[D&D] Hilarious Traps

[Deth Muncher]

Many people here hate the comic Ctrl+Alt+Del, but that's not what's being discussed here. What IS, however, is the trap described in the last panel of this comic.

Go on, I'll wait.

Okay. So. What other hilarious, ridiculous or otherwise absurd traps have you encountered?

[Hat-Trick]

Maybe if the Gnome was launched from a cannon or ballista? Double damage, I'd think.

[Tar Palantir]

I created one pseudo-trap designed to soften up the PCs for the following encounter. Four buttons in the corners of the room had to be held down simultaneously to activate a lift down to the next level. However, holding down the buttons also opened up a shaft in the ceiling, from which a beholder descended, with every party member in a different firing arc. Made the fight a hell of a lot more dangerous .

[Lev]

Amulet of stickiness, once worn anything you touch becomes stuck to you like adhesive, including the amulet. Hilarity ensues.

Trapped fruitstand, if you pick up any of the fruit a carriage filled with small rocks rolls from the side at full speed and smashes into it. Now that's what I call a tasty hazard!

[HunterOfJello]

Bear trap that drops a bear on a PC

[Serpentine]

I used a trap in which, upon being triggered, a number of gelatinous cubes fell from the ceiling.

[Myou]

I used a trap in which, upon being triggered, a number of gelatinous cubes fell from the ceiling.

I used a trapped door that, when you opened it, or even approached it, would trigger the floor to fall out from under you, dropping you on poisoned spikes, and then a gealtinous cube would drop on you.

Then the floor closes up again.

So you're trapped, impaled and being digested, to get out you have to kill the cube from the inside, climbe the slippery and acid-coated pit walls, and smash through the panels trapping you.

Players made their saves.

[Saintheart]

I've always wondered about some sort of trap that sets off an elixir of love effect...

[Savannah]

For some time, I've wanted to make a trap that sprays barbeque sauce.
Now, thanks to Saintheart, I also want to make a trap that sets off an elixir of love. (Thanks!)

One of the more amusing that I've experienced made us believe that we were various animals. That was the day I discovered that one of our players can do a very good impression of a chicken.

[Kobold-Bard]

The Metronome Trap: Upon triggering it this trap releases a random effect from a pre-determined table. You might get some 1d4 spikes, you might get a finger of death spell. Best used around the Badass weapon of Badassery to encourage the players to run the risk.

[Pika...]

The Metronome Trap: Upon triggering it this trap releases a random effect from a pre-determined table. You might get some 1d4 spikes, you might get a finger of death spell. Best used around the Badass weapon of Badassery to encourage the players to run the risk.

So vicious.

[mabriss lethe]

The nursing home trap.
Requires a bit of backstory. The PCs found themselves in a retirement home run by and for the temple of Nerull. It was filled with elderly, senile, and extremely powerful clerics and necromancers. In order to keep them a bit more docile, a constant anti-magic field trap was in place on the entire floor. The party rogue, not cluing in to the nature of the place after several hints, is searching for traps.

Him: "I roll a [whatever] on my search check. Do I find any traps?"
Me: "Why yes, you do!"
Him: "I disarm it. I roll a[nother whatever] on my disable device check."

And then the party got mobbed by a double handful of casters, each lobbing off spells chosen completely at random from the PHB. It was rather entertaining...

[Irreverent Fool]

The nursing home trap.

I love it!

My favorite is kind of a "classic" and works well at low levels to make the PCs hate and fear the DM. An open spiked pit blocks a tunnel. It looks to have been triggered some time ago, but a failed jump will still send a character plummeting toward some nasty-looking spikes. The characters will generally assume it's just your run-of-the-mill dungeon hazard and hop over it, especially if the DM just mentions it offhand.

