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Post by DnDPaladin on Jun 4, 2015 5:55:36 GMT
oh my god, so much DM metagaming !!! if you want to kill your players, kill them already !
just joking... i was remembering someone telling me how much metagaming a gelatinous cube was. great ideas there, seriously. the gelatinous cube in the pit is a classic. you know what i liked as well. the idea of it having drinked out a potion of spiderclimbing, giving it a climb speed to come out of the hole if food is near by.
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Post by lordbryon on Jun 4, 2015 13:36:27 GMT
I never delved into the Tomb of Horrors but I've met many a player who still suffers from PTSD when the topic of that epic dungeon arises.
I was playing some Skyrim last night and I came across a trap. The trap in the game isn't really that complex, You walk into a room and the floor rises quickly to crush you onto spikes on the ceiling. After nearly meeting my demise on this thing I thought about our 100ft deep pit and how it would be funny to watch the player fall down and break himself only to realize that the floor starts rising up and gains speed quickly. The other characters watch as their buddy rises up towards them then they all look up, simultaneously for dramatic effect, and see that there is a nice smear of dried blood and gore above them. Before they can do anything "SPLAT" their buddy gets added to the sickly paste above or since he's hurt give him/her disadvantage on a DC 25 dexterity save to get off and time his escape. If he succeeds forgo the next bit. But when he fails have the remaining party members make a Constitution save, if they fail they vomit from the sight. Follow that with a Will save to see if they can summon the resolve to continue into the dungeon. Those that failed the Con save get disadvantage on the Will save. Fighter succeeds the saves and says "dib's on his sword"
Or instead of a "SPLAT" have the elevator trap the victim in a pit a level above the party. A pit filled with ghouls or other flesh eating monsters appropriate to the party's level. The party forced to listen to his/her screams for help as he/she is consumed. **shudders** Fighter says "When we find his/her corps I get the sword"
And then as you suggested 20ft down the corridor a second 100ft deep pit trap awaits.
A few have mentioned an illusory pit trap. How about a real pit trap with the an illusion cast on it to look just as it is. That way when the mage uses detect magic he falsely assures the group that it's just an illusion. So with confidence he makes his first step and falls to his death..... I like that idea.
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Post by lordmorbius on Jun 4, 2015 14:23:41 GMT
oh my god, so much DM metagaming !!! if you want to kill your players, kill them already ! That's the funny thing. My players were some really sharp guys that were suspicious of EVERYTHING. Regular traps were child's play to them, so over the years my traps had to get more and more insidious and complex in nature. Even overly elaborate "Wilie Coyote" style "Killer Dungeon" traps like I described earlier usually wouldn't catch them...usually, that is. However, when one of my traps did "spring", the spine-tingling, hair raising, escape by the skin of your teeth (what I like to call Indiana Jones Style), using nothing but your wits and a bit of luck, sure made the game seem more satisfying all around. =D
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Post by lordmorbius on Jun 4, 2015 14:32:34 GMT
A few have mentioned an illusory pit trap. How about a real pit trap with the an illusion cast on it to look just as it is. That way when the mage uses detect magic he falsely assures the group that it's just an illusion. So with confidence he makes his first step and falls to his death..... I like that idea. *Evil chuckle* I rather like the 100ft deep pit trap, with an illusion of it only being 5 feet deep... "Aha...its only an illusion! SEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..." *add sound effect of a wet, meaty "SPLAT" just a moment after the echo fades*
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Jun 11, 2015 15:55:40 GMT
Magical traps that polymorph armor and clothing into... LAVA...not only stripping players of their armor but burning them horribly in the process (Armor gets a save vs magic to not polymorph), are traps that only the daft would not take seriously. This is a VERY bad idea for longer running games, destroying their equipment isn't something many players will put up with, and this puts it several steps higher on the list of hit the DM with your PHB in the face by adding horrible injury to the character in the process...
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Post by lordbryon on Jun 11, 2015 18:43:45 GMT
Magical traps that polymorph armor and clothing into... LAVA...not only stripping players of their armor but burning them horribly in the process (Armor gets a save vs magic to not polymorph), are traps that only the daft would not take seriously. This is a VERY bad idea for longer running games, destroying their equipment isn't something many players will put up with, and this puts it several steps higher on the list of hit the DM with your PHB in the face by adding horrible injury to the character in the process... LOL.... I think we can all agree to agree that sometimes PC's have it coming. Others of us are just evil by nature.. I think I now know what to put on the back (the part the players see) of my homemade DM screen BEWARE!!!! Chaotic Evil Dungeon Master..... Muhaahahahhahaahha..a *cough, cough* ha Although I agree that destroying PC's gear is a little mean. I rather like the concept of stealing the PC's gear then making them figure out who took it and then go and get it over the course of a couple of sessions. I also love then putting an item in the treasure hoard of the baddy they just bested that is a notch above the equipment they lost in the first place. I love watching the players throw something away that they spent hours trying to get back because they found something more powerful. I've also created sentient equipment that is totally offended at the PC for being cast off in favor of a "better" item. The items sole purpose is to destroy the PC that shunned it.
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Post by onethatwas on Jun 12, 2015 0:47:08 GMT
I had seeded my groups treasure horde with at least 3 ways of quickly divesting them of said treasure. Some of them had suspicions of my evil plans...they were always wary of special treasure items.
One I liked in particular was a Coin Golem, a specially developed golem creature from 2e (Ravenloft had the best cursed treasure items...). Essentially, the golem appears as a specially minted coin. When in contact with any number of other coins, it can gather them and use them to take any form.
Basically it behaves like an ooze in some ways, but can mimic any other creature it wants.
