Question about traps

[killem2]

So my players are in the Way of the Wicked (A pathfinder )AP, and need to make traps.

Except the traps the player wants to make are not exactly in the books. Some are however and those should be easy to figure out. I am looking to make sure I am figuring cost right and if other GMs have input on what maybe should be changed, because it says in the trap creation section that some are up to GM discretion.

1. Alarm traps on every door in this place (there are probably at least 40 doors maybe more) That would have to be either the alarm spell done every night or an automatic trap.

i think the Trap is free however since we have casters who can do it.

2. There is an existing pit trap:

Camouflaged Pit Trap CR 6
Type mechanical; Perception DC 25; Disable Device DC 20
EFFECTS
Trigger location; Reset manual
Effect 50-ft.-deep pit (5d6 falling damage); DC 20 Reflex avoids;
multiple targets (all targets in a 10-ft. x 20-ft. area in room 2-1
above)
Cost 3,000 gp (half the usual cost of such a trap); the trap could be
upgraded to automatic reset for another 3,000 gp in materials
if someone can make a Craft (traps) skill check (DC 30).


But he wants to setup a grease trap that goes off over the area as well. Would this help with increased the DC to avoid the trap?


3. Log trap, (think Ewoks crushing ATST) but would also push the target back and even off this 400ft spire.

How would you even construct this? (Cost wise ect)

[FocusWolf413]

Personally, I think paying thousands of gp for booby traps and out traps is ridiculous. A scroll of move earth is 1600ish, and you just need to put a loose lattice of vines and leaves over it. A few peasants and a few shovels costs maybe 10gp for a day. Traps are only effective if they're cheap and easy to make.

[killem2]

I do agree on that, which is why I am saying the 1000x cr is the cost to buy it out right. (I don't care if it is wrong). So my players can craft for 1/3 the cost.

[Pathagaron]

If you're in the part of WotW that I think you are, I would charge them time instead of gp for mundane traps and allow them to be creative. For the alarm spells I would charge full price for: via permanency 2500 per trap or via wand at 150 per day per trap. This would be cheap enough to be affordable, but too expensive to ward every door.

I would also like to point out how annoying it would be to have to say the password every time you pass through any door in your own base. Eventually you or one of your NPC allies will accidentally set one off especially if the password is tricky.

[Elxir_Breauer]

Some things can easily be done with little to no cost...

Alarm Trap on every door in the place? Try something mundane like the bells some shops have over their door to alert the shopkeeper to arrivals, or maybe on the doors that open into the next room use a lever system to trigger something from behind the door where a Rogue's got literally no chance of disarming or detecting it without using magic.

Grease spell around a Pit Trap? Try simple alchemical oils or the like instead, even Lantern Oil is slick on a stone or dirt floor.

Try for more mundane approaches and things suddenly get much harder to actually deal with in many cases, especially with clever camouflage and/or simple illusions (note that keeping Detect Magic running is trivial in Pathfinder, so the Illusion angle might only work on the first couple traps). Even an Optical Illusion (the completely mundane variety) can hide extremely effective traps that won't get noticed til they go off. Higher level opponents will have better Perception checks, so the traps need to be hidden extremely well or so obvious that the opponents look for the hidden ones and ignore the obvious ones a time or two. Mix and match all of these and more to give them some serious options for quality traps that might actually be WORTH the gold and time spent on them. Even a simple ledge on the top of a doorway with a Thunderstone on it that is rigged to drop just to the side of the door makes an effective Alarm system. then there's Guards and Wards if allowing 3.5 material (not sure if it was ported to PF) which can cover an entire CASTLE in a couple castings at a decent level.

[killem2]

I made the executive decision as the GM to make all mechanical traps cost 300 GP X CR flat magic traps and such will still retain the same cost this seemed to make my players a lot more happy and it made lot more of the traps to be within reach to at least stay on par with the people they are fighting