side would have a springboard/push trap to shove you into the other trap.
If your party always uses 'Mage Hand' or similar to trigger traps make sure that the switch they trigger causes no only the obvious effect they were expecting, but either triggering something else too or only disarming one trap. For instance, if they use Mage Hand to open a chest without disarming the obvious arrow trap in the lid, have a second trap like a floor trap in front of the (now open) box for whoever now comes to collect the contents.
So if the party think they were clever evading trap #1, trap #2 might just get them; and maybe even put them right back into #1. Now, stack this up and vary between to 2-4 levels of traps, and you will have your players paranoid and second guessing themselves: "Did I get all the traps?" "If this trap seemed mild, was it intended to get me into something else I have not yet spotted?" "Was the point of the obvious trap just to get me to choose the wrong corridor (with more traps)?"
Once you have the right level of paranoia, anything that happens to the party - even mild and harmless effects/events - will have them guessing wildly at more traps. Got splashed by water and all PCs wet - maybe there is some sort of electrical/lightning trap!?
I highly suggest looking and designing traps as encounters and creative problem solving more than just a skill check/s.
I also very much agree with this. While you can use a DC roll to spot a check, disarming one should really be more of a puzzle. Think of the 1st Indiana Jones movie where he realises it's a weight trigger and then needs to find something suitable. Or depending on level/skills/items they might be able to stop a moving trap with an immovable rod or forcefield, etc. It will give the party a chance to use all their non-combat skills and get creative
I try to think about why the trap is there and design it based on that. If a door is trapped I think about how the door is surrounded and framed what is nearby and try to find ways the person that set the trap would of gone about doing so. Often, a simple cliché trap but I will also get fun ideas as well. Like a door that is a fake door and slams the rogue trying to pick it because the real door is a trap door going down instead. Or a hallway built to display but some of the armors/statues in the hall are trapped to animate if someone tries to take something. Try thinking of why the trap is there and how the owner could trap it.
I love this approach. I also highly recommend watching stuff like Critical Role and Dimension 20, or any other actual play D&D shows you might be interested in for ideas. One I particularly liked was a room with a locked gate, a book that the players couldn’t read, as the words kept getting fuzzy, and a brazier. When the party eventually got the clever idea that the book had to be read by the light of the brazier and lit it, the real trap was set off, highly explosive, non magical, powder in the bowl. Simple, elegant, and not detectable without a specific “i examine the contents of the bowl”
Mechanically, a trap either inflicts a condition or damage (which can be recurring or singular). For conditions, I refer to both those in the back of the PHB (Blinded--Unconcious) but also those generate by spells like hex and curse. And, well, a trap can move you--up, down, sideways, teleport. If it's a damage trap, it's largely a matter of matching a delivery method to a damage type. Physical traps are classic (rocks fall, spiked pit, swinging axe), as is dropping people from heights. Excepting acid, the other elemental damage types (Fire, cold, lightning, acid, thunder) are typically tied to a spell effect, because they are highly environment contingent--they don't just happen out of nowhere. Necrotic, radiant, and psychic are.... personal. There is always an entity producing them (even if it's just the creepy idol). Delivery method for most physical is potential energy--springs and elevation. Elemental types, it's mostly a matter of dropping players into it or it onto players. For most other things, it's a matter of getting players to 'touch the stovetop' by making the object seem desirable enough to pick up or approach (golden idols automatically sus). Triggers are traditionally pressure plates and trip-wires, but the good traps invert that--taking something off the pressure plate, hitting the pressure plate to escape, or exciting exceptions include pulling the _right_ lever. Conditions, I'm talking about a trip-wire that just trips (spiked pit optional), or a darkness spell that extinguishes all light, blinding everyone (leaving the PCs flailing about in the dark, attacking one another). On reflection, movement restriction is another trap--converting things into difficult terrain. Traps that move players really require a secondary (damage inflicting) hazard--a cliff to fall off, lava to fall onto, but work well with elemental damage types--good luck if you fall into the Plague Swamp, and accidentally swallow a mouthful. Prismatic walls also an option. Hmm. But there are also two non-damage ways to endanger/kill a PC - drowning and death saves. Drowning is a slow process for the forewarned (minutes for most PCs) so the 'tunnel out' can be many rounds of travel long. "Death saves" are as much a mechanic as anything else--get three successes before three failures, and may be an effective model for any kind of crushing trap (ceiling, walls) where the effects are death/massive damage.
