Trapsmith Character

[Zombulian]

So I’ve gotten a wild hair to make a character that utilizes the Trapsmith PrC. I know it’s most well known as a means to enter Swiftblade because it gives Haste as a 1st level spell, but I also actually like the booby trap class feature.

So optimally what I’m looking for is a utility character that can drop 3 levels into Trapsmith for Advanced Booby Traps and continue on their merry way.

Things I’m looking for but not strictly required:
- Int synergy
- Utility
- Scouting Tools

So far I’ve landed on Lurk/Trapsmith/Chameleon as being one of the better combinations of a pile of utility goodies that aren’t hurt too bad by interruptions in progression. Warlock or Incarnate may be good to consider as well.

Thoughts?

[Zarvistic]

What about Factotum?

[Paragon]

I second Factotum and add Combat Trapsmith from CS that has a lot more booby trap options

[Zombulian]

Factotum is a great add, I kinda forgot about them.

I’m starting to like the idea of Spellthief as the base class here, since Trapsmith has no special rules for inflating their CL, Master Spellthief can help there, and ST 4 gets wand access to a ton of the wiz/sorc list. Leaves 1 more level to play with, could plug in a fair few fun things.

Combat Trapsmith is a fun PrC but it doesn’t really work for this project as it’s heavily dependent on class level for its scaling. Trapsmith is nice because the advanced booby traps have DC’s that scale with your Craft check.

What other classes could finish out a build like this? Chameleon is hard to beat…

[Paragon]

Good catch about Combat Trapsmith.

And Spellthief is my favorite class and one level is enough for wands, same as Paladin or Ranger. But you'd need to dump charisma on an ST and that's heresy (even though that might be smart)

[Troacctid]

Spellthief is a really solid option. You could also try a multiclass rogue base—something like Rogue 3/Warlock 2 or Rogue 3/Incarnate 2 would probably work well. (Factotum 3 can sub in for Rogue 3 if you prefer, of course.)

Sublime chord would be a good prestige class option if you can swing it. Trapsmith provides the spellcasting prerequisite, so all you need is one level of bard, a skill tax, and a decent Charisma score.

[ReidWalter]

I prefer Factotum.

[pktruonghai]

I prefer Factotum, too

[Doctor Despair]

+1 to the Sublime Chord progression later.

Also, if you're into the traps, I'd like to make two possible suggestions (and you don't really need both):

1. Dip Warblade with Martial Study for the Setting Sun maneuver Mighty Throw to toss enemies into your traps.

2. More subtly (but less humorously), dip binder for Ronove's Far Hand, an at-will swift-action mage hand that can be used to trigger traps at a distance.

Something like Bard 1/Binder 1/Artificer 1/Rogue 2/Trapsmith 5/Sublime Chord 10 could be neat.

[ShurikVch]

Complete Scoundrel has Combat Trapsmith PrC - how about it?

Also, if Eberron stuff is allowed, Silver Key PrC allow to get +2 circumstances on Craft (trapmaking) at the very 1st level; and it's one of rare PrC which you can qualify for at the very 1st level (and, thus - enter it at 2nd), as long as you're Dwarven Rogue with sub level for Knowledge (architecture and engineering) class skill (or Changeling Rogue sub level with Racial Emulation feat). Feat tax is Dodge - so you would need either take flaws, or select Dwarf subrace which get bonus feat

[Doctor Despair]

Complete Scoundrel has Combat Trapsmith PrC - how about it?




Combat Trapsmith is a fun PrC but it doesn’t really work for this project as it’s heavily dependent on class level for its scaling. Trapsmith is nice because the advanced booby traps have DC’s that scale with your Craft check.



Also, if Eberron stuff is allowed, Silver Key PrC allow to get +2 circumstances on Craft (trapmaking) at the very 1st level; and it's one of rare PrC which you can qualify for at the very 1st level (and, thus - enter it at 2nd), as long as you're Dwarven Rogue with sub level for Knowledge (architecture and engineering) class skill (or Changeling Rogue sub level with Racial Emulation feat). Feat tax is Dodge - so you would need either take flaws, or select Dwarf subrace which get bonus feat

Can a Changeling actually be a member of the House? Usually those are pretty fluff-locked. Racial Emulation lets you count as a dwarf and emulate its subtype, but house membership isn't a subtype or race.

[ShurikVch]

...
...
Did I just failed my Ctrl+F check?
How?
Just - how?.. :smallconfused:


Can a Changeling actually be a member of the House? Usually those are pretty fluff-locked. Racial Emulation lets you count as a dwarf and emulate its subtype, but house membership isn't a subtype or race.
Are you implying Changelings are bad at impersonating other people?
(And if they also get the Least Mark of Warding - I'm pretty sure House wouldn't investigate it too much...)

[Troacctid]

Can a Changeling actually be a member of the House? Usually those are pretty fluff-locked. Racial Emulation lets you count as a dwarf and emulate its subtype, but house membership isn't a subtype or race.
Silver Key abilities represent trade secrets, not bloodline powers, so a changeling could qualify by marrying or being adopted into House Kundarak. You could technically be a blood member of the house too, with one dwarf parent and one changeling parent—this would be an extremely rare occurrence, but you are one of the protagonists of the story, so if an extremely rare event is going to happen, it may as well happen to you.


