D&D Trap Theory: How to Design Purposeful Traps 

"Curious is the trap-maker's art, his efficacy unwitnessed by his own eyes"

IDEA: An abandoned monster breeding facility whose traps were never actually meant for intruders, but rather were intended to act as selective pressures to help produce stronger monsters and weed out weaker ones.

"A pit trap in the middle of an empty plain is weird and would likely only confuse your party" Party: Who places a trap in the middle of an open field?!? -menacing, evil laughter "PREPARE FOR TROUBLE." "AND MAKE IT DOUBLE."

I once DMed a setup with a dungeon which was built by a professional trapmaker. The trapmaker's business is to build traps in other people's castles or dungeons, so they can feel secure. But he needs a place to demonstrate his traps to customers, so he has his own dungeon to do so in, where he invites various nobles and such to watch, while he hires adventurers, in this case the party of players, to try to breach the dungeon and their paycheck for doing so is in the vault. And the party managed to TPK themselves in a dumb way despite all the traps having safeties. Because they decided to be smartasses and try subverting those safeties.

Flame Jets in a fire god's temple could have been put there for theatricality, but now the enchanted headstones from the dragon statues are still magical, and collapsed into weird positions.

6:10 I did one of those alignment traps as improv when my players started looking for traps. It was the entrance of a lost hero's crypt. The trap didn't matter since none of them had the evil alignment, but I did it to tell a sort of story of the place. They decided not to desecrate the crypt, so they were rewarded by the stone coffin lid moving on its own. Gave them a good scare, and they decided it meant the hero was ok with them taking the loot.

Ive made a dungeon designed by a retired wizard adventurer trying to hand out a lifetime of loot to the next generation of adventurers. Most obstacles are meant as a test of some kind. Everyone who enters gets one respawn, letting them survive if the dungeon is lethal but teleporting them back outside. A set of riddles, complicated traps, fights with various setups, knowledge based progression where failure summons a monster (if you’re not smart, you gotta be strong to compensate) and even a fake dragon that returns to sleep when left alone for one minute, prompting the party to try to be stealthy and get around it. There’s even a rest area mid dungeon designed like a tiny forest, meant to test the adventurers on keeping watch. If they’re not perceptive enough or if they just go to sleep, a threat appears. If they spot it in time, it just waves and leaves. And an area decorated as a houses interior, for searching skills. The dungeon was originally designed with new players in mind, to get basic skills into them.

My favorite trap was a left over silver platter a cultist left at the top of a staircase. The paladin crashing down the stairs after slipping on it was golden

“A pit trap in an open field would be weird” I don’t think that’s a trap for a person, I think it’s a game trap. For catching animals that won’t be able to climb out.

This reminds me of the puzzle doors in Skyrim. An in-game book actually references them as a way to keep draugr from getting the buried dragon priest or draugr overlord out, rather than intelligent beings from getting in. Given that the answer to the puzzle is written on the key. This is completely undermined by one Civil War mission, where the faction you don't belong to beat you to the puzzle door and died en masse to the trap... A thing that is appropriate in Skyrim traps is that one of the most used types of traps in burial crypts uses poison darts, the undead inhabitants being immune to poison. Until you consider ammunition, of course...

I think the best traps are the ones that aren’t technically traps at all For example, the party is making their way through the ruins of an ancient dwarven city to locate some treasure hidden deep within. The party must travel through the city’s massive forge hall to reach their destination; however, the main path through the forge has been blocked by fallen rubble. Their only option now is to perilously make their way across the intricate network of machines and conveyor belts meant for forging. The “traps” are all the parts of machinery that are difficult to cross because they weren’t meant for traveling in the first place.

Gimmicky security measures work too. I used a trap that was a pillar, with a floating, stone eye over it, that slowly circled, sweeping the corridor. It would zap anyone it saw that didn't have the right badge, but was easy to sneak by... only there was a locked door at the end of the hall, which it could see, which would take several rounds to lockpick, so the party had to figure out how to hide from, obscure, or otherwise hinder the eye while they picked the lock. Sure they could just tank a few rounds of zaps, or they could be clever and find a solution (Which they did)

Favorite trap: Setting: Kobolds Protecting an old Dragon Lair/horde. Dragon was long dead but Kobold never stopped waiting and protecting for its return. Long wooden plank over a seemingly bottomless pit. On the walls on one side are rings in the wall. Some of the rings are actually hooked poles with kobolds. The kobolds will try to trip anyone who goes bye. If players try the rings Kobolds try to knock them down or just let go of the hooks sending them falling.

