Post by StoryTeller on Jan 22, 2006 7:13:08 GMT
I am Rubber, You are Glue...
Dragonhawk (plazm@juno.com)
The PCs enter a room which has a gargoyle on a pedestal. It continually looks at
the heroes, jeers at them, and occasionally swipes (but never hits) one if he or
she gets too close. Eventually, one of the PCs gets fed up with this, and
attacks. Now this is the best part: For every point of damage the hero does,
subtract one from his own total. Neither he nor his compatriots notice the
wounds (in fact, they aren't there... yet!) The gargoyle seems to miss on all
its attacks on the PC. After the hero has done enough damage to bring his own
life total to 0, the statue becomes inanimate, and maybe even crumbles. After
the person leaves the room, however, he or she takes all the damage immediately,
dies, and the gargoyle recompiles and taunts them even more. There's a
particularly nasty variant I've created on this one: a special taunting spell,
that requires a wisdom check every round (-1 cumulative per round times the
number of allies fallen to this trap) or else the person(s) failing engage in
combat, only to fall to the same trap.
A Reward You Don't Want
Danny Siegmann (HighJudge@aol.com)
A spell is cast on a magical item, most likely a tomb of some sort or a
spellbook with a couple of good spells. When the book is opened enough to read,
everyone in the immediate area is instantly transported somewhere nasty. They
are not harmed by the transport itself, but being transported to, say, the
abyss, possible with lots of Tannari around, could be very dangerous. The trap
only activates once, though it may be coupled with other traps.
The effect is instantaneous, and impossible to prevent. After the transport, if
any other traps are defeated, the book (or other item) can be used normally. The
players will need all the help they can get. Note that the players must find
their own way out of where they've been transported to, and can use normal
methods (i.e.-astral spell, teleport, etc.) The location is the DM's choice, and
can be varied for the situation, but should be a very bad place (i.e.-the
aforementioned abyss, a large drow city, in the path of a raging tarrasque,
etc.)
Corridor of Sand
Danny Siegmann (HighJudge@aol.com)
This trap is set up in a strange looking room. Directly across the room from
where the PC's enter is a door just like the one they came through. It is a
square room, and the floor is covered in sand, except for one part. On either
side of the two doors are two parallel strips of stone, about 6 inches wide,
which stretch from one end to the other. (They are actually walls which extend
to the real floor.) Note that the ceiling is made of normal stone, the same type
as the floor strips. Imbedded in the floor strips are wooden rods 2 inches in
diameter, which extend up to (and are also imbedded in) the ceiling. This forms
a narrow corridor running from door to door. If the PC's test the depth of the
sand in the corridor, they find it is only about a half foot deep. The sand
outside the corridor can be of any depth, but should be more the 10 ft. deep.
The floor at the bottom of the sand in the corridor is seemingly solid.
Here's how the trap works. If the PC's test the floor it seems to be solid under
the sand. However, when enough weight is put on it (a couple of PC's) the whole
floor in the corridor shatters, and the PC's (and sand and broken bits of floor)
fall into a pit (which runs along the whole corridor. The floor is solid stone.
The pit should be deep (15-20 ft.) but not deep enough to kill the PC's. The
stone strips extend down to form the walls. A moment after the PC's hit the
floor, many holes (about 4 inches in diameter) open up in the wall, and sand
from the rest of the room starts falling into the pit. The DM can determine the
rate the corridor fills up. The room outside the corridor is automatically
refilled. The sand will eventually fill up the entire pit, hopefully with the
PC's trapped inside. Removing the sand from the corridor doesn't reduce the
weight enough to prevent the floor from collapsing. The bars on the sides of the
corridor can be broken, but there should be nasty creatures living in the sand
on either side. In addition, having a low ceiling with spikes can discourage
flying.
Big Boom!
Chris Webster (d5596w@lex.infi.net)
This takes place in a very pawerful wizards lair. When the party is pretty
strong and think they are just the best, have them face three weak creatures
like goblins. But they are really Gas Spores polymorphed. When they hit one of
the fake creatures, the Gas Spore will explode and not only hurt the party but
cause the other two Gas Spores to explode doing a lot of damage to the party. Or
you could have a Stirge hit the Gas Spores and do the same thing.
