Truely Evil Traps

[BizzaroStormy]

Now we've al heard of the sphere of annihilation in the door's mouth but what other devious traps have you DMs set before you? The worst I can recall was a potion of Inflict Critical Wounds. The thing was sitting on a pedestal, in the middle of a room, right in front of the treasure vault. Now normally this would just scream "Trap" but no, the fighter who was wounded from the last battle, ran up, drank the potion thinking it was a healing potion and died right there at -17 HP.

[MammonAzrael]

A personal favorite of an old DM I used to play with:

Your group enters a room (it's typically 8 to 10 squares...square). As the last of you enters, the doors behind you slam shut, and loudly lock. on the other end of the room are large steel double-doors. In the center of the room are 5 switches in various states. Flipping a switch summons a "level-appropriate monster here."

The double doors on the other end, if checked, aren't trapped. In fact, they aren't even locked. All you have to door is turn the knob and open the door.

It's amazing how many adventurers don't give the handle a try and assume the switches are needed to open the doors.

[Crow]

My favorite was two portcullis traps that are triggered to prevent exit from an area, followed by the entire area's floor collapsing into a spiked pit. Worked great in long hallways.

[arguskos]

A conductive metal room, roughly 40 feet to a side. The roof opens up to reveal a thunderstorm outside, and a metal spike rises from the floof into the sky, acting as a lightning rod.

To make things worse, the room begins to fill with water from grates on the ground level, until it's roughly 3 feet deep. The only way to open the locked, trapped door is to find all 4 parts of the key inside the grates on the ground, but be warned! There are 8 grates, 4 have key parts, 4 have dangerous traps.

That one is from a friend of mine, who said it was the worst trap he'd ever dealt with.

-argus

[Swordguy]

In the Lankhmar Campaign setting, there is a particular adventure, in which you have to penetrate a tomb filled with nasty traps to get at a dead spellcaster and master trapsmith's loot.

The trap in question is a 100' long, 10' wide hallway, with an indentation in the floor exactly halfway through. There is nothing to differentiate this hallway from any other hallway in the complex, except for the indentation. A Detect Life spell with a 5' radius was cast on a small pebble inside this indentation. This is the trap trigger. If life is detected in this area, the trap goes off, with the following effect:

Take your hands and place them (with the thumb and forefinger at a 90-degree angle) right over left, so the 2 right angles form a square (thumbtip to thumbtip, and the thumbtips should meet in the lower left corner of the square). This is the cross-section of the corridor. Now, slide your right hand over your left hand, and rotate the square 90 degrees to the left (so your thumbtips would be on the lower right corner), and bring the webbing of your thumbs together in the center while you do.

This is the action of the corridor. Anything inside the corridor is squeezed out the ends in a liquid mess with no saving throw (no damage rating, you're just dead) unless you're 5' from the ends - in which case you would make a Dex check (REF save now) to jump back or have a body part lopped off by the closing action.

[Swordguy]

From one of the old Tomb of Horrors threads...

[Quote: Originally Posted by UglyPanda] View Post
The CoC and/or Tomb of Horrors veteran
Race: Human
Believes everything is a trap, every piece of gold is cursed, and every NPC is out to kill him. Usually ends up carrying equipment equal to a fifth of his wealth by level since he refuses to grab any items retrieved in dungeons.
Alignment: NG

Hey! Let's see YOU go through Tomb of Horrors and pretend like it didn't bother you, like things can go back to normal. In ToH paranoia isn't just a good idea - it's the law.

Sample ToH Encounter EL "9" (bull).

Player 1: "I inhale... There isn't a trap on the air, right?"
DM: "Wrong, make a fortitude save vs. poison. Is it a natural 20? Too bad."
Player 2: "Gahh! I hold my breath and cast remove poison on Player 1!"
DM: "Devil Monkeys fly out of the rear end of the statue in the center of the room and counterspell your remove poison using advanced laser technology. Also you turn into a flounder."
Player 2: "What the f-"
DM: "And explode."

[Eldariel]

The worst I've had thus was a trap that moved a dungeon into a demiplane we couldn't planeshift out of (apparently some kind of massive Dimensional Lock - too high dispel DC too). I think those characters are still there.

[insecure]

This is the most awesome'n'evil'n'magnificient'n'cunning'n'annoying 'n'frustrating trap I've ever seen.

[D_Lord]

This isn't a trap per say but it is evil.
A little toy. It looks like a small top. It is colored orange. If you spin it, well....

