XP for obvious traps (Council of Thieves spoiler)

Anyone playing in Council of Thieves should stop reading here to avoid spoilers.

Let me set the scene. In the 5th module of Council of Thieves, the players are going through a mansion that is set up as a council training ground. Going in through the front door and following the flow of rooms, they come across a crawlway through a wall. The crawlway is trapped with a guillotine trap.

My players came in from the roof and worked their way down. They came into the room with the guillotine from the other direction. From this side, the guillotine is automatically visible. No check required. They disabled it so that they could go through the crawlway and continue exploring.

My first thought is to give half xp for the trap. They did still overcome it, but at no risk to themselves. I just wondering what others would do in my place?

Full XP. The decision to come at it from a different direction shouldn't penalize the progression anymore than accidentally killing a monster too easily. They overcame the obstacle, albeit in a way you didn't plan, so give them full xp.

Obvious traps should be used to direct PCs into NON-obvious (and much more dangerous) traps.

Obvious traps should be used to direct PCs into NON-obvious (and much more dangerous) traps.

Its a pre written adventure, being presented as written. Its a fully dangerous trap for a party coming from the intended direction. The party chose to use their abilities to come at the "dungeon" from a different direction, and as a result were able to overcome a challenge in a way different than head on (instead of the intended nature of the trap which was head off).

If you are using it in the "traditional" way (i.e. you level when you get the points), then the XP for the trap is built into the adventure, and the PCs should get the XP for "disabling" the trap, even though the method they used was unusual. After all, you probably want to encourage PCs to take some creative solutions to problems (like not going through the front doors), and if they DON'T get XP for this, you're just training them to be boring.

Of course, the other option is to say "no, this wasn't a threat, so no XP", but in that case you really should give a special "story award" for deciding to enter through the roof, which should be roughly equivalent to the XP missed.

I know that you're refereing to a pre-written adventure, but I'm just offering generalized advice on the use of obvious traps.

The thing is, it's NOT an "obvious trap". It's a hidden trap, as seen from the other side.

If the GM is making changes on the fly to "compensate" for PC cleverness (like coming in through the roof), you run the risk of both ticking off your players (why should they come up with plans if you'll just make everything harder?) and creating weird plot holes (did the people who placed the trap expect people to come in through the roof, and enter the tunnel from the "wrong" side?).

Let the players get the warm, fuzzy feeling of out-smarting the bad guys! "Wow, if we had come in through the front doors, that trap would have been murder!"

Excellent advise. Gives me something to consider. Thanks.