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View Full Version : What skill check would you use to make a trap?



CoffeeIncluded
2012-04-02, 11:30 AM
I submitted a character on the pbp board: a cloudcuckoolander rogue (very appropriately nicknamed Nuts in her backstory) who's enamored with ropes and snares and mechanical devices and traps. She's supposed to be really good at dismantling traps, and equally good at setting them, and is extremely intuitive when it comes to mechanical devices. For example, in combat she might build a snare and strangle an opponent in it, or get an enemy caught in copper wire and tell the party wizard to electrify it, or build some incredibly elaborate trap.

My question is: what skill check should she use to make these traps? Obviously she'd use a Use Rope check for any rope-based trap like a snare, but what about more complex stuff? Should I use a Disable Device check, a Craft (Trap/Mechanical device) check, a Knowledge (Trap/Mechanical device) check, or something else?

Zaq
2012-04-02, 11:37 AM
Craft (Trapmaking). Check out the Trapsmith in Dungeonscape.

CoffeeIncluded
2012-04-02, 11:41 AM
Craft (Trapmaking). Check out the Trapsmith in Dungeonscape.

I don't have that; could you please explain it further to me?

SilverLeaf167
2012-04-02, 11:50 AM
I don't have that; could you please explain it further to me?
Trapsmiths become better/quicker at disabling and building traps, and also learn to make some specific traps quickly and cheaply. Not really much more to say about them, but the class would fit your concept perfectly.

Hitaro9
2012-04-02, 11:52 AM
{{scrubbed}}

CoffeeIncluded
2012-04-02, 11:53 AM
Thanks; I'll take a look at it in a bit.

Flickerdart
2012-04-02, 12:02 PM
Note that actually crafting a trap takes a very long time, like crafting anything. In combat, you may want to resort to scrolls, wands, potions or spell tiles to simulate quickly deployed devices.

CoffeeIncluded
2012-04-02, 07:54 PM
Thanks for the advice, everyone! I hope Natalia and the wizard that another player submitted are both chosen; I can already imagine the banter...