Summary
Sometimes it’s not a powerful enemy or an expansive dungeon that destroys aDungeons & Dragonsadventuring party. One missed Perception roll and the party either burns, chokes, or falls to their deaths thanks to a well-placed trap. Hidden or obvious, traps are enemies that count as “environmental turns” in the world ofD&D, and they can ruin a dungeon delve in just a few steps.
Traps can be simple but deadly, or complex and gruesome, and they can be found invarious locations in theD&Duniverseother than dungeons. Bedrooms, jails, and even more harmless locations like libraries and shops can have a trap waiting for overly-curious visitors. Traps can be hidden in almost anything, but some of them are less obvious than others, and how many hit points they take is up to the Dungeon Master and the dice.
7Fire-Breathing Statues
Magic Trap
Traps that are hidden in decorations are always less obvious than a hole in the floor or a falling net, which makesthem even more deadly. They’re also incredibly sensitive and can be set off at a mere touch as opposed to a pressure plate on the floor or wall that the player can miss.
A fire-breathing statue doesn’t have to be a full-size statue, nor does it need to literally breathe fire. It can be a stone gargoyle head, for example, that can shoot fire out of its mouth or eyes, or a sculpture that shoots fire in a variety of directions.
6Poison Needle
Mechanical Trap
Rogues beware, as this deadly trap is often hidden in locks, waiting for a thief to try their sleight of hand. Be careful that greed doesn’t overwhelm Perception, otherwise, the poison needle will take them before even attempting to pick the lock, which is exactly how Poison Needle is intended to work.
When it comes to traps, this is one of the more sophisticated ones, which is why it’s more common in heavy treasure chests and other sensitive places. Bedrooms, hidden safes, and diaries are all places where players can expect to find locks trapped with Poison Needle.
5Darts
A classic that needs a lot of work to set up,but has some impressive results. These are the kind of area-of-effect and complex room-wide kind of traps that are intended for places where no living thing is allowed to tread, like tombs and dungeons, which is why they’re designed to slice or puncture anything that moves.
Darts are usually activated by the tried-and-true method of floor panels. As soon as anyone steps on one, darts fly out of holes in the walls, and they can be poisoned in addition to being sharp and painful. The darts that players can use as weapons do 1d4 of damage, but whether or not the darts in a trap are the same is up to the DM.
4Pits
It could be one of the first traps ever invented, and it’s still one of the best. Pits can be simple, like a hole in the ground covered in fronds or branches, or it can be complicated, like a trapdoor that opens under the victim’s feet.
Pit Traps can be activated by a switch, but often they’re just disguised as regular floors until the character takes a step too far. Even a simple trap can have deadly perils waiting for the target inside, like spikes or snakes. More creative DMs might put water, acid, or insects in the pit, depending on where it is.
3Call Of Distress
Situational Trap
A hero with good intentions hears any cry for help, and follows the sound into an ambush. A creative dungeon master can do a lot with this scenario, which crooks and criminals often use to lure in their victims.
This trap works on a psychological level instead of a physical one, and it won’t workwith every kind of adventurer.It’s a situational trap because it’s often specifically tailored to a certain character and the kidnapping victim might even be a real person they care about. This also works with a doppleganger or a disembodied voice.
2Gas Traps
The name of this trap reveals what it does. Press a button, step on a floor panel, or even just open a door, and the deadly Gas Traps hiss into action. This is a trap that’s designed to fill a whole room, so it won’t be found in habitable areas very often. They can have some specific uses along with releasing a breathable substance that kills everyone.
The Gas Trap can kill the whole party, of course, but this is also one of the few traps that an enemy can use to capture the adventuring party relatively unscathed. The gas doesn’t have to be deadly but instead can be used to Paralyze the target or put them to sleep.
1Rolling Sphere
Inspired by some famous uses in popular culture, the Rolling Sphere trap also appears in theD&Duniverse. It isn’t just built to crush anyone or anything, but also to block the exit of the cave tunnel, or corridor to keep any other foolish adventurer from looting the place.
Like Poison Needle, this is one of the more elaborate traps that the DM willsave for special occasionsand more elaborate venues. Expect to find them in places meant to discourage treasure hunters, which often means old temples, tombs, crypts, and of course, dungeons.