When the party finds lots of traps but they're really obvious because they are facing into the dungeon, they need to be asking themselves what is in there that someone really, really doesn't want getting out. Also whether they are sensible going in there to find out when their escape route has so many traps which might reset.

Think about it from the characters' perspective. Who built it? Why? How do they get past it? If it's hidden, who resets it and what happens to the evidence?

Keep in mind that some "traps" can also be environmental hazards that came with age. A collapsing bridge could just be from an old castle where the architecture is failing, vines can act as natural snares that grew over time, heads can break off statues with age, causing an Indiana Jones style boulder trap. But keep in mind they still need to fit the theme of the dungeon. A well maintained castle of an evil king really shouldn't have a crumbling statue unless someone breaks it off. The top of a wizard's tower probably won't have wild creatures that moved in and took shelter, though the bottom might. This can also be traps that were designed non-lethal, but age made them lethal. A pressure plate that triggers flames up ahead to deter intruders, but that's very easily avoided normally, could be triggered by animals that wandered in over time, maybe leaving the trap constantly running or having it suddenly trigger while intruders are halfway through when they should be safe. A trap that teleports intruders outside to keep them from entering further might have once been safe, but the teleport location might have become the den of a dangerous beast. Also, instant death traps can act as a deterrent by having the bodies of those its killed remain nearby, foretelling the danger of the trap and dissuading people from even coming near it. A tripwire that drops a spike from the ceiling, crushing everything in the room, might have broken bones resting near it from a victim that tried to escape, signaling to the players that they need to be careful to figure out a safe way through and only punishing them if they're careless.

I once put a Gelatinous Cube in an empty bedroom. It was very odd since there was a skeleton and a trail of slime drops leading to it. They still fell for it, and one of the characters almost died trying to pull his ally out.

Curious is the trap maker's art, its efficacy unwitnessed by his own eyes Also, I highly recommend Grimtooth traps. Even though most of them are made to straight out kill players, some of them are reaaaally fun

One of my favorite tricks I pulled...one of the rooms had several statues that weren't actually creatures, but during the combat they were set to cast counterspell whenever anyone used a spell... it wasn't full antimagic field as the enemy spellcasters in that room set up their concentration spells when they were outside of it, plus there were only 4 of the statues and they only could cast it once per round, so the party could in theory use 4 cantrips followed by a 5th spell of choice during that round, but of course that's super dangerous as only 1 person would be able to attack in that situation... the Celestial Warlock of the party came in clutch using Healing Light to give just enough health to be able to finish things... something I anticipated since it is a magical effect that antimagic field would prevent, but not a spell that could be counterspelled away

Idea: What if one of the party members got stuck in a trap, and then the person that made the trap rush in. It would be a great way to introduce a character. The party might be angry at first, but after learning the character’s intentions with setting up the trap they might get to know the person or hate them even more. The possibilities are endless!

Personally my favorite traps are incidental traps. Hazards that exist as part of the dungeon's setting naturally that double as both a defense against intruders and some other purpose. Stuff like industrial incinerators in a factory setting; or volatile explosives in an armory for instance

THE ART IS SO AMAZING 😭

Alternate suggestion: Traps should be closer to environmental hazards that pose threats to monsters and players equally, creating variety to a combat space. They should reward the opportunistic player, and encourage alternative solutions in combat. For example, pushing an enemy into a geyser of flame to apply fire damage and DoT. Filling your dungeons full of hidden traps makes players extremely paranoid, which degrades their trust in you, as their storyteller. They'll be turning over every stone and kicking at every brick in the wall, which nukes the pacing to oblivion, specifically when you want them to push forward. Alternatively, putting swinging axe blades in a combat arena makes players feel like they're in a pulp adventure, and they'll be more eager to see what trouble awaits them around the next corner. You'd be AMAZED how eager players are to tip over braziers, kick enemies into acid pits, and trip badguys into webs. It could be as simple as "push button to make the enemy feel pain," but if that pain was, ostensibly, made for the PCs, most players get a rush out of turning said pain on the monsters. I have never, EVER had a player complain that there aren't hidden traps that punish them for not rolling perception every 10 feet.

Always thought the VC style traps from the Vietnam war would fit well with groups of smaller monsters that share a common lair and work well as a pack - eg kobolds/goblins etc

Very eloquently explained and simple to boot. Thanks for another awesome video!

