Post by StoryTeller on Jan 22, 2006 7:14:45 GMT
Sex Appeal
Steven the IMPALER (jmelnych@epsb.edmonton.ab.ca)
The hero(s) walk into, a short hall that is covered in gold. The hallway is 20'
long, 7' high, and 5' across. At the end of the hall is a cage with a beautiful
woman dancing in it. After a minute of watching, the hero(s) have charm cast
upon them, unless they're undead, female or gay. The hero(s) will try to walk
into the cage but will instead take damage from a pitfall, covered by a carpet
with levitation cast upon it. The hero(s) do not have saving throws on the
charm.
Rushin' Roulette
Steven the IMPALER (jmelnych@epsb.edmonton.ab.ca)
The hero(s) come to an immensely tall free standing tower of about 500'. There
is a door at the bottom and about 5 windows every 100'. The tower is 20' in
diameter and circular. When the hero(s) enter the door, it automatically closes
behind them, trapping them inside. They suddenly hear the sound of rushing
water, in five turns a 100x100x100 block of water falls on them. The lock on the
door is able to be picked and the door can be forced open, and if they do get
out, put them up against a Water Elemental when the water comes rushin' out at
them. And when the water comes out the whole tower falls down on the hero(s)
doing 4d20 damage, if they survive make em' find a cursed amulet of water
breathing or something that will really piss them off next time they're in the
water.
Drow Death
Steven the IMPALER (jmelnych@epsb.edmonton.ab.ca)
When the heroes enter a Drow colonies "home", they see a tall 100' high castle.
It emanates a nice steady glowing green color. The castle is 200' away and as
they progress the ceiling gets higher, it has quite a few jagged edges on it and
stalactites hanging down. The walls also spread apart for about 100' each. The
cave they emerged from is only 5' across and about 10' high. Just before the
entrance they will encounter many bones and small bits of silver lying on the
ground. There will also be quite a deep pit that is totally visible. At the
bottom is a small little door, with a skeleton and some pretty nice items,
weapons, etc. If someone goes down the pit they are instantly transported into
the castle, where they will fight some Drow, not too hard though, maybe only
60-80 Drow, more than enough to kill them.
Korbett thingyrell (korbett@passage.com) The party is walking down a 10' x 10'
corridor and comes to a very deep, open pit about 20' The passage continues
beyond the pit for about 30' and ends in an impressive looking door. The bottom
of the pit is 60' down and studded with spikes, and the walls appear greased. In
reality the continuance of the passageway and the impressive door are merely
illusions designed to waste the party's time trying to get beyond the pit. I had
expected an extended climb down and harrowing climb up the far side to find
disappointment only.
What happened was the thief-acrobat in the party suggested to the barbarian that
he could be easily tossed across the pit by someone with high strength. He would
tumble into the passageway beyond and secure a rope for the rest of the party.
He was tossed into the opposite wall and then plunged to his death in the pit
below.
Falling Block
User (kerrydj@superiway.net)
In have a long corridor of about 50 feet or so, the roof has holes spaced apart
about every 15'. Then place in one a huge square block or granite so when one
player steps on the pressure plate the block drops on them. The only thing you
don't tell the players is that the center is hollowed out and there is enough
room for the PC not to get squished.
On the underside of the bolder have sheep bladders filled with blood. That way
it appears that the PC which sprung the trap got squished. Also you say that
some wizard cast a spell that muted all sound from exiting the block so the PC
stuck inside can yell and scream all he wants. This is especially nasty if you
want to hurt the party.
Fake Pit
Guy A. Jett (gajett@ix.netcom.com)
The PC's have just entered a corridor through a stone door. The door slams and
locks behind them. They see a pit spanning the width and most of the length of
the corridor. There is a door at the end of the hall. The PC's are unable to
jump, or do anything else to get over it, besides magic. The wall behind the
PC's starts to move towards them, pushing them into the pit. But the pit is
covered with thick glass, and the PCs are able to walk over one at a time. This
is a good waste of spells, or the PC's might be pushed over onto the glass all
together and break it.
Floor of Rats or Dwarf Slayer
David Ives Mitchell (ogbp@injersey.com)
In one room a player trips a magical trap. With an intelligence check, the mage
of the group may identify it as a very strong summon spell. The next room is a
long, curved, dark corridor ten feet wide. The walls are featureless and may not
be climbed, and the ceiling is only six feet high, making flight purposeless.
Ten feet into the romm, the floor appears to become rats (1d6 hp). In reality,
it is a pit that is ten feet wide, twenty deep, and 120 long that is full of rat
(about 200,000 ranging from 5"to 2-3'. Concealed under the rats, the pit
contains about 5 feet of water as well as bamboo pungee spikes. The edges of the
pit overhang, so nonmagical climbing is impossible.
Upon entry into the room, the party doesn't suspect that the rats are actually
filling a deep, long pit. They also cannot see the other side of the pit because
the corridor curves. One choice is to burn the rats. If this happens, an
intelligence check tells the group that it will burn for at least 24 hours. If
the party sleeps nearby, they are attacked by hundreds of flaming rats that last
1d4+1 rounds. When they come back to the room, the ashes and rat corpses still
conceal the water and spikes. It is still almost impossible to climb out.
No character should be allowed to levitate or fly over, and it is impossible for
a character to see to the other side.
