A word about this homebrew
This homebrew is a compendium of 10 ideas of traps you can use in your old temples. Of course you can adapt them, mix them, change the way they trigger or the way of stopping them! They are here to inspire you! It is usually better to mix traps with combat encounter, but keep in mind that the difficulty of the encounter while probably rise by one level! (But it is worth it! Indeed, an encounter with weak kobolds and 2 deadly traps can often be as memorable as a fight with a large dragon!). The damage of those traps have been set for level 1-4 adventurers. If you want to use those traps against higher level characters, you can use the damage severity table to scale them.
Art Credit : Wizards of the Coast
Blood Stone
Blood stones are created in places that have seen a lot of atrocities and... well... blood. Charged with necrotic energy, they always call for more!
When a creature within 10ft. of a blood stone should take slashing, piercing or necrotic damage, it takes an extra 1d6 necrotic damage. Moreover, when a creature within 10ft. of a blood stone should regain hit points, it regains 1d6 less hit points (minimum 0).
Creapy Crawlers' Pit
Just a pool or a river, but instead of being made of a liquid, it is full of creepy little creatures (spiders, scorpions, snakes, rats, etc.)!
A creature can swim in a creapy crawlers' pit like it would do in a liquid, but :
- It takes 1d10 poison damage when it enters the pit and at the start of each of its turn.
- It is blinded and deafened if it is completely submerged (head under the surface).
Moreover, a creature that starts its turn within the pit or within 10 feet of it must succeed a wisdom saving throw or be frighten of the pit for 1 minute.
A frighten creature can make a new wisdom saving throw at the end of each of its turn, ending the condition on a success. A creature that succeeds the saving throw is immune to that effect for the next 24 hours.
When a damaging spell is cast on an area of the pit, all the crawlers inside that area die : swimming in that area no longer inflicts poison damage. The other effects still apply.
Falling Ground
The ground falls when you stay on it for too long!
When a creature starts its turn on the trapped ground, each 5-foot-square it was staying on starts to shake slightly. At the end of the turn, it falls! The area is now a hole that might lead to an other room (full of monsters?), or maybe to a pit full of lava or sharp spikes.
Flood
Water rises every round in that room!
At the start of each round, water rises 10 feet. The only way to stop/reverse it is a lever, either at the other side of the room, at the top of it, or at the bottom of the water.
Ideas to make the trap more interesting :
- add a lot of elements in the room that can be climbed or jumped on like tables, platforms, wood beams, chandeliers etc.
- add enemies above the surface and/or in the water!
- change the water for an other liquid like magma, acid, blood or sand, eventually causing damage to creatures that fall in it.
- add multiple levers to stop the flooding (they might also have other effects, like releasing hungry monsters or boil the water).
Fire Cross
A huge totem in the center of the room breath lines of fire in 4 directions!
The trap is a huge totem. At the start of each round, roll 1d4. On a 4, the totem starts glowing red. At the end of each round, if the totem is glowing, it then starts to breath 60-foot-long and 15-foot-wide lines of fire in 4 directions (North, south, east and west, or eventually in the diagonals)! Once activated, the totem keeps breathing fire until the end of the next round. It can breath multiple turns if you roll 4 again on the d4.
Each creature that enters for the first time of a turn or that starts its turn in a line of fire must make a dexterity saving throw, taking 2d10 fire damage on a fail, or half as much damage on a success.
The totem has an AC of 20 and 25 hit points. It is immune to poison, fire, necrotic and psychic damage.
For even more fun, you may add multiple fire cross in a same room, rolling a different d4 for each cross!
Giant Stone Ball
The classic giant ball!
When a creature walk on the trapped tile, A giant 10-foot-radius ball of stone fall from the ceiling and start rolling! Usually used on a corridor, the ball rolls 20 feet along the corridor at the end of each round. Each large or smaller creature on the path of the ball when it moves falls prone and takes 4d10 bludgeoning damage. A large or larger creature can try to stop the ball by readying its action for when the ball moves in an adjacent square. The creature must then make a DC20 athletic checks, stopping the ball on a success.
To make it more challenging, do not hesitate to add enemies and/or other traps along the corridor!
Alternatively, you can also use one or several giant stone balls in a room with an inclining ground! (see below). The balls then roll in the direction of the inclination of the ground when it moves.
Inclining Ground
The ground in this room tilts to make the adventurers fall (in other traps?)!
At the start of each round, the ground of the room tilts itself 10° (up to 60°). When the ground tilts, each creature standing on that ground must succeed an acrobatic checks with a DC of 10 + 1 for each 10° the ground has moved compared to the horizontal, or it falls prone and slides 5 feet toward the lowest side of the ground + 5 feet for each 10° of slope.
For instance : if the ground has already moved twice, it does now a 20° angle with the horizontal, which means the creatures in that room must succeed a DC 12 Acrobatic check or they fall prone and slide 15 feet toward the lowest side.
Creatures concentrating on a spell or a feature must also make a concentration check with that same DC.
A ground with a slope of 30° or more is a difficult terrain.
To make it even more fun, you can of course add other hazards and traps in the room, like pits full of lava or fire walls!
Alternatively, you can also roll 1d4 at the start of each round to determine the direction the ground tilt, so it can tilt in a different direction every turn. If you do so, make it tilt 20° or 30° instead of 10!
Pillars of Deadly Breath
Multiple pillars are scattered across the room. Each of them facing a random direction. When an adventurer enters the room (or touch a trigger), they all start to breath a line of acid in front of them... and start rotating!
Pillars are of medium size and have 16 AC and 16 hit points each. They initially face a random direction (you can roll 1d4 to determine it, or 1d8 if you want to take into account diagonals). Each pillar breathes a continuous 30-foot line of acid in front of it. A creature that touches the acid for the first time of a round takes 2d10 acid damage.
At the end of each round, each pillar rotates 90° (you can make than one pillar turn the other way!). As the pillar keeps breathing while rotating, the acid could touch a creature while moving from one position to an other. If a creature is in the way of the acid line when the pillar rotates, it must make a dexterity saving throw, touching the line on a fail, or dodging it on a success.
Sacrificial Altar
This dark altar call for blood. It absorbs all life around it until someone make a sacrifice on it.
When a living creature starts its turn within 500 feet of the altar, it must make a constitution saving throw, taking 1d10 necrotic damage on a fail, or half as much on a success, as the altar drains its life. That drain works even through walls and other obstacles.
A creature next to the altar can try to appease the altar by making a sacrifice as an action. When it does so, it must make a melee attack with a slashing or piercing weapon against itself or against a grappled creature. The attack automatically hit and counts as a critical hit. The altar then stop draining life for the next 24h.
You can eventually link the altar with other traps, mabe there are pillars of deadly breath or an inclining ground in that room too, and they stop only when the altar is appeased?
Sharp Pendulums
Giant axes hanging from the ceiling from chains. They start to swing when an adventurer triggers the trap.
Each pendulum moves back and forth along a line across all the room or corridor. When a creature moves through that line, it must succeed a dexterity saving throw, or it takes 2d10 slashing damage.
Small or smaller creatures or prone creatures aren't affected by the pendulums.
You can add small or crawling monsters to the room, so the adventurers have to choose between fighting them back while prone, or risking being cut in half by the giant blades.
Homebrew lovingly made by LeRoiDeCarreau
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