Here’s a few suggestions to make cage and cage traps more balanced:
Cage size: When making a cage, one can specify a size for the cage, either manually or by referencing it to an existing creature, for example, if you pick “human” when specifying cage size, it’ll be large enough to contain a human-sized creature. A cage can only contain a creature who’s slightly larger than it and under. Anything above that cannot be stored in that respective cage. By default, a cage will be the size of its maker. Larger cages are heavier and need more materials to manufacture. If a creature steps on a cage trap which contains an insufficiently-sized caged, the trap will not trigger.
Cage traps: The act of “caging” someone in a cage trap counts as an attack that can only be dodged (not blocked or parried). The chance of success depends on the quality of the mechanisms used in it’s construction. If a creature successfully dodges a cage trap, the cage will be wasted and the trap will need to be rearmed manually. If the creature fails at dodging the trap, they will be caged as usual.
You can also add a chance for an enemy to spot a trap and therefore be unaffected by it based on its observer skill. Maybe traps built by more competent mechanics can be harder to spot based on their quality? I think this would be a good way to nerf traps as a whole, especially cage traps.