Reece's Slightly More Interesting Arrow Trap

Quick Overview:

When designing traps, there are a few principles I like to stick to:

Avoid the HP tax
A trap that just triggers and deals damage is boring. Damage can be one possible outcome, but if there’s no way to detect or anticipate the trap beforehand, it feels unfair. I want traps to engage players, not punish them arbitrarily.

Telegraph the trap
Players should have a chance to suspect a trap and actively work to avoid or disarm it. Surprising players with an instant, unavoidable death or injury isn’t satisfying. I prefer giving subtle hints that allow them to deduce the danger and respond accordingly.

This is why I find traditional arrow traps a bit dull. They often boil down to players endlessly searching for pressure plates, which can slow down gameplay. Even if you leave clues like holes in walls or shattered arrows it’s often too simplistic to solve or avoid.

Reece's Slightly More Interesting Arrow Trap. 

Here’s my take on an arrow trap. Not currently in my dungeon but I'm sure I can find it a home:

Reece's Arrowtrap

The Setup

This trap is located in a long unlit corridor. Adventurers who enter or listen at the door hear a faint, rhythmic clicking noise, like a mechanical device struggling to function.

Farther down the corridor, they spot a corpse human or monster sprawled across a pressure plate. At the opposite end of the corridor, there’s a single hole in the wall with two arrowheads poking out from it. The mechanism seems jammed, but it’s still trying to fire. A closer inspection reveals the arrows are enchanted with something nasty.

The Trap in Action

The trap was designed to fire these enchanted arrows. Normally, the arrows would shatter on impact, unleashing their magical effects. However, the mechanism malfunctioned, and two arrows were launched simultaneously, jamming the device. This allows the players to carefully pull the arrows free, gaining two enchanted projectiles as loot!

However, if the corpse still weighs down the pressure plate and If the jam is cleared, the mechanism will immediately spring back to life and start firing again. This could be very deadly and I would have no issue as you have been telegraphing since they entered the room that something was trying to trigger with the clicking noise of the mechanism. Removing the corpse would stop this noise.

This trap can easily be tailored to the party level by increasing the enchantment level or by increasing the fire rate of the device. I like the idea of it fireing +2 Lightning Arrows that have a chance to chain between targets, but thats just me. 

The beauty of this setup is that it can be left alone and nothing will hurt them, and getting the loot resets the trap. If they forget to mark the trap on their map after rearming it? Well, that’s on them.

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