Traps

Dungeons and ruins frequently contain traps, including spear-throwers, covered pits, etc. The GM will decide what is required to trigger a trap, and what happens when the trap is triggered. (Some guidance on this is provided in the Game Master section later in this book.) In general, there will be some way to avoid or reduce the effect of the trap being sprung. For instance, a save vs. Death Ray is often used to avoid falling into a covered pit (with Dexterity bonus added), while spearthrowers, automated crossbows, and the like are sometimes treated as if they were monsters (attacking vs. the victim's Armor Class at some given attack bonus). Normal characters have a chance equal to a roll of 1 on 1d6 to detect a trap if a search for one is made. Note that this is about a 16.7% chance; Thieves have a special ability to find and remove traps, which supersedes this roll, as does the stonework trap-finding ability of Dwarves. A Dwarven Thief is a special case; apply whichever trap-detection ability is higher. In all cases, a search for traps takes at least a turn per 10' square area. A single character may only effectively search a given area for traps once, even if the character has more than one trap-detection roll "type" allowed (such as the Dwarven Thief above). Trap detection may not be allowed if the trap is purely magical in nature; on the other hand, in such cases Magic-Users and/or Clerics may be able to detect magical traps at the given 1 in 1d6 chance, at the Game Master's option. Note also the 2nd level Clerical spell find traps, available to 4th level and higher Clerics.