A new Dungeons & Dragons supplement contains dozens of nefarious and clever traps that’s sure to trip up your players. A classic part of any Dungeons & Dragons dungeon crawl is discovering and disarming traps. Every Dungeons & Dragons player has dodged a pit trap or found a trip wire that triggers a hidden crossbow, and official D&D publications are a bit lacking in providing DMs with the tools they need to spice up their dungeons with traps that are unique and unpredictable. Luckily, a group of DMs Guild creators have written up a new sourcebook containing dozens of new traps that are perfect for just about any setting.
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Jarlaxle’s Guide to Traps is an 89-page supplement edited by RP Davis, with contributions by eight writers. The book not only explains when and how a trap should be used, but also provides a small treasure trove of traps ranging from simple mechanical traps to more complicated and dastardly contraptions. From fake “hidden levers” meant to trap clever rogues in their tracks to rooms that turn into fiery death traps when a player triggers a pressure switch, there are a variety of simple and complex traps for any level adventure. Each trap also describes the active elements that make it deadly, along with countermeasures the players might take
One interesting thing in Jarlaxle’s Guide to Traps is that several traps cause temporary reductions in the number of hit dice in a player’s hit dice pool. These traps are meant to put strains on a player’s ability to rest, keeping them from entering the next encounter at full strength. I thought that was a clever solution to players over-resting in dungeons, one that hampers a player’s ability to naturally heal and forces players into a more dangerous spot.
Jarlaxle’s Guide to Traps is a fun supplement that should provide DMs with some nasty new traps to spring on players. The supplement is available for $11.95 on the DMs Guild, although the creators are currently running a sale in which the supplement has a discounted price of $9.95.
