What do YOU do to make traps more fun?? 📑 Download the Bonus Level Up Perks Vol 6 PDF here: 💜 Become a Patron: www.patreon.com/thedungeoncoach OR 🔮 On my Website: thedungeoncoach.com/products/dc-playbook-vol-6
Have used the click rule for a bit now. The best response was after the "click", the player rolled forward which triggered another "click", "click", "click" from the poison dart traps on the floor. He walked away without too much damage though.
Along with Traps I highly recommend Hazards. Such as deep sticky mud or thorny bushes, crumbling ground or falling rocks, etc. These are easy to hint at and feel extremely natural! I'll be including lots of hazards in the 5e compatible book I'm currently working on. Thinking as you design traps about how a player might disarm them without a thieves tool based simple check really helps me as well. When using passive perception give the clues about the trap to the players with the highest passive perception and Investigation. They invested in their characters design this way allow it to pay off for them! Consider while using the 'click' rule to give advantage on saves vs traps to all PCs whose passive perception was high enough to notice the trap. (before then adjusting based on the actions they choose to take). I also say think about the materials, skills and magic/tech was available to the trapbuilders and remember to build and flavor the traps to WHO built them, How long they had to build them and Why they built the trap. A barbaric goblins 10 foot spiked pit trap will look/feel and act differently to one in an Arcmages dungeon for example. The walls of a magically constructed trap might be super smooth and almost impossible to climb while the goblins was dug with shovels quickly and will be much easier to climb out of. Maybe the Goblins spikes are poisoned while the Arcmages pit instead triggers an alarm that calls a Golem sentry, etc! Traps can be deadly depending on the group and DM style. BUT I'd caution making it very obvious that a deadly trap would logically be present and allow the PCs to make a Terrible mistake. Critical role spoilers Vex'halia in Campaign 1 AND Veth in Campaign 2 both died instantly to deadly traps (and were successfully resurrected.) Both times it was painfully obvious and telegraphed and super likely that a deadly trap was present and people tried to open a thing without checking for traps! Still fair for a DM to be unlike Matt and make this unlikely such as the common houserule where Rogues and parties of LV 8 plus are automatically assumed to check for traps when it logically would be present and the DM simply asks for a role rather than 'gatcha' damaging PCs who forgot one time. However its equally valid for a trap TO be triggered when a greedy/hasty and incautious PC describes the character very incautiously doing an action that clearly did not consider checking for traps first! Do what you and YOUR group prefers. In high danger horrific campaigns (hard mode) Always insist the PC has to ask to check for traps AND include more and deadlier traps. In heroic lower danger (easy mode) campaigns consider an 'auto check' once they reach a level threshold the Character would always remember to check as muscle memory after their long adventuring career after all their lives literally depend on it! Is the character logically likely to forget? Really? After all a player has a real life and distractions the Character does not! Fun video thanks!
I, for one, would love to hear your passive perception rant. I'm guessing it's similar to Luke's. I used the click rule for the lone trap thus far in my first campaign. It was a spiked weighted net that dropped down over the wider opening of a goblin cave that was supposed to bog them down during combat (and became a caltrop effect once on the ground, putting them in a death zone of arrows and warg-mounted hobgoblins. Combat had already begun, and my older brother decided to have his character charge into the room. (As background, the party had long rested after a goblin raid in the night, knowing there was a survivor and more in the cave where they were from, with plenty of time to prep). It was supposed to catch the majority of the party, so the trigger was at the end range of the net, after rocky and difficult terrain. He used his action to dash and ran out of movement as he hit the trigger. He said he would dive forward, but I ruled that "he could certainly try" but he was out of movement at the literal end of his sprint and got caught anyways. I felt kind of bad being a new DM and all, giving him a quick choice, but then saying it didn't work, but I felt that it held up to scrutiny.
