As much flak as the Tomb of Horrors (rightly) receives, I do enjoy the tilt-board trap. Players walk into a room on a surface that seems sturdy enough, but then it suddenly tilts downwards and has them slipping into a pit of fire. Players have to try and scrabble back up the tiltboard or be scorched. It's rather sadistic, but I admire the genius of it.
I'm also a fan of Grimtooth's Traps, which are elaborate, gruesome and seemingly practical contraptions (though the author recommends against attempting to recreate them in real life.) And speaking of practicality, I like traps that are based on the real world, particularly the terrifyingly simple punji stick or trou de loup; its effectiveness is increased when it wounds its victim, as that takes more resources from medics than a kill. The simpler and less expected it is, the more I enjoy its employment.
But from personal experience, my favourite has to be a simple tripwire that made rocks fall. It was insignificant in and of itself doing a measly 2 (3?) bludgeoning damage, but it allowed me to use Mold Earth to barricade a door as the first part of a strategy that would allow our third level party to take on all the inhabitants of Cragmaw Castle in that single combat. "Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve." - Sun Tzu.
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
Not one I employed against players myself, but one I encountered in a PbP game here. Heh, and one we had to spend *weeks* figuring out how to circumvent.
In essence, an entirely passive pointy-stick trap like punjis, which are often the best kind. But this one was an entire 'trap' room. The doors to the room swung open at the faintest touch despite looking solid, and the room itself had a slightly tilted floor rendered magically frictionless so people who wandered in would inevitably slide towards the row of iron spikes set in two trenches close to either end of the room. There were a number of other factors that made getting past this room a nightmare that I will remember for a long, long time. Especially as nothing in it was mechanical or moving. No mysteriously spry thousand year old elaborate death traps - just some spikes and a Grease spell some dickhole lich had managed to make permanent until I nailed a couple of Dispel rolls.
Stuff like that's generally what appeals to me as traps. Machinery is prone to gumming up or breaking down, the fewer moving bits a trap has the better. One particularly devious DM move might be to use the same BBEG Spell Permanence ability on Spike Growth to create patches of camouflaged spike trap in places players are simply not prepared for there to be spike traps. Most good traps are there to drain resources and crank tension more than be the kill move themselves, and nothing pulls that off quite like "Oops suddenly spikes!"
Heh. Adventurers should be wearing sturdy armor on two pllaces on their body first and foremost - over their core to protect their organs, and on the bottom of their feet to stave off the constant threat of floor spikes.
Not one I employed against players myself, but one I encountered in a PbP game here. Heh, and one we had to spend *weeks* figuring out how to circumvent.
In essence, an entirely passive pointy-stick trap like punjis, which are often the best kind. But this one was an entire 'trap' room. The doors to the room swung open at the faintest touch despite looking solid, and the room itself had a slightly tilted floor rendered magically frictionless so people who wandered in would inevitably slide towards the row of iron spikes set in two trenches close to either end of the room. There were a number of other factors that made getting past this room a nightmare that I will remember for a long, long time. Especially as nothing in it was mechanical or moving. No mysteriously spry thousand year old elaborate death traps - just some spikes and a Grease spell some dickhole lich had managed to make permanent until I nailed a couple of Dispel rolls.
Oh God! That room. Lol, that was a nightmare.
When the party finally catches up with grand Wizard whatshisnuts who created that nightmare factory we are stuck in, Toots is goinna give him a piece of her mind, and then break her size 3 foot off up in his 455.
The Sticky Lock: "A heavy bronze door bars your way. No hinges are visible. There is a keyhole in the center of the door and a push plate on the right side, but no handle."
The door is locked, but does not seem to be trapped by mechanical means. If examined with Detect Magic, the lock is under an Enchantment spell. The door can be picked fairly easily, but once unlocked, the pick becomes stuck in the lock and the person holding the pick becomes stuck to the pick. Upon picking, the heavy door swings outward into the next room, which contain a combat encounter. While stuck, the picker can, once per turn, attempt to repick the lock at a higher DC to remove the pick. Repicking the lock, breaking the pick off in the lock, casting Knock or Dispel Magic will free the picker.
