[RPG] Can the spell Find Traps find traps in legal documents

dnd-5espellstraps

The argument presented in this Reddit post is that the spell find traps can be cast on a legal document to find out if that legal document is fair, or if it contains any non-obvious "legal" traps which would disadvantage one party in a non-obvious way.

The argument is that the description of the find traps spell is:

You sense the presence of any trap within range that is within line of sight. A trap, for the purpose of this spell, includes anything that would inflict a sudden or unexpected effect you consider harmful or undesirable, which was specifically intended as such by its creator.

This spell merely reveals that a trap is present. You don’t learn the location of each trap, but you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by a trap you sense.

So casting find traps on a complicated contract written with malicious intend would reveal that the contract contains a "legal trap".

Is this argument correct?

Best Answer

I think it is useful here to approach this from both the RAW and RAI approaches.

RAW: Yes

Let's take a look at what Find Traps says:

You sense the presence of any trap within range that is within line of sight. A trap, for the purpose of this spell, includes anything that would inflict a sudden or unexpected effect you consider harmful or undesirable, which was specifically intended as such by its creator. Thus, the spell would sense an area affected by the alarm spell, a glyph of warding, or a mechanical pit trap, but it would not reveal a natural weakness in the floor, an unstable ceiling, or a hidden sinkhole.

This spell merely reveals that a trap is present. You don’t learn the location of each trap, but you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by a trap you sense.

So let's look at each part of the spell in turn:

  • In range and line of sight: Let's assume this criterion is met.
  • Sudden or unexpected effect: This is the condition I think presents the most difficulty. The central question is whether or not a "legal trap" in a legal contract is an effect that is sudden or unexpected. Sudden may be tough depending on the specific legal trap. But unexpected - this is explicitly what the person casting the spell is trying to uncover in the contract, and as far as I can tell, is analogous to the rationale for casting this spell to find traps in a dungeon.
  • You consider harmful or undesirable: Easy to meet since this is a subjective expectation of the person signing the contract.
  • Intentionally designed as such by the creator: Also easy to meet since we are assuming this is an intentionally malicious trap laid by the drafter of the contract.

It seems like the above criteria are met, so the spell should work as written. Keep in mind that the specific trap will not be revealed, but only "the general nature of the danger posed".

RAI: Probably not

I think reading the broader spell, however, indicates this would not work under RAI. Let's look at the examples in the spell:

Thus, the spell would sense an area affected by the alarm spell, a glyph of warding, or a mechanical pit trap, but it would not reveal a natural weakness in the floor, an unstable ceiling, or a hidden sinkhole.

These examples are all physical and magical traps in the typical sense of the word. Though an examples list is not exhaustive, it does not seem that a "legal trap" would fall under the same categorization as the examples listed. As a result I think doubt the spell was intended to spot "legal traps" in contracts. That being said this is RAI, and since we don't have any guidance, it is ultimately up to the DM, which leads me to...

Rule of cool: heck yeah!

I think this is exactly the type of creativity I would want to encourage at my table, and in the spirit of the rule of cool, would give the party something for taking a rarely-used spell and applying it in an fun and unconventional way.

Keep in mind that:

This spell merely reveals that a trap is present. You don’t learn the location of each trap, but you do learn the general nature of the danger posed by a trap you sense.

So I would give the party some hint that something is amiss - maybe the term "bound" in the context of "You bind this demon" is defined strangely, or perhaps the time at which the contract expires seems sooner than the party intended. Whatever the specific case, this is a great opportunity to let the players have some fun, build some plot/intrigue, and reward good, creative, and fun roleplaying!