Trap chest

Trap chests and trap roulette are recurring gameplay mechanics in the Mana series, first appearing in Secret of Mana. Trap roulette was first seen in the original Trials of Mana, but did not appear in any localized title until Sword of Mana. When a defeated enemy drops a treasure chest, there is a small chance that the chest will contain nothing at all and instead release some kind of trap that harms the opener: or, a roulette wheel will appear that the player may spin in an attempt to dodge a trap, but the player may still pick up an item. In many titles, traps are part of the experience and cannot be avoided.

Appearances

Secret of Mana

While almost unnoticeable at the start of the adventure, as enemies increase in power, so does the chance of dropping a trap chest. Traps are random, and can contain one of the following:

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  Punch gloves (small HP damage)

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  Poison needles (inflicts Poison)

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  Bombs (HP damage)

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  Riot gas (inflicts Minor, Moogle, or Unconscious)

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  Stone gas (inflicts Petrify)

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  Death traps (causes Ghost if it works; drops victim to 1 HP if it fails)

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  Morph into Mimic Box

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  Shadow Zero appears

A trap's content varies according to the enemy's level that dropped the chest in the first place.

Trap chest content

Enemy level	Content
A: 1-10	Bomb / Punch gloves / Poison Needles
B: 11-15	Bomb
C: 16-26	Riot Gas
D: 27-30	Stone gas
E: 31-36	Mimic Box
F: 37≤	Death Trap / Shadow Zero

Upon opening a trap chest, Randi, Primm or Popoi can neutralize the trap if their evade (%) stat is greater than the trap chest's required amount. This hidden value is tied to each enemy, except for Rabites, who are guaranteed to not drop trap chests. For example, a Mushboom has a trap chest evade value of 16, meaning that the booby trap opener must have an evade (%) stat of 17 or higher in order to safely disarm a chest that this monster drops. Since Mushbooms are at level 3, they have a trap type A, meaning that the trap chest opener who has an evade (%) value of 16 or lower will either come in contact with a bomb, punch gloves or poison needles.

However, traps can be neutralized with Primm's Analyzer spell. The chest will turn red, but the trap will be disarmed and an item given in its place. There is also a hidden mechanic tied to this practice, in which each enemy have a minimal spell level requirement in order for the chest to sucessfully be disarmed. For example, a Kid Goblin has a minimal Analyzer spell level of 3, meaning that Primm's Sylphid magic level must match it or higher to neutralize a trap chest.

Some treasure chests can grow feet while being approached and can try to avoid being opened by running away from the player character. This doesn't seem to have any influence to whether or not said chest contains a trap.

Trials of Mana

Only available in the 2D version, the odds of a trap appearing depend greatly upon the party's combined Luck value. There is always a chance of any single chest spawning a roulette wheel that the player must spin. The player then slows the wheel by pressing the default Attack button. When it stops, it can land on an "OK" tile or one of several traps. Even if it lands on a trap, the player may still pick up an item once the trap is fully sprung and resolved. The higher the party's Luck, the greater the number of OK tiles displayed.

Possible traps include:

• Safe: The chest is safe. Nothing happens
• Arrows: Arrows rain down on the opener damaging for 1/8 of max HP.
• Spikes: Spikes impale opener damaging for 1/6 of max HP.
• Smokescreen: Smoke cloud engulfs party damaging for 1/5 of max HP to all.
• Polter Box : Chest becomes tough enemy. Its level is equal to that of the person who opened it.

Four more traps are added if the character opening the chest is at level 26 or higher:

• Stone: Falling rocks damage opener for 1/4 of max HP.
• Bomb: An explosion knocks out half of each party member's max HP.
• Reaper : Instant death to opener.
• Kaiser Mimic : Chest becomes tough enemy. Its level is equal to that of the person who opened it.

Sword of Mana

Traps roulette returns and its mechanism stays relatively the same. The player can occasionally trigger a trap roulette which functions the same as Trials of Mana. The types of outome depend on the enemy dropping the booby-trapped chest.

• OK : Nothing happens
• Spikes : Hero receives about 1/10 HP damage.
• Arrows : Hero receives about 1/6 or 1/7 HP damage.
• Stones : Hero receives 1/5 to 1/6 HP damage.
• Bombs : Hero receives about 1/3 HP damage.
• Smoke : Hero receives about 1/3 MP damage.
• Polter Box : Chest becomes tough enemy. The player loses the content of said chest.
• Kaiser Mimic : Chest becomes tough enemy. The player loses the content of said chest.

References

• http://seiken.opatil.com/sd2/data/drop.html
• https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/gba/914616-sword-of-mana/faqs/48324

	Randi --"Whoa! What's a Rabite doing in a place like this?"
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