Scaling Traps

Not long ago I wrote on reddit about scaling damage for traps. Not simply presenting higher level characters with traps that do more damage - having the traps’ damage scale with the victim's Hit Dice.

This turned out to be somewhat controversial. And yeah, I get it; if you like your Hit Points to work as an abstract, heroic plot-armor-esque device for storytelling then this likely doesn't gel with your playstyle. Keep doing what you like. I myself am not even using this in my current campaign.

Let's start from the beginning with (an edited version of) the original post. I'll address a lot of the feedback I got at the end.

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Traps present an interesting problem. Take a very simple trap (it doesn't matter if it's spikes, a pit, blades, whatever) which mechanically works like this: a PC who triggers it makes a saving throw, if they fail they take 1d6 damage. Easy. The problem as I see it: this represents a huge threat to a level 0 or 1 character, but no real threat to a high-level character.

"Why is this a problem?" you ask? I guess it isn't, strictly speaking. But I want the world I am running to be relatively consistent and not morph around the players to suit their level. I don't want high level characters to contrivedly happen across stronger traps because they're a higher level. Simultaneously, I want being impaled by a goddamn spike to represent a serious injury to any character. This isn't a case where higher HP can narratively be justified by better endurance, hardiness, tenacity, determination etc. - this is a humanoid character being caught off-guard and hit by a trap intended to maim or kill. Realistically, this should deal life-threatening damage to either Joe Dumbass or Lord Swordsalot the Mega-Strong Orc-Stabber (but Swordsalot probably had a better chance of succeeding the initial save).

It would appear we are caught between a place where higher level characters run into "higher level traps", or traps simply aren't as much of a threat to them and they can just soldier on, removing tension and the need for careful progress. I find neither of these to be conducive to the kind of game I want to run. I still want my high-level players dungeon crawling, not dungeon running.

I have a proposed solution to this, which at first glance may appear to conflict with my desire not to have level scaling. Let's say that this trap, instead of dealing a flat die of damage, deals 1d6 damage per the target's number of Hit Dice. This isn't the trap scaling up or down to the party level - if a 1HD monster falls into the trap, it does 1d6 even if the party is level 7. The trap isn't getting stronger, proportionate damage is a property inherent to being impaled on a spike. It does proportionate damage to anyone. To take this to the extreme, a property inherent to a guillotine would be that it takes all of your HP - but the guillotine isn't scaling per level. Doing 100% of your HP of damage is just how a guillotine works.

Instead of scaling the world around the players, this is more like percentage damage or what some video games call "true damage". It's damage that doesn't care about how tough the character is.

I am torn on whether this means they throw more dice, or if they multiply a single die roll by their number of HD. I think there's potential justification for either method. A potential upside of a multiplier is that the distribution doesn't change as players level up. Arguably, however, more consistent damage for a higher-level character makes narrative sense. Plus having to roll a crap-ton of dice is both fun and scary for the player.

The intended result of this is that if my party's seasoned adventurers or their new recruits fall into the trap, regardless of their level, they'll be able to take "about half their HP" of damage for instance. This makes sense to me, as either character being impaled by a spike would do the same thing to their body. It's not like taking a hit in a fight - a seasoned fighter can believably take a hit without sustaining serious damage.

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And now for the feedback section.

Why not use ability damage, conditions, or other interesting effects instead?

You should! I just don't think this should always be the case simply because HP is higher now. Taking damage is the basic cost of putting oneself into lethal danger and I don't think it should be made entirely redundant. In short: do both, keep it varied.

Different classes are still affected differently in this system.

Yes, and I think that actually happens to work out quite well. Wizards should be scared of taking damage at all levels, and Warriors and Dwarves should be pretty hardy at all levels. When defending against proportionate damage, size of Hit Dice is more significant than total Hit Points. It's the difference between "definitely dead" and "might not get away with that twice".

Give traps an effect table instead. 

Very cool idea but doesn't directly address the problem I'm trying to fix. Also a lot of work because I don't think a generic table would work well for traps, which can be quite varied. This turns trap design into a much larger task which requires a table per trap or at least several types of tables for categories of trap.

Higher HP doesn't just represent physical damage, but also the abstract ability to avoid damage. Higher level characters are just avoiding the trap better.

I can accept this explanation of HP when it comes to combat, but as many before me have argued, it falls apart pretty quickly elsewhere.

In the case of the example trap, the character gets a saving throw. This is your avoidance of the trap. You succeed or fail.

When the trap hits, it might have to make an attack roll. Your AC is combined dodging and blocking, so this simulates being able to maneuver safely or the armor doing its job. This decides whether you are hit in a damaging way or not.

You can burn Luck here, for either of these rolls, to simulate the favor of the gods (as another commenter suggested factors into HP).

So, after check 1, you are in the trap. After check 2, the trap hits you effectively. This doesn't leave a whole lot of narrative space for that spike you just got impaled on to only deal 1d6 damage out of your 38 Hit Points. This isn't combat where there are countless moving parts and we simulate an approximation. This is a very binary situation! You got spiked, that hurts a lot!

This doesn't feel like DCC/Appendix N.

Maybe not. I think it might work for the kind of game I want to run - it might not work for you, your players, or your game. However, I feel here is a good place to point out that DCC does (kind of) have a precedent for scaling health effects according to Hit Dice: Lay on Hands. The Lay on Hands ability is capped by the target's number of Hit Dice, which is essentially proportionate healing instead of proportionate damage - the only difference being there is a cap (the Cleric's roll and resulting number of dice). You could cap the damage on traps but that just reintroduces the effect I am attempting to avoid in the first place.