The correct way to defeat the trap is to run over the tops of the rats. If the
player declares that they will run over the rats, they must make a dexterity
check, heavy characters with a -1 penalty. If they pass, they harmlessly run
over the rats. If they fail, they sink through the rats and onto the spikes for
3d6 points of damage. They also will take 1d12+2 points of damage from rat
bites. They DM may also choose to give them a disease of choice with a con
check. Dwarves also find themselves in water to their dismay! It should be very
difficult to get out. One possible solution is to tie a very heavy weight to a
rope, and hope that the victim can grab on. Players that declare non-running
actions such as standing on the rats must make the dex check with a -5 or -6
penalty, or even higher if desired. Heavy characters should have very high
penalties. Dwarves should sink like stones.
This trap may be easily overcome if all characters decide to run. It does,
however, offer humorous responses from dismayed players!
Gust of Death
Steve Callison (swcallis@iname.com)
The trap is several Gust of Wind spells cast through needle-holes in the wall.
Permanency has been cast to keep the Gust of Wind continuous. The trap
essentially creates an air laser with the ability to cut in half anyone that
steps through it. Only a character with keen hearing or other senses can detect
it without actively looking for it.
The Kobald-Pults
Ben Thomas-Moore (jthomas@moon.dataplusnet.com)
This trap is best either when you have just started an adventure or with a
higher level party. The party enters a LONG corridor (perhaps 300 yards) with an
extremely high ceiling (10 yards high). The corridor is only 10 yards wide,
though. At the other end of the corridor (firing range) are three gnolls manning
catapults. When the party enters the firing range, the door they entered through
disappears and the entire wall glows. Then the gnolls begin firing kobolds from
the catapults at the party. I suggest having 30 kobolds at the far end to begin
with. If the kobold misses whomever it was fired at, it hits the wall and is
teleported back to the gnolls. However, if the kobold hits the person, he/she
takes minor damage (2d4 damage) and the kobold stops where he is. The kobold
will rise and fight normally on the next round. Use the gnoll's normal chance to
hit someone (they fire once every three rounds). If at any time there are no
kobolds down by the gnolls, then they charge to attack. The kobolds will always
wait down by the gnolls, never charging on their own. When using this trap,
watch your players reactions ("They're firing WHAT?!? at us?").
Notes: A smart party will charge the back wall when they see the first kobolds
teleported back. This will let them stop the gnolls from firing on them and make
the fight more even. Also, a nice DM will make the catapults collapsable so that
the party can carry them with them. If you do this, place a large room up ahead
where they can use it. (Maybe firing large rocks at some tough monster, or
launching a party member over a high wall.)
A Messy Way To Go
Wolf (auntie@diablo.intergate.bc.ca)
This trap can be used anywhere but it works best in a courtyard of a castle.
Once the PCs get past the main entrance way of the castle the ground begins to
slope. Make it seem normal for this to happen.... say the castle was built on a
hill for better defense. The door that leads inside the castle is at the bottom
of the slope and is slightly battered. Tell the PCs that this castle had been
attacked once and the occupants had never repaired the door. When they get close
to the door and turn the knob to open it they will hear a rumbling for a few
seconds. Tell them that it is PROBABLY (see if they can guess it is a trap) just
the door opening up. Then the rumbling stops. Little do they know.. a huge rock
was pushed out of a secret chamber in the wall and came rolling towards them.
Because the slope suddenly gets steeper near the door they had no idea that the
rock becomes airborne when it reaches the steeper part of the slope. So as the
PCs start to force open the door (which is stuck) SPLAT! Try it, very messy
though.... BTW the castle needs to be repainted after this trap is sprung!
The Torch of Incineration
(jonmason@mail.island.net)
As the PCs enter the room magical stone doors seal the room making it air tight,
and there is an alcove 1' by 1' and 2' deep in a wall with flames burning in it
and a switch in the back. (now would be a good time to remind your PCs that fire
uses oxygen and people kind of die without it) Any item weapon, stick, rock,
etc. that enters the flame must save vs. Magical Fire or explode causing 1D8
points of fire damage to anyone within 2 feet. If a person puts a hand in the
flame it will be slightly warm but not hot enough to hurt them and they can
easily flip the switch and raise the doors. The amount of time it takes to run
out of air depends on the size of the room.
Gumbies
James and Denise Murray (jdmurray@netopia.net)
I created a unique race called gumbies who are an inch tall and are immune to
magic. Everything else varies. A trap you can use is while walking in a forest,
have the players walk into red (Fire! Smart but primitive) gumby territory and
step on their leader! Too bad the gumbies have grappling hooks and can pull
players to the ground and stab them with their claws! As a reward for thinking a
way out of this one you may give them a friendly gumby of another color to help
the Purple (Sonic sometimes ninjas) for example!
Elton Robb (GLENNROBB@prodigy.net)
This trap involves a pressure plate which is hard to perceive When a PC steps on
the pressure plate, a mechanism under the plate sets a few gears and stops them
from rolling. The minute the PC lifts his foot off of the plate, the walls begin
to move. If he doesn't move his foot, then trap doors in a few select places
will open and skeletons will spring out.
The Pressure Plate can hold a maximum of 200 lbs. and is very hard to disarm.
This is because the disarmer must find a way down without fighting the
skeletons. The skeletons will voraciously attack the party.
Ding dong. You're Dead!