It will rip your soul out and send it to a plane filled with books and rabbits and the books try to feed you until you go boom, and the rabbits sing the cute song while eating your feet and they never stop singing it. Oh and the books are all pink.

I think I had too much chocolate that day when I came up with this, or was I just hyper on my own. Oh well. It doesn't matter to me.
Let the madness eat your corn!!!

[FatherMalkav]

Not a deadly trap, but a memorable one.

We were in the Ruins of Undermountain and i don't know if this was a DM trap or canon but we came up to a door that was slightly ajar. The rogue was gone so this session we used the 'meat shield' trap finding system. The dwarven cleric in mountain plate walks up and opens a the door followed by a bucket of cold water splashing over him. We stand there, looks of disbelief on our faces and the DM laughs. Just as we start to mock the trap we hear from the far end of the hallway the door had led to a the *zzzzt* of electricity bouncing from wall to wall.

[Siosilvar]

Relevant link: http://www.thievesguild.cc/traps/

[evisiron]

I was placed The Order of the Stick trap (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0036.html), removing Roy and adding a "You are here" sticker in his place.

The lucky player only dodged a single spear, but it was enough to get through it on -7.

[Hal]

My favorite "traps" just require the players to think their way out.

What worked well for me? Theseus and the Minotaur and the Twisty Maze.

My players were ready to kill me, but after they finally figured it out, they appreciated the challenge, as well as the departure from "Oh, I rolled a 20, I win." I did, however, let them make Int checks for hints.

[Glawackus]

A hallway full of pressure plates. No spikes if you step on anything, no big crushing boulder if you step wrong...just pressure plates.

I haven't got enough of a tainted soul to actually do this to any of my groups.

[Enlong]

A hallway full of pressure plates. No spikes if you step on anything, no big crushing boulder if you step wrong...just pressure plates.

I haven't got enough of a tainted soul to actually do this to any of my groups.

Oooh! I almost did this one myself. But I had a twist on it. Just pressure plates: no darts, no spikes, no boulders, but just far apart enough to dodge. Then, covering the handle sunken into the big stone door? Crystal Scorpion Venom.

Another fun trap I actually put into a dungeon was this: On either side of the room there are two identical stone doors. The same magical gem bypasses a Wall of Force and opens either door. The door on the right? Magical darkness with a hidden door on one side. The door on the left? Identical magical darkness with a pressure plate that dumps you into an antlion pit. Fun times.

[Viddaric]

not the most evil trap ever, but still pretty evil... there is an unopenable gate inside a cave or dungon, and a lever/button near by (perhaps saying "press/pull to open) and if the players press or pull the trigger, then a trapdoor opens a few yards away on the ceiling and a boulder falls out, and starts rolling towards the PC's. they are in a tight hallway, and the the only appearant way out is the gate, so the players start searching for secret doors or a way to get the gate open (which is imposible) about 5 seconds before the boulder (which either heavy dammage due to squashification or instant death, and is also indestructable and moving too fast to redirect) hits, the gate opens silently. this means everyone has to make a spot check, and because they are looking for hidden things, there is little chance of sucess. if they don't see the door open, they get flattened. if they do, they can proceed through it unhindered, then must turn a corner (due to a pit just about 15' after the gate) and if everyone made it through the door and arround the corner, the boulder falls into the pit, and the adventurers are unharmed. nice fakeout trap, I must say
I actualy got this idea from Half life 2: deathmatch. someone made a map that actualy had this trap, accept instead of a pit, the boulder just disapears.

[Enlong]

Here's a hypothetical one. A button in the center of an empty room. A locked door at the other end of the room. The button is red and says "do not push" in at least 5 languages. Dare you press it?

[Duos Greanleef]

Twisty Maze.

Dude...
That's srsly EVIL!

[expirement10K14]

One our DM used-

We walk into a room and the the door locks behind us, along with a door on the opposite side of the room.

In the center is a transparent bubble surrounding a timer, with a small red button on a pedestal in front of it. Pressing the button brings the timer up to 30.

As we kept pushing the button somebody searched the room. We eventually stopped pushing the button and the door opened when it hit zero.

[chiasaur11]

Here's a hypothetical one. A button in the center of an empty room. A locked door at the other end of the room. The button is red and says "do not push" in at least 5 languages. Dare you press it?

No.
You have the DMPC push it. While you, personally, are at least three rooms away.

