Exploring the Dungeons of Avalon: Traps

Traps are a hazard which can be encountered either on a square, or on a treasure chest. There are 18 types of trap, with various effects.

Trap statistics

Type	Hit	Level	Target	Damage	Status	Description
00	15	6	Party	40-60	Blind	Banshee
01	3	2	Party	5-25		Sharp blades
02	4	3	Four	15-65		Icewave
03	5	3	Four	20-30		Drops of acid
04	6	4	Four	10-20	Poisen	Poisened arrows
05	9	6	Party	20-40	Poisen	Poisened arrows
06	6	4	Four	5-13	Poisen	Cloud of poisen
07	9	7	Party	5-13	Poisen	Cloud of poisen
08	10	8	Four	20-40	Blind	Great explosion
09	10	8	Four	20-40	Blind	Trapdoor
0A	10	8	Four	20-40	Blind	Trapdoor
0B	10 (4)	8	Four	20-40	Blind	Stones falling
0C	10	8	Four	20-40	Blind	Flames
0D	8	5 (1)	One	10-30	Poisen	Poisened thorns
0E	10	7 (3)	One	10-20	Poisen	Poisened blades
0F	7	5 (1)	One	10-30	Blind	Small explosion
10	9	6 (1)	One	20-40	Blind	Cold wave
11	10	7 (3)	One	10-20		Acid trap

Encountering a trap

Dungeon map square type 02 (see dungeon map format) indicates the presence of a trap, which triggers upon entering the square. The subtype byte determines which of the 18 trap types it uses. Some (marked “Party”) in the table strike all six party members, while others (marked “Four”) affect only the front four members and spare the back row.

Dungeon map square type 04 indicates a treasure chest. If the first byte of the item list is 0xfe, the chest is trapped, and the next byte is the type ID. It triggers when the chest is opened, and affects only the individual who opened it.

Disarming the trap

Each trap has a level, which determines how hard it is to spot. This level ranges from 3 to 8.

When the party enters a trap square, if the party contains at least one Thief whose character level is equal or higher to the trap level, the trap is automatically found and disarmed.

A chest trap can be disarmed by the hero who opens it, even if they are not a thief, but thieves have an advantage at this task. The first number is the level required for a non-Thief, while the number in parentheses is the level required by a Thief.

Trap effects

Each trap has an attack value from 3 to 15. Any target with a WC (armour) value higher than this ignores the trap’s effect (can parry). Otherwise, they take the trap’s effect.

Each trap deals a random amount of damage in a certain range.

Additionally, some traps have inflict a status effect: either Poisened, or Blinded. There is a random 50/256 chance (approximately 20%) of being afflicted with the status effect.

Trap descriptions

ID	English	German
00	A SCREAM OF A BANSHEE DISTURBS THE SILENCE.	EIN BANSHEE SCHREI ZERREIßT DIE STILLE.
01	TINY SHARP BLADES ATTACKS THE PARTY.	KLEINE SCHARFE MESSER KOMMEN AUF EUCH ZUGESCHOSSEN.
02	A ICEWAVE GETS YOUR PARTY.	EINE KÄLTEWELLE ERGREIFT EUCH.
03	DROPS OF ACID FALLS FROM THE CEILING.	SÄURETROPFEN REGNEN AUF EUCH NIEDER.
04	POISENED ARROWS HITS THE PARTY .	GIFTPFEILE KOMMEN AUF EUCH ZUGESCHOSSEN.
05	POISENED ARROWS HITS THE PARTY .	GIFTPFEILE KOMMEN AUF EUCH ZUGESCHOSSEN.
06	YOU ARE COVERED BY A CLOUD OF POISEN .	EINE GIFTWOLKE ENSTEHT UM EUCH.
07	YOU ARE COVERED BY A CLOUD OF POISEN .	EINE GIFTWOLKE ENSTEHT UM EUCH.
08	THE ECO OF A GREAT EXPLOSION COVERS THE HALL.	DAS ECHO DER EXPLOSION ERFÜLLT DIE HALLEN.
09	A TRAPDOOR OPENS UNDER YOU .	EINE FALLTÜRE ÖFFNET SICH UNTER EUCH.
0a	A TRAPDOOR OPENS UNDER YOU .	SPEERE KOMMEN AUS DEM BODEN GESCHOSSEN.
0b	STONES FALLING FROM THE CEILING .	STEINBLÖCKE FALLEN AUF EUCH NIEDER.
0c	FLAMES COMMING FROM THE SIDE WALLS.	AUS DEN SEITENWÄNDEN KOMMEN FLAMMEN.
0d	THE LOCK OF THE CHEST WAS COVERED BY POISENED THORNS.	GIFTIGE DORNEN SPRINGEN AUS DER TRUHE.
0e	THE LOCK OF THE CHEST WAS COVERED BY POISENED BLADES.	GIFTIGE NADELN SPRINGEN AUS DER TRUHE.
0f	A SMALL EXPLOSION.	EINE KLEINE EXPLOSION EREIGNET SICH.
10	A COLD WAVE SPINNS AROUND THE CHEST.	EINE KÄLTEWELLE GEHT VON DER TRUHE AUS.
11	AN ACID TRAP IS ACTIVATED.	EINE SÄÜREFALLE WURDE AUSGELÖST.

Notes

Trap 0a is mistranslated; according to the German, it should be “Spears shoot up from the floor.”
Some traps do not appear:
- Traps 00 (banshee), 07 (cloud of poisen), and 0a (trapdoor) appear only in DoA1.
- Trap 04 (poisened arrows) appears only in DoA2.
- Trap 09 (trapdoor) is not used in either game.
Some traps change between DoA1 and DoA2:
- Trap 00 (banshee) becomes much more deadly: attack and level 32, meaning it hits everyone and can only be disarmed by legendary thief NPC Rahven; and damage increases from 40-60 to 60-90. However, this trap doesn’t appear in any level.
- Trap 0b (falling stones) becomes easier to dodge: attack reduced from 10 to 4.
Some traps have a more deadly version with the same description text:
- Poisened arrows: Type 04 hits only the front two rows, while 05 hits the entire party, deals twice as much damage, and is harder to spot and resist. Type 04 only appears in DoA2.
- Cloud of poisen: Type 06 hits only the front four. Type 07 hits the entire party, and is harder to spot and resist, but does the same damage.
Technically, chest traps have a level between 3 and 5. The character subtracts 2 from their effective character level (minimum 0), and a Thief then adds +4 to their level. The result is that the starting Thief character, and any character of level 7 or higher, can safely open all chests.

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