Evil, Evil Trap

[Jergmo]

So I've been pondering upon this, and I want to try it out, though I get the impression that if I do, my players will hate me forever. What you have is a hallway - a seemingly inconspicuous hallway, as hallways are wont to be. There is a rug running down the middle with doors on either side. However, these doors lead nowhere. If you open it, you run into the wall Looney Toons style. Under this rug is a pressure plate. On the walls are tapestries. Behind these tapestries are compartments in the wall.

When a bumbling adventurer stumbles upon this pressure plate, something exciting happens! It triggers mechanisms on both sides of the hallway, which begin unleashing projectiles from the compartments. These projectiles, on their way out, come in contact with other pressure-triggered mechanisms within the compartments. (Or, in some cases, a lack of pressure). This chain reaction proceeds to trigger mechanisms all over the hall, unleashing more projectiles as well as pendulum blades. All of the projectiles and blades are laced with magically preserved poison (easily obtained from captured monsters, any respectable BBEG has a menagerie), as well as imbued spell affects where affordable, such as the pendulum blades. As all of these weapons are brought to bear on whoever is unfortunate enough to be caught within, the real doors are sealed (the strongest quality of door affordable, as well as an imbued spell effect when the mechanism is triggered to seal the doors magically).

Cleanup is irritating for your Evil Janitors, but the illusion can be put back in place with some simple Mending cantrips.

So, what do the Playgrounders think? Too evil? Or could I make it even worse?

[HCL]

Pretty sure theres a divination spell for that :)

[Draxar]

What's the difference between having one pressure pad set off a trap whose firing sets off more pressure pads which sets off more traps, and having one pressure pad set off multiple traps?

[Jergmo]

Pretty sure theres a divination spell for that :)

*Walks dejectedly towards a corner*

[evil-frosty]

Any self-respecting BBEG would ward there headquarters against divinations for that exact reason.

[The Gilded Duke]

How about instead:

One Shambling Mound

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/monsters/shamblingMound.htm

One Chain Lightning Trap

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/traps.htm#...nLightningTrap

Put them in the same room and watch things die.

[erikun]

How about a trap that acts as a Helm of Opposite Alignment on anyone who walks into the room?

[Brendan]

Put a cursed unremoveable item on the shambling mound. The item deals 1 point of electricity damage each turn. you now win. 3600d4 bonus to con an hour. Fun.
Or, just fill a room with various explosives. have a trap that lights them on fire and teleports them there.

[Randel]

Have a table with a plate full of tasty-looking cookies. However, the cookies are made with a deadly poison and a Sympathy spell put on them to trick people into eating them.

[taltamir]

that is an evil trap... :)

Someone will need a res...

if you REALLY want them to hate you... traps of disjunction... "and all your magical gear is permanently destroyed"... this might hurt more than the above trap, which is really just "and after you die, 90 more things that are sufficient to kill you hit your corpse and destroy it to shreds)... still needs the same res. which is not that expensive.

If they get REALLY lucky, they detect the trap... and recover it, and sell it for lots of moolah.
This reminds me, this one time in an CRPG, I broke into a place, stole all the traps, and left the actual loot alone (because stealing it would be evil.. literally, it would shift my alignment... and the traps were actually worth far more money)... actually I think I have done it in NWN, in Arcanum, and in several other CRPGs, not just one...

BTW... "prestidigitation", the cantrip, can clean up blood... one of the few things that it does that is permanent.

[Rasman]

dark hallway...

...light a torch...

3 doors at the end...

one door leads out...

...one door won't open

...one door is filled with explosive gas

...someone will die...

[Randel]

Shove a Control Winds spell somewhere leading to the back door to your long labyrinth (a maze where all the rooms have one entrance and one exit) when someone trips the right switch it sends hurricane level winds rushing through the whole complex.

The winds not only launch the heroes right out the front door of the building, it also launches everything else out as well, save time on spring cleaning!

Have a Create Food and Water traps set up that provide unlimited food and some sort of system of unseen servants to deliver the food all over the complex. Then dump all sorts of monsters and molds in there where they feed. Sure the whole thing will be a huge smelly mess full of feral animals after a while... but that's why you have your handy 'clean the whole building via hurricane' trap set up.


Or, have a fake boss of the dungeon set up in one of the floors. Some scary-looking monster with a pile of loot or a 'princess' all tied up and ready to save (see about finding a real beautiful princess and making a simulacrum of her, clever use of magic aura altering spells and such make her indistinguishable from the real thing... and you could probably cover her in poison or something since she's a construct... not sure). Oh, and while the heroes are fighting, then you cast a few Wall of Stone spells on the front entrance and flood the place with green slime.