Musical Key
Chris Webster (d5596w@lex.infi.net)
When the players come to a locked door it can only be opened by a key. There are
three keys by the door. There is an A, C, and D key. Now to make this musical
just make the only key to open the door the C key. The other keys will let out
spinning blades to hit the party. The A key in music would have two sharps so it
would let out two spinning blades while the D key would let out three since it
is three sharps. The C music key has no sharps so that is why it opens the door.
I would say good damage would be 3d6 if they miss a DX check.
Excuse Me Sir, which way is out?
Barrett Day (allmedia@teleport.com)
This is is a good trap to pull on your players because they can't complain about
all the XP they're getting. At the end of a corridor, there is a door. The door
is not a part of the trap, but it's a good idea to tell that there's a door to
your players. Anyway, when they go through the door they are in a spherical room
that has 6 doors and a mouse hole. Hard DMs could have their players roll a
Wisdom Check to see the mouse hole. The first door has a picture of an eye on it
and, when opened, has a beholder in it (or an argos). If defeated, the door will
explode for 1d2 damage. The second door has a picture of a dagger on it, and,
when opened, will release a horde of gibberlings. It explodes for 1d4. The third
door is blue, and, when opened, releases 1d6 ogre mages. It explodes for 1d6.
The fourth door has a picture of a cube of ice, and, when opened, releases a
Remorhaz. The door does 1d8. The fifth door has a picture of a drop of blood
and, when opened, releases an eastern vampire. The door does 1d10. The last door
has a picture of flame. It releases a red dragon. The door does 1d20. The mouse
hole is locked and cannot be opened unless the other creatures are defeated in
order. If they are not, they must be defeated all over again. If opened, it
releases 1d10 shrunken wererats who immediately form normal size and attack.
Once defeated, the mouse hole releases a cheese of shrinking with just enough
for everyone. They can enter the mouse hole and once on the other side, they get
a cheese of growing which returns them to normal.
Big Headed Adventurer Killer
Chris "Crispy" Caton
Have the adventurers encounter a group of very easy monsters (i.e. skeletons).
One of them has a medallion on. The characters automatically see this and,
thinking it's a bonus, decide to kill the monsters to get it. When (or if) they
kill the monster with the medallion, the killer and all within 10' get a blast
of force which knocks them off their feet and causes 3d12 points of damage, no
save. If a character tries to rip away the medallion, s/he gets 3d20 points of
damage, no save. In either case, the medallion is destroyed, and probably the
wearer as well. It should only be used against mid-leveled characters.
Low-leveled characters will die (good or bad?), and high level ones will find a
way to remove it without touching it or ignore the effects, destroying the point
of the trap, which is to lower big-headedness.
Daniel Olson (daniel.olson@shaw.wave.ca)
Have an area that is trapped to the max with a chest visible at the end. Have
the majority of the traps ones that cannot be disarmed. Include ones that nail
only flying objects and include a dimension loop that blasts teleporters to
another dimension. You also have to make the area LOOK deadly and just above
impossible. In the chest have a note + nothing-2 copper. The note says something
to the extent of: "Stupid idiot! Don't know when to quit!"
Aggressive Angel Of Death
Craig
In front of a door is an angel made of light with a HUGE two-handed sword. When
the characters approach, without a word the angel will swing at them. It won't
talk, won't move (except for the swing!) and isn't affected by most spells. It
is a blade barrier with an illusion cast on it.
Adventurer Split
Jeff Jones (spuds@ntrnet.net)
This trap can be used as a way to split up any party containing people who value
their lives. The PC's find a trap door in a room. Upon opening the door, they
find a chute which obviously leads down to the second level. The first person to
jump in the chute comes down at the end of the chute unharmed in a room with no
obvious threats. The second person makes it through with no problem as well. The
third person gets to the other end as well. Make sure the chute is short enough
so that the characters can shout to each other and hear each other well. The
first three characters just trigger a wheel mechanism which turns one click each
time. The third time the wheel turns, it sets a blade in the middle of the
chute. The fourth person to go down the chute comes out in two halves. Cut from
crotch to head. Immediately, the three characters on the next level will scream
to alert the others at the top. I'd be willing to bet you won't get any of the
others at the top to go next. If people keep coming, every fourth person will
come down split in two. There are all sorts of other things you can add like
monsters at the bottom to add urgency or someone for them to chase that knows
the trap and uses the chute to get away from them. If this is just too devious
and you want to give the characters a hint. Have sacks of sand at the top and
split open sacks at the bottom.
