[tesuji]

well as a player in a dnd world, i would have trouble buying the premise and it would break my suspension of disbelief.

the notion that an experienced character would base "i wanna go downstairs for a snack in the middle of the night" on "do i have a teleport ready" or to not have bolt holes etc that weren't dependent on 4th level and up spells being available, or allowing himself to literally trap himself on his own bedroom if someone gets a dim anchor or anti magic shell etc... is all a bit far fetched just to provide a gimmicky desing dungeon.

so yeah as player i would hope the gm would let us make a few rolls, tell us "you search well and find none" so we could indeed leave this silly place and go find adventure.

you know, adventure, heroism, stuff of glory as opposed to "six characters looking for stairs: episode 4 "

really, is the "not-all-that-great stair quest" the session you want people talking about from your campaign?

"and then the paladin raise his vorpal sword and declared loudly "does anyone know where the stairs are?""

for many challenge = fun
for most frustrate != fun