It's A Trap!!!

[Cavara]

Trying to murder party in 3.5 campaign using creative and ingenious death machines rather than a tarrasque or crap tons of monsters (i do want them to have a hope of surviving) they are around 10-12. Need suggestions for decent traps that will give them a hard time.

Cavardosei

[Forbiddenwar]

Trying to murder party in 3.5 campaign using creative and ingenious death machines rather than a tarrasque or crap tons of monsters (i do want them to have a hope of surviving) they are around 10-12. Need suggestions for decent traps that will give them a hard time.

Cavardosei

Read the goblins comics (http://www.goblinscomic.com/), especially the Tempts Fate.
That Thunt is a devious bastard. My favorite is the egg trap.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Include a 15 ft. wide hallway with a pit trap that goes across the entire width. Preferably they should be chasing something down the hallway or be fighting something and thus not checking for traps. It only triggers if three or more creatures are on it, thus something can run over and not set it off. Maybe put it at a corner of the hallway, and set up something to bottleneck them on the trap, such as an enemy caster using Wall of Ice or Force. If there will be an encounter with a spellcaster later on who can cast Shrink Item, low-level mooks could have shrunken brick walls to throw up in the PCs' paths with a command word. Anyone who is not at an unblocked edge of the pit when it triggers gets no Reflex save, but instead they may make a Climb check to catch oneself while falling at DC 35. Use the CR 2 pit trap, DC 20, 40 ft. deep, but they won't take any falling damage... keep reading!

When the trap is triggered, three spell effects occur. First, a Silence spell centered at the inside corner of the hallway activates, so it covers the pit trap and 20 ft. down the hall each way. Second, a Deeper Darkness spell Heightened to 5th level activates, centered at the same spot, so any light sources 60 ft. from the pit trap are extinguished unless they're spell effects of 6th level or higher; even Daylight gets spanked unless it too was Heightened. Third, an Antimagic Field activates centered just above the cube, so that engulfed creatures and anyone who escapes it but within 10 ft. are within the area of effect. Anyone in the pit outside the AMF will be within both the Silence and the Deeper Darkness effects. The spell effects happen immediately upon the pit trap giving way, so anyone who wasn't on the trap wouldn't even be aware of what has happened unless they have Blindsense, Blindsight, Tremorsense, or can see through magical darkness. They may stumble forward in the dark and end up falling in!

There is an Advanced Gelatinous Cube (22 HD, Huge, stats below) at the bottom of the pit trap. Anyone who lands on it gets engulfed as though they'd walked into it. Anyone who escapes from it and does not successfully climb/fly/levitate/etc. off of it will just fall back into it at the end of their turn and be engulfed again. The cube has been constantly reaching up in search of food, slathering the walls of the pit with mucous, so it would be a DC 25 Climb check at a corner of the pit, or DC 20 for a character big enough to brace against opposite walls 15 ft. apart. The cube can make one AoO per round against anyone trying to escape, if someone is struck while climbing out they will have to make a Climb check or fall back onto it and be engulfed again.

Advanced Gelatinous Cube (22 HD, Huge)
Size/Type: Huge Ooze
Hit Dice: 22d10+220 (236 hp)
Initiative: -5
Speed: 15 ft. (3 squares)
Armor Class: 6 (-2 size, -5 Dex, +3 Natural), touch 6, flat-footed 6
Base Attack/Grapple: +16/+32
Attack: Slam +18 melee (1d8+6 plus 1d6 acid)
Full Attack: Slam +18 melee (1d8+6 plus 1d6 acid)
Space/Reach: 15 ft./10 ft.
Special Attacks: Acid, engulf, paralysis
Special Qualities: Blindsight 60 ft., immunity to electricity, ooze traits, transparent
Saves: Fort +17, Ref +12, Will +2
Abilities: Str 18, Dex 1, Con 30, Int Ø, Wis 1, Cha 1
Skills: —
Feats: —
Environment: Underground
Organization: Solitary
Challenge Rating: 8
Treasure: 1/10th coins, 50% goods (no nonmetal or nonstone), 50% items (no nonmetal or nonstone)
Alignment: Always neutral
Advancement: 23-24 HD (Huge)
Level Adjustment: —

Acid (Ex)
A gelatinous cube’s acid does not harm metal or stone. Its acid deals 31 damage per full round of contact.