Gas Spores
bugeater@mail.portup.com
Any PC who has never encountered one of these is likely to attack it as a
beholder. While these are great traps in themselves, a yet more lethal variant
is to teleport them into a room full of them. (Or, better yet, have them land on
one). This causes a chain reaction of exploding gas spores that does
(ohmigod)D(obscene) damage. If the damage doesn't kill them, the spores will.
Switches
bugeater@mail.portup.com
While searching someone's dungeon/castle/whatever, have the PCs stumble across a
deep hole in the ground. that they cannot see to the bottom of. Give them
something to grapple onto on the surface, so they can go down. The well is about
150' deep, and the sides are smooth. At the bottom, they will find several
levers that do the following:
: Opens/closes a door in the ceiling above the well that goes up quite some
way.
: Starts the hole above the well spinning (has countless blades running
across it, players going up will be minced.)
: Reverses gravity in well and sends player hurtling upward through the
spinning blades and spits him out onto the cieling in another room. This is
always fatal.
There are many variants to this, play with them.
Flint & Steel
bugeater@mail.portup.com
The players enter a long corridor that smells fairly odd, and there is a liquid
coating the floor. It is mostly clear with some rainbow colors swirling through
it. This is gasoline, and the floor is made of flint. Have a magic mouth command
them to drop their weapons, "or else". If they do not comply, each player is
struck by a magic missile for 1D4+1 and commanded to do the same again. Smart
PCs will gently put their weapons on the floor, others simply dropping them set
off the gas fumes for a whole lot of damage.
Spikes
bugeater@mail.portup.com
In a long corridor, the players find large spikes about half their height, and
spaced evenly. They are far enough apart that the players can walk right through
them without hindrance. At some point, have them notice the holes in the ceiling
that are parallel with the spikes. Last, have the floor move upward very quickly
(or very slowly), crushing the players.
Teleporters
bugeater@mail.portup.com
Version one: Harmless and Irritating
In this trap, a person steps on a teleport trap that brings him to another that
brings him back to the first (and so on) until he goes nuts.
Version two: Pain and Agony
same as above, but both destinations are 10 feet above the teleporters, doing
1D6 falling damage each time.
The Separator Trap
Hugh O'Hara (OHara@netcom.ca)
I use this trap to add to a particularly dangerous setting. (I used it in the
tower of a 50th level Magic User) The leader (the person in front) hits a trip
wire, which makes a hidden wall slam right behind him. This trap doesn't hurt
anyone, but leaves a member stranded. Oh, and did I forget to mention that the
wall is 10' thick and repels magic?
A New Kind Of Burning
Hugh O'Hara (OHara@netcom.ca)
The party encounters a sword, preferably long, or a suit of full plate mail
(preferred). The item glows a faint green color. Detect Magic will detect only
that it is enchanted but not what it is enchanted by or with (Glassteel). The
fact is, the weapon/armor is made out of uranium. This means that if the weapon
is used, it will inflict an additional 5d10 damage, but the user must save vs.
death every round or die of radiation burns. The armor is AC1, makes weapons do
an additional 3d10 damage and forces the wearer to save vs. death at -10 every
round or die, again of radiation burns. DO NOT tell the PC anything other than
that he feels like he is on fire. This begins one turn after acquiring the item,
preferably the PC will find a new item (I used a ring of Fire Protection, it
doesn't do a thing to save the PC against radiation) and keeps on going until it
is discarded. (I wiped out 3 PC's with this one, they just kept on picking up
the sword from the dead guy) This should not be used unless you are ether a
VERY, VERY mean GM, or you are very mad at them for beating your best adventure
without a scratch.
Poison Dart Chair
Gary Reinhart (trina.reinhart@sk.sympatico.ca)
What if there's a powerful man coming over for dinner? What do you do? Rig the
chair.
From the naked eye, there seems to be no trap right? Even a search is wrong. But
there is a tiny pin laced with the poison or drug of your choice imbedded into
the cushion of the chair at the neck area. Some pressure from the bottom of the
chair releases the pin and sticks in the guys neck. It feels like a mosquito
bite and he will scratch. But not to worry, the pin falls out the second it
breaks the skin.