Graham Lauderdale (proposal@erols.com)
A long hallway leads into a small room. As soon as all the party enters, a large
iron wall cuts them off. On the other side of the room is another iron wall.
Next to the wall is a door bell. Some witty PC presses it and the floor falls
out from under them (DM chooses what happens next).
Elton Robb (GLENNROBB@prodigy.net)
This Trap is designed to use the character's personality weaknesses against
them. Inspired by a trap that was shown on the D&D TV show, this trap breaks up
the party into individuals who are ultimately whimpering and hitting themselves.
The trap is actually a whole building and uses illusions to mislead the
characters into thinking that they are alone, in trouble, or impotent. here are
some suggestions:
If one of your characters is afraid to be alone, then a trap door will make
the character drop into a room that has the illusion of a strange place and
he/she is all alone.
Afraid of being to old/to young: This works with a hall of mirrors, where
the affected sees his/her reflection in the mirror and she is either too
old, or a baby.
Is doubtful that one is a Good Priest: The character can be shown his worst
nightmare. The PC is trying to sway a huge crowd of people to his religion,
but they laugh at him and throw things at him. Of course, an alternative is
that one of his healing spells does not work!
This is also a trap that is subject to the GM's creativity and Knowledge of his
characters. It's wonderful!
Richard Wiseman (rwiseman@gte.net)
There is an inclined corridor about 30' long with a treasure in the back wall.
Also there is a row of spikes on the floor at the last 4' of the corridor. Some
force causes an object 5' from the spikes to trip the PC entering the corridor.
If the PC is careful and doesn't trip, the same force knows and causes a giant
boulder to come out of the beginning 5' of the wall. Because the corridor is
inclined the boulder rolls, crushing the person. The whole time the treasure
chest is an illusion.
You can put a teleporter where the illusion of the chest is as an escape
route(If the PC can jump that far).
Flaming Ball
J. R. Koches (admin555@nosc.mil)
The trap is rather simple in concept; the characters enter a round tunnel,
slightly curved and running in excess of 240'. The tunnel is usually 8' in
diameter. Along the sides of the wall, spaced every 20' are steel slats,
sticking slightly out of the wall. In addition, a series of ten small holes are
spaced every 10' along the ceiling. At the end of the corridor is a door with a
massive iron ring. When the party opens the door, a combined strength of 23 is
necessary, behind it they find a large ball set on a high ramp. The ball stop is
mechanically inter-linked to the door opening mechanism, so once a certain point
is reached, the door opens automatically and the ball begins rolling down the
corridor. The characters promptly begin running away. What is happening along
the remainder of the corridor is very interesting. Oil is dropping out of the
ten small holes, while the ball is striking sparks from the steel inlays.... For
added fun, iron bars can drop out and seal the end of the corridor.
J. R. Koches (admin555@nosc.mil)
In the center of the room is a small marble pedestal containing a sealed crystal
cube. In the center of the cube is a magic item of your choice. The cube opens
easily to the touch and is not trapped. Upon the item is cast a spell of
avoidance. As the party tries to get close to this item, which either skitters
away or repels them, the real trap clicks in. I usually use a series of magic
mouths or alarm spells to alert a platoon of guards or nasty major monster to
come and clean up. This one really captures the greedy ones.
The Spiked Door
Scott Vallance (slv@ist.flinders.edu.au)
This trap is a simple one but quite amusing. It will be particularly effective
against gung-ho adventures and moronic fighters. Placed in a wall or at the end
of a corridor is a door. It can be tailored to look like the rest in your
scenario but it has one main difference; all handles/locks/etc are fake. Upon
inspection the door looks quite solid although if tapped in the right place
sounds fairly thin. The reason for this is simple; when the players go to kick
or bash down the door, behind it is a wall of spikes upon which they will impale
themselves. Here is a diagram:
-> | handle
-> | /
-> |-0
-> |
-> |\
| door
spikes
Make the spikes poisoned if you want. It may also be a good idea to make
sections of the door solid and others thin, so if they tap test the door it may
sound solid.
Smashed Statues
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
The players walk into a room and they found lots of statues in the room. Most of
the statues seem normal but around a pile of rubble is a group of statues that
looks like a group of adventurers standing around a pile of rubble with
expressions of surprise and agony on their faces. The statues of adventurers
still have all their equipment. If any statue is smashed it will release a gas
that turns animate matter to stone. The group of adventurer statues made that
mistake by shattering one. If the players try to take anything from a statue
they will find out that the statues are very poorly balanced. They have to make
a DX check to avoid knocking it over. If they knock it over, it will shatter.
If the players make it to the other end there's a lever on the far wall. If they
pull the level Boulders will fall from the ceiling shattering the statues.
Hall of statues
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
There's a long wide corridor that the PCs have to cross. Every ten feet in an
alcove is a statue of a warrior (about first level). This is fine but it ends at
a locked door. Should they bash it down or pick the lock that's also fine but if
they cast any spells in this room a statue comes to life. A mage heavy party
(like mine) should just cast more spells at them bringing more statues to life.
Any magic causes this affect, however the spells/whatever do not have any effect
except bringing statues to life.