Engulf (Ex)
Although it moves slowly, a gelatinous cube can simply mow down Large or smaller creatures as a standard action. It cannot make a slam attack during a round in which it engulfs. The gelatinous cube merely has to move over the opponents, affecting as many as it can cover. Opponents can make opportunity attacks against the cube, but if they do so they are not entitled to a saving throw. Those who do not attempt attacks of opportunity must succeed on a DC 26 Reflex save or be engulfed; on a success, they are pushed back or aside (opponent’s choice) as the cube moves forward. Engulfed creatures are subject to the cube’s paralysis and acid, and are considered to be grappled and trapped within its body. The save DC is Strength-based and includes a +1 racial bonus.

Paralysis (Ex)
A gelatinous cube secretes an anesthetizing slime. A target hit by a cube’s melee or engulf attack must succeed on a DC 31 Fortitude save or be paralyzed for 3d6 rounds. The cube can automatically engulf a paralyzed opponent. The save DC is Constitution-based.

Transparent (Ex)
Gelatinous cubes are hard to see, even under ideal conditions, and it takes a DC 15 Spot check to notice one. Creatures who fail to notice a cube and walk into it are automatically engulfed.
Spell effect traps are DC 1 plus the highest-level spell used. The pit trap is CR 2, so use a base CR 2, +6 for AMF, and I'd go +1/2 the levels of the other spells (2+5)/2 for a total trap DC of 11. The CR 8 cube makes it a mixed group encounter, so it should be around EL 12.

[Divide by Zero]

Tucker's kobolds?

[King Atticus]

There is an Advanced Gelatinous Cube (22 HD, Huge, stats below) at the bottom of the pit trap.

...yep, that'd do it.:smallbiggrin:

[Ruinix]

men u totally need this -> Sword & Sorcery - The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps

[FMArthur]

A 10'-15' long pit with a 15' deep fall onto flat ground will make them want to jump over it. The landing zone is a trapdoor to a 60' deep pit with lava at the bottom. Guaranteed to kill one character.

[GeekGirl]

Though not my favorite trap, I once almost killed a level 1 party with a trap door with a 10FT drop. It was either a failed disable device check (nat 1), failed jump check, or forgetting it was there on the way out. /facepalm

I felt a little bad, it was an easy trap and not meant to kill the party.

[Popertop]

look into platforming games, platform hell if you want to get crazy with it.

that way, if you catch them by surprise, you can always say its been done before, and I think most players would be able to deal with getting tricked by platform mind games.

[Qwertystop]

I have a few:
Three pit traps, lined up in a row. The middle is incredibly poorly hidden, the side two are incredibly well hidden. In avoiding the middle, they fall into the sides. The pit in the middle is a very short drop, the others are deep.

A narrow walkway between two really deep pits. The air over the walkway is visibly magic (silent image). Covering the walkway is a Reverse Gravity zone, and the ceiling is really high. At the bottom of the pits are permanent Teleportation Circles, leading to the other side of the trap. They need to jump into the pits to not die! :smallbiggrin:

A pathway that is actually made of Shadow Conjuration Walls of Stone. Anyone who makes their Will save is dropped into a chute of some kind, which sends them back to the beginning of the trap. Make sure to modify the DC so that the weakest-willed guys on the team are likely to fail, and anyone else will almost never fail. The rest of the team needs to somehow convince the idiots to carry them across.

A hallway with an extra-large Ring Gate on the end of it. The double is at the top of a really deep shaft designed to look a lot like the hallway. You should only use this one late enough in the dungeon that they are looking very carefully for traps. The shaft should have some flaws, like potted plants that are draping downward, which of course looks like sideways to the players. Another possibility is make any loose objects have globs of glue visible around the edges, which is of course how they are not falling. Also, maybe torches, also going "sideways", with sparks floating down the hall instead of landing on the floor.