Gravity hall: "Through an open doorway you see a 50 foot long, 10 foot wide hallway that ends in another open door. The ceiling, 10 feet above the floor, is covered in 3-inch spikes. A line of 3-ft chains are bolted to the floor every 10 feet, with the chains hanging straight up, as if pulled to the ceiling. Through the door on the opposite end of the hall you can see a lever-controlled switch on the left wall; the lever is angled upwards. Just inside the door on your side, the words "look out for the floor" are scratched on the wall and below it, upside down: "ɹooןɟ ǝɥʇ ɹoɟ ʇno ʞooן" in a different hand."
The hallway has reversed gravity. Any person or object will fall to the ceiling after crossing the threshold; gravity is normal on the other side of the opposite doorway. On a wall at the opposite end of the hallway is a lever in the up position. If the lever is pushed down, gravity is restored to normal; if pushed back up gravity is reversed.
A section of the floor has a trap door that opens downward into a 30 foot deep pit when stepped on by more than 30 lbs. Since the trap door opens downwards, it is not triggered by an individual swinging across the chains, but would be triggered if gravity is restored and the party tries to cross. Alternately, a dangerous monster (or group of monsters) shows up at the entrance to the hallway when the party is about halfway across.
Notes: A person can cross the hallway by grabbing onto the chains and swinging from chain to chain (requiring a series of acrobatics checks) or by flying. If a person falls onto the spikes, they take damage, but can jump back up to grab a chain with an appropriate jump attempt. Trying to climb across the spikes risks ongoing damage. A party may choose to send their most dexterous individual across to pull the lever or they may activate the lever remotely by magical means. Once gravity is restored and the rest try to cross, one or more may fall into the pit trap. A quick-reacting person working the lever could reverse gravity to save a party member from hitting the bottom of the pit, but this would require dexterity saves from anyone standing on the floor of the hallway to grab chains before they hit the spikes on the ceiling.
Please describe your favorite trap that you have encountered/ unleased on your players. One of my favorites is a classic quicksand pit.
As much flak as the Tomb of Horrors (rightly) receives, I do enjoy the tilt-board trap. Players walk into a room on a surface that seems sturdy enough, but then it suddenly tilts downwards and has them slipping into a pit of fire. Players have to try and scrabble back up the tiltboard or be scorched. It's rather sadistic, but I admire the genius of it.
I'm also a fan of Grimtooth's Traps, which are elaborate, gruesome and seemingly practical contraptions (though the author recommends against attempting to recreate them in real life.) And speaking of practicality, I like traps that are based on the real world, particularly the terrifyingly simple punji stick or trou de loup; its effectiveness is increased when it wounds its victim, as that takes more resources from medics than a kill. The simpler and less expected it is, the more I enjoy its employment.
But from personal experience, my favourite has to be a simple tripwire that made rocks fall. It was insignificant in and of itself doing a measly 2 (3?) bludgeoning damage, but it allowed me to use Mold Earth to barricade a door as the first part of a strategy that would allow our third level party to take on all the inhabitants of Cragmaw Castle in that single combat. "Throw your soldiers into positions whence there is no escape, and they will prefer death to flight. If they will face death, there is nothing they may not achieve." - Sun Tzu.
Zero is the most important number in D&D: Session Zero sets the boundaries and the tone; Rule Zero dictates the Dungeon Master (DM) is the final arbiter; and Zero D&D is better than Bad D&D.
"Let us speak plainly now, and in earnest, for words mean little without the weight of conviction."
- The Assemblage of Houses, World of Warcraft
Not one I employed against players myself, but one I encountered in a PbP game here. Heh, and one we had to spend *weeks* figuring out how to circumvent.
In essence, an entirely passive pointy-stick trap like punjis, which are often the best kind. But this one was an entire 'trap' room. The doors to the room swung open at the faintest touch despite looking solid, and the room itself had a slightly tilted floor rendered magically frictionless so people who wandered in would inevitably slide towards the row of iron spikes set in two trenches close to either end of the room. There were a number of other factors that made getting past this room a nightmare that I will remember for a long, long time. Especially as nothing in it was mechanical or moving. No mysteriously spry thousand year old elaborate death traps - just some spikes and a Grease spell some dickhole lich had managed to make permanent until I nailed a couple of Dispel rolls.
