Trap

A trap is a hidden danger that can cause sudden unwanted conditions and/or damage.

Vent of a Gas Trap.

“

A trap. Let us send forth our least favourite, to be sure.

„

— Minthara, after spotting a trap nearby

Types of Traps

Most common types of traps that might be encountered in the game are:

• Tripwires
• Blast Mines (three kinds, causing Fire, Poison or Lightning damage)
• Gas Vents (spewing hot steam, toxic gas, spilling around poison or activating AoE spells like  Cloudkill or  Darkness in their vicinity)
• Gargoyles/Gargoyle Heads (firing Fire Bolts/Ice Bolts with certain frequency)

Apart from that, there are multiple locations within the game that feature unique types of traps that do not appear anywhere else. These traps might inflict unique conditions as a result of failed save against them, and sometimes are themselves vulnerable only for a certain type of damage, being resistant to all other. Still, they can be Disarmed just like all other traps within the game.

Spoiler warning! This section reveals details about the story of Baldur's Gate 3.

• Spike Traps under the water in the Sunlit Wetlands/Putrid Bog
• Peculiar Flowers and Ruptured Stone in the Overgrown Tunnel and in the Ethel's Lair beneath the Blushing Mermaid
• Repulsor Mines on the cliffs in the Rosymorn Monastery Trail and in the Hatchery of the Crèche Y'llek
• Teleporting traps in the Hatchery of the Crèche Y'llek
• Dawnbreakers in the Secret Chamber of the Crèche Y'llek
• Arcane Turrets in the Arcane Tower in the Underdark and in the Ramazith's Tower in Lower City
• Gauntlet of Shar: vents in the Antechamber produce an area similar to  Hunger of Hadar except for acid damage, and vents in the Silent Library an area similar to  Evard's Black Tentacles
• Various mechanisms installed within the Warm's Rock Fortress by Enver Gortash: Grenade Impellers, Incineration Casters and Force Curtains, let alone gas vents on the rooftop.

Besides, some objects within the game might be guarded by a spell (apart from other measures of safety, f.e. a physical lock) and therefore recognized by party members as "trapped". Most often these are containers that store various items, either valuable or crucial for whatever quest. Also, a trapped object might block the way to the target item or to the quest checkpoint.

Traps can be placed independently from one another or be combined in a system, when all elements might be triggered simultaneously after interacting with some detail of the environment, most commonly, stepping on a Marble plate. In that case, a trigger item is recognized by characters as a trap, too, and Disaming it renders the whole system inactive.

The only type of a Trap available to be set by the player is a  Glyph of Warding spell.

Involvement

The Perception skill is used to detect traps. This is a passive skill check performed whenever a party member comes close enough to an active, yet undetected, trap. Each party member makes a check independently, so if the check was failed by one party member, there's a chance that another one will be more lucky and successfully spot a trap.

To disarm a trap the player character needs to use their Sleight of Hand skill (requires a dice roll) along with a Trap Disarm Toolkit. If the roll was successful, the trap is disarmed (which is often visualized as bursting into further-inactive pieces), and the Trap Disarm Toolkit will not be spent. On failed or botched roll, the Trap Disarm Toolkit is spent, and the trap triggers.

Unlike Lockpicking, disarming a trap cannot be rerolled by simply spending another Trap Disarm Toolkit. Failed and botched rolls, though, can be rerolled using Inspiration points, like most other roll-based checks within the game.

Some traps can be inactivated by certain means provided by the game plot, or simply destroyed physically by weapons' or magic attacks. Gas vents can also be disabled by placing/throwing a heavy enough object on-top of them (to do this, the vent should first be successfully detected).

Some traps might be visible without a Perception check, but unless a character detects them they cannot be disarmed and can only be avoided.