Finally, once they are really paranoid, a room with an inttricate tiled pattern on the floor. On close examination, all the tiles are buttons. Whenever one is pressed, it makes a clicking sound, and every 3rd or 4th causes the sound of gears grinding in the walls, floor, and ceiling. Nothing actually happens, but it will really creep them out.

[Absol197]

I have a few:
Three pit traps, lined up in a row. The middle is incredibly poorly hidden, the side two are incredibly well hidden. In avoiding the middle, they fall into the sides. The pit in the middle is a very short drop, the others are deep.

A narrow walkway between two really deep pits. The air over the walkway is visibly magic (silent image). Covering the walkway is a Reverse Gravity zone, and the ceiling is really high. At the bottom of the pits are permanent Teleportation Circles, leading to the other side of the trap. They need to jump into the pits to not die! :smallbiggrin:

A pathway that is actually made of Shadow Conjuration Walls of Stone. Anyone who makes their Will save is dropped into a chute of some kind, which sends them back to the beginning of the trap. Make sure to modify the DC so that the weakest-willed guys on the team are likely to fail, and anyone else will almost never fail. The rest of the team needs to somehow convince the idiots to carry them across.

A hallway with an extra-large Ring Gate on the end of it. The double is at the top of a really deep shaft designed to look a lot like the hallway. You should only use this one late enough in the dungeon that they are looking very carefully for traps. The shaft should have some flaws, like potted plants that are draping downward, which of course looks like sideways to the players. Another possibility is make any loose objects have globs of glue visible around the edges, which is of course how they are not falling. Also, maybe torches, also going "sideways", with sparks floating down the hall instead of landing on the floor.

Finally, once they are really paranoid, a room with an inttricate tiled pattern on the floor. On close examination, all the tiles are buttons. Whenever one is pressed, it makes a clicking sound, and every 3rd or 4th causes the sound of gears grinding in the walls, floor, and ceiling. Nothing actually happens, but it will really creep them out.

You are a devious, devious man :smallbiggrin: I am now required to steal these for my next dungeon. My players are about to hate you, so much...

[Cavara]

I also thought of one myself, although a bit cliche. Through a bunch of the dungeon have the party either be harassed by a small child crying for help or more likely the squeaking of some mystery monster. When the party goes to investigate they find something weird squeaking at them in the middle of the room. Low and behold the entire room is actually the stomach of a monster or something of that sort. It was either a stomach or all of a sudden poison spikes start trying to skewer the party. either way they are confused when the door stops being there...and digestion starts. ACID DAMAGE FOR EVERYONE.

[Cavara]

also i made this thread so people could keep posting traps and constantly steal them for each others dungeons. for the community should help make our players lives crappy.

[Jjeinn-tae]

I'm running a game based on the original Wizardry game (Proving Grounds?) for my family. If you don't know, it's a highly deadly setting, and dealing with traps is necessary or you get dead in interesting ways.

The main trap that sticks out, but one you cannot use much, is the old teleportation trap from the game. Try to pick a chest, the character gets warped down into solid stone, no shunting, they just die from being crushed by tons upon tons of stone, and suffocation. No recoverable body.

That was a mean one...

[Absol197]

I actually ran a trap-filled dungeon recently, and my players hated it. Some of the gems:

A pit trap that is fairly obvious with a wall of force on the other side. The characters try and jump it, and hit the wall and fall in. The pit wasn't too deep, but at the bottom, there was a channel for a naturally running underground river of liquid salt (we were running a desert campaign). The river had a fast flow, so anyone who fell into the pit was washed away from the only exit, taking massive desiccation damage and drowning at the same time. Works with acid, too (not lava, though: too thick).

Every secret door in the place has a symbol of weakness on it, meant to go off if the door is touched.

A prismatic wall in the middle of a heightened deeper darkness area. Listen/Perception checks to hear the crystilline ringing (DC varies by party level) of the wall before running into it, but no other means of detecting it.

The narrow bridge across the deep pits has enemies with ranged attacks on the other side; as someone gets halfway across the bridge, it springs the trap: the entire bridge becomes covered in grease.

I'll post more when I think of them.