The best kind of trap is a simple idiot check. For example, my favorite “trap” I’ve ever seen in a book is a room in a dwarven mine where the room is filled with a layer of fine sand/diamond dust with a lever on a pedi seal near the wall. The “trap” is that the room is actually a mining sand blaster that is meant to clean ore and artifacts that is turned on with a pull of the lever. THe door locks shut and the sand kicks up in a round or two then does 3d6 damage per round for 10 rounds OR until the emergency stop button is pressed, also on the pedestal. It’s there for a good thematic reason, quite dangerous and yet easily avoided. Especially if the players also find the outside set of controls and not just the maintenance ones inside the room

I play games like Dwarf Fortress and that has always colored my idea of not only dungeon design, but trap design and purpose as well. One of my favorite traps is basically a long hallway that slopes down at the start, then is straight for most of its length, then slopes back up at the end. There are 3 raised portcullises on each ramp. One at the bottom, then another at the halfway point, and then one in between those two points (so 75% of the way down). The portcullises are somewhat hidden, being in slots in the ceiling, but nothing is actually covering the holes. So you may not notice them if you just walk through, but you definitely notice them if you look up as you are heading down, but you would need some light up there to see the portcullis inside. Parties almost always notice these slots and likewise nearly always see the portcullis inside, but they ignore them. They suspect they might fall on them or trap them immediately after passing them, but this doesn't happen. So they generally walk past them not interacting with them at all, despite being suspicious of them. The long hallway part of the trap has a number of grates here and there on the floor along the walls. If they stop to inspect these grates, they'll notice they drop down a few feet before ending with a stone floor. If they roll high enough (or an easier roll if they get under the grates by one means or another to look closely) they can see the floor is actually movable by some means outside the room they are in. Looking up, they see grates in the ceiling that look the same way and in the same places, directly above the floor grates, and they look the same way, but in reverse, with it going up a few feet and then hitting a movable stone ceiling. As for the trap itself... The entire floor is a giant weighted trigger mechanism. The fulcrum is just ever so slightly past the exact center so that it will come to a rest in that position which has the entire floor resting on solid stone beneath it, so they feel nothing unusual about walking on it and see no visible traps or trigger mechanisms. But... Once the majority of their party's weight moves past the fulcrum, the entire floor shifts, lifting the front half up, and tilting the rear half downwards slightly, which triggers the trap. Immediately, all 6 gates slam closed and the stone ceilings above the grates open as a deluge of water begins filling the hallway from the upper grates from a reservoir above (often a lake or river). Within seconds the entire hallway is filled completely full of water and there is no way out. Anything caught inside this drowning trap then drowns. The purpose of this trap is not only to kill the uninvited who enter, but it also means all of their equipment and possessions are not harmed in the process, meaning they can be taken off the dead bodies and used by the inhabitants of the dungeon or underground fortress. The trap is also automatic and operates on a timer. It waits long enough for anyone inside to drown, then it seals the slabs in the ceiling, cutting off the water supply, and opens the slabs below to drain the tunnel and finally after its next timer triggers, it seals the lower slabs again, and raises the portcullises. The trap has then fully re-armed and is ready for the next suckers to enter. This trap is absolutely LETHAL to anyone that doesn't have some means of countering it, but for your average adventuring party that can think, they can usually come up with a way to counter it. Smashing through grates isn't likely to succeed as it would take a lot of bludgeoning damage to tear through them, and there are 3 of them to get through in either direction so that is possible but not likely. The easiest solution is simply cast an underwater breathing spell on everyone in the party, negating the risk of drowning entirely, then its just a matter of waiting for the trap to reset. And of course, with methods of teleportation or polymorphing, one can slip through the grates either in the ceiling to go up into the river or lake above or through the portcullises at either end. The reason I like this trap so much, besides the fact its the most deadly kind of trap you can make in Dwarf Fortress, is that it is absolutely logical. Any group lacking magic would perish if they fell into the trap as there is no way they'd be able to get through those grates before dying. But since most adventuring parties have magic users, theres usually a few methods they can use to get through. But, even if they all survive and it didn't pose much risk to them, it always costs them resources. It takes spell slots to save the party from this trap. This isn't one of those "make a saving throw, take damage" traps, it is a you either die or survive traps, and often takes multiple spells to keep your party alive, especially if you psyche out your players and get them into a panic mindset as it is happening, they may not think of anything really clever or useful to do at first as they just react. Anyway, thats just my favorite. :> Its exciting, unexpected, costs them resources, and isn't a boring "saving throw to take half damage" trap. And if they figure out how it works, they can easily avoid it by walking on the grates along the walls rather than down the middle, bypassing the weighted mechanism. Also, immediately after this trap is reset, a group of whatever enemies will go in there, assuming the intruders died, in order to collect the bodies for looting. So you can roll it into a nice combat encounter after the fact AND, if the group chooses to, they could deliberately trigger the trap a second time to kill the enemies for them. If they all have underwater breathing in effect, this happens often, and makes the players feel clever, and if they had to use some OTHER means of surviving that is no longer in effect, it means they would have to spend more resources to survive a second triggering. So either way, the trap serves its purpose. :) Also, just as a side note, I love building dungeons below lakes and rivers, primarily because that is where I almost always build them in Dwarf Fortress. The general idea is, although it is "possible" to gain entry if you have some kind of magic, like water breathing, it isn't super practical most of the time. Instead, they wait until winter when the water freezes solid into ice, then they dig through it to create a tunnel to the surface. Then they can have all the people coming and going that they want in those specific months while they are on high alert and have more guards and security, but once the ice begins the melt, they retreat back inside, seal the door, and lower their guard and relax the rest of the year because they are very safe having their only entrance at the bottom of a lake.

