Non-deactivable traps

[Cicciograna]

I've never read The Tomb of Horrors, but I heard from many sources that one of its most prominent features is that it's choke full of traps. Keep in mind that at the moment I'm not able to obtain a copy of this source.

Now, in my old group there was a fellow who was fond of rogues, and was quite good at optimizing them when it came to traps: he had a very good Search modifier coupled with a matching Disable Device bonus, so when he had even the tiniest suspicion (which is to say, every time) that there were traps ahead of him, he kept asking for Search checks to find 'em. Most of the time there wasn't anything to be found (I'm not so fond of traps), but when there were, he would find and disable them without any trouble at all.

I always pictured this player in the ToH. How would he fare? Given pretty high results on Search and Disable Device checks (an average of about ~50ish at 9th level, if I remember correctly) shouldn't he be able to bypass any trap without problems? Which leads me to the actual question: how would you cope with the idea of non..."disableable" traps? Could they exist? Do them, indeed, exist? What are the average DCs of traps in the ToH? What makes them so deadly if they can actually be bypassed?

[nedz]

Here's a free port WotC did for 3.5 Tomb of Horrors (Revised) (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/oa/20051031a) — Spoilers obviously.

It's supposed to have been toned down a little from the original.

[Telonius]

There are certain things you really can't detect until it's too late. Proximity traps are the best example: in order to disable it, you have to get close to it, but getting close to it is what sets it off.

[Starbuck_II]

I've never read The Tomb of Horrors, but I heard from many sources that one of its most prominent features is that it's choke full of traps. Keep in mind that at the moment I'm not able to obtain a copy of this source.

Now, in my old group there was a fellow who was fond of rogues, and was quite good at optimizing them when it came to traps: he had a very good Search modifier coupled with a matching Disable Device bonus, so when he had even the tiniest suspicion (which is to say, every time) that there were traps ahead of him, he kept asking for Search checks to find 'em. Most of the time there wasn't anything to be found (I'm not so fond of traps), but when there were, he would find and disable them without any trouble at all.

I always pictured this player in the ToH. How would he fare? Given pretty high results on Search and Disable Device checks (an average of about ~50ish at 9th level, if I remember correctly) shouldn't he be able to bypass any trap without problems? Which leads me to the actual question: how would you cope with the idea of non..."disableable" traps? Could they exist? Do them, indeed, exist? What are the average DCs of traps in the ToH? What makes them so deadly if they can actually be bypassed?
In the Original, you had to be specific.

Where were you searching? The Ceiling? The Floor?
And sorry, yes is not an answer that is accepted back then.

Second, for magic traps Tomb had a way of leadening areas so you can't detect magic.
Hiding doors behind plaster. Or having unbreakable doors (but you could just break the walls silly Gygax).

Certain "traps" weren't traps, but hazards that you didn't know about till too late.

[Curmudgeon]

Because it's converted from older rules, the 3.5 Tomb of Horrors still has some traps which are triggered by things which aren't on the list of 3.5 trap elements. In particular, there are "presence" traps: if you're there, the trap gets set off, with no mechanism or spell to use Search or Disable Device against (i.e., the module lists no DCs).

But for the most part, an optimized Rogue can find and disable every trap in the module. That leaves the rest of the party to twiddle their thumbs, waiting for the occasional monster or non-damaging puzzle.