"Check for Traps"

Back in the day, the Thief class had an ability to Find/Remove Traps. As the name implies, this gave them a percentage chance to detect a trap, and then a similar chance to disable a trap once found. In 3e, this was generalised to a skill check, which by the time of 5e has become Perception.

Unfortunately, this approach has made the handling of traps, on both sides of the screen, really lazy - before opening a door, walking down a corridor, or whatever the PCs declare that the Rogue "checks for traps", the DM calls for the inevitable skill roll (and then another to remove the trap), and we're done.

And it's deadly boring, just slows the game down to deal with traps that are usually not there anyway, and then we move on.

As far as I can see, the answer to this was provided in "Xanathar's Guide to Everything". Unfortunately, after providing that answer the book largely shrugged its shoulders, left the implementation of that solution to the DM... and nothing much changed. Busy DM's, or at least I, just didn't have time to do things much differently, and the tools probably aren't going to be taken forward in 5.5e, which will probably tweak the PHB material but leave the DMG mostly alone. Which is annoying, but there it is.

The solution that they outlined was that 'simple' traps should basically look like spells - a short stat-block at the outset followed by a description of the effect. What they don't mention, although it is present in their sample traps, is that each trap should indicate what signs are available that show the presence of the trap - a tripwire, pressure plates, broken walls, etc etc.

The second part of the fix is that it should not be possible to "check for traps" - traps are too many and varied for that action to make sense anyway. Instead, the PC should simply be checking the door, corridor, or whatever. This then leads to the same Wisdom (Perception) roll as is currently the case.

However...

A successful roll should also not reveal that the character has found a trap. Instead, a successful roll reveals the appropriate signs that indicate the trap is there - it is down to the player to then deduce the presence of a trap from those (or, possibly, use an Investigation roll for more information).

(This also solves one of the big problems with Passive Perception - it will no longer defang many or all traps due to them being automatically detected, but will instead allow the character to merely spot those signs automically. Much more satisfying.)

The big problem, though, is that very few DMs really have the time (or, often, the expertise) to work through the details of building the telltale signs of the trap, work out how these connect to the larger mechanism, and integrating them into the adventure. It would be really great if there were a book, some sort of guide for Dungeon Masters, that ran through the process and then provided not just a handful, but actually dozens if not hundreds of examples of all levels...