[Necroticplague]

Try combining all of these to make a maze:
Illusory Wall (mimicing wall of stone)
Wall of Force (with Permanency)
Wall of Stone
Greater Shadow Conjouration (Wall of Stone)
Invisible Spell (Illusory Wall)
Invisible Spell (Wall of Stone)
Invisible Spell (Greater Shadow Conjouration (Wall of Stone))
Greater Shadow Evocation (Wall of Force (with Permanency)

[Hirax]

1: Fill room with permanent invisible fog.
2: Create permanent gusts of wind at all entries and exits to ensure the fog remains within the desired space (fog can't be dispersed if it has nowhere to disperse to).
3: Have waiting devil(s) that ambush them by casting deeper darkness, then eviscerate the poor saps (remember that devils can see in magical darkness).

Anyone not using true seeing will see darkness, anyone using true seeing will see fog. If you want to be really nasty, give the devil(s) the darkstalker feat from Lords of Madness, and that will force anyone with blindsight or tremorsense to have to make listen/spot checks to locate enemies as though they didn't have any special sensory abilities. Multiple devils are recommended, so that if a PC casts light, the only foe won't have to waste its turn casting darkness again.

[CTrees]

Try combining all of these to make a maze:
Illusory Wall (mimicing wall of stone)
Wall of Force (with Permanency)
Wall of Stone
Greater Shadow Conjouration (Wall of Stone)
Invisible Spell (Illusory Wall)
Invisible Spell (Wall of Stone)
Invisible Spell (Greater Shadow Conjouration (Wall of Stone))
Greater Shadow Evocation (Wall of Force (with Permanency)

The floor should be something like a wall of force as well (entire maze suspended over a deep chasm?), so that if the PCs try some disjunction/antimagic trickery, they suffer for it.

[Eldariel]

The floor should be something like a wall of force as well (entire maze suspended over a deep chasm?), so that if the PCs try some disjunction/antimagic trickery, they suffer for it.

That area of the dungeon is on a demiplane with subjective gravity. Outside the edges are the cyclical plane's boundaries. It curves onto itself at a random point if you exit, with resetting traps that regenerate all the removed walls.

[AKA_Bait]

I've always been a fan of the old gygaxian "if you carelessly touch or get too close to this interesting object you die" trap (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051031a).

That and the knee deep posionous water + symbol of weakness + ghouls trap (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051207a). Nothing like drowning to death in a puddle because you are too weak to stand.

That said, if you are planning to have a dungeon full of traps, I would try to keep two things in mind:

1. If there are also living inhabitants of the place, they will need some way to get around without getting themselves killed.

2. The occasional large, plain, totally harmless room after a long string of traps provides endless entertainment for a DM as the players go nuts looking for the danger that isn't there.

[Luckmann]

Try combining all of these to make a maze:
Illusory Wall (mimicing wall of stone)
Wall of Force (with Permanency)
Wall of Stone
Greater Shadow Conjouration (Wall of Stone)
Invisible Spell (Illusory Wall)
Invisible Spell (Wall of Stone)
Invisible Spell (Greater Shadow Conjouration (Wall of Stone))
Greater Shadow Evocation (Wall of Force (with Permanency)
The floor should be something like a wall of force as well (entire maze suspended over a deep chasm?), so that if the PCs try some disjunction/antimagic trickery, they suffer for it.Imagine using Detect Magic in a place like that.


My God, it's full of stars!

http://imageshack.us/m/94/5199/fullofstars.png

[CTrees]

Oh man... thank you, Luckman and Necroetcetera. I have to run this maze, now, just to have that clip from 2001 called up to show the PCs as a detect magic response...

[McSmack]

I like the good old fire summoning trap from the DMGII.

Doors close, runes light up, Fire elementals appear. random trigger plates around the room start setting off Fireballs at random locations. It's fun for the whole family!

[Thrice Dead Cat]

While I don't have any suggestions for you, why are you trying to murder the group? Your real problem may be with the players, not the characters, so try talking with them before you get sadistic on their characters.:smallwink:

[Eldariel]

I like the good old fire summoning trap from the DMGII.

Doors close, runes light up, Fire elementals appear. random trigger plates around the room start setting off Fireballs at random locations. It's fun for the whole family!