(And if they also get the Least Mark of Warding - I'm pretty sure House wouldn't investigate it too much...)
Unfortunately, even a changeling scion of House Kundarak with the Racial Emulation feat can't have a true dragonmark, since the Mark of Warding only manifests in hill dwarves. Best you could do would be an aberrant dragonmark, and developing an aberrant dragonmark is historically a great way to get excoriated from your house.

[ShurikVch]

Unfortunately, even a changeling scion of House Kundarak with the Racial Emulation feat can't have a true dragonmark, since the Mark of Warding only manifests in hill dwarves.
1) It's an old argument - thus, likely, would be up to DM ("you are considered to be a member of that race for all other purposes" is rather broad-worded)
2) Why the Hill Dwarves specifically? I mean - neither Eberron Campaign Setting, nor Dragonmarked says anything about it. Thus - Dream, Earth, Gold, or any other kind of Dwarves should be OK too (unless I missed some crucial part)


Best you could do would be an aberrant dragonmark, and developing an aberrant dragonmark is historically a great way to get excoriated from your house.
Well, technically, Cataclysm Mage at capstone explicitly able to gain any Dragonmark of their choice (even if enmity with Dragons may not worth it)

[Troacctid]

1) It's an old argument - thus, likely, would be up to DM ("you are considered to be a member of that race for all other purposes" is rather broad-worded)
2) Why the Hill Dwarves specifically? I mean - neither Eberron Campaign Setting, nor Dragonmarked says anything about it. Thus - Dream, Earth, Gold, or any other kind of Dwarves should be OK too (unless I missed some crucial part)
The restriction is from Player's Guide to Eberron. Only the PHB subraces qualify for true dragonmarks.

[Maat Mons]

Rogue 3 / Ranger 2

Changeling Rogue: Lose Trapfinding; Can take 10 on social rolls; Use Gather Information skill in less time.
Penetrating Strike Rogue: Lose Trap Sense; Gain ability to deal half Sneak Attack damage to creatures normally immune.
Trap Expert Ranger: Lose Track; Gain Trapfinding.
Arcane Hunter Ranger: Gain “arcanists” as Favored Enemy instead of normal options.
Moon-Warded Ranger: Lose Combat Style; Gain Wis to AC in light armor. (Sorry it’s not Int synergy.)



Ranger 2 / Paladin 3

Trap Expert Ranger: Lose Track; Gain Trapfinding.
Moon-Warded Ranger: Lose Combat Style; Gain Wis to AC in light armor. (Sorry still not Int synergy.)
Paladin of Freedom: Lose immunity to fear; Gain immunity to compulsions; Chaotic alignment.
Hunter of Fiends Paladin: Lose Smite Evil; Gain Favored Enemy (evil outsiders).
Unnamed Unearthed Arcana Paladin Variant: Lose Lay on Hands; Gain Favored Enemy.

Flexible Mind Feat: Any two skills become class skills for all classes. (Choose Open lock for prerequisites and Use Magic Device for utility.)
Serenity Feat: Use Wisdom instead of Charisma for Divine Grace. (Yup, no Int synergy here, sorry again.)

[Zombulian]

These are all great additions. I wasn’t aware of the Trap Expert Ranger nor the Silver Key PrC, those are getting filed away for future use.

I really like Sublime Chord, I had forgotten about it, I knew I was forgetting a 9ths giving arcane PrC but all I could think of was Nar Demonbinder and Beholder Mage.
I think I’ll go Feat Rogue 1/Trickster Spellthief 4/Trapsmith 3/Heartfire Fanner 2/Sublime Chord 10. I’m not interested in the last 2 levels of Trapsmith anyhow and HF grants 5th level bardic music as well as full casting.

Regarding the Warblade dip, I was considering grabbing Martial Study as my Fighter Bonus Feat anyway! Throwing people into traps sounds fun.

[Anthrowhale]

Heartfire Fanner 2/Sublime Chord 10
You may want to use extra HF levels to advance SC since HF has generally better class features than SC.

Do note that the skill requirements for TS, HF, and SC are steep so you'll need to plan carefully.

[Zombulian]

You may want to use extra HF levels to advance SC since HF has generally better class features than SC.

Do note that the skill requirements for TS, HF, and SC are steep so you'll need to plan carefully.

Great point, I’ll make sure to finish HFF sometime after getting into SC. The skills are pretty nuts yeah, Able Learner is playing a large role here. Thankfully most of these classes have at least 6+int points per level.

[Anthrowhale]

Since Trapsmith booby traps are dependent on a skill check, you may want to consider the merit of spiking skill checks. This can be done pretty effectively by letting your L1 bard spells be Loresong (Dragon #335, persistable competence bonus = caster level/2), Improvisation (SC, 4 times luck bonus = caster level/2), and Skillful Moment (Dragon #350, automatic 20 on skill check). Since a spellthief can power known spells with stolen spell energy, some arrangement where you purchase L1 pearls of power which a friendly caster can use would give you plentiful skill bonuses.

[Zombulian]

Since Trapsmith booby traps are dependent on a skill check, you may want to consider the merit of spiking skill checks. This can be done pretty effectively by letting your L1 bard spells be Loresong (Dragon #335, persistable competence bonus = caster level/2), Improvisation (SC, 4 times luck bonus = caster level/2), and Skillful Moment (Dragon #350, automatic 20 on skill check). Since a spellthief can power known spells with stolen spell energy, some arrangement where you purchase L1 pearls of power which a friendly caster can use would give you plentiful skill bonuses.

Oh absolutely. You know I’m abusing skill boosters on a character like this.