I’m not sure if anyone else does this, but what I like to do when it comes up is when my players trigger a trap and I go into describing the effect, they may sometimes react if they give a good enough idea before I get to the result. Usually I save this for the more dangerous traps to make them more avoidable or survivable by mitigating the damage. For example if they just react with “oh no!” Then it continues to hit, but if they say “I drop prone” or “I dodge to the side” quick enough I may let them make an initiative (Dex) save to see if they react quick enough. If they drop prone under a rolling boulder or collapsing roof though, it doesn’t necessarily help, but it could result in them getting trapped and buried rather than crushed to reward them for trying to be creative.
Rant on passive perception, Coach! I have a PC who has a passive of 29 and I've been working crazy workarounds to accommodate this for almost a year, but always want to hear your "outside the box" thoughts.
I'd definitely like to hear your thoughts on passive perception. I have sort of a stop-gap solution of decreasing the calculation to 8 + perception bonus to keep in line with how many DC's are calculated (Spell DC, Maneuvers, etc) which makes it a little less "all-seeing" if a character has a high perception score
I will TOTALLY try your Click rule! I love it and I think it can really good to wake up some of my players who are too passive because they just want punch some monsters...
I love using the click rule. I also have no idea where I heard of it but have been using it for a long while. Some players (the ones who play on their phones a lot) typically are the only ones who don't like it. Most people enjoy the method and it makes traps more interesting.
As part of a world building I made a insect that eats magic called Ebbflies (too many swarm like locusts, even to the point of catastrophe in the past). I used the flies as clues for the party to notice old magical traps in the catacombs of a military fort. I recently ran a mini dungeon through a small quartz mine turned wizard's laboratory. It had a handful of delay/deplete traps and illusions that relied on magic stored in crystals still embedded in the walls. They were able to disarm the final trap involving a confusion trap and golem by literally digging the up the golem and fighting it before the trap could properly trigger.
In my current game, my (level 6) players are clearing out a mine that has been infested with kobolds and has already claimed several other lower level adventuring parties. The kobolds have set many traps leading to their main lair area. One of the ones I liked the most was a statue, that at a distance was indistinguishable from a real kobold. In front of the statue was a 15 foot pit, with a gelatinous cube at the bottom. Sure, it's only a 10 foot drop, straight ankle/knee deep into a gelatinous cube.
This was a super informative video, nd i really love the click rule. Gonna use it in my games from now on, see how it goes. You actually got me laughing at the jumping part. I could see it in my head.
The click trap sounds cool but I'm not sure if it could work in my online game. I can imagine the players are gonna talk over each other and I wouldn't understand what anyone is saying xD I think how I'd do it is after I say click, I'd also go with the ol "what do you do" starting from the font to back but I'll give them 5-10 seconds to react. If they want more clues on the trap, they can choose to make a perception check but at the cost of being affected or damaged by the trap, sacrificing their HP to gather info for the party. Those who don't will have to go with their gut.
small question: how would you implement traps that player uses? a player of mine wanted to be specialised on that and bait others in the selfmade traps, what options/ideas/tools would you have for him?
I have a Ranger homebrew subclass that is going to be released soon, but thats a whiole system based around a subclass. Overall I would just establish resources used, gold spent and time spent, then choose what I want to have them make checks for. I dont have a full system for Players using traps, I usualy handle that on a case by case basis!
Hey i know Im not the coach but i might be able to help. But I think that maybe you could use spells as a template for the players trap. So things like entanglement or true strike. If the player rolls for setting up the trap then that could determine the DC. And, just thinking outside the box here, maybe if they have something like a bear trap that they use all the time, they can get it enchanted as to add an effect to the trap. So if youre thinking of the bear trap as a viscous mockery spell with piercing instead of psychic. Then you can add an additional effect like maybe the creature needs to spend an action to remove it or keep takings the d4 and the disadvantage. Think of it like the Tomebrew from the Coach's older video. Hope that helps!
@@statics128 that helps a lot to have traps that work like some spells. also others traps that can be enchanted to change damage or add effects with a Glyph of Warding sound nice, even if the second one somehow need the object to stay. @The Dungeon Coach using resources also sound fair, esp to look how much times you can use it, does they need reparations and how much preparation does the player need to make it work. at end making this a little stronger then a compared spell sounds fair or what do you think? thanks to you two :)
I run passive checks as the PLAYER is being passive. It only makes sense that a character would keep their head on a swivel. So if I don’t want to slow down the game or ruin the tone I’ll just take passives.