Okay, that joke one is a hilarious idea.

This reminds me of the time I used trap mechanics as a way to make exploring a "house of ill repute". While not actually traps, it is to this day the most enjoyed building that I have made as a DM

I love this mentality, not just for traps but for everything, I can't just throw a bunch of rooms, monsters and traps and call it a dungeon. Does it makes sense that those monsters could coexist? Is it coherent with the environment? How does all this came to be? Makes everything easier: I can improv easier if needed be and players can better understand context and avoid needless frustration

I love the idea of a zip line to "help" the characters across, but actually is a trap by not letting them cross back easily. The people I use to play with would never have questioned it, until it was too late.

for all those trap makers out there i have two you might like i got from a book; one is the Biting Chest, a large chest with a few extra components, a false interior, a pressure plate on the inside, a hidden spring or two running along the back side, an interior safety at the back, and at the top a razor sharp ridge around the front and sides. this trap only is visible while the chest is open, and triggers when an object is taken out of the chest(reducing the chest's weight) the act of pushing the chest open sets the mechanism and it slams shut on the thief's hands. attack or save, and what damage it could do is up to you. the other is Trapped Arrow, on the other end of traps this would be mostly used by devious and highly intelligent and wealthy villains. a Trapped arrow is simply that, an arrow with a small sharp blade hidden in the nock, it is best to be used with a uniquely magical arrow so as not to get misplaced and can have an upgrade, it can further be hidden via a false cover at the knock and a spring to push the blade out when pressure is applied, this will simply cut the bowstring it is attached to unless the bow is magical(or magical enough). i used this for a Dragon that left an arrow of slaying in a tomb some people were adventuring in, a dragon slaying arrow in a metal box lined with velvet and such. nobody checks arrows for traps.

A pit trap in the middle of a field *could* be a hunting trap.

best in this video is that it not only teaches about traps but also shows that everything needs a purpuse, not only in games but in books, shows, movies and even art

Adventuring party attempting to conquer a dungeon tower that is chock full of trapdoor chutes and teleportation traps, that simply land them outside, and sliding/turning rooms that make it extremely difficult to memorise where they are. Every time they go to reenter the dungeon, the DM mentions a small pile of pieces from a wooden board next to the entrance. (Done in a lightly mocking tone, pointing out other small unimportant details and bits of detritus alongside the pieces, as though only to mock the party.) If/when the party FINALLY gets through the dungeon, an extremely cranky old wizard exits the last room and screams at the party "THE SIGN SAYS NO SOLICITORS!!!" The sign of course is the small pile of broken pieces of wood at the entrance, broken by a previous group of would-be interlopers who got frustrated.

This is probably the fifth video of yours I've watched in two days. All the information is there, but kept simple and easy to follow, which is great. Lot's of advice videos end up taking to long to say something, or over-elaborate to the point of being confusing and/or rambling.

Our DM used a gelatinous cube as a way to teach us to look carefully to our surroundings and meant punish those who are only entering the temple for greedy reason. The clear cube was practically invisible if you weren’t paying attention and walking to a dead end of a hall to grab a gold and jewel covered dagger would kill you via gelatinous cube. The temple was for a knowledge god and was a maze of traps that have a logical solution and even rewarded you for creative solutions without breaking the rules! We skipped a whole fight with two mindless flesh gollums by locking them in a corner of the maze and setting their blood frenzy ability on each other. (DM gave inspiration to the cleric who came up with the idea)

One of the best trap guide that exists in youtube. Well done.

A good reason for there being traps in the wilderness is war. Armies have been using traps forever, and they usually tend to stick around for a while. This might be kind of annoying for players, but it can be very good worldbuilding if the region your players are traveling through is currently going through, or has been through some form of armed conflict.

