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Returning 35 results for 'best trap'.
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Spells
Player’s Handbook
into the center of the inverted version of the Magic Circle spell to trap it while this spell is cast.) At the completion of the casting, the target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be bound to
commands to the best of its ability. You might command the creature to accompany you on an adventure, to guard a location, or to deliver a message. If the creature is Hostile, it strives to twist your
Outlander
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
Backgrounds
Player’s Handbook (2014)
type of musical instrument
Languages: One of your choice
Equipment: A staff, a hunting trap, a trophy from an animal you killed, a set of traveler’s clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp
table to determine your occupation during your time in the wild, or choose one that best fits your character.
d10
Origin
1
Forester
2
Trapper
3
Homesteader
4
Guide
Species
Mordenkainen Presents: Monsters of the Multiverse
were first created by the Lady of Pain to patrol the magical mazes that she uses to trap her foes.
Minotaur horns range in size from about 1 foot long to easily three times that length. Minotaurs often
height or weight randomly, consult the Random Height and Weight table in the Player’s Handbook, and choose the row in the table that best represents the build you imagine for your character.
classes
Basic Rules (2014)
exquisite bow. The half-orc nearby shouts orders, helping the two combatants coordinate their assault to the best advantage.
A dwarf in chain mail interposes his shield between the ogre’s club
Specialists
Fighters learn the basics of all combat styles. Every fighter can swing an axe, fence with a rapier, wield a longsword or a greatsword, use a bow, and even trap foes in a net with some degree of
Goblin
Legacy
This doesn't reflect the latest rules and lore.
Learn More
Species
Volo's Guide to Monsters
— for goblins, life is short.
Goblins seek to trap and enslave any creatures they encounter, but they flee from opposition that seems too daunting. For miles around their lair, they employ pit
goblin tribe has to nobility is the caste of lashers — families of goblins trained in the ways of battle, and also possessed of key skills such as strategy, trap-building, beast taming, mining
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Borderlands Quest: Goblin Trouble
actions to get the full picture, so it’s usually best to allow either type of action to reveal the presence of the tripwire and the trap.
Detecting the Trap. If the characters take the Search or Study
is the best option, because you can then adjust their personalities and actions to tell the best story. If a player asks the other players about potentially manipulating them, for example, you might
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
bypassed in the usual ways. For example, a trap that causes a room to slowly flood works best as a complex trap. On the trap’s turn, the water level rises. After several rounds, the room is completely flooded.
Traps in Play When adventurers come across a trap, you need to know how the trap is triggered and what it does, as well as the possibility for the characters to detect the trap and to disable or
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Basic Rules (2014)
the usual ways. For example, a trap that causes a room to slowly flood works best as a complex trap. On the trap's turn, the water level rises. After several rounds, the room is completely flooded.
Traps in Play When adventurers come across a trap, you need to know how the trap is triggered and what it does, as well as the possibility for the characters to detect the trap and to disable or
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
and damage values as shown below. Purpose Before diving into the details of your trap, think about its reason for being. Why would someone build such a trap? What is its purpose? Consider the trap’s
creator (in the adventure), the creator’s purpose, and the location the trap protects. Traps have context in the world — they aren’t created for no reason — and that context drives the trap’s nature
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Xanathar's Guide to Everything
, you fall down!
And you get hurt! That’s the best part.
