Trap
Traps (represented by ^) are Dungeon features that harm characters or monsters who step on them. They do not appear on the map until detected, except in some vaults. Most traps are magical in nature, but some vaults may also place mechanical ones.
Strategy
Your chance to detect traps depends on your experience level and the distance to the trap, and can be increased by worshiping Ashenzari, and decreased by the Blurry Vision mutation.
Flying players still trigger traps as normal.
Traps that fire ammunition have a limited supply of ammo.
Once you have detected a trap, you can (with thoughtful maneuvering) use it to harm or block monsters who are pursuing you. More intelligent monsters are much more likely to avoid them, however.
Trap Mechanics
Mechanical traps do not always go off when stepped on. The odds of setting one off are:
- For traps the player knows about:
- 2 in 3 chance for blade and net traps.
- 1 in 4 chance for all other traps.
- For traps the player does not know about:
- Blade and net traps always go off.
- 4 in 5 chance for all other traps.
For monsters, the odds are different:
- For traps the monster knows about:
- 1 in 2 chance for blade and net traps.
- All other traps always go off.
- For traps the monster does not know about:
- 4 in 5 chance for blade traps.
- 2 in 3 chance for net traps.
- All other traps always go off.
If a mechanical trap is triggered, there is still a chance for the trap's weapon to miss, depending on your evasion and dexterity. The Repel Missiles and Deflect Missiles spells reduce the chance of a projectile hitting (except for the net trap, which drops the net rather than firing it). If you fail to evade the projectile, but are wearing a shield, you may instead block the projectile.
Monsters & Traps
Different monsters react differently to traps. Most monsters with animalistic intelligence or above will avoid ones they know about, and refuse to cross a trap even if there is no other way to reach you. Mindless monsters like zombies will walk through traps regardless of how much damage it might cause them. Zot traps are special: if you're in sight when a hostile monster walks into one, you get zapped. ("[It] uses the power of Zot against you!")
In some situations, monsters already know the locations of traps:
- Monsters native to a dungeon branch (eg. orcs in the Orcish Mines) already know the locations of all traps in their branch, since they live there.
- Monsters friendly to the player, and good neutrals, know the location of all traps that you know about, since it's assumed that you would tell them about the traps.
- Monsters with high intelligence or greater have a 1 in 3 chance of knowing about the existence of any single trap.
Trap Types
Notes:
- Only teleport, shadow, shaft, alarm and Zot traps are placed randomly.
- Shaft traps won't be placed in corridors in the first 7 levels of the dungeon.
- The damage caused by mechanical traps is reduced by the player's AC.
| Trap | Description | Amount of ammo | Base damage to player | Base damage to monsters | Trap type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alarm trap | Makes a loud noise and afflicts you with the Sentinel's Mark status effect | N/A | None | None | Magical |
| Shadow trap | Summons a group of floor-appropriate monsters | N/A | None | None | Magical |
| Shaft | Opens a hole under the victim, sending them to a deeper dungeon level | N/A | None | None | Natural |
| Teleport trap | Teleports the victim to a random location on the level | N/A | None | None | Magical |
| Zot trap | Produces a powerful magical miscast effect | N/A | Varies by effect | Varies by effect; only affects friendly monsters | Magical |
| Arrow trap | Fires an arrow | 3 - 11 | 1 - 15 | 1 - 7 | Mechanical |
| Blade trap | Swings a huge swinging blade | N/A | 48 - 76 | 10 - 38 | Mechanical |
| Bolt trap | Fires a bolt | 3 - 11 | 1 - 40 | 1 - 18 | Mechanical |
| Dart trap | Fires a dart | 3 - 11 | 1 - 6 | 1 - 4 | Mechanical |
| Needle trap | Fires a poisoned needle | 3 - 11 | None, but may poison | None, but may poison | Mechanical |
| Net trap | Drops a throwing net | 1 | None | None | Mechanical |
| Pressure plate | Causes something to happen, usually bad. | N/A | None | None | Mechanical |
| Spear trap | Fires a spear | 2 - 7 | 1 - 26 | 1 - 10 | Mechanical |
| Web | Induces the held status for several turns | May break after each use | None | None | Mechanical |
Note that the "pressure plate" trap is a "software trap"; rather than a fixed result, its effects are scripted in Lua, and might include stuff like dumping out a basket of spiders, or dropping a grating to block the path behind you.
Obsolete Traps
Over the years, many traps have been removed from the game for various reasons. These include:
History
Prior to 0.16, flying players and monsters could avoid triggering traps. Shadow traps were added and trap disarming was removed in this version.
Prior to 0.15, mechanical traps dropped ammunition and all teleport traps were permanent.
Prior to 0.13, mechanical traps were randomly placed throughout every branch.
Prior to 0.12, Traps could be detected by searching (command s).