So to tie it onto what Coach said with giving them a nugget. That nugget depends on the passives. Then when PCs start doing something with the nugget I gave out I start asking for rolls.
When I do clues for puzzles I usually just have group roll an insight check. Based on the roll determines how helpful I can be. Bad rolls usually have them just scratching their heads. Good rolls get a clue to progress. Great rolls get a slightly more emphasized clue. But bad rolls are usually single digit numbers only for results. Decent rolls 10 to 15. Good rolls 15 to 18. 19 or 20 is great. But clues can help just keep them toned down so as not to just give away the answer
Gawd-DAYMN! I forgot how good you were with your homebrews and explaining stuff. It's been a while (confession time) since I've watched a Coach video (as I'm not currently running/playing any 5e) but I am back to working on a new mini-campaign, and tournament adventure, do I need to up my 5e game again. And you do not disappoint my friend! Thanks for so many great ideas! Will definitely check out the Trap Playbook. Oh hey, how much of this Trap Playbook will be in Alkandar's Almanac? I should check the campaign KS notes about that. :)
Hey! I'm new to your channel and just saw your video on the dual wielding fix that you posted 1 year ago. You mentioned that fighters attacking again and again is not the flavour of fighters, but the superiority dice. I agree with this, but I do not know how to go about making this a reality. What are your ideas? (Specifically regarding Rune Knight subclass to involve superiority dice and have less attacks?)
Yeah, spicy take: don't hide the traps. There's no emotional payoff to being surprised by a trap in D&D, but it can get very interesting if the players know a room is trapped, and they have to figure out what it is and how to avoid or disarm it, especially if there's time pressure. That's a tense, heroic moment.
In my experience, traps are the most exciting when there's a time element. Not nessisary rl time, but where every action matters. You're being chased by a dangerous monster, but ahead of you is a hallway full of traps. Do you spend your action solving, detecting and avoiding? Do you delay the monster chasing you? Do you trick or shove an enemy into the traps? Undead are tumbling down from hatches above you. To close the hatch you must solve the puzzle. Perhaps there are several blood fountains in the room that requires X amounts of HP. Who holds back the skeletons? Who solves the puzzle or sacrifices hp? Does anyone instead try breaking out?
Another idea for a "Trap" is just to stall the player.... A door with a mirror mounted on it. Just perfectly mundane mirror.... A door with an obvious lock on it, that is unlocked.... (The idea is they might go off to search for the key or keys to unlock the obvious lock and then when they get back try to unlock the door they end up locking it instead.... Teaches them to check to make sure the door to make sure it's unlocked...) If they don't find the key or keys they may find that door locked behind them later on.... A small room with two basins of water one short with a wide rim, one taller, and three ropes that you can pull.... One rope that empties and refills the short basin, one that empties and refills the tall basin, and one that rings a bell... (There might also be a bar of soap sitting on the edge of the larger basin....) Then see how long it takes the players to figure out that this is a water-closet....
I've done dnd and pathfinder. I never do "random trap". They're always either puzzles or like pre-ambushes from a hiding enemy. Traps, without hiding enemies are kind of pointless. A trap in a dungeon had to be made by someone for some purpose. I remember one notable trap was a bunch of skunks fell on them. The kobolds could then smell them coming.
