[3.5] Trapfinding: How I learned to love the Favored Soul.

[esorscher]

I was thinking:

Rogues, beyond their other class features, are used as trap finders. Now, most traps have either a save to negate (or half) or an attack roll.

Favored Souls have good save progression for all saves, can wear heavy armor, buff with spells, yada yada yada.

Has anyone tried going down a trap-filled hallway as a heavily armored Favored Soul? I get the sense that most traps will be set off, but be ignored.

What's the problem with my logic?

[Delaney Gale]

I was thinking:

Rogues, beyond their other class features, are used as trap finders. Now, most traps have either a save to negate (or half) or an attack roll.

Favored Souls have good save progression for all saves, can wear heavy armor, buff with spells, yada yada yada.

Has anyone tried going down a trap-filled hallway as a heavily armored Favored Soul? I get the sense that most traps will be set off, but be ignored.

What's the problem with my logic?

Depends on the trap grade. Your argument basically assumes traps only effect the characters in the immediate area, you don't fail any saves, and none of the traps are of the "if you don't make your save, you die horribly. if you make your save, bad stuff still happens" variety. There's a trap we came across in our campaign... save meant you live but lose all your equipment, failing the save meant you live, lose all your equipment, but have to clear disintegrating slime from your body within 3 rounds using your bare hands or die.

Given that none of those three criteria are true, it could theoretically work. However, my favored soul Michael is content to hide behind me and wave yours onward to possibly unnecessary pain and suffering for the good of the party.

[esorscher]

Good point. But, even if it was Area of Effect traps, the Favored Soul could still lead the party a good 30 ft. ahead.

But, I imagine that most of the traps like the ones you describe have pretty high Search DCs? Am I correct?

[Douglas]

Just get the Summon Elemental reserve feat from Complete Mage and have a truly disposable minion set the traps off.

[Another_Poet]

No catch, you're exactly right. I played this character once.

Sir Ronald "The Smasher" Ronaldstein was a greatclub-wielding Favoured Soul with patents of nobility that "totally prove I am a baron." Bright blue half-plate, a war drum and only enough cure spells for his own backside rounded him out into the perfect questionably-aligned antihero.

Anyway, we find a room in a dungeon with scorch marks and a table covered in a heap of gold coins. Some riddle hints that we can take only half of the gold, and if we get greedy we die. So the party rogue checks for traps, realises he won't be able to disarm the magical trap (too high of a DC and we were only level 1) and takes just half of the gold. It gets split up amongst the party.

Ronaldstein waits till they're clear and says, "So anything I carry out of there myself is just mine, right?"

Incredulous looks and groans from the other players. They grudgingly accede, and their characters stand clear. In goes Ronaldstein.

Casts Resistance (+1 resistance bonus to all saves) and Guidance (+1 competence bonus on next save, stacks) for a +2 on his next save. Attempts to sweep as many of the coins as he can into a sack, and gets blasted with a fireball or similar. Makes his ref save, half damage, walks out with the money.

Cures up, empties the sack in the hallway and goes back in!

Grooooaaaaaan say the other players. Re-cast Guidance and grab the rest of the coins.

Passes the Ref save, half damage, walks out with another bag of coin. Cure, Guidance, repeat.

He goes for the last of the money and fails his ref save, falls into negative hits. A party member nurses him back to consciousness. He cures himself the rest of the way and goes back.

"What? You almost died! There's only 3 gp left!"

"Shut up, cowards. Stand aside for a real warrior!"

In he goes. Swipes the 3 gp. MAKES his save - but the GM rolls max damage. Sir Ronald "The Smasher" Ronaldstein, a TOTALLY legitimate baron, is reduced to -11 hp, a charred skeleton with 3 gp clenched in its broiled hand.

Best character death I've had. But the point is.... at FIRST LEVEL he survived a supposedly UNBEATABLE trap (in a Dungeon Crawl Classics module, at that! They don't pull punches!) 3 out of 4 times.

Had I been a more cautious player, he could easily have been the party trapspringer for many more sessions to come. And he would have requested a mere +20% share of all loot because of the risky job he was performing. But that would've taken patience, and those 3 gp were right there waiting....

Ahh, Smasher. I miss you.

:)

ap

[Delaney Gale]

Good point. But, even if it was Area of Effect traps, the Favored Soul could still lead the party a good 30 ft. ahead.

But, I imagine that most of the traps like the ones you describe have pretty high Search DCs? Am I correct?

Well, the trap itself had a high Search DC, but the way the encounter was set up it was really, really obvious it was a Trap. Still, we were at the right level that if our two skillmonkeys could have both found it with about 75% accuracy. Our inability to disable it was the operative problem...

I'm thinking more about traps that end up bringing in more baddies, or which cut off the favored soul from the rest of the party. It would work for 90% of traps though. I'd say roll up a favored soul of your friendly local god of suffering, design a level-appropriate trap hallway, and do a test run.

[Eldariel]

Generally, it's best just to actually find the traps and figure out how to deal with them. Barbarian does the job you described pretty well, but if one of those traps summons a Planetar, you'll be pretty damn sorry you set it off. Likewise, a simple Alarm-trap in some creatures' lair/nest/base/whatever is something you don't want to set off. Also, a trap made to stop the McGuffin from falling into the wrong hands by moving it to a different location/disjunctioning it/such is something you probably don't want to set off. Also, traps that would collapse the whole dungeon tend to be something you don't really want to set off in the first place.

Mostly, there're billions of traps you just don't want going off period (heck, a simple Enervation-trap would be pretty nasty for an FS), so generally it's best to have a character actually find the traps and figure out how to deal with them (whether to figure out how to disable it or try to bypass it through alternative means). Occasionally running down the alley won't get you killed (remember natural 1s/natural 20s (on trap attack rolls) though), but I wouldn't use triggering traps as my primary means of disarming them. It's risky and dumb. With a large number of classes having a relatively easy access to Trapfinding, it's pretty easy to pack one. Just a quick list:

Rogue, Ninja, Scout, Ranger, Barbarian, Cleric, and any class with Planar Touchstone: Catalogues of Enlightement (Kobold) or through Incarnum-use.

[Epinephrine]

Traps can be pretty tricky. Sure, heavy armour *may* protect you from attack roll traps. Great saves *may* protect you from save-based traps.

There are many other traps though - some may just alert foes, some may use touch attacks, some may not have a save.

[Adumbration]

Fortune's Friend stacked full of Luck feats can survive literally anything. I was a Rogue, true, but it was Tomb of Horrors, and I finally got sick of searching every five feet and just walked into every single trap. And survived. I can't remember what killed him eventually, but I think it was a monster.