Illusory Traps
Trap 5: Illusory Pit(by Chuck Cochems)
The party sees a pit. Observant characters will notice something odd about the pit. There is, in fact, an illusion of a pit, but it is a very poorly done illusion. It sort of shimmers when gazed upon for any length of time. The illusory pit is only 20 feet deep, not enough to kill a character. However, one inch around the illusory pit is the edge of the REAL pit the illusory pit covers. This real pit is MUCH deeper, about 100 feet and has poisonous spikes at the bottom, but they are not sharp and will only impale a falling character. People attempting to walk across the illusory pit will fall down in the real one, giving everyone else a save to disbelieve at +4 bonus to see through the illusion and see the real pit.
Solution: Don't try and walk over it. Either climb down, or levitate/fly over, or disbelieve and see the real one. Only people who say, "Bah, it's an illusion, I'll walk over it" suffer.
Afterthought: There is treasure at the bottom of the pit.
Trap 6: Unopenable Door(by Chuck Cochems)
This one is a non-deadly trap designed to divest the party of its treasure. There is a stone door, which no magic or physical force will move. Beside it is a plate on a pedestal, with a statue holding a hand over it as if to suggest an offering is requested. However, any item placed on the plate simply vanishes! The party will put stuff that's not valuable in at first, and then work their way up, all to no avail.
The plate is actually illusory, and the pedestal has a hole. To open the door, everything must actually be REMOVED from the hole! There are gold, gems, some minor magical items (all left by previous adventurers) and one major magical item, left by the trap owner, to seed the trap.
Clue: Any item too big to fit in the hole does not vanish, but appears to stay on the plate (the illusion keeps you from noticing that it's actually on the pedestal and not the plate).
Solution: If a pole is placed on the plate vertically and released, it will reach the bottom and stick out the top, proving the plate illusory, and no save is needed to disbelieve the illusion. The illusion can also be dispelled, and the trap is otherwise mechanical, so this is safe to do (but no one will try it, because they will fear divine retribution)!
Trap 7: Illusion Over a Lava Flow(by Chuck Cochems)
A permanent Mirage Arcana has been cast over a lava flow to make it seem as a stream. In fact, as per the spell description, anyone who believes the illusion can walk right through, as it's cool thermal component will negate the heat damage of the lava! The trap comes when someone decides to disbelieve, due to being observant and noticing something odd about the illusion, and suddenly finding themselves standing in lava, which until then was not harming them. If they cannot leap for the edge immediately, they are toast, and everyone else must save, suffering the same fate if they disbelieve (they have a +4 bonus to do so!) If the illusion is dispelled, everyone is toast (no save) and the dispel will automatically succeed.
This will, though, melt and burn off all footwear, so when the party leaves their feet will be bare, but they will be otherwise unharmed, and will not notice that their footwear is gone until they leave the lava because the illusion hides the effect. Magical footwear gets a save, though rolled in secret (the generous DM will assume they save, as that's not the point of the trap).
Solution: Don't attempt to dispel or disbelieve the illusion. If either happens, you must fly or teleport across.
Afterthought: Now that the party has bare feet, the next room is full of shards of broken glass from broken POISON potions.
Trap 8: Illusory Bridge(by Chuck Cochems)
The party comes to a broken bridge with a 15 foot gap right in the middle. Attached securely to the railing is a wand, with a command word scribed on it (there is another wand hidden underneath the railing that the characters need to search around to find, and the description of this wand is below in the "Solution" part). If a player grasps the wand and speaks the command word, a shimmering bridge section will appear. Any character that steps onto it disappears. When the last character steps onto it, read the following passage.
"As you step on the glowing bridge section and lift your back foot up, your front foot falls through, and you lose your balance, and fall. As you plummet towards the bottom of the ravine, you realize that the wand must have had charges of the fabled Mirage Arcana spell, and your party members that had seemed to vanish had actually fallen through as well, and the power of the illusion had silenced the screams."
For that is exactly what happened. The wand has charges of a Mirage Arcana spell stored in it. Because this illusion has tactile components, NO amount of simple probing will reveal the spell as illusion! It looks like a glowing magic section of the bridge, feels like a bridge section, and any item placed onto the glowing bridge section will simply vanish as soon as it's released, it's fall hidden by the illusions effect. All senses are taken care of, and it's perfectly believable that the glowing bridge section could be a teleport zone. Only illusionists get a save to disbelieve until a party member (who is an illusionist) has successfully disbelieved, or someone forcefully strikes the bridge section, at which point whatever is striking will pass through, because the person's own mind will be unable to check the swing.
Solution: Cross the gap through other magical or non-magical means. Or use the solution of the designer, and grab the hidden wand, which is visible if you kneel and look up under the railing, and speak the word of command, and create a REAL magical bridge section which lasts until it is crossed by one creature. There is actually a permanent contingency spell which will cause the wands to be recharged.
Trap 14: The Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Death Machine (by ed)
The PC's walk into a room roughly 20' by 20' by 80' tall. In the centre of the room is a table with a Potion of Uncontrolled Levitation (see magical items) The ceiling of the room hides a trap of some sort behind an illusion (spikes, spinning blades, turning gears, etc.). Get the picture? Oh yeah, burping won't help this time!