Poison Needle Simple trap (level 1–4, deadly threat) A tiny, poisoned needle hidden in a lock is a good way to discourage thieves from
Example Simple Traps The following simple traps can be used to populate your adventures or as models for your own creations. Bear Trap Simple trap (level 1–4, dangerous threat) A bear trap resembles
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Candlekeep Mysteries
larger or smaller groups as well as for characters of higher or lower level by swapping one monster or trap for another, changing the number of foes in an encounter, and adjusting DCs to make
. During their research, they uncover a book and the mystery it contains, which leads to adventure. These short adventures work best with players who like mysteries and discovering their secrets. That
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
become rich but to contaminate them with a psychic effect it wants to spread through the surface world. Adventurers who are motivated by the prospect of vast wealth are best off avoiding mind flayer
primitive creatures love shiny baubles and mysterious devices. They might use such objects they come across the way a rat catcher uses a lump of cheese — a lure to draw quarry into a trap.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Journeys through the Radiant Citadel
can adjust it for larger or smaller groups as well as for characters of higher or lower level by making a few changes, like swapping one monster or trap for another, changing the number of foes in an
individuals or organizations there lead them to investigate the plot. A character hails from the land where the adventure takes place and has a connection to the plot. These short adventures work best
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
repetition and dearth of meaningful stakes. Some D&D campaigns fall into the same trap, stringing world-spanning disasters together one after another with little impact on the characters or the world. Thus
, it’s probably not in the DM’s best interest to reorder the world every single time there’s a lull in the action, lest world-shaking events become ordinary. As a general rule, a campaign can sustain up
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
summoned into the center of the inverted version of the Magic Circle spell to trap it while this spell is cast.) At the completion of the casting, the target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be
commands to the best of its ability. You might command the creature to accompany you on an adventure, to guard a location, or to deliver a message. If the creature is Hostile, it strives to twist your
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide
Mental Stress Effects When a character is subjected to an effect that causes intense mental stress, Psychic damage is the best way to emulate that effect. The Sample Mental Stress Effects table
3d6 A magical trap flings a character into the Far Realm until the end of that character’s next turn. 20 9d6 Prolonged Effects Exposure to mental stress can cause prolonged effects. Consider the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Waterdeep: Dungeon of the Mad Mage
humanoids. (Creatures that aren’t humanoids are unaffected.) These traps are marked P on map 14. The hobgoblins are aware of these traps and do their best to avoid them. A polymorph trap is marked by a
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->D&D Beyond Basic Rules
Mental Stress Effects When a character is subjected to an effect that causes intense mental stress, Psychic damage is the best way to emulate that effect. The Sample Mental Stress Effects table
3d6 A magical trap flings a character into the Far Realm until the end of that character’s next turn. 20 9d6 Prolonged Effects Exposure to mental stress can cause prolonged effects. Consider the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Netheril’s Fall: Tales of Terror, Treasure, and Time Travel
best to work their menial jobs, feed their families, and avoid the attention of anyone with power. Government The city is nominally ruled by the High Council of Conch, a rotating group of powerful
serve as workers and supervisors in the upper mines alongside criminals sentenced to hard labor, hunt and trap in the nearby Myconid Forest, and farm the rocky soil and fish the Conch River. Come
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Out of the Abyss
, in which case the other prisoners are initially indifferent toward the characters. Handle the interactions using roleplaying, Charisma checks, or a balance of the two as best suits your group and the
disfiguring injuries recently. Before then, he seemed more in Ilvara’s favor. Now Shoor seems to have displaced him. Jorlan used to have a wand that shot globs of sticky material able to trap targets. Now
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Player’s Handbook
summoned into the center of the inverted version of the Magic Circle spell to trap it while this spell is cast.) At the completion of the casting, the target must succeed on a Charisma saving throw or be
commands to the best of its ability. You might command the creature to accompany you on an adventure, to guard a location, or to deliver a message. If the creature is Hostile, it strives to twist your
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Hoard of the Dragon Queen
picked using thieves’ tools with a successful DC 20 Dexterity check. However, the lock is rigged with a poison needle trap that triggers if the check fails by 5 or more. The needle can be found with a
successful DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check and can be disarmed with a successful DC 15 Dexterity check. A creature triggering the needle trap or failing the Dexterity check by 5 or more is
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Tyranny of Dragons
chest’s padlock can be picked using thieves’ tools with a successful DC 20 Dexterity check. However, the lock is rigged with a poison needle trap that triggers if the check fails by 5 or more. The needle
can be found with a successful DC 20 Intelligence (Investigation) check and can be disarmed with a successful DC 15 Dexterity check. A creature triggering the needle trap or failing the Dexterity
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft
, the best known of which is Van Richten’s Guide to Vampires. In fairer days, Rudolph lived with his wife, Ingrid, and son, Erasmus, in their family home outside Rivalis in the domain of Darkon. Brash
good this time. One of van Richten’s foes captures the doctor and uses his name to correspond with adventurers, luring those who would learn his secrets into a deadly trap.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->The Book of Many Things
terrain for many miles. Ask the character who flipped the card to make a DC 15 Wisdom (Perception or Survival) check to choose the best path. Day 1 Reward or Ruin: Comet. Comets are harbingers of doom. If
characters overcome the challenges of the menagerie, they discover valuable treasures there; if not, they must face one additional trap or monster that uses the appearance of treasure as bait, such as a mimic.