In one of my campaigns there is a faction called «The Hero´s Bane» and they are devoted to killing heroes (the reason is a long story) and one of the ways they do that is making traps in places where heroes often go, like dungeons. The Hero´s Bane workers regularily maintain traps too and breed monsters and put them in dungeons. I think they are a clever justification to add traps and can be a cartoonish antagonistic force. They probably wouldn´t fit in a more serious campaign though.

Alarm traps are the most underrated traps in all of D&D. Things that alert the denizens of a dungeon that there is an approaching threat… I’ve always had so much more fun watching my players eyes go wide as they realize the entire dungeon is now aware of them than I’ve ever had watching those eyes glaze over as I roll 2d6 fire damage because they failed a perception check and dex save.

This video just helped me figure out I was only focused on damage and being hidden. This also solved my question of how they'll encounter the bbg! Thank you!

8:44 their expression and how excited they seem tho XD

One trap I thought of that's a puzzle bridge that when set off awakens the two large copper serpent "replicas" to combat invaders

I once had a trap in a cave/dungeon where kobolds I think it was lived. it was a smaller race and a trap was a ceiling drop that didn't go all the way to the ground. it just wend down enough so they wouldn't be hurt by it but all the tall races, all but 1 of my players, would have to squat duck crawl etc in the fighting area because they are to tall giving the people who live there big advantages in combat that the smaller and often seen as cannon fodder creatures become an actual challenge.

+2 to wisdom just from watching this video. 100% help me in my high lvl campaign

Currently trying to build an OSR dungeon, these vids, SUPER usefull ;) thx guys

One trap I've had fun with my players was the thieve's folly a chest with a skeletal hand sticking out and a way to check what is inside but not remove it, each has certain open conditions (take your pick) to attempt the open they have to place there bare wrist in the hand it shuts around them they get a chance to open the chest if they fail the open condition they start taking 1d6+number of rounds they fail to escape in neutral damage (no resistance, no immunity, no healing from it) the DC check to escape varies but usually its ranged from 15 to 25 (I usually allow Athletics, Slieght of hand and Arcana checks to escape. Give them a set number of tries to open the chest if they fail they watch in horror as the items inside the chest is destroyed

OMG, how did RU-vid not recommend you sooner 😢

I love a suggested trap style by RP Archive: a Kobalt cave system built for small creatures. The thin bridge that can't take your weight is safe for the inhabitants but a trap for intruders.

My favorite trap I've done is a gate trap. It's genius in how it works, in that it is actually harmless if you walk right through it and ignore the trap altogether. Here's the idea: The players enter a room that acts as a gate to the rest of the dungeon. The entire room is scorched, save for one side of a stone lectern in the center of the room. The entire wall on the far side is a large stylized face, the mouth the exit to the room. The eyes glow as you enter. The mouth is open, but attempting to pass through causes a sheet of fire to fill the mouth. The lectern has a stone book, part of the lectern and angled so that it is also not scorched. On the book are words that are translated to "Shout loud, and if you are correct you will be allowed passage. What is the best thing in life." The trick is that there is no right answer. The flame in the mouth is just a tactile illusion, and walking through is easy. It's all just a way to get people to activate the trap. Any noise loud enough will cause the entire room to be hit with a spell from the eyes that fill the room with fire. To get past, just walk on through. Edit: I normally include a small 5 ft space at the end of the room that the flame doesn't touch so the players can play with the mechanics. Usually they'll give simple answers, followed by silly answers, and then eventually someone will go "I just walk through the fire."

While watching this to become a DM: Man, I love traps Fred from Scooby doo: Me too, kid

Subbed for the obliterating eye that tells jokes idea, thank you very much

I once made a natural cave which was the beginning of a "dungeon" that had to be cleared upwards, as the PC's got there by accident and had to find the way out for them and some injured civilians that got there with them. The first "room" was a big natural cave with a small pond on the topmost area that fed a small stream that ended on a bigger pond on the opposite side. The big pond was the "lair" of a modified gelatinous cube that fed upon the cave rock and was all but indistinguishable from the two inches of water that covered it (it was badically harmless, provided it was left undisturbed... but could not digest gold, that had accumulated at the bottom of the pond and glinted when the party shone a light on it, so... well you know). There was a big patch of russet mold, the spores of which could infect a living being and, after a not that long an incubation period (long enough to almost get out of the dungeon) turn into small ferocious creatures that sprout out of the unlucky host creature in a way not that different from an Alien's xenomorph. Finally, the small pond was like an oasis with several varieties of underground plant-like life. Amongst them, two specific species had developed a form of symbiosis: a fungus the spores of which got most creatures sleepy and a really comfortable form of moss that could slowly dissolve most creatures and turn them into food for the whole small ecosystem there (it usually fed upon rats and other creatures exploring for water from higher levels of the dungeon.

on the thought of statues with disintegration rays, one way to make them an interesting trap to overcome without being outright deadly is to have a rat or other small creature either noticeably avoiding a known area of danger (maybe the ground is even scorched in the area it's avoiding) or just outright killed by an overly sensitive trap, so they know it's there.