Stuff like that's generally what appeals to me as traps. Machinery is prone to gumming up or breaking down, the fewer moving bits a trap has the better. One particularly devious DM move might be to use the same BBEG Spell Permanence ability on Spike Growth to create patches of camouflaged spike trap in places players are simply not prepared for there to be spike traps. Most good traps are there to drain resources and crank tension more than be the kill move themselves, and nothing pulls that off quite like "Oops suddenly spikes!"
Heh. Adventurers should be wearing sturdy armor on two pllaces on their body first and foremost - over their core to protect their organs, and on the bottom of their feet to stave off the constant threat of floor spikes.
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Oh God! That room. Lol, that was a nightmare.
When the party finally catches up with grand Wizard whatshisnuts who created that nightmare factory we are stuck in, Toots is goinna give him a piece of her mind, and then break her size 3 foot off up in his 455.
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You know the rancor pit in Jabba the Hutt’s palace from “Star Wars”?
Basically that…but with a gelatinous cube.
They get dropped through a trap door, and if they’re lucky they don’t immediately fall on the gelatinous cube.
And should they survive the initial fall…two more doors slide open with levers, revealing two more gelatinous cubes along a narrow corridor.
Oozes are fun.
The Sticky Lock: "A heavy bronze door bars your way. No hinges are visible. There is a keyhole in the center of the door and a push plate on the right side, but no handle."
The door is locked, but does not seem to be trapped by mechanical means. If examined with Detect Magic, the lock is under an Enchantment spell. The door can be picked fairly easily, but once unlocked, the pick becomes stuck in the lock and the person holding the pick becomes stuck to the pick. Upon picking, the heavy door swings outward into the next room, which contain a combat encounter. While stuck, the picker can, once per turn, attempt to repick the lock at a higher DC to remove the pick. Repicking the lock, breaking the pick off in the lock, casting Knock or Dispel Magic will free the picker.
https://sayeth.itch.io/
Gravity hall: "Through an open doorway you see a 50 foot long, 10 foot wide hallway that ends in another open door. The ceiling, 10 feet above the floor, is covered in 3-inch spikes. A line of 3-ft chains are bolted to the floor every 10 feet, with the chains hanging straight up, as if pulled to the ceiling. Through the door on the opposite end of the hall you can see a lever-controlled switch on the left wall; the lever is angled upwards. Just inside the door on your side, the words "look out for the floor" are scratched on the wall and below it, upside down: "ɹooןɟ ǝɥʇ ɹoɟ ʇno ʞooן" in a different hand."
The hallway has reversed gravity. Any person or object will fall to the ceiling after crossing the threshold; gravity is normal on the other side of the opposite doorway. On a wall at the opposite end of the hallway is a lever in the up position. If the lever is pushed down, gravity is restored to normal; if pushed back up gravity is reversed.
A section of the floor has a trap door that opens downward into a 30 foot deep pit when stepped on by more than 30 lbs. Since the trap door opens downwards, it is not triggered by an individual swinging across the chains, but would be triggered if gravity is restored and the party tries to cross. Alternately, a dangerous monster (or group of monsters) shows up at the entrance to the hallway when the party is about halfway across.
Notes: A person can cross the hallway by grabbing onto the chains and swinging from chain to chain (requiring a series of acrobatics checks) or by flying. If a person falls onto the spikes, they take damage, but can jump back up to grab a chain with an appropriate jump attempt. Trying to climb across the spikes risks ongoing damage. A party may choose to send their most dexterous individual across to pull the lever or they may activate the lever remotely by magical means. Once gravity is restored and the rest try to cross, one or more may fall into the pit trap. A quick-reacting person working the lever could reverse gravity to save a party member from hitting the bottom of the pit, but this would require dexterity saves from anyone standing on the floor of the hallway to grab chains before they hit the spikes on the ceiling.
https://sayeth.itch.io/