Most important info repeated later "More Consequences are just needed in the game that make a difference on how to play, not just a, check this box to cure/fix me event." We need more consequences for traps...then just damage. Sorry but just damage does not scare a lot of players, its just a oh got to reroll another character but the party made it through or, oh guess ill just use a spell slot to heal them. Then nothing sure it uses some resources but it creates no tension no issues other then just some hp lowered on a players sheet. but Say you fell in to the pit, took some damage.....not much, but you failed by 5 or more on the save.....that leg of yours or arm isnt looking too good that you landed on (either broken or sprained) that axe trap did some damage you keep your head since the damage didnt kill you but, that slash your shoulder looks a bit harsher then you would expect (either infection, or it heals with a perament scar that hurts if hit, I dont know I have ideas no solid rules of this) but that also leads to certain spells that I agree are too boring for what they do, Remove curse, cure disease, Greater Restoration, and such. Consequences are either not a worry, or a great no one played a caster class that has these issues. (aka only a worry if you dont have the answer, to much one sided extremes) Yeah playing a archer that canNOT use a bow because your arm is broken is a boring idea, but its real. Could you use a party members crossbow and just take longer to reload it or have to pass it to some one else to reload. Do you have other means of doing ranged attacks if that is your only style of fighting? maybe those short shorts you have could actually have some use in the GOOD hand/arm. Throwing daggers anyone? There are so many other things your character can choose to do then just use a bow...... Sure a good type of how healing could work to fix broken bones or other such injuries would be useful info, but what if those healed injuries from magical means is like a band-aid only, and future stress on the said body part could cause issues or re-injury? More Consequences are just needed in the game that make a difference on how to play, not just a, check this box to cure/fix me event.
Who made the traps and why? When the dwarves and elves, finally allied against a common foe, were being driven out of the land by a plague of monsters they retreated to the extensive mine network under the mountains. They were being driven back further into a final enclave so they hit upon the strategy of creating traps for the advancing foe. Many of their treasures were too large to haul, so they used those as bait. Then when the army of the coalition of LIches and their minions had conquered the land, they took up residence in the warrens and began warring among themselves. But the Liches became more reclusive as they hid in the deepest levels and created magical items as bait for each others armies to fall into the new traps and as parts of the traps. Nobody has heard from them lately and they may have died. Is it safe to go in and see if there's any loot left?
Traps should absolutely be deadly. But they should make sense most of all. If a bad guy makes a trap they aren't going to label it. If a trap is in a dungeon where an evil lich was sealed away, there should be traps to keep their followers from releasing them. And there should be signs like a skeleton or 2 on the floor. Traps with clever solutions should be for like treasures or pathways the trap setter uses regularly.
Traps are meant to capture, disable, warn, or kill. If a trap it's doing 1 of those 4 things, then it's a stupid trap. Depleting resources is weak sauce, don't do that. Resources are being depleted throughout entire dungeon, you don't need a trap for that. Traps SHOULD NOT HAVE CLUES OR WARNINGS (that defeats the entire purpose of a trap). Instant kill traps are great, traps that cage PCs are great, traps that strip weapons and armor from PCs are great, traps that sound alarms are great. Traps that knockout PCs are great. Got it?
What do YOU do to make traps more fun??
📑 Download the Bonus Level Up Perks Vol 6 PDF here:
💜 Become a Patron: www.patreon.com/thedungeoncoach
OR
🔮 On my Website: thedungeoncoach.com/products/dc-playbook-vol-6
Also please do puzzles too - I love taking your ideas Ned getting inspired :3
Seconded
Tailored to the player's skills - brilliant. Tapping into player's untapped resources - next level.
It's such a simple piece of advice. But it is good enough to add to my list of "good ideas" for dnd
Have used the click rule for a bit now. The best response was after the "click", the player rolled forward which triggered another "click", "click", "click" from the poison dart traps on the floor. He walked away without too much damage though.
Should have killed him lol
Yes, please do do a rant on passive skills.
Along with Traps I highly recommend Hazards. Such as deep sticky mud or thorny bushes, crumbling ground or falling rocks, etc. These are easy to hint at and feel extremely natural!
I'll be including lots of hazards in the 5e compatible book I'm currently working on.
Thinking as you design traps about how a player might disarm them without a thieves tool based simple check really helps me as well.
When using passive perception give the clues about the trap to the players with the highest passive perception and Investigation. They invested in their characters design this way allow it to pay off for them!
Consider while using the 'click' rule to give advantage on saves vs traps to all PCs whose passive perception was high enough to notice the trap. (before then adjusting based on the actions they choose to take).