Andrew Fisher (fisher16@earthlink.net)
If your group of adventurers is dungeon-crawling, don't give them any traps for
a while. They might be cautious at first, but will start to loosen up (trust
me). When you sense they don't have the patience to keep checking for traps, put
this one on an ordinary door. The party is going down the passage or whatever,
when they come upon an metal door. A latch is in the door near waist-level on
the side. When the party just assumes that this isn't trapped, either, they'll
pull the latch. The latch does nothing, it doesn't even open the door, but does
set off the trap. The trap starts off slow, so the party may even try to figure
out the latch while it starts! Anyway, a rock slab slides slowly down (extremely
quietly, so the party may not even notice it) and seals the passage. It settles,
blowing up a bit of dust which a party member is sure to notice. Now the party
is sealed in the passage. A quick-thinking mage could get out, but the rest of
the party is trapped. After the slab drops, the floor under them starts to
rumble. The floor rises, and just when the party is about to be squashed, it
stops. Leave 'em hanging for a while, and then crush them with the suitable
descriptions of mangled armor, crushed bones, and blood.
Blizzarden@aol.com
First, the group enters what they find to be an abandoned town. Have the group
split up. In one house a character finds a treasure chest in the corner of the
living room. It is unlocked but in it is a fairly large hole (Large enough to
fit the character ). If he decides to reach in the hole he falls in. Now here is
where the fun begins. When the other members try to find him by searching the
house he went in, they see him falling from the ceiling where a portal is, into
the hole and from the portal again. If they measure the depth of the hole, make
it about four to five feet. Afterthought #1: If the player tries to drop
something in to decide the depth and safety, have the item hit the player in the
head and fall in. Afterthought #2: Make it so the it is a town holiday and they
went to a shrine and be back within minutes. Then watch how quickly the player
falls in.
Various Traps
Thor Kell (jmrobert@vanisle.net)
A PC falls into a pit. As the sucker falls, blades come out of the top of the
pit and begin to spin. The blades do not hit the victim but prevent rescue. The
victim is caught in clamps with barbs on them. The PC then starts to spin. After
about 5 rounds of this, a blade of VERY sharp, VERY hard metal comes out of the
floor. This hits the PC and he is indisposed for a long time. *This trap is a
killer and requires a lot of magic to work. DMs should probably tune it down.*
Try the same as above with a drill.
A room with Flaming Spheres and Prismatic Spheres bouncing around in it.
A chest made out of every bone in the human body. It cannot be forced open. If a
person breaks a bone then that bone is broken in them. I.E. a thief attempts to
pick the lock (the mouth) he could end up with a broken jaw bone. Hide the
treasure under the chest.
Play off previous traps. If you use pit traps a lot, have an easy to find pit
trap with a slippery floor on the other side and a tripwire beyond it. The PCs
jump, slip and hit the trip wire, which makes a boulder fall on them. This only
works really well with improvised dungeons.
Make traps that have to be triggered. Like a falling wall trap that opens a
secret door.
Use Walls of Reflecting. These make missile weapons and small magical effects
bounce off them. I caught my group in a loop with a flaming arrow following
them.
Put a Delayed Blast Fireball in a treasure hoard.
Place a lich's philactery in a magical item owned by a PC.
A room with a floor covered in flames(or green slime or whatever), the PCs can't
fly or teleport over. They have to walk over on invisible platforms. Nasty DMs
could make the platforms move or have things attack the PCs.
Use Walls of Bouncing. These act as trampolines that lift the PC as high as he
fellx2. After 1d10 bounces a person can control his bounce. People with
acrobatics may make a proficiency check to aviod this. One application of this
is to have a room with a false floor and have a floor of bouncing under it.
Place spikes on the ceiling.
Have a pit trap with a floor of bouncing. The top of the pit rotates. On the
bottom of the top of the pit there are 4 blades and a pressure switch between
them. A PC falls, the roof of the pit rotates, and as the PC bounces he will hit
the switch which slam the curved blades in to his neck.
A wall or door that can be broken down. Behind it is a ballista. The person who
knocks the door down gets impaled on the ballista bolt, and then the extra
weight causes it to fire, nailing who ever happens to be behind them.