Unless the DMPC seems like a depowered evil overlord in disguise, in which case, you stab him. Then reanimate him. Then, dominate undead. Then have him push the button.

[expirement10K14]

I would actually thwart most of these-
Bag of Ticks, Grey x5 or summon monster I- I command you to run through the doorway like a loon.

One I came up with-

30x30 room- once three people have moved across the room the ceiling opens and some monster/posoin/acid/rocks fall everyone dies fall down.

It's evil for a few reason-

3 person trigger- no sending mooks in.
Ceiling- who searches the ceiling?
Rocks Fall Everyone Dies= Best DM tool EVA!

[Innis Cabal]

200 foot corridor, 5 flesh to salt traps. At the end of 4 roumds, water floods the corridor.

[sonofzeal]

This is one of mine - the players bust down a door into a dungeon, find themselves in a short and cramped alcove with another door on the end. Openning that door leads into a dank and dark chamber with signs of decay all over. Unbeknownst to them (but beknownst to us), the space above the alcove is hollowed out, with a small opening facing down into the next room (counts as Improved Cover, giving +8 AC and +10 Hide), and is currently inhabited by a lvl 3 Kobold Rogue . The party starts advancing forward, starts to search for traps, when suddenly the point man takes a crossbow bolt, plus Sneak Damage, to the head (the Kobold takes this oppertunity to run away down his secret passage, his work now finished). They panic, look around, don't immediately see the danger, and dive for whatever cover they could find. Chances are the door is going to become almost immediately blocked, and the others will take refuge in the corners. Which is where the Pit Traps are.

Another of mine, from the same dungeon - Assuming the party survives its welcome, they'll continue until they find a long, long corridor, with holes in the roof. Paranoid players check everywhere for traps, don't find any, eventually move on. As they continue down the passage, they see a staircase (stone, with blunt metal corners), which they begin to ascend. When they get halfway up, they see a big boulder with metal ribbings, and a kobold (yes, the same plucky Rogue 3 one from before), who immediately pulls a string in his hand and waves upward. The string happens to be connected to a wedge, keeping the boulder from rolling down the staircase... which it does, striking a spark on the stair corners and lighting the lantern oil it's been soaked in. The wave was to alert the other kobolds in the roof (in case they didn't guess by the noise), who proceed to drop dozens of bags of caltrops/marbles through the holes in the roof and into the path of the adventurers fleeing from the Flaming Ball of Doom.

From a different GM I played under - there is another long (say, 100-200 foot) but well-lit passage. At the end of the passage, the party sees a kobold shaking a spear and waving around the corner. Right behind him is a pressure plate light enough to be triggered by an arrow aimed at the Silent Image illusion of a kobold. I played against this once, with the party split into two groups with mine first. I fell for it, triggered it myself, survived, and went and wrote in giant chalk letters "DO NOT SHOOT" behind the illusion. The second group comes, sees the kobold and the sign.... and shoot. Le sigh.




...yeah, our gaming circles learned to fear kobolds long before they even heard the dread name "Tucker". ;)

[expirement10K14]

Kobolds hidden in tunnels behind silent image'd walls. Fun times, fun times.

[KillianHawkeye]

I think it would be cool to use an illusionary Indiana Jones boulder just to make the PCs rush and not check for the REAL trap!

[xPANCAKEx]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GpGc0hiuoso

powerful tiny fists

[Lochar]

You're going along in a dungeon, home to a bunch of psychotic cultists who sacrifice babies to a demon.

You hear a baby's cry, and thinking you can save the child, rush to where it is.

Down in five foot pit, a human toddler, too young to speak, is crying her little heart out.

Someone jumps down to grab the baby. Five foot drop, no damage.

They go to grab the baby.

Fort save please. "What?" Fort save. *rolls* A paralytic poison is coating the baby's skin. When you touch it, the poison paralyzes you as well. The baby stops crying and giggles and coos at you.

And then proceeds to eat the player, dealing 2d8 Con damage a bite.

[longtooth878]

For some truely evil traps I would try to find some of the copies of "GRIMTOOTH’S TRAPS" those traps are wicked. I don't know if you can still buy them but if you get a chance to read them they are a hoot.

[Turcano]

Of the traps that haven't been mentioned, the class of traps that are actually disarmed (although they look active, perhaps through a decoy), and any attempted Disable Device check arms the trap.

[LordOkubo]

What level do you guys play at? I just can't imagine many of these being even a challenge for most level 9+ parties.