Fill the Room With Water
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
The PCs come into a room that has two levers in it. One starts filling the room
with water the other drains it of water. The doors lock behind the players. The
only way out is to fill the room with water (the pressure on the doors almost
breaks them open. They can then smash the door down and all the water comes
flooding out. I gave the party a suitable reward for this trap. The levers were
knocked out of the wall by the retreating water. They were made out of silver
(aren't I a nice DM .....hehehe)
The Four Elements
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
Some of you might recognize this from a MacGyver episode but hey it was full of
traps (they were in some ancient temple or some such). They find four rings each
one supporting a bowl. The bottom bowl is empty, the next is full of oil, the
next is full of water and the top one is also empty. There is a bowl of dirt
sitting beside it. They are locked in the room with a limited supply of air.
They must complete the four elements (if your nice there's a plaque saying
that). If they put dirt in the bottom one, then they have two of the elements
(Earth and water. I know the top one is full of air anyway but that is no fun.))
If they set the oil on fire they have the third (fire.) The oil will evaporate
the water which will rise up to the top creating the element of air (well water
vapor but it is sort of air) the door will open and they're out.
Waiting For Weight
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
This is from the same episode.. They are also locked in a room again with not
much air. Sitting around is a statue with two hands. On one is a weight and
lying around the room are other weights. They must find another equal weight and
put it in the other hand. If they do the door will open.
Supernova
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
This trap can only be used in very strange circumstances. Mine was that aliens
were trying to take over the world (These aliens used combination
magic/technology). At the end of the adventure they find the aliens power source
which was a 12' ball of bright light. The players each need to have something to
escape gravity at this point. The sphere is actually a smaller version of a
star. They can destroy it by either casting any spell at it or by throwing in a
magic object. The door to this room is automatic but since they destroyed the
star it has no power to open. The star starts expanding and contracting. Anyone
caught in these takes a lot of damage. The star collapses in on itself and turns
into a black hole. It starts sucking the PCs in (it's stronger than the
antigravity they used to get there). When they reach the black hole well... See
sphere of annihilation in the DMG for details... (hehehe)
Zach Toups (lord_zerax@geocites.com)
The players walk into a room, it (the room) can be of any size. It has a
continual light spell in effect. The walls are speckled with lots of holes
(about the size of a quarter). The trigger for the trap is a several infra-red
beams that cannot be avoided or seen (infravision is useless in the light). If
darkness is cast, the light will be negated and the room will return to normal
darkness, anyone with infravision can see the beams. If anything blocks a beam,
it causes multiple darts to fire from the walls, hopefully hitting the PC.
Andreas Iseli (IseliA@BENTLEY.DEVETWA.EDU.AU)
The PC's fall down a chute into a large "checker board" room. You can have as
many tiles as you like. Each "square" is a pressure plate which has four holes
it. At the other end of the room, there is a lever which opens a door. The
problem is, every pressure plate stepped on causes 4 spikes to shoot from the
ground on another tile! For example, stepping on tile 5 causes spikes to shoot
from tile 12. No pattern is required, just make sure the PC's aren't allowed to
stand on the same tiles. This trap caused the demise of 3 out of 4 PC's in my
last campaign.
Erik Wood (tquest4@easystreet.com)
There is a small hatch in the floor, big enough for one person to fit through.
The hatch opens to an 8 foot diameter shaft with a metal ladder on one side
which runs from top to bottom (100ft). Once the player climbs 20 feet down they
activate a Glyph of Warding that inflicts 14d4 points of electrical damage. Any
character sustaining more than 15 points of damage must make a Strength check at
-6 or fall -- sustaining another 8d6 points of damage. Anyone touching the floor
of the pit is affected by a Power Word: Kill spell, which automatically slays
any character with 60 hp or fewer (current, not maximum). That person is then
animated and levitated back out of the shaft as a zombie which then begins
attacking the party.
Blue Box
Seven Seven225@aol.com)
You see a goblin about 20 feet down a corridor. The goblin keeps screaming
"Don't take my treasure! Don't take my treasure!" When the characters get close
enough the goblin runs off. When the treasure box is opened a blue force field
goes around the opener of the box. There is a blue knife inside of the box
(Which has nothing to do with the trap.) The blue force keeps getting smaller
and smaller. It keeps closing in on the person until they get crushed. The only
way out of the trap is to close the box. Kind of obvious but in a situation like
that it is hard to think of.
Tim Mott (tmott@awinc.com)
Give the players some sort of strange and cryptic clue (on an old scroll,
whatever) and have it pretty hard to figure out. The "answer" will be a magical
saying to open up a treasure room in some dungeon or whatever (supposedly).
However, when they go to the dungeon and say the magic words, the room doesn't
appear, but instead some monster / trap / other nasty thing comes and kills /
maims / laughs at them.
Pit Guardian
Dragonhawk (plazm@juno.com)
A trap lies hidden in the floor, and it's a relatively small hole, which lands
the PC right on a spot which triggers a Contingency spell which activates the
nearby stone golem (or any other sort of animated monster(s)), which now
perceives the hapless PC as its mortal enemy. It quickly attacks, but many a
party is quick enough to let down a rope or other way of climbing up. The stone
golem simply waits beneath the hole. This isn't the good part. After going down
to the next level, the PC finds him(or her)self right in front of the golem. You
see, the pit leads down to the next level, so there's the stone golem (or
whatever) after his blood. It will not attack any other players, unless they
stand on the trigger spot, in which case it refocuses its attacks on that PC.
The worst part is that if the monster is destroyed, the trigger spot grows
(DM/GM's discretion towards the speed of growth and size of the room) until it
fills the room. Stepping on the trigger spot again at ANY time will cause the
stone golem to reform again...and attack.
