Man traps

[Bert Preast]

I am setting up my homestead in Njerp country, and have already had a patrol of two warriors visit me.  With the help of my trusty sheep I was able to take them down, but next time they may come when I am asleep or something which is worrying.  So, I think I have two options - build a huge wall or a huge trap-fence but without the fence bits, just traps.

I am aware that humans can pass through deadfall traps without triggering them, but does anyone know if this also applies to pit traps?  Making about 40 pit traps is a lot of work, but not nearly so much as building 40 wall sections!   

[Plotinus]

Humans can pass through traps if they know about them, but they can get caught in them if they don't. They know about traps if they're part of a trap fence, or if they fell in it before, or if they see you setting it. If you don't build fences and don't put them next to each other, but have a lot of them, chances are they'll fall into them.

Make the kind of pit traps with sharp stakes.

[PALU]

As mentioned, trap lines are detected by humans, so you'd have to use "mine fields" instead. It's a lot of work, of course.

A few years ago I made an experiment with various traps in a mine field layout, luring njerps into them by having them chase my character and get a trap in a straight between me and the njerp. Bear traps worked at the time, as did pit traps, at least injuring them (with stakes causing more injuries than plain pits). However, experience from then and later (with animals) indicates that if you see the creature get caught by the trap, there's a chance for them to get free and resume chasing you, while I've never seen an animal get free from a trap when I've found it trapped (and the one case with an idiot adventurer who first felled the tree making a trap line a trap line, and then fell into the trap beside the tree stayed put for a month while healing, all the while claiming everything was good). I have, however, found triggered but empty traps i later years, but that's mostly (or only?) small game ones. Of course, there's also the case of triggered traps where predators have taken the animal caught.