One trap my players loved was this warlock who used the frequent intruders as reverse treasure finding. It wasn't the trap itself but the way it was it was triggered. There was a pedestal in a room with a green skinned book with gold filagree on a green velvet pillow. Covered in glass with protection enchantments it was still easy to get around. Book was absolutely worthless. The green skin was goblin. The gold filagree was just painted iron, and the content itself was the equivalent to "How Shot The Missiles of Magic". It wasn't even a trigger to a trap. It was more of a doorbell to let the warlock know about company. Now the *real* trap was attached to other things in the room. The tattered book being used to level out a table under the legs; it was a very well done fake of Varsoon The Undying's Tainted Magic tome which was thought lost forever. The mold in the corner was a very rare species of rot that could be used as a replacement for the wish spell replacing a few expensive components. Now anyone in the party has noticed these and tried to take them, the warlock could put together that if this group is trying to take them they are both a) formidable and b) they must be carrying some real good stuff . Trap immediately. It was only due to the ranger rolling a nat 20 on the mold to make sure it wasn't toxic they triggered the trap to lock them frozen in time.

Wasn’t exactly a trap so much as a test, but I’ve never put the brakes on a game harder than the time I had a group attempting to infiltrate an illusionist’s lair, and I placed a perfectly real but nonfunctional door set inside of an illusory wall. They spent a solid 20 minutes trying to figure out the door, absolutely convinced there was some trick to this door they just weren’t getting, before one player described their character getting frustrated and leaning against the wall that he promptly fell through. That was back in the bad old days of gaming, and I doubt I’d run such a thing exactly the same now (leaving them to flounder on a door for that long), but it made for a funny memory.

I have to say, this channel is amazing!

Traps that are purely unfortunate circumstance are some of my favorite to make. For example, the party is in an abandoned mine. In the tunnel directly ahead there is a pile of explosives, a lantern hanging from the middle of a support beam near them, a pickaxe and a very shiny rare gemstone embedded in the wall. If one of the players takes the pickaxe and tries to get the shiny gem, the lantern falls and detonates the explosives which would damage the player trying to get the gem.

If you have place where no trap should be, but you want one, accidental traps can do the work, for example rather then a pit under the rug with sharp sticks on the bottom just inside a random abandoned house, there can be rotten wooden floor above storage full of old, broken bottles

More trap videos! Seriously, such a beautiful channel.

I homebrewed a campaign of today's technology along with magic, these suggestions alongside our world's technology capabilities makes my head run with all the possibilities from combining technology and magic. Of course, within the dungeon there would be a specific type of spell that will block out communications via their phones and such. Which essentially reduces them to mere adventurers with their equioments and their allies to rely to. This is gonna be so fun!

I had character who was designing her own castle. She had a series of statues that granted you buffs- strength, haste, Tenser's Deadly Strike,... and the last statues had Chaos on it so your party attacks each other. Edit- also had a halfling who had bushes with sleep thorns on them in a maze as her escape maze. They were kept pruned so she could slip through, and as a 2nd ed. elf she was immune to their effect. Anyone chasing her would have to make lots of saves though, and take some damage from thorns as well- bigger armor would get you stuck between the walls.

its basically the same principle I have with map making. where I always have to tell a story in every room. so that the player can piece together what happened.

I like the idea of incidental traps- many dungeons and ruins are worn down by time, so a DM can have what is functionally a trap, that in universe was just the result of time and weather, a part of the floor ready to cave in, a pillar that will fall if disturbed etc. That sort of trap you can have out in the wild too, the bank of a river ready to crumble and dump an innatentive player into the drink, a rock hillside that could spill boulders on you if disturbed etc. Any of these can be incidental in universe, but also used by enemies- an ambush by bandits that purposefully chose the riverbank so their prey would fall in and get bogged down if they got too close, or the new inhabitants of a ruin that know which pillars they could push onto an intruder. For extra fun, environmentally created traps are also possible to turn on an enemy, luring a beast onto a floor weakened by time. knocking a boulder loose so it rolls towards the bandits ambushing you etc. This way you can have "traps" that only need time and weather to be the reason they are there that a DM can use to spice up encounters where deliberate traps wouldn't make sense.