Steven the IMPALER (jmelnych@epsb.edmonton.ab.ca)
The hero(s) walk into, a short hall that is covered in gold. The hallway is 20'
long, 7' high, and 5' across. At the end of the hall is a cage with a beautiful
woman dancing in it. After a minute of watching, the hero(s) have charm cast
upon them, unless they're undead, female or gay. The hero(s) will try to walk
into the cage but will instead take damage from a pitfall, covered by a carpet
with levitation cast upon it. The hero(s) do not have saving throws on the
charm.
Rushin' Roulette
Steven the IMPALER (jmelnych@epsb.edmonton.ab.ca)
The hero(s) come to an immensely tall free standing tower of about 500'. There
is a door at the bottom and about 5 windows every 100'. The tower is 20' in
diameter and circular. When the hero(s) enter the door, it automatically closes
behind them, trapping them inside. They suddenly hear the sound of rushing
water, in five turns a 100x100x100 block of water falls on them. The lock on the
door is able to be picked and the door can be forced open, and if they do get
out, put them up against a Water Elemental when the water comes rushin' out at
them. And when the water comes out the whole tower falls down on the hero(s)
doing 4d20 damage, if they survive make em' find a cursed amulet of water
breathing or something that will really piss them off next time they're in the
water.
Drow Death
Steven the IMPALER (jmelnych@epsb.edmonton.ab.ca)
When the heroes enter a Drow colonies "home", they see a tall 100' high castle.
It emanates a nice steady glowing green color. The castle is 200' away and as
they progress the ceiling gets higher, it has quite a few jagged edges on it and
stalactites hanging down. The walls also spread apart for about 100' each. The
cave they emerged from is only 5' across and about 10' high. Just before the
entrance they will encounter many bones and small bits of silver lying on the
ground. There will also be quite a deep pit that is totally visible. At the
bottom is a small little door, with a skeleton and some pretty nice items,
weapons, etc. If someone goes down the pit they are instantly transported into
the castle, where they will fight some Drow, not too hard though, maybe only
60-80 Drow, more than enough to kill them.
Korbett thingyrell (korbett@passage.com) The party is walking down a 10' x 10'
corridor and comes to a very deep, open pit about 20' The passage continues
beyond the pit for about 30' and ends in an impressive looking door. The bottom
of the pit is 60' down and studded with spikes, and the walls appear greased. In
reality the continuance of the passageway and the impressive door are merely
illusions designed to waste the party's time trying to get beyond the pit. I had
expected an extended climb down and harrowing climb up the far side to find
disappointment only.
What happened was the thief-acrobat in the party suggested to the barbarian that
he could be easily tossed across the pit by someone with high strength. He would
tumble into the passageway beyond and secure a rope for the rest of the party.
He was tossed into the opposite wall and then plunged to his death in the pit
below.
Falling Block
User (kerrydj@superiway.net)
In have a long corridor of about 50 feet or so, the roof has holes spaced apart
about every 15'. Then place in one a huge square block or granite so when one
player steps on the pressure plate the block drops on them. The only thing you
don't tell the players is that the center is hollowed out and there is enough
room for the PC not to get squished.
On the underside of the bolder have sheep bladders filled with blood. That way
it appears that the PC which sprung the trap got squished. Also you say that
some wizard cast a spell that muted all sound from exiting the block so the PC
stuck inside can yell and scream all he wants. This is especially nasty if you
want to hurt the party.
Fake Pit
Guy A. Jett (gajett@ix.netcom.com)
The PC's have just entered a corridor through a stone door. The door slams and
locks behind them. They see a pit spanning the width and most of the length of
the corridor. There is a door at the end of the hall. The PC's are unable to
jump, or do anything else to get over it, besides magic. The wall behind the
PC's starts to move towards them, pushing them into the pit. But the pit is
covered with thick glass, and the PCs are able to walk over one at a time. This
is a good waste of spells, or the PC's might be pushed over onto the glass all
together and break it.
Floor of Rats or Dwarf Slayer
David Ives Mitchell (ogbp@injersey.com)
In one room a player trips a magical trap. With an intelligence check, the mage
of the group may identify it as a very strong summon spell. The next room is a
long, curved, dark corridor ten feet wide. The walls are featureless and may not
be climbed, and the ceiling is only six feet high, making flight purposeless.
Ten feet into the romm, the floor appears to become rats (1d6 hp). In reality,
it is a pit that is ten feet wide, twenty deep, and 120 long that is full of rat
(about 200,000 ranging from 5"to 2-3'. Concealed under the rats, the pit
contains about 5 feet of water as well as bamboo pungee spikes. The edges of the
pit overhang, so nonmagical climbing is impossible.
Upon entry into the room, the party doesn't suspect that the rats are actually
filling a deep, long pit. They also cannot see the other side of the pit because
the corridor curves. One choice is to burn the rats. If this happens, an
intelligence check tells the group that it will burn for at least 24 hours. If
the party sleeps nearby, they are attacked by hundreds of flaming rats that last
1d4+1 rounds. When they come back to the room, the ashes and rat corpses still
conceal the water and spikes. It is still almost impossible to climb out.
No character should be allowed to levitate or fly over, and it is impossible for
a character to see to the other side.