Dragonhawk (plazm@juno.com)
The PCs enter a room which has a gargoyle on a pedestal. It continually looks at
the heroes, jeers at them, and occasionally swipes (but never hits) one if he or
she gets too close. Eventually, one of the PCs gets fed up with this, and
attacks. Now this is the best part: For every point of damage the hero does,
subtract one from his own total. Neither he nor his compatriots notice the
wounds (in fact, they aren't there... yet!) The gargoyle seems to miss on all
its attacks on the PC. After the hero has done enough damage to bring his own
life total to 0, the statue becomes inanimate, and maybe even crumbles. After
the person leaves the room, however, he or she takes all the damage immediately,
dies, and the gargoyle recompiles and taunts them even more. There's a
particularly nasty variant I've created on this one: a special taunting spell,
that requires a wisdom check every round (-1 cumulative per round times the
number of allies fallen to this trap) or else the person(s) failing engage in
combat, only to fall to the same trap.
A Reward You Don't Want
Danny Siegmann (HighJudge@aol.com)
A spell is cast on a magical item, most likely a tomb of some sort or a
spellbook with a couple of good spells. When the book is opened enough to read,
everyone in the immediate area is instantly transported somewhere nasty. They
are not harmed by the transport itself, but being transported to, say, the
abyss, possible with lots of Tannari around, could be very dangerous. The trap
only activates once, though it may be coupled with other traps.
The effect is instantaneous, and impossible to prevent. After the transport, if
any other traps are defeated, the book (or other item) can be used normally. The
players will need all the help they can get. Note that the players must find
their own way out of where they've been transported to, and can use normal
methods (i.e.-astral spell, teleport, etc.) The location is the DM's choice, and
can be varied for the situation, but should be a very bad place (i.e.-the
aforementioned abyss, a large drow city, in the path of a raging tarrasque,
etc.)
Corridor of Sand
Danny Siegmann (HighJudge@aol.com)
This trap is set up in a strange looking room. Directly across the room from
where the PC's enter is a door just like the one they came through. It is a
square room, and the floor is covered in sand, except for one part. On either
side of the two doors are two parallel strips of stone, about 6 inches wide,
which stretch from one end to the other. (They are actually walls which extend
to the real floor.) Note that the ceiling is made of normal stone, the same type
as the floor strips. Imbedded in the floor strips are wooden rods 2 inches in
diameter, which extend up to (and are also imbedded in) the ceiling. This forms
a narrow corridor running from door to door. If the PC's test the depth of the
sand in the corridor, they find it is only about a half foot deep. The sand
outside the corridor can be of any depth, but should be more the 10 ft. deep.
The floor at the bottom of the sand in the corridor is seemingly solid.
Here's how the trap works. If the PC's test the floor it seems to be solid under
the sand. However, when enough weight is put on it (a couple of PC's) the whole
floor in the corridor shatters, and the PC's (and sand and broken bits of floor)
fall into a pit (which runs along the whole corridor. The floor is solid stone.
The pit should be deep (15-20 ft.) but not deep enough to kill the PC's. The
stone strips extend down to form the walls. A moment after the PC's hit the
floor, many holes (about 4 inches in diameter) open up in the wall, and sand
from the rest of the room starts falling into the pit. The DM can determine the
rate the corridor fills up. The room outside the corridor is automatically
refilled. The sand will eventually fill up the entire pit, hopefully with the
PC's trapped inside. Removing the sand from the corridor doesn't reduce the
weight enough to prevent the floor from collapsing. The bars on the sides of the
corridor can be broken, but there should be nasty creatures living in the sand
on either side. In addition, having a low ceiling with spikes can discourage
flying.
Big Boom!
Chris Webster (d5596w@lex.infi.net)
This takes place in a very pawerful wizards lair. When the party is pretty
strong and think they are just the best, have them face three weak creatures
like goblins. But they are really Gas Spores polymorphed. When they hit one of
the fake creatures, the Gas Spore will explode and not only hurt the party but
cause the other two Gas Spores to explode doing a lot of damage to the party. Or
you could have a Stirge hit the Gas Spores and do the same thing.