One really cool trap that my old dm made was a pair of sentient gauntlets that flew off some armour when we released a prisoner.

My all-time favorite trap is the falling Gelatinous Cube. You can write up context for it, why the party would be there at the time, or leave it vague, doesn't matter. The trap itself is, a dwarven adventurer died and was digested by a Gelatinous Cube. The adventurer had a Potion of Spider Climb. So now, the cube has Spider Climb, and it's on the ceiling. When it detects a creature, it slithers along the ceiling and drops down on top of them, instantly engulfing them, before they ever had any time to hold their breath. They now have several rounds to escape the cube or begin dying. It's no purpose-built, but the context around the monster itself explains the trap in a believable way.

Also fun are traps that provide alternative ways in, out, or through a place. A pit trap for the unknowing could be a secret shortcut tunnel for the creatures who built and reset the trap.

Just stumbled into the dungeon, hey everyone :) Love the format! Well drawn, well written, and well thought out

“A pit trap in the middle of a open plane is weird and would confuse your players” “Lord damnit, the fuck don’t you get about private property signs?! Now you got to pay for the items you just damaged!’ - Mossy the Mole supervisor of MoleShip, #3 of the nations top shippers. Also the people who send stuff to the players and places they go to so it gets a continued reminder of their job, the random trap and so on. Explaining this to new players in the party was fun, especially when PCs had to explain it lol.

IDEA: A dungeon where all the traps are facing the "wrong way." The mechanisms are encountered before the triggers. They are extremely deadly, save-or-die type traps, but they are instantly disarmed by obvious levers and buttons and such placed much earlier in the corridor. Any monsters and automated sentries are likewise facing the wrong way and are easy to get the drop on and dispatch without much danger to the Party. Once the Party gets to the end of the dungeon, they find either one of two things: 1) There is a terrifying monster way above their CR in the middle, whom all the traps were designed to keep in, and they just disarmed a path for it to escape into the world. They must now flee the monster and hopefully try to reset some traps on the way out to halt or slow its pursuit. 2) The dungeon's owner has been secretly following them, resetting the traps as they go. Once they reach the empty room at the end, full of dead adventurers, the owner derides them and informs them there is no escape and teleports away. The party must now use their wits to escape the dungeon, knowing how each trap works but not having good (or any) access to the obvious controls.

One other trick that's helpful is to actually show players a few already sprung traps early on in a dungeon. Could be they aren't the first ones to do a little tomb raiding in the area, just the only ones to make it this far. Seeing one or two already triggered traps (and the remains of the unlucky soul who sprung them) tips off the characters to be on their toes and in universe justifies them proceeding with extra caution.

A great use of traps is for comedic effect . What a locations in my game is basically a wizard's tower that doubled as a reality show. People can watch players go through the dungeon trying to survive and when huge amounts of money. So a trap that life throws pies at them or send some down a slip and slide of Doom or whatever can be really entertaining because it's there to be entertaining

i enjoy filling places with traps that do and dont work, such as a trap door that gets stuck half way, or a boulder trap where when the boulder falls it just ends up breaking a hole through the floor, of course hearing someone in the distance get mad that their trap didnt work

well thought out video!

an old favorite of mine is a dungeon/building designed by goblins/dwarves/short folk with horizontal spring tensioned blades in the walls that are there to decapitate anyone taller than the folk who built the place. tree native elves might have branches that give if you are over weight or over armored. fun stuff.

One idea I really like using with traps is leaving clues of a trap's presence leaving the remains of someone who previously triggered the trap lying around. A looter might accidentally trigger the trap trying to take treasures from the corpse. A cautious or analytical person might take the opportunity to learn from the mistakes of the less fortunate to avoid or survive the trap. But most importantly, it integrates the traps with the background further by making it visible that others have encountered the traps before, and that they aren't existing solely as an obstacle to the players, but to anyone that's passed through.

I am amazed by your diction and how didactic you are. it's the 4th video I am watching in a row

I love stealth missions with alarm traps

3:46 I see that LotR reference. Niche, nice.

I really appreciate your videos

Not gonna lie I once activated the same trap twice in a game, I was advancing towards a temple and I barely dodged a false floor towards a spiked pit. I basically said in character "no one would be a dumb ass , to place the same trap twice right in front of the other". I fell the second one that lead towards the hole of the prior one.

*Adds magnet wall to a dungeon that the Fighter/Paladin party is going to enter*

The traps designed to keep something in gave me an idea. You could have the dungeon be a prison for something. When the players go in, all the traps are obvious and they'll immediately know that they'll need to pass those traps on the way out. Then you make them fight whatever is trapped inside with the full knowledge that they'll need to preserve spell slots and other resources for getting out.