I also say think about the materials, skills and magic/tech was available to the trapbuilders and remember to build and flavor the traps to WHO built them, How long they had to build them and Why they built the trap.
A barbaric goblins 10 foot spiked pit trap will look/feel and act differently to one in an Arcmages dungeon for example.
The walls of a magically constructed trap might be super smooth and almost impossible to climb while the goblins was dug with shovels quickly and will be much easier to climb out of. Maybe the Goblins spikes are poisoned while the Arcmages pit instead triggers an alarm that calls a Golem sentry, etc!
Traps can be deadly depending on the group and DM style. BUT I'd caution making it very obvious that a deadly trap would logically be present and allow the PCs to make a Terrible mistake.
Critical role spoilers
Vex'halia in Campaign 1 AND Veth in Campaign 2 both died instantly to deadly traps (and were successfully resurrected.)
Both times it was painfully obvious and telegraphed and super likely that a deadly trap was present and people tried to open a thing without checking for traps!
Still fair for a DM to be unlike Matt and make this unlikely such as the common houserule where Rogues and parties of LV 8 plus are automatically assumed to check for traps when it logically would be present and the DM simply asks for a role rather than 'gatcha' damaging PCs who forgot one time.
However its equally valid for a trap TO be triggered when a greedy/hasty and incautious PC describes the character very incautiously doing an action that clearly did not consider checking for traps first!
Do what you and YOUR group prefers.
In high danger horrific campaigns (hard mode) Always insist the PC has to ask to check for traps AND include more and deadlier traps.
In heroic lower danger (easy mode) campaigns consider an 'auto check' once they reach a level threshold the Character would always remember to check as muscle memory after their long adventuring career after all their lives literally depend on it! Is the character logically likely to forget? Really? After all a player has a real life and distractions the Character does not!
Fun video thanks!
I, for one, would love to hear your passive perception rant. I'm guessing it's similar to Luke's.
I used the click rule for the lone trap thus far in my first campaign. It was a spiked weighted net that dropped down over the wider opening of a goblin cave that was supposed to bog them down during combat (and became a caltrop effect once on the ground, putting them in a death zone of arrows and warg-mounted hobgoblins. Combat had already begun, and my older brother decided to have his character charge into the room. (As background, the party had long rested after a goblin raid in the night, knowing there was a survivor and more in the cave where they were from, with plenty of time to prep). It was supposed to catch the majority of the party, so the trigger was at the end range of the net, after rocky and difficult terrain. He used his action to dash and ran out of movement as he hit the trigger. He said he would dive forward, but I ruled that "he could certainly try" but he was out of movement at the literal end of his sprint and got caught anyways. I felt kind of bad being a new DM and all, giving him a quick choice, but then saying it didn't work, but I felt that it held up to scrutiny.
Just downloaded the PDF. Thank you. Will be putting it to good to use in my 2e homebrew.
I use the click method. I love how it allows the players themselves to avoid the trap based on their decision.
I'd definitely be interested in hearing your thoughts about passive perception, and passive skills in general!
This System is a great Idea! Good Job Dungeon Coach!👍
I’m not sure if anyone else does this, but what I like to do when it comes up is when my players trigger a trap and I go into describing the effect, they may sometimes react if they give a good enough idea before I get to the result. Usually I save this for the more dangerous traps to make them more avoidable or survivable by mitigating the damage.
For example if they just react with “oh no!” Then it continues to hit, but if they say “I drop prone” or “I dodge to the side” quick enough I may let them make an initiative (Dex) save to see if they react quick enough. If they drop prone under a rolling boulder or collapsing roof though, it doesn’t necessarily help, but it could result in them getting trapped and buried rather than crushed to reward them for trying to be creative.
And then I continue with the video and you mention the “click rule” 😂
HAHAHAHAH I got in your head and edited the video WHILE you watched it lol
I´ve never heard of the click rule, but it looks awesome. I will use it from now on, it makes traps fun for everyone!
Rant on passive perception, Coach! I have a PC who has a passive of 29 and I've been working crazy workarounds to accommodate this for almost a year, but always want to hear your "outside the box" thoughts.