Musical Key
Chris Webster (d5596w@lex.infi.net)
When the players come to a locked door it can only be opened by a key. There are
three keys by the door. There is an A, C, and D key. Now to make this musical
just make the only key to open the door the C key. The other keys will let out
spinning blades to hit the party. The A key in music would have two sharps so it
would let out two spinning blades while the D key would let out three since it
is three sharps. The C music key has no sharps so that is why it opens the door.
I would say good damage would be 3d6 if they miss a DX check.
Excuse Me Sir, which way is out?
Barrett Day (allmedia@teleport.com)
This is is a good trap to pull on your players because they can't complain about
all the XP they're getting. At the end of a corridor, there is a door. The door
is not a part of the trap, but it's a good idea to tell that there's a door to
your players. Anyway, when they go through the door they are in a spherical room
that has 6 doors and a mouse hole. Hard DMs could have their players roll a
Wisdom Check to see the mouse hole. The first door has a picture of an eye on it
and, when opened, has a beholder in it (or an argos). If defeated, the door will
explode for 1d2 damage. The second door has a picture of a dagger on it, and,
when opened, will release a horde of gibberlings. It explodes for 1d4. The third
door is blue, and, when opened, releases 1d6 ogre mages. It explodes for 1d6.
The fourth door has a picture of a cube of ice, and, when opened, releases a
Remorhaz. The door does 1d8. The fifth door has a picture of a drop of blood
and, when opened, releases an eastern vampire. The door does 1d10. The last door
has a picture of flame. It releases a red dragon. The door does 1d20. The mouse
hole is locked and cannot be opened unless the other creatures are defeated in
order. If they are not, they must be defeated all over again. If opened, it
releases 1d10 shrunken wererats who immediately form normal size and attack.
Once defeated, the mouse hole releases a cheese of shrinking with just enough
for everyone. They can enter the mouse hole and once on the other side, they get
a cheese of growing which returns them to normal.
Big Headed Adventurer Killer
Chris "Crispy" Caton
Have the adventurers encounter a group of very easy monsters (i.e. skeletons).
One of them has a medallion on. The characters automatically see this and,
thinking it's a bonus, decide to kill the monsters to get it. When (or if) they
kill the monster with the medallion, the killer and all within 10' get a blast
of force which knocks them off their feet and causes 3d12 points of damage, no
save. If a character tries to rip away the medallion, s/he gets 3d20 points of
damage, no save. In either case, the medallion is destroyed, and probably the
wearer as well. It should only be used against mid-leveled characters.
Low-leveled characters will die (good or bad?), and high level ones will find a
way to remove it without touching it or ignore the effects, destroying the point
of the trap, which is to lower big-headedness.
Daniel Olson (daniel.olson@shaw.wave.ca)
Have an area that is trapped to the max with a chest visible at the end. Have
the majority of the traps ones that cannot be disarmed. Include ones that nail
only flying objects and include a dimension loop that blasts teleporters to
another dimension. You also have to make the area LOOK deadly and just above
impossible. In the chest have a note + nothing-2 copper. The note says something
to the extent of: "Stupid idiot! Don't know when to quit!"
Aggressive Angel Of Death
Craig
In front of a door is an angel made of light with a HUGE two-handed sword. When
the characters approach, without a word the angel will swing at them. It won't
talk, won't move (except for the swing!) and isn't affected by most spells. It
is a blade barrier with an illusion cast on it.
Adventurer Split
Jeff Jones (spuds@ntrnet.net)
This trap can be used as a way to split up any party containing people who value
their lives. The PC's find a trap door in a room. Upon opening the door, they
find a chute which obviously leads down to the second level. The first person to
jump in the chute comes down at the end of the chute unharmed in a room with no
obvious threats. The second person makes it through with no problem as well. The
third person gets to the other end as well. Make sure the chute is short enough
so that the characters can shout to each other and hear each other well. The
first three characters just trigger a wheel mechanism which turns one click each
time. The third time the wheel turns, it sets a blade in the middle of the
chute. The fourth person to go down the chute comes out in two halves. Cut from
crotch to head. Immediately, the three characters on the next level will scream
to alert the others at the top. I'd be willing to bet you won't get any of the
others at the top to go next. If people keep coming, every fourth person will
come down split in two. There are all sorts of other things you can add like
monsters at the bottom to add urgency or someone for them to chase that knows
the trap and uses the chute to get away from them. If this is just too devious
and you want to give the characters a hint. Have sacks of sand at the top and
split open sacks at the bottom.
