Several trap threads have described making traps interactive and fun for the whole family. The one I liked was simple: have the trap's disarm mechanism under something heavy so that the fighter or perhaps 2 PCs have to make Str checks to lift it in order for the rogue to disarm. I have a game coming up and I'm looking for examples of traps I can use instead of Perception/Disable/Rinse and Repeat.
Hm. Okay. I can give you can example of something I did. As a matter of fact, I'll give you two:
This is a short and sweet "trap," the encounter was in a domed room with perfectly smooth sides. High up on the sloped walls were two small, locked windows that each contained several mirrors. A pendulum in the center of the room was covered in daylight-sensitive spots, but only two tiny ones would actually open the door. The others caused the trap to fill the rooms with bursts of searing light that automatically struck anyone in the chamber.
The party rogue figured this out (failing the check would reveal that it was sensitive to daylight, but not that it was trapped) and then pointed out the locked mirrors on the walls to the gunslinger, who had to shoot them open with his lock-bursting deed. Meanwhile the cleric had to cast daylight at the right spot in order to unlock the door without triggering the trap. I had the fighter doing something at the time; I think he was the only one who took ranks in Knowledge: Engineering, which helped in figuring out where the daylight spell needed to be placed.
My world using deities from real-world mythology primarily and my current group of PCs have strong ties to Athena, so naturally they were intrigued when they learned the location of an artifact that is sacred to her followers, the Shield of Perseus. (For those of you unfamiliar with the myth, it was the +1 Mirrored Elysium Bronze heavy shield that Athena reportedly gave to Perseus to defend him from Medusa's petrifying gaze.)
The shield was in Perseus's Tomb, and the entire dungeon was themed after following the trials that made Perseus a mythic character in ages past. Each chamber was stylized after part of his myth, and my favorite by far was a puzzled hack-and-slash encounter based after his confrontation with the graeae. The heroes walked into the chamber to find three brass giant constructs tossing a metallic eyeball back and forth. Each room offered a piece of the myth as a clue, so the players naturally decided to take the eye from the graeae.
Well, sure enough, the eye was trapped. Anyone carrying it suffered the penalties of a Heavy Load and the graeae permanently treated anyone carrying the eye as if they had used the Intimidate portion of the Antagonize feat against them successfully. Not really a trap, but MAN that was a fun encounter!
So what can the PCs in my game do? My roster:
Party face: LG m human paladin of Iomedae
Field support: NG m dwarf cleric of Saranrae
Striker: NG m half-elf magus
Skillz monkey: CG m human ranger (Dungeon Rover)
So... the paladin's second greatest asset physically is strength and a bit of Knowledge: Engineering. The cleric is fond of firing off Fire Bolts and has stone masonry skills. The magus is an outdoorsy type focused on Str, Dex and DPR. The ranger is our "defacto trapfinder."
I suppose if I had a trap where the bypass mechanism was susceptible to heat and trapped behind heavy plates or slabs, I could have the paladin and magus pry them open while the cleric blasts it with a Fire Bolt. Alternatively I could have a complex series of interlocking gears that the magus could traverse using timing provided by the paladin's engineering knowledge; then he could use his spear to jam the right cog.
If anyone else has any examples for me I'm dying to hear them.
Any other suggestions?