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The issue of traps came up in another thread, and it seems most people are unimpressed. Either a trap just kills your party outright, or you pop a charge off your wand of CLW and never give the trap a second thought. Well, I believe that traps should be a little more impressive than that, so I'm designing a few.
My theory is that for traps to really be dramatic and threatening, they shouldn't be the encounter by themselves, but should contribute to the total CR of the encounter. To that end, my traps are less likely to deal damage to players and more likely to trip them up in other ways.
Portcullis Trap:
Portcullis Trap
A large wrought iron grate drops down from the ceiling, dividing the corridor into two rooms and cutting off escape.
Type: Mechanical, Perception 20, Disable Device 20
Trigger: Location, Reset: Manual
Effect: Portcullis Door drops into place (2d4+4). DC 20 Reflex avoids, and allows an adjacent character to choose which side of the door he is on when the trap goes off.
Once triggered, the door forbids movement into or through its squares, and provides cover for any attack made through it. A DC 20 Disable Device check unlocks the door, and a DC 20 Strength check then allows the door to be lifted as a full-round action. Holding the door open requires a Strength check each round, with the DC increasing by 1 each time. Once the door is released, it re-locks and requires another Disable Device check to open.
Portcullis Trap
A large wrought iron grate drops down from the ceiling, dividing the corridor into two rooms and cutting off escape.
Type: Mechanical, Perception 20, Disable Device 20
Trigger: Location, Reset: Manual
Effect: Portcullis Door drops into place (2d4+4). DC 20 Reflex avoids, and allows an adjacent character to choose which side of the door he is on when the trap goes off.
Once triggered, the door forbids movement into or through its squares, and provides cover for any attack made through it. A DC 20 Disable Device check unlocks the door, and a DC 20 Strength check then allows the door to be lifted as a full-round action. Holding the door open requires a Strength check each round, with the DC increasing by 1 each time. Once the door is released, it re-locks and requires another Disable Device check to open.
Prison Cage Trap:
Prison Cage Trap
Steel bars shoot upwards from the floor-- not to impale, but to ensnare.
Type: Mechanical, Perception 20, Disable Device 20
Trigger: Location, Reset: Hidden Lock
Effect: Steel cage bars. DC 20 Reflex save avoids and moves character into adjacent square of his choice; otherwise the trapped character can not leave the square without succeeding on a DC 30 Escape Artist check. Other characters can not move into this square, and the square provides cover for any attack made into, out of, or through it.
Prison Cage Trap
Steel bars shoot upwards from the floor-- not to impale, but to ensnare.
Type: Mechanical, Perception 20, Disable Device 20
Trigger: Location, Reset: Hidden Lock
Effect: Steel cage bars. DC 20 Reflex save avoids and moves character into adjacent square of his choice; otherwise the trapped character can not leave the square without succeeding on a DC 30 Escape Artist check. Other characters can not move into this square, and the square provides cover for any attack made into, out of, or through it.
Conveyor Belt Trap:
Conveyor Belt Trap
The long rug traversing the room is actually a conveyor belt concealing pressure-sensitive plates
Type: Mechanical, Perception 25, Disable Device 25
Trigger: Location, Duration: 1d8+1 rounds Reset: Automatic Reset
Effect: Moving conveyor belt (CMB +15 trip and bull rush) in 25x5 area. Can not bull rush a character further than 5 feet out of its own area.
Conveyor Belt Trap
The long rug traversing the room is actually a conveyor belt concealing pressure-sensitive plates
Type: Mechanical, Perception 25, Disable Device 25
Trigger: Location, Duration: 1d8+1 rounds Reset: Automatic Reset
Effect: Moving conveyor belt (CMB +15 trip and bull rush) in 25x5 area. Can not bull rush a character further than 5 feet out of its own area.
Those are my initial ideas-- anyone else have any thoughts?