I have a grappling hook and two bolt traps hidden behind three phantom ceiling tiles on a ledge that the player is encouraged to jump on, and it has a wide angle to catch them if they run away.
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Fellow DMs, I have something of a dilemma. I need some exciting trap ideas. I've browsed both Tasha's, XGtE, and the DMG but I'm struggling to come up with some original trap ideas. Everything seems so generic or cliché. I mean come on, who hasn't seen a pit trap at some point, or one that shoots darts or a net. I need something interesting for my players. They are well acquainted with D&D and together we have run through a virtual gauntlet of traps in our sessions. But after a few years, the traps seem more like a background hazard than something the players should take seriously.
In a few months I hope to run my players through a homebrew campaign. I have plenty of NPCs and literal piles of dungeons. The players are something of a mixed group, some enjoy puzzles, others simply like to watch them be solved. So I'd appreciate it if you could tell me your most exciting, complicated, treacherous, heinous, nightmare-inducing traps worthy of living forever in the dark corners of an evil mastermind. Let the death saves roll!
Keep your friends close, and enemies closer.
For future ideas on traps, think out of the box using glyph of warding to contain a spell which weakens the trapped player/players. Then you follow up with a damaging spell or trap for extra potency.Picture the following scenario:
Maybe they're walking through a hall with a tile floor. The tiles each take up a 5 ft. area. One such tile which covers a fragile, glass framework like bird bones, hardly strong enough to keep the tile up. They step on this tile and fall down. The glyph is triggered, casting a slightly re-flavored hex before the rest of the trap triggers. They get a few cuts from the sharp glass unless they're wearing armor that you feel would protect against the glass, dealing around 1d4 slashing damage; HOWEVER, the hex makes it deal and extra 1d6 necrotic damage. It also gives disadvantage on one ability score and checks made with that score. This would all fit in one turn and work as a low-level trap for players above 1st level (1d4 + 1d6 averages to about 5 damage, which is very devastating to low levels; this would also include the extra damage done over the next hour) but below 4th level (This would still work over time for 4th level, just not as well).
If the players are in levels above these, then simply have it cast at 5th level, cursing them for 24 hours. All attacks for the next day deal extra damage. This is stressful if you are working in a time frame because they can't rest to let it wear off and do not have a spell to remove the hex. You could also add in a standard dart trap for extra damage because of the hex. If the dart does 1d6 piercing damage, and you add on another 1d6 necrotic, and they take damage from the glass, the average damage would be 11 total. 2 (1d4) slashing + 3 (1d6) necrotic (from hex), then another 3 (1d6) piercing damage + 3 (1d6) necrotic (from hex). That would easily weaken a tanky party member, and cause them to take more damage in the future.
Another good trap idea is what I would consider a "knife in the dark", let me explain. The party approaches a door, upon which they find a standard dart trap. They disarm the trap easily, thinking they have saved themselves; however, that is when the concealed trap is sprung. A player carefully removes the thin, stone panel which covered the dart trap. By touching this panel, they trigger a glyph of warding. The glyph casts arms of hadar on all the creatures within range of it, dealing 2d6 necrotic damage to everyone within 10 ft. of it if they fail their STR save, or half a much on a successful one! Imagine the looks when they realize they triggered a trap by trying to stop a simple 1d6 piercing damage dart from hitting them.
