Mechanical traps as weapons

[Xeolan]

Am i doing this right?, From the DMG, i could craft a dart blaster, Search/Disable Device DC 10, attack bonus +10, darts have a range increment of 20ft, small darts with a +4 strength bonus for 1d3+4 damage(1d4 darts per target) at two adjacent 5ft squares. And the base price would be 100gold, and the device would count as a CR1 trap. For a few more gold you can get crazy high damage from a mundane weapon.

At first level, someone could easily craft this dart blaster with 33g 3s 4c worth of raw mats.

It's basically a medieval shotgun. Firing a spray of darts.

Would that person get the full +10 attack bonus from the trap? (replacing his own attack bonus) Would he add his dex bonus to the attack roll?

Can he shoot only once a round? use iterative attacks?

There's no rule stating a trap can't be carried around, aimed at something, and manually triggered.

...also... bear trap on a staff anyone?


I already knew magical traps were cheesy broken (yay tippyverse) but i realize even mundane traps can be impressive. The only thing holding it back is the construction time when the cost is high and you can't use the Fabricate spell (LOL @ crushing wall trap taking over a year to create)

[Bruenin]

I'm not too well versed on traps and the ilk so i'd love to see an answer to this question too. In particular does a trap have to be fitted to a wall, general size, etc. I know tippy had a trap with mage's lucubration that he wore as a belt* (or something similar/around that area) but I wonder if that was legal, like where could you look to support that.

*I may be remembering

[theUnearther]

Basically, traps are grossly underpriced because pricing them as magic items leaves you thinking "well, how the hell did this dungeon's owner afford all those traps?". I expect they have to be part of buildings but it wouldn't surprise me if there are no actual rules about that. The simplest answer is probably "they're not meant for players, allow them at your own risk".

[Jack_Simth]

Short answer? Traps are not really intended for player use, and are poorly-defined as a result. One of the things not defined? The amount of space needed for a trap. Limits on how low you can drop the Search / Disable Device DC. Other idiocy checking. So yes, that Dart Trap (1,000 gp base) at Search/Disable Device DC 0 (-2,000 gp each), Automatic Reset (+500 gp), +4 Str bonus (400 gp), Proximity trigger (+1,000), with "Never miss" (1,000 gp) would net you money to make (base cost: -100 gp - then multiplied by the CR...) if it weren't for the mechanical device trap minimum of 100 gp * CR (which, for this trap, would be... -1 for sear ch, -1 for Disable Device, +X for damage - which you can set; it's +1/7th of the average damage, round up, so that ten darts at 1d4+4 (average 6.5) each would be +11 CR = CR 9 = 900 gp) with a craft DC of 40.

...

The really interesting miscallaneous feature is the "Alchemical device" with a CR modifier of "Level of spell mimicked" line, because that's cheaper than a magic device trap (and at higher levels, cheaper than scrolls, with the added benefit of being craftable and usable by the mundanes with just a skill check ... seriously, that theoretically lets you make an alchemical repeating Wish trap for 700 gp if you abuse the rules enough... and that's MARKET PRICE!), and can't be dispelled.

[Xeolan]

"they're not meant for players, allow them at your own risk".

Haha yeah i guess it's up to the DM's discretion.

While i'm at it, price listed for crafting an automatic reset magic traps is 500g x CL x spell lvl. Price listed is usually the market price, and we pay half the market cost for raw materials. But in this case, they list it as the cost for crafting it. So is the raw price 500g so market value is 1000g? Or can i craft it for 250g?


@Jack_Simth

Wow, i never thought it could go so far O_O though i rather not play with fire too much so my DM allows it. The dart blaster should be enough ''for now''

...muhaha

[Jack_Simth]

Haha yeah i guess it's up to the DM's discretion.

While i'm at it, price listed for crafting an automatic reset magic traps is 500g x CL x spell lvl. Price listed is usually the market price, and we pay half the market cost for raw materials. But in this case, they list it as the cost for crafting it. So is the raw price 500g so market value is 1000g? Or can i craft it for 250g?
No, the listed price is the crafting price (hence why it also lists an XP cost), so yeah, market value is 1000 gp * CL * spell level. However, you want to ignore that entire section and look at the miscellaneous features of the mechanical traps. Better in every way except possibly trigger conditions.



@Jack_Simth

Wow, i never thought it could go so far O_O though i rather not play with fire too much so my DM allows it. The dart blaster should be enough ''for now''

...muhahaYeah. Don't go down that road. That way lies an arms race between you and the DM, and your DM has unlimited resources, what with it being the DM's world.



...

And I just calculated that a Cleric-10 with modest optimization could spit out one of those Wish traps every day. 13 ranks, a masterwork tool (+2), Int-10 (+0), Artifice Domain (for Fabricate), and Divine Insight (2nd level spell, spell compendium, lasts 1 hour/level, gives an Insight bonus to any one skill check of 5+CL). 13+2+15=30; take ten for DC 40. Fabricate to do it in a few rounds. Guidance of the Avatar would of course be better, but it's not perfectly-well defined how long the Fabricate spell will take, and with that one minute duration, better not to risk it. Besides: You'll need to be 9th to get Fabricate without 'cheating' anyway, so....

[goto124]

Did someone rip the trap out of the wall and use it on the nearby monsters?