Love the click mechanic! Helps them pay attention 👌 lol
I honestly love the idea of the click rule! I'm keen to use it in my next dungeon.
The "click" rule from Dael Kingsmill is great.
Yes. Passive perception please :)
I'd definitely like to hear your thoughts on passive perception. I have sort of a stop-gap solution of decreasing the calculation to 8 + perception bonus to keep in line with how many DC's are calculated (Spell DC, Maneuvers, etc) which makes it a little less "all-seeing" if a character has a high perception score
Yo the 'click' rule sounds so fun, that would be genuinely thrilling!
I will TOTALLY try your Click rule! I love it and I think it can really good to wake up some of my players who are too passive because they just want punch some monsters...
I've found that "I roll backwards!" is the most common response to the click rule. It works in most all situations
I love using the click rule. I also have no idea where I heard of it but have been using it for a long while. Some players (the ones who play on their phones a lot) typically are the only ones who don't like it. Most people enjoy the method and it makes traps more interesting.
Definitely gonna talk to my DM about the click rule as our group lack of spontaneity sometimes!
Continue to do awesome content !
As part of a world building I made a insect that eats magic called Ebbflies (too many swarm like locusts, even to the point of catastrophe in the past). I used the flies as clues for the party to notice old magical traps in the catacombs of a military fort.
I recently ran a mini dungeon through a small quartz mine turned wizard's laboratory. It had a handful of delay/deplete traps and illusions that relied on magic stored in crystals still embedded in the walls. They were able to disarm the final trap involving a confusion trap and golem by literally digging the up the golem and fighting it before the trap could properly trigger.
Trap resource is great! Hope it's received well!
In my current game, my (level 6) players are clearing out a mine that has been infested with kobolds and has already claimed several other lower level adventuring parties. The kobolds have set many traps leading to their main lair area. One of the ones I liked the most was a statue, that at a distance was indistinguishable from a real kobold. In front of the statue was a 15 foot pit, with a gelatinous cube at the bottom. Sure, it's only a 10 foot drop, straight ankle/knee deep into a gelatinous cube.
This was a super informative video, nd i really love the click rule. Gonna use it in my games from now on, see how it goes.
You actually got me laughing at the jumping part. I could see it in my head.
Good ideas
I try to use these in my games
Passive Perception Rant!!
Click rule sounds so epic.
please share your passive perception rant!!!
The click trap sounds cool but I'm not sure if it could work in my online game. I can imagine the players are gonna talk over each other and I wouldn't understand what anyone is saying xD
I think how I'd do it is after I say click, I'd also go with the ol "what do you do" starting from the font to back but I'll give them 5-10 seconds to react. If they want more clues on the trap, they can choose to make a perception check but at the cost of being affected or damaged by the trap, sacrificing their HP to gather info for the party. Those who don't will have to go with their gut.
small question: how would you implement traps that player uses?
a player of mine wanted to be specialised on that and bait others in the selfmade traps, what options/ideas/tools would you have for him?
I have a Ranger homebrew subclass that is going to be released soon, but thats a whiole system based around a subclass. Overall I would just establish resources used, gold spent and time spent, then choose what I want to have them make checks for. I dont have a full system for Players using traps, I usualy handle that on a case by case basis!
Hey i know Im not the coach but i might be able to help. But I think that maybe you could use spells as a template for the players trap. So things like entanglement or true strike. If the player rolls for setting up the trap then that could determine the DC. And, just thinking outside the box here, maybe if they have something like a bear trap that they use all the time, they can get it enchanted as to add an effect to the trap.
So if youre thinking of the bear trap as a viscous mockery spell with piercing instead of psychic. Then you can add an additional effect like maybe the creature needs to spend an action to remove it or keep takings the d4 and the disadvantage.
Think of it like the Tomebrew from the Coach's older video.
Hope that helps!
@@statics128 that helps a lot to have traps that work like some spells. also others traps that can be enchanted to change damage or add effects with a Glyph of Warding sound nice, even if the second one somehow need the object to stay.