If this doesn't scare your players, there are two more glyphs of warding which trigger just before the other ones. Unknown to the players, two of them triggered glyphs on the way there by stepping on two panels. Maybe they had the hex spell on them, causing the lead two party members to take an extra 1d6 necrotic damage. that averages to about 10 (3d6) necrotic damage on a failed save for the two people with hexes, and 7 (2d6) for those without it. You could also have the glyph with arms of hadar on the dart itself, so if they remove the dart to stop the trap from working or get hit by the dart, they still take damage. That could be anywhere from 7 (2d6) necrotic and 3 (1d6) piercing damage, to 3 (1d6) piercing (dart), 3 (1d6) necrotic (hex from the dart hitting), 7 (2d6) necrotic (arms of hadar), and another 3 (1d6) necrotic (hex).
That would average to 14 (4d6 from hex + hadar) necrotic damage and 3 (1d6 from dart) piercing damage, for 17 damage if they have the hex! That would also be a moderately dangerous trap for a party.
What is the premise of the campaign? That would help with specific trap ideas.
Basically, the characters are rushing to destroy an artifact that, if found by the other side, will be used to release an ancient evil. The campaign is also set in Theros, which is essentially a Greek themed setting.
Edit: I can adjust any DCs or damage dice to be appropriate for their level as they progress through the campaign. So don't worry about your traps being too "low level" as I can always use the premise of the trap and alter to be more work less deadly
Keep your friends close, and enemies closer.
Here are two of the embarrassing traps that I create to be used in an upcoming game. they may need a little polish but you may get a general idea.
Stairs Trap
This staircase descends steeply downward. In the central section is one step that affects each creature within 10 feet each time it is stepped on. All beings in the area of effect fall prey to a reverse gravity spell, striking the sloping ceiling above the stairs for 3(1d6) points of damage and then falling down, striking the steps for another 3(1d6) points of damage, as well as tumbling down the stairs.
A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Perception) check reveals the step. and disabling it requires a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Arcana) check. If a character fails to disable the trap, the step’s trap can no longer be disabled.
Two successful DC 14 Dexterity saving throws checks avoid getting slammed one for each the ceiling and floor. Failure on the second check results in the character tumbling down to the bottom of the steps and being knocked prone. Any character in the way of the tumbling character must make a DC 10 Dexterity saving throw or fall down the steps and be knocked prone.
Anyone falling as far as the bottom of the staircase causes a magic mouth to appear on the south wall; it merely laughs in a male voice.
Dance Hall
Four couples dance along the floor in a speedy waltz and move in random directions along the floor.
Any character who comes in contact with failure of a DC 14 Dexterity(Acrobatics) check is bumped by one of the couples attracts their ire and initiate combat
If the character asks to “cut in” they can take over as a dance partner. A DC 14 Charisma(Performance) to show the character's skill as a dance partner on a success the character is taken from one end of the room to the other. On a failed the character is slapped in the face taking 2(1d4) bludgeon damage and initiating combat.
Combat is the dancers moving across the floors slamming into the players. The creatures I had in mind was Animated Armor
Another suggestion is to check out Book of Challenges: Dungeon Rooms, Puzzles, and Traps on Dmsguild. While it is 3rd Edition there is a lot of good ideas that can up upscaled to 5e.
https://www.dmsguild.com/product/3736/Book-of-Challenges-Dungeon-Rooms-Puzzles-and-Traps-3e
Grimtooth's Traps or any of the series from Flyiing Buffalo. Incorporate Stone Cursed or other creatures into the trap designs that you already have to complicate the solutions some.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one's lifetime.” - Mark Twain - Innocents Abroad
Deja vu
Ravnica had modify memory wards that made people forget they had been to a place. What about a ward that makes you forget you've been down a corridor so you do a loop? They'd have to mark the corridors or something to avoid forgetting
Breathless
A fun trap I considered was the suction corridor. The corridor has a gust of wind that pushes everyone away from the opposite end where the exit or shut off is. You can combine it with a pit trap that it pushes people into or also make it take all the air out of the room so people also suffocate.
Ghost curse
A trap which cast mislead on a player. So they keep walking as the duplicate while they're body is left invisible in the corridor. Strictly speaking this isn't in the rules of spell but a funny trap concept. The party walks through a corridor and suddenly their ghosts who cant touch anything. They need to find a way to wake up their invisible bodies as ghosts.