On the other side of the pit is another trap, which they will land on when they jump. Bonus points if it slopes the floor toward the pit.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Pit trap, Gelatinous Cube at the bottom. Anyone who falls in and lands on the cube is automatically engulfed, as though they stumbled into it. If they escape it they must fly, levitate, or climb away before the end of their turn, otherwise they're automatically engulfed again since it will just let them fall back into it rather than support their weight. It can make AoOs against anyone trying to move away from it. On its turn it will attack anyone climbing up the sides of the pit, and they'll have to make climb checks or fall back in. This is usable at any level, for a higher level challenge put a Deeper Darkness at the top of the pit so they can't effectively target the cube or even know what has become of anyone who fell in. The Deeper Darkness can be Heightened so that it will take an even higher level light descriptor spell to overcome it. Gust of Wind made permanent blowing down into the pit will prevent flight out of it, so anyone trying to escape would have to be able to make the climb check. Advancing the cube would also help out against a higher level party. A bigger cube would require a bigger pit, in which case it should only be triggered once a certain number of creatures are on it. They could be pursuing something down a corridor which lures them into it even. It makes for a very interesting challenge, even in the mid to higher levels.

[Cespenar]

For chuckles, a 10' deep pit with permanent Darkness and Silence on the bottom.

[Drakevarg]

I love it!

My favorite is kind of a "classic" and works well at low levels to make the PCs hate and fear the DM. An open spiked pit blocks a tunnel. It looks to have been triggered some time ago, but a failed jump will still send a character plummeting toward some nasty-looking spikes. The characters will generally assume it's just your run-of-the-mill dungeon hazard and hop over it, especially if the DM just mentions it offhand.

On the other side of the pit is another trap, which they will land on when they jump. Bonus points if it slopes the floor toward the pit.

Even better: on the other side of the pit trap is another, concealed pit trap.

[Heliomance]

Pit covered by a Shadow Conjuration Wall of Stone. It gets the party members with the high saves.

[2xMachina]

Or the more real than reality shadows?

I disbelieve the fireball trap. OH GOD, IT BURNS WORSE!

Wish we can Shadow Conjuration up air. Yes, air. You disbelieve the air, and you can't breathe now. :P

[Deca]

A concealed spike pit that also contains a teleport trap. Once a player lands on the spikes and gets hurt, he gets teleported to the other teleport trap...which just happens to be on the ceiling directly above the spike pit. Fun times.

[2xMachina]

Is it an infinite loop?

Cause I think it keeps on teleporting him up, then fall down, then up, then down, then....

[Etcetera]

Is it an infinite loop?

Cause I think it keeps on teleporting him up, then fall down, then up, then down, then....

Now you're thinking with portals!

How about a trap that teleports you to an identical room... in another complex hudreds of miles away. Not very deadly, but rather amusing.

OR a trap that teleports someone away and replaces them with a (fabricqted or something) statue.

[Avilan the Grey]

One classic is the "well" or shaft in an open room, with some visible gold piles / something else clearly visible, just say 14-20 down. It is easy to scale the walls with a rope.

The problem is that on the bottom is our favorite: gelatinous cube, sitting on the bottom, the treasure visible through it.


For more classic and fun traps, both deadly and mundane

Watch me crash: Open spiked pit or already triggered spike trap. the corridor on the other side is actually an illusion on a wall, hiding a portal. The ceiling just above the pit is also hiding a portal, pointing downwards. Person jumps over the pit, gets teleported around and falls (plus the added speed of his or her's running jump) straight down into the spiked pit.

The naughty spyglass: A normal looking spyglass, old-fashioned model. When the looter picks it up and looks into it he or she sees an attractive naked person of the opposite sex, but out of focus. When he or she tries to adjust the focus, a spring-powered small blade is triggered that stabs the lookers eye. The combination of a small illusion spell and a mean old-fashioned trap.

The Paladin's Horror: ...Well actually the horror of any well-armored player. Room or wide corridor with a floor tile that activates large magnets on the walls. Anyone wearing metal armor has to do a STR saving throw or be attached to the wall. At the same time a hidden door is opened and 1d6 rust monsters come into the dungeon...

Prepared for dinner: (inspired by comment above) Either a psychological gag or a real horrific fate... Basically a simple trap that either sprays or dumps BBQ sauce on the players. If you are nice, and play it right, they will expect something big and nasty coming to eat them soon. If you are not nice, the next room will be filled with 2000 kobolds preparing for a BBQ...

[Avilan the Grey]

One more: The Pack Man: One or more PCs are teleported via trap to a large room built like a labyrinth. On the floor are (mundane objects, pebbles or priceless gems, depending on the DMs liking). In the middle of two of the sides are teleports that goes back and forth, so you can go left and come out on the right side of the maze and the other way around.
The labyrinth is also home to four more or less unkillable foes (adamantum golems or something like that) that more or less move randomly but will in a hap-hazard way pursue a PC if he or she is spotted.
The only way to get out of this is to collect all the (mundane objects, pebbles or priceless gems, depending on the DMs liking). That will stop the golems in their tracks and open up a portal back.