The correct way to defeat the trap is to run over the tops of the rats. If the
player declares that they will run over the rats, they must make a dexterity
check, heavy characters with a -1 penalty. If they pass, they harmlessly run
over the rats. If they fail, they sink through the rats and onto the spikes for
3d6 points of damage. They also will take 1d12+2 points of damage from rat
bites. They DM may also choose to give them a disease of choice with a con
check. Dwarves also find themselves in water to their dismay! It should be very
difficult to get out. One possible solution is to tie a very heavy weight to a
rope, and hope that the victim can grab on. Players that declare non-running
actions such as standing on the rats must make the dex check with a -5 or -6
penalty, or even higher if desired. Heavy characters should have very high
penalties. Dwarves should sink like stones.
This trap may be easily overcome if all characters decide to run. It does,
however, offer humorous responses from dismayed players!
Gust of Death
Steve Callison (swcallis@iname.com)
The trap is several Gust of Wind spells cast through needle-holes in the wall.
Permanency has been cast to keep the Gust of Wind continuous. The trap
essentially creates an air laser with the ability to cut in half anyone that
steps through it. Only a character with keen hearing or other senses can detect
it without actively looking for it.
The Kobald-Pults
Ben Thomas-Moore (jthomas@moon.dataplusnet.com)
This trap is best either when you have just started an adventure or with a
higher level party. The party enters a LONG corridor (perhaps 300 yards) with an
extremely high ceiling (10 yards high). The corridor is only 10 yards wide,
though. At the other end of the corridor (firing range) are three gnolls manning
catapults. When the party enters the firing range, the door they entered through
disappears and the entire wall glows. Then the gnolls begin firing kobolds from
the catapults at the party. I suggest having 30 kobolds at the far end to begin
with. If the kobold misses whomever it was fired at, it hits the wall and is
teleported back to the gnolls. However, if the kobold hits the person, he/she
takes minor damage (2d4 damage) and the kobold stops where he is. The kobold
will rise and fight normally on the next round. Use the gnoll's normal chance to
hit someone (they fire once every three rounds). If at any time there are no
kobolds down by the gnolls, then they charge to attack. The kobolds will always
wait down by the gnolls, never charging on their own. When using this trap,
watch your players reactions ("They're firing WHAT?!? at us?").
Notes: A smart party will charge the back wall when they see the first kobolds
teleported back. This will let them stop the gnolls from firing on them and make
the fight more even. Also, a nice DM will make the catapults collapsable so that
the party can carry them with them. If you do this, place a large room up ahead
where they can use it. (Maybe firing large rocks at some tough monster, or
launching a party member over a high wall.)
A Messy Way To Go
Wolf (auntie@diablo.intergate.bc.ca)
This trap can be used anywhere but it works best in a courtyard of a castle.
Once the PCs get past the main entrance way of the castle the ground begins to
slope. Make it seem normal for this to happen.... say the castle was built on a
hill for better defense. The door that leads inside the castle is at the bottom
of the slope and is slightly battered. Tell the PCs that this castle had been
attacked once and the occupants had never repaired the door. When they get close
to the door and turn the knob to open it they will hear a rumbling for a few
seconds. Tell them that it is PROBABLY (see if they can guess it is a trap) just
the door opening up. Then the rumbling stops. Little do they know.. a huge rock
was pushed out of a secret chamber in the wall and came rolling towards them.
Because the slope suddenly gets steeper near the door they had no idea that the
rock becomes airborne when it reaches the steeper part of the slope. So as the
PCs start to force open the door (which is stuck) SPLAT! Try it, very messy
though.... BTW the castle needs to be repainted after this trap is sprung!
The Torch of Incineration
(jonmason@mail.island.net)
As the PCs enter the room magical stone doors seal the room making it air tight,
and there is an alcove 1' by 1' and 2' deep in a wall with flames burning in it
and a switch in the back. (now would be a good time to remind your PCs that fire
uses oxygen and people kind of die without it) Any item weapon, stick, rock,
etc. that enters the flame must save vs. Magical Fire or explode causing 1D8
points of fire damage to anyone within 2 feet. If a person puts a hand in the
flame it will be slightly warm but not hot enough to hurt them and they can
easily flip the switch and raise the doors. The amount of time it takes to run
out of air depends on the size of the room.
Gumbies
James and Denise Murray (jdmurray@netopia.net)
I created a unique race called gumbies who are an inch tall and are immune to
magic. Everything else varies. A trap you can use is while walking in a forest,
have the players walk into red (Fire! Smart but primitive) gumby territory and
step on their leader! Too bad the gumbies have grappling hooks and can pull
players to the ground and stab them with their claws! As a reward for thinking a
way out of this one you may give them a friendly gumby of another color to help
the Purple (Sonic sometimes ninjas) for example!
Elton Robb (GLENNROBB@prodigy.net)
This trap involves a pressure plate which is hard to perceive When a PC steps on
the pressure plate, a mechanism under the plate sets a few gears and stops them
from rolling. The minute the PC lifts his foot off of the plate, the walls begin
to move. If he doesn't move his foot, then trap doors in a few select places
will open and skeletons will spring out.
The Pressure Plate can hold a maximum of 200 lbs. and is very hard to disarm.
This is because the disarmer must find a way down without fighting the
skeletons. The skeletons will voraciously attack the party.
Ding dong. You're Dead!
Graham Lauderdale (proposal@erols.com)
A long hallway leads into a small room. As soon as all the party enters, a large
iron wall cuts them off. On the other side of the room is another iron wall.