Better yet if the whole room spontaneously turns into an inferno.

[TroubleBrewing]

Frankly, if you let the elementals ready actions, they can ready to toss a Fireball if summoned.

Which effectively turns the whole room into an inferno.

To the tune of XD6's, where X is equal to N*CL, N being the number of elementals in question multiplied by a factor of CL, which is of course the caster level of the elementals in question.

Also known as a million. Because if you can make a trap to summon a million fire elementals who ready actions to chuck flaming doom at your head, why wouldn't you?

[Necroticplague]

The floor should be something like a wall of force as well (entire maze suspended over a deep chasm?), so that if the PCs try some disjunction/antimagic trickery, they suffer for it.

How about the floor is also a Greater Shadow Conjuration(Wall of Stone)? That way, if you succeed your will save, you have a 40% of falling through, and if you succeed against SR, you fall through. If you’re a golem, or a half-golem, you fall through, since you essentially have SR infinity. Or even better, Invisible Spell (Greater Shadow Conjuration (Wall of Stone)). It doesn't appear that anything is there to normal sight, and you have a chance of falling through, while others will appear to float.



Imagine using Detect Magic in a place like that.


My God, it's full of stars!

http://imageshack.us/m/94/5199/fullofstars.png

Yes, and it gets better once you get higher level sight abilities. The walls of stone don't ping anything, though (since they are nonmagical once formed).

[CTrees]

If anyone was using anything higher than detect magic... I might actually have them make a save or be dazzled each round while they have those vision abilities active (or at least, the first round).

[Ruinix]

men u totally need this -> Sword & Sorcery - The Wurst of Grimtooth's Traps

i hate quote my self, but it seems you all need to check that book. Do it and learn from it.

[DarkestKnight]

okay this is a room I'm planning on using in a non-serious campaign setting. i should mention that i was inspired for it when watching mythbuster, which may be some indication of this sillyness.

The pc's enter into a room that has a stone platform at each end, one of which they are standing on, almost even with the platform is what appears to be some sort of viscous goo. when the pc's test it, it appears to be a non neutonian fluid (the players can run across it, but if they stop they fall through). and in this vat is an ooze (apparently a favorite for this thread) that has improved trip. The first pc to run across makes it but it alerts the ooze to the presence of food. the next pc is the most likely to die, as the ooze should trip them up, causing them to sink into the goo, providing a drowning danger in addition to the ooze deciding to eat him. take the encounter as you will.

the goo shouldn't be clear, because then you would see the ooze, but a hazy fluid would make it easier for the pc's. customize as you will.

I hope this helps, and if you do use it, anyone for that matter, let me know how it turns out!

you can find the mythbusters clip on youtube, search walking on water.

[Lapak]

A prismatic wall in the middle of a heightened deeper darkness area. Listen/Perception checks to hear the crystilline ringing (DC varies by party level) of the wall before running into it, but no other means of detecting it.Another Gaming Comic just did a nasty variation on this. The party came around a corner 'just in time' to see the guy they were chasing duck through an illusory wall; when the first PC went charging after him they found that a Prismatic Wall was waiting less than an inch behind the illusion of a regular wall.

Something to keep in mind when designing traps in general is that bait makes them more effective, and bait doesn't always mean treasure.

[JaronK]

I like simple, effective traps, since my PCs will gladly steal the materials to make a complex one. A good pit trap, placed somewhere where the PCs have to move a lot (such as right in front of some archers), with a Ghoul Glyph inside is amazing. No save paralysis when they fall in, guaranteeing they drown in the water inside. Simple, cheap, and effective.

JaronK

[Necroticplague]

Heh, a new evil I found (though it takes a little bit of cross-editioning). The players open a chest. The chest is filled with laundry. The laundry animates and attacks them, as does the chest (a mimic and some other creature). They walk into the next room, and the floor and ceiling both start trying to eat them (lurker above and lurker below). Next room, they avoid this by crawling up the walls, which turn out to be coated in slime that tries to eat them (forget what this ones called). The next "room" is a gold mimic combining all of the hazards of the previous rooms into one, where absolutely everything is a disguised monster that will kill you. Yes, even/especially the doorknob.