Gas Spores
bugeater@mail.portup.com
Any PC who has never encountered one of these is likely to attack it as a
beholder. While these are great traps in themselves, a yet more lethal variant
is to teleport them into a room full of them. (Or, better yet, have them land on
one). This causes a chain reaction of exploding gas spores that does
(ohmigod)D(obscene) damage. If the damage doesn't kill them, the spores will.
Switches
bugeater@mail.portup.com
While searching someone's dungeon/castle/whatever, have the PCs stumble across a
deep hole in the ground. that they cannot see to the bottom of. Give them
something to grapple onto on the surface, so they can go down. The well is about
150' deep, and the sides are smooth. At the bottom, they will find several
levers that do the following:
: Opens/closes a door in the ceiling above the well that goes up quite some
way.
: Starts the hole above the well spinning (has countless blades running
across it, players going up will be minced.)
: Reverses gravity in well and sends player hurtling upward through the
spinning blades and spits him out onto the cieling in another room. This is
always fatal.
There are many variants to this, play with them.
Flint & Steel
bugeater@mail.portup.com
The players enter a long corridor that smells fairly odd, and there is a liquid
coating the floor. It is mostly clear with some rainbow colors swirling through
it. This is gasoline, and the floor is made of flint. Have a magic mouth command
them to drop their weapons, "or else". If they do not comply, each player is
struck by a magic missile for 1D4+1 and commanded to do the same again. Smart
PCs will gently put their weapons on the floor, others simply dropping them set
off the gas fumes for a whole lot of damage.
Spikes
bugeater@mail.portup.com
In a long corridor, the players find large spikes about half their height, and
spaced evenly. They are far enough apart that the players can walk right through
them without hindrance. At some point, have them notice the holes in the ceiling
that are parallel with the spikes. Last, have the floor move upward very quickly
(or very slowly), crushing the players.
Teleporters
bugeater@mail.portup.com
Version one: Harmless and Irritating
In this trap, a person steps on a teleport trap that brings him to another that
brings him back to the first (and so on) until he goes nuts.
Version two: Pain and Agony
same as above, but both destinations are 10 feet above the teleporters, doing
1D6 falling damage each time.
The Separator Trap
Hugh O'Hara (OHara@netcom.ca)
I use this trap to add to a particularly dangerous setting. (I used it in the
tower of a 50th level Magic User) The leader (the person in front) hits a trip
wire, which makes a hidden wall slam right behind him. This trap doesn't hurt
anyone, but leaves a member stranded. Oh, and did I forget to mention that the
wall is 10' thick and repels magic?
A New Kind Of Burning
Hugh O'Hara (OHara@netcom.ca)
The party encounters a sword, preferably long, or a suit of full plate mail
(preferred). The item glows a faint green color. Detect Magic will detect only
that it is enchanted but not what it is enchanted by or with (Glassteel). The
fact is, the weapon/armor is made out of uranium. This means that if the weapon
is used, it will inflict an additional 5d10 damage, but the user must save vs.
death every round or die of radiation burns. The armor is AC1, makes weapons do
an additional 3d10 damage and forces the wearer to save vs. death at -10 every
round or die, again of radiation burns. DO NOT tell the PC anything other than
that he feels like he is on fire. This begins one turn after acquiring the item,
preferably the PC will find a new item (I used a ring of Fire Protection, it
doesn't do a thing to save the PC against radiation) and keeps on going until it
is discarded. (I wiped out 3 PC's with this one, they just kept on picking up
the sword from the dead guy) This should not be used unless you are ether a
VERY, VERY mean GM, or you are very mad at them for beating your best adventure
without a scratch.
Poison Dart Chair
Gary Reinhart (trina.reinhart@sk.sympatico.ca)
What if there's a powerful man coming over for dinner? What do you do? Rig the
chair.
From the naked eye, there seems to be no trap right? Even a search is wrong. But
there is a tiny pin laced with the poison or drug of your choice imbedded into
the cushion of the chair at the neck area. Some pressure from the bottom of the
chair releases the pin and sticks in the guys neck. It feels like a mosquito
bite and he will scratch. But not to worry, the pin falls out the second it
breaks the skin.
