---
title: Trading Places Trap
date: 07:00 2019-05-02
publish_date: 2019-05-02 07:00
author: David
hero_classes: text-light title-h1h2 overlay-dark-gradient hero-large parallax
hero_image: statue-face-close-up-1600x800.jpg
show_sidebar: true
taxonomy:
category: gaming
tag: [trap, gaming]
---
<p>
A bronze statue of a beast of some kind, or a person, stands on a stone pedestal, where the type of creature, or the name of the person, is written in carved letters.
</p>
</p>
Anyone who touches the statue switches places with the beast or NPC it depicts (no Saving Throw); the beast or NPC becomes real, and the character becomes a statue, standing on the pedestal. The character's name now appears in carved letters there.
</p>
<p>
A beast will attack immediately (GM consults their favorite monster guide). An NPC <i>might</i> attack, or might try talking to the party, or something else. Who, exactly, this person is could be the jumping-off point for a whole new adventure.
</p>
<p>
Freeing the former party member will require a living (or possibly undead) creature to touch the statue. Slain or otherwise dead creatures will not activate the magic. <b>Remove Petrification</b> magic might work, too, at the GM's discretion.
</p>
<div class="mxs_attribution">
<p>
<a href="
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Lady_of_Elche,_once_polychrome_stone_bust_discovered_by_chance_in_1897_at_L'Alcúdia,_believed_to_be_a_piece_of_Iberian_sculpture_from_the_4th_century_BC,_National_Archaeological_Museum_of_Spain,_Madrid_(19663641974).jpg" target="_blank">The Lady of Elche</a> by
<a href="
https://flickr.com/photos/41523983@N08/19663641974" target="_blank">Following Hadrian</a> and released under a
<a href="
https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en" target="_blank">Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic License</a>
modified with <a "
https://inkscape.org" target="_blank">Inkscape</a> by David
</p>
</div>