@The Dungeon Coach using resources also sound fair, esp to look how much times you can use it, does they need reparations and how much preparation does the player need to make it work. at end making this a little stronger then a compared spell sounds fair or what do you think?
thanks to you two :)
Thanks for the video!
I run passive checks as the PLAYER is being passive. It only makes sense that a character would keep their head on a swivel. So if I don’t want to slow down the game or ruin the tone I’ll just take passives.
So to tie it onto what Coach said with giving them a nugget. That nugget depends on the passives. Then when PCs start doing something with the nugget I gave out I start asking for rolls.
When I do clues for puzzles I usually just have group roll an insight check. Based on the roll determines how helpful I can be. Bad rolls usually have them just scratching their heads. Good rolls get a clue to progress. Great rolls get a slightly more emphasized clue. But bad rolls are usually single digit numbers only for results. Decent rolls 10 to 15. Good rolls 15 to 18. 19 or 20 is great. But clues can help just keep them toned down so as not to just give away the answer
High INT characters can roll investigation after scouring the room too. But yeah. Insight is usually my go to
Gawd-DAYMN! I forgot how good you were with your homebrews and explaining stuff. It's been a while (confession time) since I've watched a Coach video (as I'm not currently running/playing any 5e) but I am back to working on a new mini-campaign, and tournament adventure, do I need to up my 5e game again. And you do not disappoint my friend! Thanks for so many great ideas! Will definitely check out the Trap Playbook.
Oh hey, how much of this Trap Playbook will be in Alkandar's Almanac? I should check the campaign KS notes about that. :)
Nice job young man! Instant subscribe! 😃👍
The movie scene from star wars with the Ewoks are great trap examples.
I believe the click rule is from Dale!
I love traps, like Astolfo.
If i recall correctly, *click* came from Taking 20. Been a while since i have watched him though.
It's a shame this didn't hit the 1k likes, but I guess I missed this upload, maybe others did too. Either way, it was helpful.
Hey! I'm new to your channel and just saw your video on the dual wielding fix that you posted 1 year ago. You mentioned that fighters attacking again and again is not the flavour of fighters, but the superiority dice. I agree with this, but I do not know how to go about making this a reality. What are your ideas? (Specifically regarding Rune Knight subclass to involve superiority dice and have less attacks?)
Yeah, spicy take: don't hide the traps. There's no emotional payoff to being surprised by a trap in D&D, but it can get very interesting if the players know a room is trapped, and they have to figure out what it is and how to avoid or disarm it, especially if there's time pressure. That's a tense, heroic moment.
In my experience, traps are the most exciting when there's a time element. Not nessisary rl time, but where every action matters. You're being chased by a dangerous monster, but ahead of you is a hallway full of traps. Do you spend your action solving, detecting and avoiding? Do you delay the monster chasing you? Do you trick or shove an enemy into the traps?
Undead are tumbling down from hatches above you. To close the hatch you must solve the puzzle. Perhaps there are several blood fountains in the room that requires X amounts of HP. Who holds back the skeletons? Who solves the puzzle or sacrifices hp? Does anyone instead try breaking out?
Another idea for a "Trap" is just to stall the player....
A door with a mirror mounted on it. Just perfectly mundane mirror....
A door with an obvious lock on it, that is unlocked.... (The idea is they might go off to search for the key or keys to unlock the obvious lock and then when they get back try to unlock the door they end up locking it instead.... Teaches them to check to make sure the door to make sure it's unlocked...) If they don't find the key or keys they may find that door locked behind them later on....
A small room with two basins of water one short with a wide rim, one taller, and three ropes that you can pull.... One rope that empties and refills the short basin, one that empties and refills the tall basin, and one that rings a bell... (There might also be a bar of soap sitting on the edge of the larger basin....) Then see how long it takes the players to figure out that this is a water-closet....
I love the "click" rule
I’m ready for this - I’m also super ready fir your book - make it come out so I can give you my money !!!!!!!!! >:)
Deal! lol I am literally 3 pages away from finishing it!!! (then re publiching steps begin, but SO CLOSE)
I've done dnd and pathfinder. I never do "random trap". They're always either puzzles or like pre-ambushes from a hiding enemy.