[Volos]

So, what do the Playgrounders think? Too evil? Or could I make it even worse?

See Stronghold Builder's Guidebook... I believe the CR for such a trap would be far beyond the abilties of any mid to low level party.

So...

They could end up subrouting it and gaining a bucketload of XP.

[Assassin89]

Resetting Fireball trap that spans across the width of a hallway. Pure evil trap I once faced in a module that makes me hate lizard folk and Yuan-ti. It killed three 6th level character one of which was mine.

Edit: Forgot about the monster that lures someone over to trigger the trap, preferably one that is immune to fire.

[Munchkin-Masher]

Gargantuan Arrow Trap: CR 1; mechanical; location trigger; no reset; Atk +14 ranged (4d6/×3, arrow); Search DC 20; Disable Device DC 8. Market Price: 100 gp.

A billion small trees fire at the party.

They die.

Trap thought up by Maurice de Mare of Kobold Quarterly.

[Optimystik]

So what's to stop me from triggering this entire mess with Summon Monster 1, then walking through before they finish resetting (or before the "evil janitors" show up to cast Mending?

Or Floating Disk over the pressure plate... or jumping over it...

[drengnikrafe]

Jumping over requires first that they find it. Also, I've had people fail the DC 3 jump check. Alternatively, have it ready to fire 7 or 8 times before it runs out.

[Zom B]

Here's two evil traps for you:

One merely involves an Iron Golem guarding the door to a Red Dragon's lair. As the party attacks the golem, the dragon breathes fire on it and the party whenever possible. Remember, magical fire heals an Iron Golem and if it is at full health, the overflow becomes temporary HP. If you really want to be mean, say that the dragon has been breathing on the Iron Golem every time the dragon's breath weapon has been available.

Or:

As you look through the doorway into this rectangular room, you see that it is set in the southwest corner. In the northeast corner you can see another door. However, the most prominent feature of this room are the four carved stone faces that adorn the south wall, with serene and uncaring expressions carved on their faces and a tangle of serpents for hair.

You decide to step into the room, at which point you hear an audible click as a trapdoor opens in the center of the room's ceiling, from which tumble four goblins. Momentarily dazed, they spot you and brandish weapons.

The four medusa faces are programmed to Petrify any of the goblins when one is struck by a weapon, which will also turn the weapon to stone.

[taltamir]

So what's to stop me from triggering this entire mess with Summon Monster 1, then walking through before they finish resetting (or before the "evil janitors" show up to cast Mending?

Or Floating Disk over the pressure plate... or jumping over it...

Summon 1 FTW!

[Ormagoden]

Lately I've been thinking about traps hardcore.

One I came up with was a mansion that has animated objects and traps.

Where things get nasty is that the animated objects trigger the traps without player knowledge. The triggers are in odd locations. Under wardrobes in the corner. Under chairs by a table. Near the windows. So the objects wait for the players to enter the trap area and trigger the traps.

It's very difficult for the players to see them move as they are slight movements. Of course Detect magic will reveal the objects as magic it will initially leave the players very puzzled as to how exactly their movements are setting off the traps. (and why they can't seem to locate any triggers)

I couple this with orders like. "If anyone enters my secret sanctum and steals my money/magicspell/Purplehelmet begin triggering the traps and don't let them escape."

So a simple B&E with no one home turns into a hellish house filled with traps and angry dinner chairs.

Thoughts?

[jiriku]

Playgrounders, your trap-fu is weak! What are these traps you suggest which will often only mildly inconvenience players, or which kill them without giving them the opportunity to savor and appreciate the death which they have coming. For shame, my brethren, for shame!

For the OP, your trap is...ok, I suppose. Its CR is likely to be high because of the many varieties of death simulataneously unleashed, and you have grasped one of the fundamentals of evil trap design, namely that death should come in a variety of ways.

Here is how you can improve it.

A good trap has stages, each stage triggered by a different behavior.
Begin with darts laced with poison, triggered by a pressure plate under the rug. Place a hidden killswitch (I love that word) at the end of the hall that disables the trap...and then put a poison needle on the killswitch...along with a suggestion that the poison fast-acting and deadly but an antidote can be found in a secret compartment at the other end of the hallway (leading the hapless fellow to run back through the danger zone again). Trap the door with a mechanism that drops a rolling ball at the back of the hallway which rolls forward towards the door, crushing would-be door openers and lolly-gaggers in the hallway alike...and, not incidentally, retriggering the dart trap by rolling over the pressure plate in the rug. The trap should reveal itself a little at a time, with each layer more gruesome and vindictive than the one before.

