D&D 5E Characters using traps - issues?

[FreeTheSlaves]

Hi all. I ran a game the other day and the players used a bunch of traps - to good effect I thought.

They set hunters traps and a line of unlit oil in a breach in a wall and later, their 2nd level PCs fought off a trio of bugbears there, taking minimal damage.
Two bugbears were caught in the hunters traps which incapacitated them for 1-2 rounds, during which they didn't benefit from their shields as they struggled to free themselves. Then 1 of them was burned by the oil trap twice (10 fire damage all up) and furthermore the fire illuminated it as it fled into the darkness, allowing it to be taken down by an arrow.

All well and good except the paltry 1d4 damage from the hunters traps drew vocal disbelief.

At the game balance level, 5 gold for the trap is well worth it. I'm not really sure how to respond to the weak damage die though. The players may have a point but I'm loathe to up that damage die.

Whadaya thunk?

 

[delericho]

Leave it as-is. If it's something that the PCs can set up quickly and cheaply (and potentially break down and reuse somewhere else later) then it should provide an advantage but not an overwhelming one. Holding back the bugbears for a round or two is actually fairly massive all by itself; any damage on top of that is really icing.

 

[ExploderWizard]

Did the PCs do anything to conceal those traps? A couple of hunters traps laying on open ground shouldn't fool anyone who can see, unless they were running at top speed and weren't paying attention.

 

[Sacrosanct]

My shadow monk in HotDQ has used bear traps along with caltrops, bearings, and oil to great effect so far. Damage is inconsequential and not really the point, IMO. The point is controlling your enemy and taking them on in manageable waves or to take them out with minimal expenditure of resources.

 

[Riley37]

If I had to choose, IRL, between putting my foot in a bear trap, or being stabbed with a sword:
I would fear the possible max damage from the sword MUCH more than the max damage from the trap.
Not that I've actually tried either.

Damage about equal to a dagger stab strikes me (so to speak) as the right scale.

 

[FreeTheSlaves]

Thanks all, glad to read similar opinions. The traps were well hidden btw - will give some foes the same traps next session and see how they feel about it on the other foot (pun intended har har).

 

[Greenstone.Walker]

If they want more damage then they should poison the traps.

 

[meomwt]

Bear traps and the like are a great way of taking some of the battlefield control away from the Wizard PC. I'm just glad my group haven't thought of them.

What I might suggest is that when the bugbears (or whatever is clamped in one) is struggling to get free, they should make DEX saving throws each turn at Disadvantage, (say, DC 12 as it is quite tricky but not impossible), and failing that, take additional 1d4 damage. Trying to keep a leg still and not get it chewed up whilst caught in one of those things is not easy, and moving it around in all those teeth is likely to have some effect.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Yar, items in 5e are a good way to off-handle one of the party roles.

Traps and caltrops work well for movement-hampering (I steer away from ball bearings, but they'd be useful, too, as is a net for any character who is proficient), oil works fine for area effects, alchemist's fire is a nice action-economy limiter, acid and poison are handy damage-spikers (as is oil in the right circumstances)....and they all combine nicely with the catapult spell....

The main weakness of traps, caltrops, ball bearings, and oil is open spaces, and the fact that they take some time to set up. Which means that in the right circumstance, they're effective, but outside of it, they're not the greatest. Which is as it should be for something you can buy off-the-rack.

It might be a ripe area to expand with a feat or something (a "trap master" feat that increases your damage, adds your prof bonus to DC's or attack rolls, maybe lets you do more with a single action with them), though, if your players really like 'em.

 

[77IM]

What I might suggest is that when the bugbears (or whatever is clamped in one) is struggling to get free, they should make DEX saving throws each turn at Disadvantage, (say, DC 12 as it is quite tricky but not impossible), and failing that, take additional 1d4 damage. Trying to keep a leg still and not get it chewed up whilst caught in one of those things is not easy, and moving it around in all those teeth is likely to have some effect.

Failing the check to break free already deals 1 point of damage.

That's the trap's design: The animal struggles, bleeds itself down to 1 HP, then stops struggling. So when the hunter gets there, the animal is alive, fresh and uneaten.