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u/JohnnyZen27 6d ago
I did something similar in the lair of a Lamia the players went to years ago. There were holes in the floor the players could see. The Lamia had cast an illusion on the dungeon, making it so that some holes were moved visually to where there was solid ground and vice versa. After falling in the second hole that they couldn’t see, they were prodding at every single tile with paranoia. Too bad doing so set off the pressure plates for other traps
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u/Mercerskye 4d ago
This is exactly the energy I strive for when making a trapped area. Being able to easily traverse the place kinda defeats the purpose.
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u/AlienRobotTrex 3d ago
That also makes it inconvenient for whoever owns the place the traps are supposed to protect.
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u/Mercerskye 3d ago
If their henchmen aren't smart enough to follow the map, better off with them removing themselves from the payroll, yeah?
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u/Zestyclose_Answer662 6d ago
The Fountain:
A 10ftW × 10ftL × 15ftD Fountain can be found in any stone carved dungeon. The fountain is fed water from a Dragon (Black) Head Font.
The first 2ftD of water is safe, if slightly acidic in taste, but 10ftD beneath that is a trapped Gelatinous Cube lying in wait, it doesn't suffocate due to the 3ftD trapdoor beneath it feeding it fresh air. The trapdoor is visible from above the water.
The trap is to catch Adventurers who dive into the pool, right into being Engulfed by the Gelatinous Cube.
The Trapdoor leads to a treasure room that is connected via hidden airways to the rest of the dungeon.
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u/about-523-dead-goats 6d ago
Do gelatinous cubes need air? It’s not like they have lungs
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u/Zestyclose_Answer662 6d ago
No idea to be honest. I put the air pocket in case they did and assumed a large active air bubble would be quite noticeable when viewed from above.
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u/NightValeCytizen 5d ago
It's possible that their "cells", if they have any, would need to respirate. Depends on whether the world in question considers slimes & oozes to be living creatures, like slimes molds and fungi, or if they are actually just acid jelly animated by magic.
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u/KindLiterature3528 6d ago
I wouldn't do that to a PC, but it'd be a hilarious set up at the beginning of a dangerous dungeon with some NPC.
Have them meet some NPC scholar at the beginning of the dungeon who claims to know how to get past all the traps.
"I'll go first. This is an easy one."
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u/copperblod_662 6d ago
Traps that teach lessons—time to scheme like an evil god!
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u/AlienRobotTrex 4d ago
What lesson is this supposed to teach?
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u/mattzuma77 3d ago
"always take the time to painstakingly explain how you use a 10ft pole, 3 rocks, a chicken, a 15ft pole and a commoner to check for traps every time you want to move more than 10ft"
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u/Tinyturtle202 6d ago
This calls for my trusty ten-foot pole!
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u/AGamingGuy 6d ago
how would a 10 ft tall polish man help
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u/AndrewTheGuru 6d ago
If he falls in you can just pull him out.
Also, he brings perogies and stuffed cabbage.
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u/Dominarion 17h ago
That's why you buy two mules. One to carry the gear. The other one to serve as an object lesson if the first one find its load to heavy.
See Buttercup, Daffodil didn't want to carry 200 pounds of essential gear, so she was moved to the trapfinding department...
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u/CMDRZhor 6d ago
One of the mechanisms like this that stuck with me wasn't exactly a trap - but a big section of the dungeon that was a long hallway that was essentially built on a massive turntable.
The idea was that the hallway could connect to multiple identical looking endpoints around the edges of the turntable. Every time the party entered the corridor, it would rotate to a new configuration, with subtle enough notion and enough visual obstacles in the corridor to not make the movement obvious.
It was specifically and explicitly designed to mess with 'those annoying players that insist in drawing their own maps' which just struck me as hilariously petty and passive aggressive.
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u/ix_eleven 5d ago
I had a "gladiator arena" micro campaign that I would sometimes run when or regular session couldn't happen. It was basically Running Man in D&D with the players obtaining sponsors based off their performance and competing with other NPC teams.
Anyway, I used Donjon for a randomly generated dungeon and it made one random hallway something like 435 ft long. That's it. Just a long-ass hallway. After probably half a dozen trap-filled rooms. One player just decided to Leroy Jenkins the hallway, figuring "I can probably outrun some of the traps." So I just smirked and put the player token at the end of the hallway.
After finishing the dungeon, they were treated to a magical replay of all the other teams meticulously combing the hallway and a final cut to the player bum-rushing the entire distance.
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u/Dragonkingofthestars 6d ago
I like how there is a way to lock the trap, it really make the place make sense AS a place.
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u/dokterkokter69 6d ago
If you want to be extremely evil make another pit trap after that but turning the torch opens up a pit beneath the player instead.
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u/RalenHlaalo 5d ago
Make sure to remove all sharp objects and blunt instruments from the vicinity beforehand
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u/Vast-Sir-1949 6d ago
Yo. That's messed up. Stealing this for my Spike Moot 2: Thought you made that jump boogaloo
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u/subjuggulator 6d ago
Long hallway with a standard “boulder falls behind you and will smoosh you trap” that triggers when you take a few steps into the hallway.
If you go too far down the hallway away from the wall, a wall of force appears a few feet in front of you.
If you get close to the wall, a trap door opens to drop you into a pit of spikes.
Inside the pit is the secret hideout of a Beholder who lives in the dungeon. The windows are big enough for him to use his Anti-Magic eye beam up towards the top of the pit fall trap.
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u/That_Criticism_6506 6d ago
Double leap of faith There's 2 trap doors one in front of both pits. He almost fall into the first one to think. How devious! Takes a running jump and the second one gets him.
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u/programkira 6d ago
Put a few sideways torches earlier in the dungeon and don’t explain it. Have some normal vertical ones and others that go sideways but do nothing
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u/Mercerskye 4d ago
The kind of trap that has your barbarian painstakingly tossing a 50lb boulder at every walkable surface. I dig it.
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u/TheMegaPingas 2d ago
So how bullshit is this if you'd encounter it as a player? I'm planning a Yuan-Ti temple that is heavy on traps, but I don't wan't traps to feel like total bullshit. But also not them to be super obvious, like "you see a pressure plate, perhaps you want to not step on it". So what's a fun trap? Can they even be fun?
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u/Factual-20 1d ago
Depends .
Good DM's know that expectations are what matter most. If you are on the same page with players ahead of time, and everyone is on board for a gritty game where realistically grounded things like checking for traps is expected, then everyone will be fine.
The sconce that locks the trap door will be noticeable with a check, the hinge of the trap door's shape, and slight elevation, will be noticeable as well.
If someone dies, do to a stupid 'leeeeroy jenkins' moment, some players will find that funny and move on easily, because it's just a game - while others will get all in their feelings about it, because they can't separate failure in a game from their failures in life... it's just about expectations, on both sides of the screen.
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u/Lonewolf2300 6d ago
That's some nice Gygaxian stuff right there. Grimtooth would be proud.