And it has only one goal: amass a bigger treasure for itself. So it rather effectively goes about stealing treasure, AND makes a rather interesting villain.
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Post by thedmg on Jun 12, 2015 6:07:54 GMT
Sometimes you just want a dungeon that can swallow them whole and then spit them out without any equipment - naked and afraid!
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Post by lordmorbius on Jun 12, 2015 12:55:42 GMT
Magical traps that polymorph armor and clothing into... LAVA...not only stripping players of their armor but burning them horribly in the process (Armor gets a save vs magic to not polymorph), are traps that only the daft would not take seriously. This is a VERY bad idea for longer running games, destroying their equipment isn't something many players will put up with, and this puts it several steps higher on the list of hit the DM with your PHB in the face by adding horrible injury to the character in the process... For long term, ongoing campaigns, of course it is outrageous and over the top. However, for one shot adventures and tournament game play, with adventure specific characters created just for the scenario (that you'll never see the character or their gear again once the scenario is over), it can be great fun for seasoned, veteran players to see if they can outwit the most clever and lethal "KILLER DUNGEON" their DM can come up with. (Disclaimer: To qualify as an official "KILLER DUNGEON" it actually is required that the scenario by completable with the supplied characters and their gear. Typically the tournament DMs from our local game club, having foreknowledge of the dangers in the scenario, have to be able to complete it, thus proving that it can be done (sans bad dice rolls), just to make sure players actually do have a chance).
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Post by lordmorbius on Jun 12, 2015 13:02:51 GMT
Sometimes you just want a dungeon that can swallow them whole and then spit them out without any equipment - naked and afraid! Darn Tootin' =D
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sotf
Advice Guru
Posts: 1,084
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Post by sotf on Jun 12, 2015 19:30:50 GMT
This is a VERY bad idea for longer running games, destroying their equipment isn't something many players will put up with, and this puts it several steps higher on the list of hit the DM with your PHB in the face by adding horrible injury to the character in the process... LOL.... I think we can all agree to agree that sometimes PC's have it coming. Others of us are just evil by nature.. I think I now know what to put on the back (the part the players see) of my homemade DM screen BEWARE!!!! Chaotic Evil Dungeon Master..... Muhaahahahhahaahha..a *cough, cough* ha Although I agree that destroying PC's gear is a little mean. I rather like the concept of stealing the PC's gear then making them figure out who took it and then go and get it over the course of a couple of sessions. I also love then putting an item in the treasure hoard of the baddy they just bested that is a notch above the equipment they lost in the first place. I love watching the players throw something away that they spent hours trying to get back because they found something more powerful. I've also created sentient equipment that is totally offended at the PC for being cast off in favor of a "better" item. The items sole purpose is to destroy the PC that shunned it. Most of the players I have will go out of their way to improve certain pieces of gear they already have before doing anything with the pieces that are in the horde unless they're especially interesting...save the girl currently playing a barbarian who basically has the golf bag approach and at level 7 already has a pile of weapons she has with her.
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Post by ogrestamp on Aug 29, 2015 2:30:09 GMT
I love the idea of the non-trap. I've put in simple things in a room or a corridor only to watch the party puzzle over them for quite a longer time I thought they would. I am running a campaign, but have a side dungeon I call the Dungeon Crawl for those times when the whole party can't get together but the remaining peeps still want to play. In the beginning I had a ruined temple that had a basic empty room with a door on the other side, which lead down to the dungeon proper. Since I was making that level the old tombs of the temple, I figured there would be treasure worth grabbing, so the temple inhabitants would have tried a simple solution to keep most thieves out. They filled the room the party was facing with sand. That way the temple peeps could tell if someone was tampering with the tombs. Now that it's a ruin, the sand is still there and the party has no idea why it's there. They thought for sure that it was a trap or a monster (a la Star Wars). So they sent the rogue in to investigate There was an alcove in the room and I put a rather nice ruby in the corner, so anyone walking towards the door to the tombs would see this shining thing off in the distance. Sure enough, the rogue veered in that direction and the whole party was yelling at him to get back. Of course, nothing happened but that just sets things up for next time Oh, and I loved S1 Tomb of Horrors. I still have that module and look at it every now and again. I DM'd it when we was all young and dumb. It was actually hard to keep those players alive!
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Post by DnDPaladin on Aug 30, 2015 17:33:47 GMT
by the way... just saying.. i would never roll for my players. because it just denies them the fun of rolling the dices even if for you its useless. i always leave them rolling. the fun it gives when they roll a whooping 24 and yet still fail to see any traps.
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Post by bluecloud2k2 on Sept 14, 2015 17:58:52 GMT
Sometimes you just want a dungeon that can swallow them whole and then spit them out without any equipment - naked and afraid! I did a multi-stage trap like that once: Stage one: Stone door drop, blocking all exits. Stage Two the walls begin sliding inward. Stage Three: The party falls into a 40 foot deep shaft with a special teleportation circle at the bottom. The PCs wind up naked in the middle of the local townsquare right in the middle of a major shopping rush, and their gear got added to the Dragon's Hoard. And this was only the third chamber of the dungeon crawl! Luckily the party wizard rarely spent any gold, so was able to procure some temporary gear to get them through the dungeon after a visit to the bank.
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Post by ogrestamp on Sept 15, 2015 0:55:54 GMT
One of my best traps I ever used was an explosive rune type trap. But a kobold had written a note in really bad handwriting saying "This is not a trap. Nuthin here. Your OK." Of course it was trapped, so when the characters investigated it and set the trap off, I could spend the entire session reminding them that they got schooled by a kobold.
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