Next to the wall is a door bell. Some witty PC presses it and the floor falls
out from under them (DM chooses what happens next).
Elton Robb (GLENNROBB@prodigy.net)
This Trap is designed to use the character's personality weaknesses against
them. Inspired by a trap that was shown on the D&D TV show, this trap breaks up
the party into individuals who are ultimately whimpering and hitting themselves.
The trap is actually a whole building and uses illusions to mislead the
characters into thinking that they are alone, in trouble, or impotent. here are
some suggestions:
If one of your characters is afraid to be alone, then a trap door will make
the character drop into a room that has the illusion of a strange place and
he/she is all alone.
Afraid of being to old/to young: This works with a hall of mirrors, where
the affected sees his/her reflection in the mirror and she is either too
old, or a baby.
Is doubtful that one is a Good Priest: The character can be shown his worst
nightmare. The PC is trying to sway a huge crowd of people to his religion,
but they laugh at him and throw things at him. Of course, an alternative is
that one of his healing spells does not work!
This is also a trap that is subject to the GM's creativity and Knowledge of his
characters. It's wonderful!
Richard Wiseman (rwiseman@gte.net)
There is an inclined corridor about 30' long with a treasure in the back wall.
Also there is a row of spikes on the floor at the last 4' of the corridor. Some
force causes an object 5' from the spikes to trip the PC entering the corridor.
If the PC is careful and doesn't trip, the same force knows and causes a giant
boulder to come out of the beginning 5' of the wall. Because the corridor is
inclined the boulder rolls, crushing the person. The whole time the treasure
chest is an illusion.
You can put a teleporter where the illusion of the chest is as an escape
route(If the PC can jump that far).
Flaming Ball
J. R. Koches (admin555@nosc.mil)
The trap is rather simple in concept; the characters enter a round tunnel,
slightly curved and running in excess of 240'. The tunnel is usually 8' in
diameter. Along the sides of the wall, spaced every 20' are steel slats,
sticking slightly out of the wall. In addition, a series of ten small holes are
spaced every 10' along the ceiling. At the end of the corridor is a door with a
massive iron ring. When the party opens the door, a combined strength of 23 is
necessary, behind it they find a large ball set on a high ramp. The ball stop is
mechanically inter-linked to the door opening mechanism, so once a certain point
is reached, the door opens automatically and the ball begins rolling down the
corridor. The characters promptly begin running away. What is happening along
the remainder of the corridor is very interesting. Oil is dropping out of the
ten small holes, while the ball is striking sparks from the steel inlays.... For
added fun, iron bars can drop out and seal the end of the corridor.
J. R. Koches (admin555@nosc.mil)
In the center of the room is a small marble pedestal containing a sealed crystal
cube. In the center of the cube is a magic item of your choice. The cube opens
easily to the touch and is not trapped. Upon the item is cast a spell of
avoidance. As the party tries to get close to this item, which either skitters
away or repels them, the real trap clicks in. I usually use a series of magic
mouths or alarm spells to alert a platoon of guards or nasty major monster to
come and clean up. This one really captures the greedy ones.
The Spiked Door
Scott Vallance (slv@ist.flinders.edu.au)
This trap is a simple one but quite amusing. It will be particularly effective
against gung-ho adventures and moronic fighters. Placed in a wall or at the end
of a corridor is a door. It can be tailored to look like the rest in your
scenario but it has one main difference; all handles/locks/etc are fake. Upon
inspection the door looks quite solid although if tapped in the right place
sounds fairly thin. The reason for this is simple; when the players go to kick
or bash down the door, behind it is a wall of spikes upon which they will impale
themselves. Here is a diagram:
-> | handle
-> | /
-> |-0
-> |
-> |\
| door
spikes
Make the spikes poisoned if you want. It may also be a good idea to make
sections of the door solid and others thin, so if they tap test the door it may
sound solid.
Smashed Statues
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
The players walk into a room and they found lots of statues in the room. Most of
the statues seem normal but around a pile of rubble is a group of statues that
looks like a group of adventurers standing around a pile of rubble with
expressions of surprise and agony on their faces. The statues of adventurers
still have all their equipment. If any statue is smashed it will release a gas
that turns animate matter to stone. The group of adventurer statues made that
mistake by shattering one. If the players try to take anything from a statue
they will find out that the statues are very poorly balanced. They have to make
a DX check to avoid knocking it over. If they knock it over, it will shatter.
If the players make it to the other end there's a lever on the far wall. If they
pull the level Boulders will fall from the ceiling shattering the statues.
Hall of statues
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
There's a long wide corridor that the PCs have to cross. Every ten feet in an
alcove is a statue of a warrior (about first level). This is fine but it ends at
a locked door. Should they bash it down or pick the lock that's also fine but if
they cast any spells in this room a statue comes to life. A mage heavy party
(like mine) should just cast more spells at them bringing more statues to life.
Any magic causes this affect, however the spells/whatever do not have any effect
except bringing statues to life.
Fill the Room With Water
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
The PCs come into a room that has two levers in it. One starts filling the room
with water the other drains it of water. The doors lock behind the players. The
only way out is to fill the room with water (the pressure on the doors almost
breaks them open. They can then smash the door down and all the water comes
flooding out. I gave the party a suitable reward for this trap. The levers were
knocked out of the wall by the retreating water. They were made out of silver
(aren't I a nice DM .....hehehe)
The Four Elements
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
Some of you might recognize this from a MacGyver episode but hey it was full of
traps (they were in some ancient temple or some such). They find four rings each
one supporting a bowl. The bottom bowl is empty, the next is full of oil, the
next is full of water and the top one is also empty. There is a bowl of dirt
sitting beside it. They are locked in the room with a limited supply of air.