[Octopus Jack]

The multitrapped door of death:

The first trap dosn't really matter that much, a poison spray or spikey trap of death. The second trap is connected to the first trap and it is triggered upon the disarm of the first trap and has a circle of death effect or something nastier like that, there is also another trap on the door which is triggered when the second one is set off, it reprimes the first trap and also goes off. Also if you open or break down the door they all go off.

You are going to be hit by them all no matter what you do.

[Muggins]

I usually put simple traps in the game I DM, but every so often I think of a trap and I manage to fit it into the next dungeon my party enters.

One such trap has a phantom trap is created in an obvious spot. When this phantom trap is disarmed by the party's rogue, the real trap is triggered and gas is released from the ceiling. The entrance and exit to the room become subject to one of those classic sliding doors which close from top to bottom, requiring the party to make a quick escape. Those who are too slow suffer a horrible death in they fail their fortitude save. If the trap isn't disarmed by the rogue then several inanimate objects in the room burst into life and attack the party. Once the group destroys the animated objects and continue onwards, when they reach the center of the room (in aspect of the distance between the entrance and the exit) the gas trap is triggered.

Another trap consists of a pit and some water. Once the party passes a certain point in the room, a mass of water is released (either stored, conjured or shadow conjured) behind the party. If they succeed a strength check (Or a climb check, if one of the party members is of small size and climbs onto the wall to wait it out) they manage to resist the water and stay on their feet. If not they are pushed into a pitfall. If you're running a game with a skill like swim, now's the time to make some checks and see if someone drowns or not. If they succeed the swim save (of if you don't have one) they can try to climb up the wall and return to their party. Those that are unable to reach the wall or can't move up it fast enough are greeted with a/an <insert aquatic creature here> that threatens to kill them if they're too slow.

There are several more "traps" I can think of, including:
- Explosive loot
- Illusions that make fellow party members seem like monsters
- Colourless gases with effects similar to a prismatic spray spell, causing effects ranging from confusion, disease, hallucinations, haste, slow, invisiblity and death.

[Project_Mayhem]

The naughty spyglass: A normal looking spyglass, old-fashioned model. When the looter picks it up and looks into it he or she sees an attractive naked person of the opposite sex, but out of focus. When he or she tries to adjust the focus, a spring-powered small blade is triggered that stabs the lookers eye. The combination of a small illusion spell and a mean old-fashioned trap.

...

OK, I'm using this in my Ravenloft campaign.

[Dr.Epic]

Why has no one posted this image yet?

Spoiler

Show

[KjeldorMage]

I made this one a while back.


Come into a room where the object that the quest is about is sitting right out in the open.

It is a rather large room and looks pretty desolate. If anyone disturbs the object the entrance to the room closes with a giant stone slab.

Next, three doors open and behind those doors are...

...GIANT PLUSHGOLEMS!! Not only are they plush but they are of some of D and D greatest hits in terms of monsters.

Plushie ettercap, plushie umber hulk, etc...

And they don't even want to kill the adventurers, just give them smothering hugs.

[Heliomance]

A corridor that, when you enter it, the door automatically shuts behind you. Doesn't lock or anything, it just won't stay open. At the other end is another door. Through that door is an identical corridor. Through the door at the end of that one is another identical corridor. Repeat until you get bored. Add an illusion spell that duplicates any marks the PCs make on the walls onto all the corridors. They'll think they're caught in a teleport loop, when they're not at all. Hilarity will likely ensue.

In a similar vein, have a crossroads, with all four paths leading to it being identical as far as can be seen from the crossroads. When they get to the centre, a Deeper Darkness descends for one round, then lifts. Nothing appears to have changed. In reality, they've been randomly teleported to face a different way at the same crossroads. If you're feeling particularly evil, add a Reverse Gravity effect so that sometimes they get teleported to the ceiling as well, without realising.

[AmberVael]

Pit covered by a Shadow Conjuration Wall of Stone. It gets the party members with the high saves.

The really hilarious part will be when their party members get a new save with a bonus, for seeing their fellow fall right through.