In my PF game, the party has decided to try to sneak into a Spymaster's House. This is an extremely paranoid man, and as such, every inch of his house, the large forested property, and the tunnels below his house are chock full of traps.
I need traps. No matter how dumb or nonsensical. If I can make them work mechanically, I will put them in this guy's house.
The biggest trap is that he doesn't actually live there.
This, it's It's Pathfinder/DnD. Why isn't he living in a magical summoned mansion or a ropetrick?
Where would he get his mail sent?
And, he can have traps INSIDE his magical mansion inside a demiplane.
Why does a Spymaster need to receive mail? Moreover, why would an extremely paranoid person accept mail? They could be scrying on him through the paper.
No one can hide from junk mail and grocery store coupon books.
Watch Home Alone. That's got loads of traps.
...
The real trap was inside us all along.
if you're a bit of a reader, read the Discworld series. specifically the City Watch sub-series.
the police chief is frequently the target of assassination and as such he does things like
intentionally greasing and loosening roof-tiles
planting stinging nettles in the good hiding spots
intentionally weakening exterior fixtures
buying window glass that subtly warps what you see through it so the target of heavy crossbow fire is always a few feet off from where you see them
weakening roof supports over hungry, angry, animal pens
intentionally courting bee and hornet swarms to nest in his trees
a brutally efficient butler willing to keep these traps set and properly maintained.
>you might also try
an oldie but a goodie is liberally spreading broken glass and rusty razors along the tops of walls and roof edges, to slice up hands feet and fingers of a climber
non-lethal traps including fire-works to warn the occupants of the house
hanging barbed fishhooks at variable heights all through out the property EXCEPT certain trails
land-mines
pit traps placed under good climbing places(which are themselves poorly installed)
punji pits...
...
...
and never forget to double or triple lay your traps
...
...
>a pit of spikes
>the spikes are stated to be spaced rather far apart
>there's obvious treasure and gold at the bottom of the pit
>a moderately difficult would allow a PC to rappel down
>but a high spot check reveals the true threat
>a gelatinous cube / slime that lives in the pit
...
oh I like that
I have a love for boobytraps
most mechanical engineers do
That bottom left one is really dangerous. The current could arc if there's enough moisture in the air between the two screws and close the circuit.
...
Traps can also activate enemies rather than somethung like a pit or spikes.
For instance, making too much noise in the library causes living books to fly from the shelves and attack players.
eh, then you use longer nails so you can space them further or lower voltages on the trigger circuit
...
...
...
...
The main trap is…
it's wrong house.
...
>resting on his pillow after all this trouble is a little note
>"good luck getting this far, my REAL house is even more fun"
...
...
...
...
...
>After the third trap house, you finally discover the truth
>The Spymaster has been homeless for years now
>He's squatting in a shed
>He spent all his money on fake houses and setting up traps in the fake houses
...
nah, he's just a booby-trap elemental.
his last home is actually so carefully trapped that even the mightiest of artificers weeps with envy at so much as his front portico
. the boss battle is actually against the house itself. find the find the man and the master-control panel before the mansion kills you...
and yes the control panel is mounted in the stop-board of a mighty pipe-organ.
...
...
...
...
a classic this one...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
...
some duplicates here...but some not.
damn... my copy of "advanced man-trapping" is too big for Veeky Forums
...
What is the purpose of this?
you stick it in a lock and snap it off as a means of making a lock un-pickable
you have to make one for each type of key though.
land-lords use them when it's cheaper to change the locks than it is to have someone forcibly evicted(because the occupant can either not get back in or must leave the residence unlocked and unprotected for the landlord to access and empty)
you can also use it to block doors that auto-lock.
once it's in you have to destroy the lock mechanism to get in from the outside
Every door has a bucket over the top. Full of a portable hole.
This. He actually lives in a much more modest house elsewhere. The mansion is just one big trap.
'Your spymaster is in another castle. Also, I can cast explosive runes.'
Even humid air has a fairly high resistance. Plus it's just a trigger, so you'd really only need ~12 volts across it. If you're still worried, you can always just place them further apart.
A few changes, and that could be a fuel.air explosive...
Roof tiles on sliding rails, causing rooftop scouts to fall off into the cess pit. An open skylight, but the carpet in the corridor beneath it is just a disguise for a punji pit. Poisoned razor blades on the insides of door handles. Lots a really difficult locks on doors that open onto blank walls. The old 'staircase steps tilt, turing the staircase into a slide' trick, with rotating knives/acid pit at the bottom. Corridor and ceiling painted in flammable jelly, to catch out anyone using a torch to read the faint letters written high on the wall. Pressure plates that launch a ballista bolt down the tight corridor that everyone is squeezed into. Giant stone ball that rolls down a slope. eyes painted on the stonework in glowing paint at the end of a long dark corridor - makes burglars waste ammo and spells. Contact poison on everything, especially treasure. Lots of cursed items that fuck up stealth skills -rings of clumsiness, boots of clog dancing, hat of shouting, belt of fairy fire, etc. Giant fucking snakes.
No one (even t he paranoid spymaster), will have a bunch of traps in every room. That would make living there difficult and annoying.
He'd likely have some traps on important items/areas. A safe with a trap, a pressure plate in a decoy room that he never goes into, a poison coating on a few windows that he never opens, etc.
He won't have a 40000d8 fireball trap on his door......who the fuck wants to risk burning down their home because of a random burgle?
Try to keep it a little bit on the reasonable side. This can be done, and still be deadly.
A perfect example of insane overkill and stupidity.
Can you imagine the dude coming home after a party? Half-drunk and staggering a bit..........
>because of a random burgle?
the house is described as being in a remote location already.
a random burglar isn't likely to occur.
Everything in this book.
does he have a staff? of maids/butlers/errand boys?
If he does, he may not want to keep going to the home depot to pick up more staff, after 10 per week die by trap, during a normal cleaning day.
depending on resources and magic availability there could just be a staff of permanent Unseen Servants.
they'd be immune to a great many of the traps listed or they'd be familiar enough with them that they simply avoid them.
The spymaster is actually a woman who has been posing as her brother for decades.
A room with a pit of spiders and a rickety plank of wood that says do not light spiders on fire, with a torch next to it. When the torch is removed, snakes drop from the ceiling. If they don't the planks fall, the entrance is actually to put the torch out so the room is dark and a glowing brick is revealed. When the brick is pushed, a bridge sticks out of the wall to pass through.
IMO
Any traps that are 'easily avoided', by normal npc's, aren't going to be a trap at all to even a low level rogue.
Invis servants are an option i guess, and that makes sense because they don't talk and tell secrets (which would be important to a spymaster).
arrow traps with a range of fire covering the room. they are designed to hit points on the wall that activate more traps if they're dodged.
>rubbing alcohol
OK, a roomful of rubbing alcohol sounds awkward to put together and likely to evaporate. why not just have a bin full of shrapnel set up to fall down the corridor?