A good trap is cruel.
Players should see their doom coming, and the malice of the trap designer should be evident. Make the rolling ball take a round to arrive, so the players have time to attempt some manner of futile escape (perhaps by struggling uselessly with the false doors). Make that the rug and wall hangings are valuable, and be sure the trap shreds it, so the players can watch the loot get destroyed. Put an automatic blocking mechanism in the door so that if it is unlocked while the darts-and-scythes portion of the trap is active, it still can't be opened (although it budges just enough to give false hope). Remember, the trap designer doesn't want to hurt intruders; he wants to kill them in such a vicious, vindictive manner that the survivors are demoralized into withdrawing.

A good trap contains self-synergy.
Punish the players for carelessness, and hit them while they're down. In the example above, putting a Dex-draining poison on the darts makes the eventual Reflex save against the rolling ball more difficult. The suggestion spell leads the character to waste time with fruitless Search checks for a non-existent hidden compartment instead of stopping to quaff a vial of antitoxin. The rolling ball serves to re-trigger the floor panel.

[Guinea Anubis]

I like the slanted hallway with a grease trap that slides them in to a pit trap with a Gelatinous Cube in it.

[taltamir]

I like the slanted hallway with a grease trap that slides them in to a pit trap with a Gelatinous Cube in it.

grease also automatically causes them to fall and slide down without a save if on a slippery slope

[Dragoa]

I've always enjoyed this idea for a trap, if just for the pun it brings, and the overall fluff.

Setup is simple, some sort of dirt area. With a sign that says 'Warning: Bear Trap'[Crucial detail, since it sets them up for the real trap] Next, take a bunch of bear traps and spread them about the room. Creating a minefield affect(bury some, keep some atop and all in all just create mayhem in the room with them.

Now your diversion trap is set-up, create a pit-trap in the middle of the room, or somewhere the players would be forced to go to and put a bear in it.

Thus the trap is set, now sit back and watch. If the players wander in and find the bear, and ask 'What gives with the bear traps' you can calmly reply 'They are there in case the bear escapes.'

Probably not very affective, but it amuses me to no end.

[Tyndmyr]

Green mold(is that the color) in a dark room. Not technically a trap, but it does nice damage, doesn't show up as it's distinctive color via darkvision, and attempts to burn it result in growth.

Now, add fire. Any trap with fire will do.

Make sure to make the doors out of something flammable as well, and have them lock when you set off the trap.


The best part is watching them realize that nearly all the damage is self inflicted in their attempt to escape, as the mold keeps doubling in size.

[jiriku]

I like the slanted hallway with a grease trap that slides them in to a pit trap with a Gelatinous Cube in it.

Ah, now that I can sink my teeth into (and I am totally stealing it for my next dungeon)!

[Optimystik]

Jumping over requires first that they find it. Also, I've had people fail the DC 3 jump check. Alternatively, have it ready to fire 7 or 8 times before it runs out.

But one would imagine that, for perspicacity's sake, you have no minions in said hallway who would accidentally trigger the trap themselves, simultaneously mincing your defenders and alerting the heroes. But a long stretch of empty hallway lined with tapestries is equally foreboding to any adventurer. A trap needs more to be dangerous than "they won't find it!" because, what if they do?

Furthermore, the three ways I posted of defeating this contraption are all available to level 1 characters. Against more seasoned opposition (and judging by everyone else's comments, this thing has a high CR) the available options and chance of detection grow even more.

[taltamir]

oooh... ok, the party corners the BBEG in his sanctum... the enter the final room...

The find a dome shaped room, with a large hole in the center and polished marble floor that slopes towards the hole.
the BBEG flying in the air above it... combat starts... sculpted grease (4x 10 inch diameter bursts at locations of his choice). make a balance check :) penalties for slanted polished marble floor... also make saves whenever hit.

[Myrmex]

Resetting Fireball trap that spans across the width of a hallway. Pure evil trap I once faced in a module that makes me hate lizard folk and Yuan-ti. It killed three 6th level character one of which was mine.

Edit: Forgot about the monster that lures someone over to trigger the trap, preferably one that is immune to fire.

Fill the hallway with Brown Mold, just in case.

[Tyndmyr]

Fill the hallway with Brown Mold, just in case.

That's the one I was thinking of. Delicious brown mold.