Once was part of a campaign where it was obviously set up for a boulder trap, both in and out of game by the shape of the room, obvious pressure plates and what not. We planned to throw the goblin over the pressure plates to avoid the trap from triggering.. rolled a 2 and the goblin hit the plates. We all prepared for what we assumed to be a India Jones rip off chase scene, only for the boulder to stop half way through, revealing it was in fact once part of a massive golem and that it was enslaved for this purpose.. Ended up helping us beat the BBEG of the dungeon and got a happy ending

Some of my more common traps are anti-buglary security traps. An example is a door that if someone attempts to open it without the key (picking, breaking,) it opens up a pitfall designed to detain the would be burglar until a guard, etc., comes around. Also, accidental traps are a thing too. A hunting trap may not be intended to trap the player, but it can still be a nuisance if unexpected.

Dextress is now one of my homebrew classes

thats why i like summoners, summon something and send it into a dangerous area. i saved my party from a firetunnel by sending a skelleton in it and warn them.

There is nothing that bugs me more than "rocks fall" traps that instantly kill. Great to see good advice!

Idea: a narrow stone room with hidden murder holes along the sides. Archers and spearmen with simple stone-tipped weapons are posted at a wooden palisade at the far end. When intruders try to enter the room one of the guards yells "SOOOEEEEEEE!" The Rust Monsters who reside in the pens on the other side of the murder holes recognize the signal for feeding time and stick their antennae into the room. Now the players have to deal with enemies in a fortified position as their armor and weapons literally fall off their bodies.

I love having signs tell the players exactly what and where the traps are because they will 100% forget them, run right into them and remember the warning. Next they think "did it tell us the solution?" and the one guy who wrote the warning down tries to read it again as if that helps

Love this content so much.

With the idea of traps meant to restrain could be in a liches place where some ghouls seem to be missing their paralysis abilities but then if they beat a room the next appears to have dart traps that shoot out ghouls fingers (Or however they paralyze people) where the lich captures (If they are paralyzed and they are knocked out during the paralysis) to be sacrificed to the phylactery

Planning a veitnam themed dnd, thanks for the help

There's a trap I've been wanting to us. A pressure plate in a hallway that if a party/character weighs enough, released a ton of flammable oil to coat the party to make them more susceptible to fire spells/traps. Then it sets off a flame jet on the way out if the party is noticeably heavier while exiting. injuring the and burning any paper/cloth/canvas treasure. The mouth of the hallway has a bunch of abandoned heavy armor and weapons, with the stonework of the cave being heavily scorched. To try to tip the players off about the nature of the trap. I like it because there are multiple ways to disarm the trap magically. Levitate the treasure. Shape Water or Prestidigitation to clean the players and the chamber. Have a small party member/npc/spell make trips to ferry the heavy equipment to the rest of the party.

My favourite idea for why a dungeon exists is an NPC from a regular game, got sick of adventurers just coming in his house, opening his chests, breaking his pots and stealing his stuff. So he built more and more security to stop them. Everyday he goes to check on his money, to make sure its not been stolen and finds dead adventurers. So takes their stuff and adds it to his. Eventually he amassed a huge board of loot and Adventurers hear of this legendary unbeatable dungeon. So more adventurers keep attempting it and the frustrated NPC keeps adding more traps, in an infinite cycle.

I am quite fond of illusions myself, most of my traps have some sort of illusory effect that may stack over time. Most devious among them is a rock that is carved by an ancient wizard artist. Every time you glance at it, I roll on a chart. You can no longer see a nearby object which coincides with the roll. ex: this rock is placed at the opening of a mausoleum. every time you look, inspect or do something with it you can no longer see a couple of floor pieces later on, one of your weapons or an opponents, random article of clothing, etc. The original purpose is to make it so you cannot see the entrance at the back of the chamber to go down into the wizards chamber but hey, can hold many uses for those who like the idea of giving the opposite effect too, like having a player randomly see things that aren't there. Either way it's a fun trap to me.

Aaah! The good content lured me in and trapped me into liking the video. You win this one, RU-vid dungeon.

I don’t play D&D but this is good for pretty much every writing ever, so I might watch more D&D writing videos.

Tbh my best trap I've made was with a magic item I made that I call "force crystals" essentially they're very unstable crystals That can be used to make traps or as a weapon. When they strike something too hard (which these are infused heavily with force energy, so its hair trigger levels of force) they go off. There was a small jewelry box that had one to prevent people from grabbing said jewelry box and running, as this would cause the crystal to bounce around inside and go boom... the rogue grabbed the box.