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
following: Attacking light sources to extinguish them, so the kobolds can use their darkvision to best advantage. Leaving one defender in a room to lure invaders into a trap or an ambush. Often this bait is
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Volo's Guide to Monsters
into this role by its peers — is just hoping to slow down the invaders long enough to give the rest of the tribe time to prepare a lethal trap, an ambush, or a quick getaway. The tribe’s leader is
best lesson a kobold leader can teach is “I don’t have to be faster than the bear. I just have to be faster than you.”
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Heroes of the Borderlands
with each other.
Two Bugbear Warriors squabble about how best to infiltrate the keep. One asserts that a stealthy approach would be best, while the other insists on a direct assault aided by a local
Initiative. On the goblins’ turn, they attempt to scramble up the stairs and activate the rolling log trap (detailed below). The goblins then fight the characters. Rolling Log Trap. This 10-foot-long
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Fizban's Treasury of Dragons
…challenge a character’s ideal or exploit a flaw. The character might hear rumors of the dragon’s activity, spurring them into action.
4 …trap the characters between clashing forces.
5
…create an opportunity for a character to pursue a personal goal.
6 …cause an accident or catastrophe that threatens the characters.
An adventure featuring a dragon’s schemes often works best as
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dragonlance: Shadow of the Dragon Queen
finished a pit trap just inside the mouth of the cave. She has been hiding all day in a crevasse near the top of the cave’s mouth, waiting to see if any draconians fall into it. Pit Trap. The pit trap is
falls 20 feet into the pit, taking 2d6 bludgeoning damage from the fall and 2d10 piercing damage from the spikes at the bottom. Whether the trap is triggered or not, Grasha hears the characters
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Ship Locations The following areas are identified on map 2.3. Map 2.3: Sea Ghost View Player Version 1. Main Deck Though the light is dim at best, you can see details of the ship’s main deck. In the
the trap requires a successful DC 12 Intelligence (Investigation) check. A successful DC 12 Dexterity check is required to disarm the trap. Opening the chest without disarming the trap, or failing to
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Ravenloft: The Horrors Within
you to shape the setting however best serves your adventures. Consider the following setting models for how you might use the Domains of Dread or use your favorite elements from multiple domains
. Haunted House Domain In this model, a single domain functions like a haunted house. Characters enter, terrifying forces trap them, and the party struggles to escape. This model features in the adventures
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Locathah Rising
aloud to them, asking them to halt and turn around. She is strangely audible underwater. Unless convinced otherwise, Fhenimore and Whymsee do their absolute best to keep from showing themselves, and
, one of the kraken priests triggers the ballistae trap, firing both siege weapons simultaneously, while the other casts Evard’s black tentacles, effectively blocking off the entrance to area 10. On the
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Hoard of the Dragon Queen
fact, that would be the smart thing to do, both because it negates a damaging fight and because if the rearguard is wiped out, leaders in the cult will wonder why it never reported back. The best
cultists make a stand. If characters walk into the trap, the cultists tumble boulders onto them. Each character must succeed on a DC 11 Dexterity saving throw or take 2d12 bludgeoning damage from falling
Compendium
- Sources->Dungeons & Dragons->Dungeon Master’s Guide (2014)
doors, disarmed traps, and the like. Events beyond the scope of a single adventure are best recorded in a notebook dedicated to your campaign. Whether it’s a physical book or an electronic file, such a
major holidays, and keep track of any important events that affect the larger story. Toolbox. Keep notes whenever you create or significantly alter a monster, magic item, or trap. Keep any maps