A Trap Dilemma

[Humble Master]

So here is the situation. In the current party I am DMing for we have a Cleric, a Sorcerer, a Warblade and a Bard. Now as you can see none of them have trap finding which basically means they are at the mercy of whatever traps I throw at them. Now here is the dilemma.

On the one hand I want to still use traps because they are a realistic way for NPCs to defend their wealth/lives.

On the other I don't want the players to feel like they have to take a specific set of classes (Cleric for healing, Rouge for trap finding, Fighter for tank ect.).

Any ideas?

[ArcturusV]

Well, Clerics do have "Find Traps" on their spell list. The first time a trap bites them in the ass? Excusable. Second time, not so much.

Just make sure that traps are in a location where it can be reasonably deducted without burning spells constantly. Thus, not every single door, latch, or lock is Trapped. But the door to the guy's vault? Probably has a trap. Door to his private sanctum where he's vulnerable while resting? Probably trapped.

[Humble Master]

Thank you for the help. Your advice has been most helpfull.

Also I don't know why I missed Find Traps on the Clerics spell list. It is the spell made to deal with this exact situation.

[ArcturusV]

Oh, and of course keep in mind that Detect Magic could detect magical traps. So if your bad guys like Explosive Runes/Fire Traps and such, there you go. As a level 0 spell it's a bit easier to hold in reserve for some Trapfinding. And useful for figuring out loot distribution as well so no reason not to have it up as you approach the final treasure horde, etc.

Of course DEALING with the traps is a whole other matter. 10' poles come in handy for that, triggering traps from a safe distance. As can be things like throwing a club at it, silly as it sounds. I know Summoning gets mentioned quite a bit as you can go use something like Summon Monster III to summon a small gaggle of 1 HD monsters to go trip traps for you. But really you shouldn't have to resort to that.

[Deophaun]

I'm a fan of just getting rid of the trap finding requirement all together. Let anyone with ranks in Search find traps.

And traps aren't very realistic, unless you're looking to catch your breakfast in the morning, engaging in guerrilla warfare, or establishing a DMZ. They're more a Hollywood/RPG conceit than something you would expect when breaking into a medieval castle.

[eggynack]

You should point the cleric towards the summon elemental reserve feat in Complete Mage. There are very few traps in the game that can withstand a constant march of elementals earth gliding through walls, and flying through the air.

[Flickerdart]

Traps are not a realistic way for anyone to defend anything. The value of most traps greatly exceeds any level-appropriate treasure that they could be guarding, to the point that it's more profitable to just loot the traps. They also make a hideously boring encounter - "you trip over a trap" "ok, I rolled an 18 on my Reflex save" "you take 10 damage", game continues. If you really must use traps, simple things like alarms are generally best - PCs can't brute force their way through them, and something actually interesting happens when they're tripped.

[ArcturusV]

Course that's the first thing that usually comes to mind when I think "Traps". Well, one of the first things that come to mind. Something like the Nightingale Floors that make a horrendous racket when you walk on them. Good job sneaking up on your targets. Second of course being the booby traps most seem to think of. Which can be interesting but need to take place in a different sort of campaign really. Booby trapping your home just is at worst, a tax on the party's resources (i.e.: Someone NEEDS to play Rogue. Or the Cleric needs to keep burning 2nd level spells, etc), and at best tends towards comical things like Home Alone.

But if you're building up some sort of asymmetrical conflict situation. Booby traps come into their own. Your level 3 party is being hunted, for sport, by some level 10 enemy in some "The Most Dangerous Game" style thing? Guerrilla Warfare? Sure.

The usual "Crossbow trap in an ancient tomb hallway" thing is one of the worst ways to use traps. And definitely the sort of thing I suggest against using.

[Phaederkiel]

I am going to represent the other side of the "not every party should need a rogue"- argument:

I think that your players chose their abilities intentionally. They chose not to cover one of the iconic aspects of dnd, and instead take more powerful classes. They should absolutely feel the consequences of this decision.

That beeing said:
You should throw the stupid pricing for traps over the wall, though. Flickerdart is obviously right that you should not use a golden cage to protect a cheap piece of cheese.

and to stir up some more trouble: I positively hate spells as find trap, which let an already overpowered class render an already weaker class obsolete.

The spell exists, and I would not ban my players from using it. Telling them it exists is an entirely other matter.

[JusticeZero]

Traps are really inconvenient for the people living there, too. So the big scary ones will usually only put them in a few places that are pretty easy to infer. Also, most of those "traps" are likely to be nonlethal things like intentionally squeaky floors, bells on doors, and the like. Unless you're counting things like murderholes or vents in the ceiling where the residents can get a tactical advantage to be traps - I don't.

[limejuicepowder]

I am going to represent the other side of the "not every party should need a rogue"- argument:

I think that your players chose their abilities intentionally. They chose not to cover one of the iconic aspects of dnd, and instead take more powerful classes. They should absolutely feel the consequences of this decision.


Does that mean you expect one of your players to play a class that you admit is weak just to stick to some classical notion of what a party should look like? Sounds a little wack to me.

Logistically, harmful traps are a nightmare for the creatures staying in the fortress/castle/dungeon. They have to remember where each trap is and to not trip it accidentally when going about their duties. This is unrealistic to the max if one bothers to think about the location's existence when the PC's aren't actively infiltrating it.

Traps that warn the inhabitants of invasion, or traps that must be triggered manually when invaders are in the correct position, make a lot more sense.