They must complete the four elements (if your nice there's a plaque saying
that). If they put dirt in the bottom one, then they have two of the elements
(Earth and water. I know the top one is full of air anyway but that is no fun.))
If they set the oil on fire they have the third (fire.) The oil will evaporate
the water which will rise up to the top creating the element of air (well water
vapor but it is sort of air) the door will open and they're out.
Waiting For Weight
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
This is from the same episode.. They are also locked in a room again with not
much air. Sitting around is a statue with two hands. On one is a weight and
lying around the room are other weights. They must find another equal weight and
put it in the other hand. If they do the door will open.
Supernova
Michael Kenner (flamemaster@hotmail.com)
This trap can only be used in very strange circumstances. Mine was that aliens
were trying to take over the world (These aliens used combination
magic/technology). At the end of the adventure they find the aliens power source
which was a 12' ball of bright light. The players each need to have something to
escape gravity at this point. The sphere is actually a smaller version of a
star. They can destroy it by either casting any spell at it or by throwing in a
magic object. The door to this room is automatic but since they destroyed the
star it has no power to open. The star starts expanding and contracting. Anyone
caught in these takes a lot of damage. The star collapses in on itself and turns
into a black hole. It starts sucking the PCs in (it's stronger than the
antigravity they used to get there). When they reach the black hole well... See
sphere of annihilation in the DMG for details... (hehehe)
Zach Toups (lord_zerax@geocites.com)
The players walk into a room, it (the room) can be of any size. It has a
continual light spell in effect. The walls are speckled with lots of holes
(about the size of a quarter). The trigger for the trap is a several infra-red
beams that cannot be avoided or seen (infravision is useless in the light). If
darkness is cast, the light will be negated and the room will return to normal
darkness, anyone with infravision can see the beams. If anything blocks a beam,
it causes multiple darts to fire from the walls, hopefully hitting the PC.
Andreas Iseli (IseliA@BENTLEY.DEVETWA.EDU.AU)
The PC's fall down a chute into a large "checker board" room. You can have as
many tiles as you like. Each "square" is a pressure plate which has four holes
it. At the other end of the room, there is a lever which opens a door. The
problem is, every pressure plate stepped on causes 4 spikes to shoot from the
ground on another tile! For example, stepping on tile 5 causes spikes to shoot
from tile 12. No pattern is required, just make sure the PC's aren't allowed to
stand on the same tiles. This trap caused the demise of 3 out of 4 PC's in my
last campaign.
Erik Wood (tquest4@easystreet.com)
There is a small hatch in the floor, big enough for one person to fit through.
The hatch opens to an 8 foot diameter shaft with a metal ladder on one side
which runs from top to bottom (100ft). Once the player climbs 20 feet down they
activate a Glyph of Warding that inflicts 14d4 points of electrical damage. Any
character sustaining more than 15 points of damage must make a Strength check at
-6 or fall -- sustaining another 8d6 points of damage. Anyone touching the floor
of the pit is affected by a Power Word: Kill spell, which automatically slays
any character with 60 hp or fewer (current, not maximum). That person is then
animated and levitated back out of the shaft as a zombie which then begins
attacking the party.
Blue Box
Seven Seven225@aol.com)
You see a goblin about 20 feet down a corridor. The goblin keeps screaming
"Don't take my treasure! Don't take my treasure!" When the characters get close
enough the goblin runs off. When the treasure box is opened a blue force field
goes around the opener of the box. There is a blue knife inside of the box
(Which has nothing to do with the trap.) The blue force keeps getting smaller
and smaller. It keeps closing in on the person until they get crushed. The only
way out of the trap is to close the box. Kind of obvious but in a situation like
that it is hard to think of.
Tim Mott (tmott@awinc.com)
Give the players some sort of strange and cryptic clue (on an old scroll,
whatever) and have it pretty hard to figure out. The "answer" will be a magical
saying to open up a treasure room in some dungeon or whatever (supposedly).
However, when they go to the dungeon and say the magic words, the room doesn't
appear, but instead some monster / trap / other nasty thing comes and kills /
maims / laughs at them.
Pit Guardian
Dragonhawk (plazm@juno.com)
A trap lies hidden in the floor, and it's a relatively small hole, which lands
the PC right on a spot which triggers a Contingency spell which activates the
nearby stone golem (or any other sort of animated monster(s)), which now
perceives the hapless PC as its mortal enemy. It quickly attacks, but many a
party is quick enough to let down a rope or other way of climbing up. The stone
golem simply waits beneath the hole. This isn't the good part. After going down
to the next level, the PC finds him(or her)self right in front of the golem. You
see, the pit leads down to the next level, so there's the stone golem (or
whatever) after his blood. It will not attack any other players, unless they
stand on the trigger spot, in which case it refocuses its attacks on that PC.
The worst part is that if the monster is destroyed, the trigger spot grows
(DM/GM's discretion towards the speed of growth and size of the room) until it
fills the room. Stepping on the trigger spot again at ANY time will cause the
stone golem to reform again...and attack.