🎲⚠️🕳️ Random Trap: The Hissing Pipes

Behind the Die by Charlie Stayton 

Trap Concept: The Hissing Pipes

Theme: A hallway lined with pipes that suddenly bursts to life, releasing scalding steam jets and pressure-driven shrapnel. Perfect for dungeons, derelict factories, or abandoned airships.

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2024 D&D Version: The Hissing Pipes

Trigger: Pressure plate or magical sensor in a 10-foot hallway.

Effect:

• When triggered, jets of superheated steam shoot from the pipes.

• Each creature in the hallway must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 15).

• On a success: Half damage.

• On a failure: Take 4d8 fire damage and 2d6 piercing damage (metal shards propelled by the steam).

• The area becomes lightly obscured by mist until the end of the round.

Countermeasures:

• Spotting the hairline cracks in the pipes or faint heat shimmer requires a DC 15 Investigation or Perception check.

• A DC 14 Thieves’ Tools check or DC 16 Arcana check can disable the trap.

• Destroying the pipes (AC 12, HP 20 per 5-ft section) will also prevent further activation.

Treasure Hook: Clever adventurers might salvage the heated pipes as improvised boilers, or scrape off alchemical residue that can act as a one-use alchemist’s fire vial.

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Tephra Version: The Hissing Pipes

Trigger: A loose gear mechanism connected to an old boiler system. When weight is applied to the floor grate, the pressure regulator fails.

Effect:

• The trap discharges boiling steam and metal rivets.

• Each character in the zone must roll a Tier 2 Dexterity resist.

• On success: Take 5 unsoakable damage (steam burn).

• On failure: Take 10 unsoakable damage,

• The mist imposes –2 to Ranged Attacks in the area for 1 round.

Countermeasures:

• A  Tier 2 Cunning roll spots the faulty regulator.

• A character with Mechanic Expertise (under Cunning) can vent pressure with a quick patch, disabling the trap.

• Improvising with materials (cloth, grease, water) can reduce damage to half.

Treasure Hook: The boiler’s pressure valve contains rare aetheric condensate worth 20 silver, or usable as fuel for a single experimental device.

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Closing Note

This trap works equally well in a fantasy dungeon or a soot-stained steampunk setting. Adjust the description—ancient dwarven pipes for D&D, or clanking brass conduits for Tephra—and you’ve got a tense, cinematic hazard ready to catch your players off guard.