Ideas for player-laid traps?

[TheCorsairMalac]

I'm playing a clever character in a role playing game, so I'm looking for ideas for traps that this character could potentially make/use in his adventures. Links to similar threads or lists would be much appreciated.

There are only two requirements:

1. The materials for the trap must be available on-site, or easy to carry.
2. The trap must not require magic or science fiction technology.

A couple of my own contributions:

Cutting a rope as you pass causes a counterweight to fall, suddenly lifting a rope and tripping pursuers.

A bit of clay fastens a poisoned thumb-tack to an object, poisoning the next creature to use it.

The front legs of a cabinet are cut through and attached to a tripwire so that it falls on the next creature to pass by.

What ideas do you guys have?

[AceOfFools]

I'm surprised you didn't think of either of DnD's staples: caltrops and marbles. The former are basically 4 small spikes stuck together such that one only points up (similar to a d4). Scatter them behind you and hope someone impales their foot. Marbles have the same principle, but with more slipping and less maiming (and effective in a smaller range of surfaces).

There's also variations on moltov cocktails: large jars of lamp oil, or other liquid flamable + a small flame. Pour liquid on surface quickly by breaking the container in such a way that the light falls into the liquid and sets the hallway on fire. (I have no idea how hard it is to realistically do this in a society without gasoline, but presumably it's both harder and less effective than petrol). Also a staple of the adventure genre.

If you have the high ground, you could arrange for one or more barrels or rocks to roll down on top of people, which can cause serious injury, particularly for larger missiles. Use of a trip-wire or manually activated pull as you go past. Depending on the scale, you could even release wagons of burning hay to roll down at hostile forces.

All rope-supported bridges are manual trigger traps to all people with edged weapons. Many other bridges can be converted into traps with sufficient engineering work.

If you're dealing with hunger driven monsters, dropping poison-laced food is a common exterminators' tactic.

[Kardwill]

Wasp, hornet and bees nest make wonderful trap components when you have one of them on site.

In fact, in a more braod sense, drawing pursuers into any sort of natural hazard (snow-covered crevasse, avalanche corridor, bear cavern/monster nest, rapids/waterfall, a cliff obscured by bushes...) is also a classic, low-ressource way to show your character is smarter than their opponents

[NRSASD]

If you've ever gone walking in the woods with friends, you've surely been thwacking by tree branches they pushed aside.

Now add daggers and a tripwire to release it.

[Man_Over_Game]

A real world classic is to make cheap spikes out of whatever you can...and then sh** on them. The goal is to create a serious infection despite not having a lethal puncture.

Works well with spike pits or flail traps when you don't have access to metal. Even if the trap was super small and was only able to puncture a foot, you may have cost that guy his leg.

In a magical world, you're still costing the enemy army resources to heal the injuries. Now instead of a few Clerics reviving generals, they're stuck making sure that the grunts don't lose limbs as they explore the forest.

[Friv]

Do you only want traps you can set and then abandon, or are traps okay if you need to be nearby to set them off?

For example, if you coat a narrow hallway with flammable oil and then are at one end of it, anyone trying to charge down the hallway is liable to slip. Then you toss a torch onto the floor and they're burning and on the ground.

[Psyren]

Take a look at the mechanical (Ex) traps on this page for some ideas