Radiation leak
sickening radiance is a brutal effect that mimics radiation. You can just put it in a room with something that wastes time like a lock to pick or a maze and it adds an extra challenge. You can remove the damage and just make it exhaustion so it's easier but the basic idea of the trap is they need to stay out of the light and or plan their actions carefully to get in and out in under 5 turns.
Time lock
It's just a room with a button that sets off a timer where both during which both doors are locked and afterwards the next door opens. Freaks players the hell out if you combine it with flashing lights and sounds of whirring. If they push the button it restarts the timer and all they have to do is leave it to count down. It works like a game of chicken and really paranoid parties will get stuck for hours.
It's totally safe
Take something dangerous like a wall of fire and use illusion spells to hide some aspect of it like the smoke and heat from the fire. If they always use detect magic they'll think the fire is an illusion because of the spells on it and superficial investigations will detect the oddities.
Enemies abound
This room has illusions causing players to attack each other. Basically when they enter the room they see illusions of monsters. The monsters go last initiative and hit the same to hit and damage as the players did but to each other at random. Each of the hits causes an intelligence saving throw, when they succeed the spell end. This is basically the effects of the enemies abound spell
I highly suggest looking and designing traps as encounters and creative problem solving more than just a skill check/s.
The reason why traps start to feel boring is because in essence the are all the same mechanically. Spot trap or fail to/ disarm or avoid trap or fail to / Take damage or don't.
One interesting trap I've seen is a store room, someone has rigged up some vials of alchemist fire jenga ontop of a 10ft stack of sacks, crates, etc, to fall if anything disturbed.
The players can think of ways dealing this this and the reward is the alchemist fire and what ever you choose to be in the crates. If they fail the vials fall, the room catches on fire, the person who failed probably get a few doses of alchemist fire on them that need to be put out by the party as the room burns.
When you do traps like this, the trap becomes a puzzle as well as a trap, but the solution to the puzzle is something that your players can create with their characters abilities/items.
Traps starting short easy combats is also way more interesting than just having them deal damage on a failed save. Essentially a mimic is a kind of trap and there is a reason why it's one of the most fun and iconic monsters in the game.
A trap that animates some an undead corpse is a great way of allowing a paladin to have a possible use for divine sense.
You can also position traps so that players can get creative and possibly use them against enemies. If you position traps so that smart players can potentially lure dumb monsters into them it really starts to encourage out of the box solutions to combats and makes players think past just the actions on their sheet.
One thing can be fun is to take a movie(s) and steal all the traps from it. People absolutely love it when they figure out you are doing Indiana Jones movies.
I think one thing that is underrated in D&D is placing combinations of multiple traps and/or the environment: Do not place traps alone. Make them part of a bigger setup. Or even a setup where disarming one can put you into the path of another.
For instance, if there is a spike trap at the bottom of the stairs that you are ascending, the middle of the stairs might contain a trap that flips the stair treads into a flat slide and makes you slide right back into the trap. Of if a one side of a room/corridor has has a blade trap, the other side would have a springboard/push trap to shove you into the other trap.
If your party always uses 'Mage Hand' or similar to trigger traps make sure that the switch they trigger causes no only the obvious effect they were expecting, but either triggering something else too or only disarming one trap. For instance, if they use Mage Hand to open a chest without disarming the obvious arrow trap in the lid, have a second trap like a floor trap in front of the (now open) box for whoever now comes to collect the contents.
So if the party think they were clever evading trap #1, trap #2 might just get them; and maybe even put them right back into #1. Now, stack this up and vary between to 2-4 levels of traps, and you will have your players paranoid and second guessing themselves: "Did I get all the traps?" "If this trap seemed mild, was it intended to get me into something else I have not yet spotted?" "Was the point of the obvious trap just to get me to choose the wrong corridor (with more traps)?"
Once you have the right level of paranoia, anything that happens to the party - even mild and harmless effects/events - will have them guessing wildly at more traps. Got splashed by water and all PCs wet - maybe there is some sort of electrical/lightning trap!?