Traps, without hiding enemies are kind of pointless. A trap in a dungeon had to be made by someone for some purpose. I remember one notable trap was a bunch of skunks fell on them. The kobolds could then smell them coming.
A potentially amusing trap might be one that covers/drenches one or more of the characters with honey. Because many creatures love the taste of honey.
I think I’d go click. Perception check. Then in order of that check’s success, they can be more informed about how they dodge
Love traps but I am hesitant with them. My first DnD party was famous for dying to pitfall traps.
I also love traps.
Are you & WallyDM doing the next trap video together? I love crossover episodes.
Most important info repeated later
"More Consequences are just needed in the game that make a difference on how to play, not just a, check this box to cure/fix me event."
We need more consequences for traps...then just damage. Sorry but just damage does not scare a lot of players, its just a oh got to reroll another character but the party made it through or, oh guess ill just use a spell slot to heal them. Then nothing sure it uses some resources but it creates no tension no issues other then just some hp lowered on a players sheet.
but
Say you fell in to the pit, took some damage.....not much, but you failed by 5 or more on the save.....that leg of yours or arm isnt looking too good that you landed on (either broken or sprained)
that axe trap did some damage you keep your head since the damage didnt kill you but, that slash your shoulder looks a bit harsher then you would expect (either infection, or it heals with a perament scar that hurts if hit, I dont know I have ideas no solid rules of this)
but that also leads to certain spells that I agree are too boring for what they do, Remove curse, cure disease, Greater Restoration, and such. Consequences are either not a worry, or a great no one played a caster class that has these issues. (aka only a worry if you dont have the answer, to much one sided extremes)
Yeah playing a archer that canNOT use a bow because your arm is broken is a boring idea, but its real. Could you use a party members crossbow and just take longer to reload it or have to pass it to some one else to reload. Do you have other means of doing ranged attacks if that is your only style of fighting?
maybe those short shorts you have could actually have some use in the GOOD hand/arm. Throwing daggers anyone?
There are so many other things your character can choose to do then just use a bow......
Sure a good type of how healing could work to fix broken bones or other such injuries would be useful info, but what if those healed injuries from magical means is like a band-aid only, and future stress on the said body part could cause issues or re-injury?
More Consequences are just needed in the game that make a difference on how to play, not just a, check this box to cure/fix me event.
Did some say merely a setback? KT
Who made the traps and why? When the dwarves and elves, finally allied against a common foe, were being driven out of the land by a plague of monsters they retreated to the extensive mine network under the mountains. They were being driven back further into a final enclave so they hit upon the strategy of creating traps for the advancing foe. Many of their treasures were too large to haul, so they used those as bait. Then when the army of the coalition of LIches and their minions had conquered the land, they took up residence in the warrens and began warring among themselves. But the Liches became more reclusive as they hid in the deepest levels and created magical items as bait for each others armies to fall into the new traps and as parts of the traps. Nobody has heard from them lately and they may have died. Is it safe to go in and see if there's any loot left?
So an inconvenient trap can kill a wizard. Welp
Traps should absolutely be deadly. But they should make sense most of all. If a bad guy makes a trap they aren't going to label it.
If a trap is in a dungeon where an evil lich was sealed away, there should be traps to keep their followers from releasing them. And there should be signs like a skeleton or 2 on the floor. Traps with clever solutions should be for like treasures or pathways the trap setter uses regularly.
The click rule, I’m stealing.
Yes, please. Passive perception rant.
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Traps are meant to capture, disable, warn, or kill. If a trap it's doing 1 of those 4 things, then it's a stupid trap. Depleting resources is weak sauce, don't do that. Resources are being depleted throughout entire dungeon, you don't need a trap for that. Traps SHOULD NOT HAVE CLUES OR WARNINGS (that defeats the entire purpose of a trap). Instant kill traps are great, traps that cage PCs are great, traps that strip weapons and armor from PCs are great, traps that sound alarms are great. Traps that knockout PCs are great. Got it?
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