Andrew Fisher (fisher16@earthlink.net)
If your group of adventurers is dungeon-crawling, don't give them any traps for
a while. They might be cautious at first, but will start to loosen up (trust
me). When you sense they don't have the patience to keep checking for traps, put
this one on an ordinary door. The party is going down the passage or whatever,
when they come upon an metal door. A latch is in the door near waist-level on
the side. When the party just assumes that this isn't trapped, either, they'll
pull the latch. The latch does nothing, it doesn't even open the door, but does
set off the trap. The trap starts off slow, so the party may even try to figure
out the latch while it starts! Anyway, a rock slab slides slowly down (extremely
quietly, so the party may not even notice it) and seals the passage. It settles,
blowing up a bit of dust which a party member is sure to notice. Now the party
is sealed in the passage. A quick-thinking mage could get out, but the rest of
the party is trapped. After the slab drops, the floor under them starts to
rumble. The floor rises, and just when the party is about to be squashed, it
stops. Leave 'em hanging for a while, and then crush them with the suitable
descriptions of mangled armor, crushed bones, and blood.
Blizzarden@aol.com
First, the group enters what they find to be an abandoned town. Have the group
split up. In one house a character finds a treasure chest in the corner of the
living room. It is unlocked but in it is a fairly large hole (Large enough to
fit the character ). If he decides to reach in the hole he falls in. Now here is
where the fun begins. When the other members try to find him by searching the
house he went in, they see him falling from the ceiling where a portal is, into
the hole and from the portal again. If they measure the depth of the hole, make
it about four to five feet. Afterthought #1: If the player tries to drop
something in to decide the depth and safety, have the item hit the player in the
head and fall in. Afterthought #2: Make it so the it is a town holiday and they
went to a shrine and be back within minutes. Then watch how quickly the player
falls in.
Various Traps
Thor Kell (jmrobert@vanisle.net)
A PC falls into a pit. As the sucker falls, blades come out of the top of the
pit and begin to spin. The blades do not hit the victim but prevent rescue. The
victim is caught in clamps with barbs on them. The PC then starts to spin. After
about 5 rounds of this, a blade of VERY sharp, VERY hard metal comes out of the
floor. This hits the PC and he is indisposed for a long time. *This trap is a
killer and requires a lot of magic to work. DMs should probably tune it down.*
Try the same as above with a drill.
A room with Flaming Spheres and Prismatic Spheres bouncing around in it.
A chest made out of every bone in the human body. It cannot be forced open. If a
person breaks a bone then that bone is broken in them. I.E. a thief attempts to
pick the lock (the mouth) he could end up with a broken jaw bone. Hide the
treasure under the chest.
Play off previous traps. If you use pit traps a lot, have an easy to find pit
trap with a slippery floor on the other side and a tripwire beyond it. The PCs
jump, slip and hit the trip wire, which makes a boulder fall on them. This only
works really well with improvised dungeons.
Make traps that have to be triggered. Like a falling wall trap that opens a
secret door.
Use Walls of Reflecting. These make missile weapons and small magical effects
bounce off them. I caught my group in a loop with a flaming arrow following
them.
Put a Delayed Blast Fireball in a treasure hoard.
Place a lich's philactery in a magical item owned by a PC.
A room with a floor covered in flames(or green slime or whatever), the PCs can't
fly or teleport over. They have to walk over on invisible platforms. Nasty DMs
could make the platforms move or have things attack the PCs.
Use Walls of Bouncing. These act as trampolines that lift the PC as high as he
fellx2. After 1d10 bounces a person can control his bounce. People with
acrobatics may make a proficiency check to aviod this. One application of this
is to have a room with a false floor and have a floor of bouncing under it.
Place spikes on the ceiling.
Have a pit trap with a floor of bouncing. The top of the pit rotates. On the
bottom of the top of the pit there are 4 blades and a pressure switch between
them. A PC falls, the roof of the pit rotates, and as the PC bounces he will hit
the switch which slam the curved blades in to his neck.
A wall or door that can be broken down. Behind it is a ballista. The person who
knocks the door down gets impaled on the ballista bolt, and then the extra
weight causes it to fire, nailing who ever happens to be behind them.