I also very much agree with this. While you can use a DC roll to spot a check, disarming one should really be more of a puzzle. Think of the 1st Indiana Jones movie where he realises it's a weight trigger and then needs to find something suitable. Or depending on level/skills/items they might be able to stop a moving trap with an immovable rod or forcefield, etc. It will give the party a chance to use all their non-combat skills and get creative
I try to think about why the trap is there and design it based on that. If a door is trapped I think about how the door is surrounded and framed what is nearby and try to find ways the person that set the trap would of gone about doing so. Often, a simple cliché trap but I will also get fun ideas as well. Like a door that is a fake door and slams the rogue trying to pick it because the real door is a trap door going down instead. Or a hallway built to display but some of the armors/statues in the hall are trapped to animate if someone tries to take something. Try thinking of why the trap is there and how the owner could trap it.
I love this approach. I also highly recommend watching stuff like Critical Role and Dimension 20, or any other actual play D&D shows you might be interested in for ideas. One I particularly liked was a room with a locked gate, a book that the players couldn’t read, as the words kept getting fuzzy, and a brazier. When the party eventually got the clever idea that the book had to be read by the light of the brazier and lit it, the real trap was set off, highly explosive, non magical, powder in the bowl. Simple, elegant, and not detectable without a specific “i examine the contents of the bowl”
You sire are a nasty evil person and I love you. This is perfect for the one shot I am trying to get together. Thank you so much
the bear trap.
when stepped on, it summons a bear.
Infinite Staircase with baby oil on the steps
Best Spells: https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2190706-applause, https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2047204-big-ol-switcheroo, https://www.dndbeyond.com/spells/2188701-cerwicks-copper-cables
Best Feats: https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/1512461-soapbox-revised
Best Monsters: https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/3775489-jar-jar-binks, https://www.dndbeyond.com/monsters/3860024-spare-ribs
Mechanically, a trap either inflicts a condition or damage (which can be recurring or singular). For conditions, I refer to both those in the back of the PHB (Blinded--Unconcious) but also those generate by spells like hex and curse. And, well, a trap can move you--up, down, sideways, teleport. If it's a damage trap, it's largely a matter of matching a delivery method to a damage type. Physical traps are classic (rocks fall, spiked pit, swinging axe), as is dropping people from heights. Excepting acid, the other elemental damage types (Fire, cold, lightning, acid, thunder) are typically tied to a spell effect, because they are highly environment contingent--they don't just happen out of nowhere. Necrotic, radiant, and psychic are.... personal. There is always an entity producing them (even if it's just the creepy idol). Delivery method for most physical is potential energy--springs and elevation. Elemental types, it's mostly a matter of dropping players into it or it onto players. For most other things, it's a matter of getting players to 'touch the stovetop' by making the object seem desirable enough to pick up or approach (golden idols automatically sus). Triggers are traditionally pressure plates and trip-wires, but the good traps invert that--taking something off the pressure plate, hitting the pressure plate to escape, or exciting exceptions include pulling the _right_ lever. Conditions, I'm talking about a trip-wire that just trips (spiked pit optional), or a darkness spell that extinguishes all light, blinding everyone (leaving the PCs flailing about in the dark, attacking one another). On reflection, movement restriction is another trap--converting things into difficult terrain. Traps that move players really require a secondary (damage inflicting) hazard--a cliff to fall off, lava to fall onto, but work well with elemental damage types--good luck if you fall into the Plague Swamp, and accidentally swallow a mouthful. Prismatic walls also an option. Hmm. But there are also two non-damage ways to endanger/kill a PC - drowning and death saves. Drowning is a slow process for the forewarned (minutes for most PCs) so the 'tunnel out' can be many rounds of travel long. "Death saves" are as much a mechanic as anything else--get three successes before three failures, and may be an effective model for any kind of crushing trap (ceiling, walls) where the effects are death/massive damage.
I have a grappling hook and two bolt traps hidden behind three phantom ceiling tiles on a ledge that the player is encouraged to jump on, and it has a wide angle to catch them if they run away.