[Feat] Kobold Trapmaster

[AvatarVecna]

Prerequisite: Kobold

You gain proficiency in thieves' tools, or expertise if already proficient.

You can create and place a Kobold Trap by spending 10 minutes and whatever material/mechanical resources you wish to be a part of the trap's effect.

A kobold trap is a dastardly device created by the twisted minds of Kurtulmak's spawn that have clawed their way out of the depths of mediocrity to accomplish something truly great with their miserable lives. Such a trap is beyond the skills of mortal craftsman, utilizing instinctive techniques kobolds can employ to craft wonders, to make traps that are in a very literal sense extensions of themselves.

When created, the kobold who created the Kobold Trap will set three things:

1. Where the trap is located (which must be the same general vicinity as where it was created).
2. What will trigger the trap to activate.
3. The effect the triggering creature will suffer.

The effect in question will be some round's worth of actions that particular kobold is capable of taking - casting spells, making attacks, even using more insidious esoteric class abilities. As long as it could be accomplished by that one kobold in a single round, it can be build into a Kobold Trap. When the trap is triggered, the set actions are taken by the trap as if the trap were the kobold who created it, and it takes these actions against the creature that triggered the trap (as defined by the conditions set during its creation). After the trap has been triggered and the actions have been taken, the trap ceases to function.

Locating a Kobold Trap requires a Perception or Investigation check with a DC equal to 5 + the Thieves' Tools bonus of the kobold who created the trap, and destroying the Kobold Trap has a similar Thieves' Tools check DC. Disabling a Kobold Trap, such that you can carry it around and redeploy it yourself, has a DC 10 points higher than the previous DCs. Should you choose to disable the Kobold trap, it always weighs 10 lbs, and requires 5 minutes to place.

...discuss.

[JNAProductions]

Why does the check get harder as you level up?

And I'd assume it costs a spell slot to place a spell into the trap. Still, it can potentially net you NEVERMIND. I read more closely.

Overall... It's fun. It's cool. It's worded unclearly. I'm not totally sure how to clean up the wording, unfortunately, but I'd allow the feat, as I understand it.

[AvatarVecna]

Why does the check get harder as you level up?

In the fluff, because what you're capable of building into the trap is more complex. I debated adding some mechanic where you could "build down" (ie a Kobold 12 could build actions into the trap as if they were Kobold 8, less effect but an easier check), but realistically that required keeping track of all your past capabilities and it's honestly just not worth the hassle. The base DC levels such that somebody with proficiency and a leveled attribute will be theoretically capable of failing (but it's a small chance), while somebody with expertise is basically incapable of failing unless they've deliberately tanked their paired attribute (and even that doesn't hurt too much). It also gives a handy way to set the DC for anybody attempting to detect/destroy/disarm the trap.

If you wanted the last part, but didn't want wasted resources to even be a theoretical issue, you could get rid of the check and DC, and just have the detect/destroy/disarm DC be something like 5+/5+/15+ trapmaker's Thieves' Tools bonus.

[JNAProductions]

The issue is, it creates weird curves. Assuming it's a Dex check and you're a Dex-SAD PC...

Actually, running the numbers, you're typically needing somewhere between 0 and 2 to succeed, so... Okay, probably not an issue.

[Damon_Tor]

The issue is, it creates weird curves. Assuming it's a Dex check and you're a Dex-SAD PC...

Actually, running the numbers, you're typically needing somewhere between 0 and 2 to succeed, so... Okay, probably not an issue.

With expertise, it's auto-pass. I would say remove the check entirely for simplicity. The process is already complex enough as it is, and the trap will usually already have a built-in chance to fail based on the action it takes anyway (it will make an attack roll against an enemy or the enemy will get a save). Your biggest problem with the way the feat is written right now is all the words: removing the check would be a low-impact way to get rid of some.

[Damon_Tor]

There's also no guidance on what conditions will trigger the trap. How open ended do you intend for it to be? Does it trigger whenever a creature enters its space? Maybe allow the trapper to set a minimum weight? For magical effects like a Glyph of Warding you can set all kinds of specific terms for triggering it, but being limited to a mundane physical trigger seems more appropriate here.

I feel like lumping expended spell slots in as "resources" isn't as intuitive as you think it is. The use of a trap to cast a spell should be covered explicitly, and yes I'm aware this may contradict my other statements about scaling back the number of words you're employing. Frankly I feel like allowing the traps to cast spells at all is a mistake for a number of reasons, one of which is the complexity of the process and unintended confusion about how that works. Just look at how complicated Glyph of Warding is mechanically, and there are still arguments about what it can and can't do. IMO, you should limit it to using items, which includes weapons to attacks with, like blowguns with poisoned darts, nets, and alchemist's fire, but also things like wands which you could use to create the sort of functionality you desire, and you draw back the complexity significantly.

I would also remove the ability to move the trap around: since you need to make a new check to replant the trap anyway, why not just make a new trap? I get that you could make the trap yourself and then get someone else to plant it for you, but this sort of functionality doesn't seem worth the extra complexity to me.

[AvatarVecna]

There's also no guidance on what conditions will trigger the trap. How open ended do you intend for it to be? Does it trigger whenever a creature enters its space? Maybe allow the trapper to set a minimum weight? For magical effects like a Glyph of Warding you can set all kinds of specific terms for triggering it, but being limited to a mundane physical trigger seems more appropriate here.

There isn't a limit on the conditions because this isn't generic trapmaking - you want that, go crack open Xanathar's. This is Kobold Trapmaking, and it breaks lots of rules - that's why it costs a feat, you could only do this is you're no longer a mere kobold, but an exceptional adventuring kobold. There isn't a direct limit on what the trigger can be, but more a soft-limit based on "the trap has to be able to do what you built into it from where it is". If a Kobold Fighter 20 builds a move, action, and action surge in, but only has melee weapons, then putting in a trigger like "somebody 200 ft away opens this specific door" isn't useful unless the Kobold Fighter could move 200 ft for some reason.

I guess if I wanna make it more clear that this isn't normal trapmaking, I'll build in more explicitly that it's tapping into divine portfolio to accomplish shenanigans.

I feel like lumping expended spell slots in as "resources" isn't as intuitive as you think it is. The use of a trap to cast a spell should be covered explicitly, and yes I'm aware this may contradict my other statements about scaling back the number of words you're employing. Frankly I feel like allowing the traps to cast spells at all is a mistake for a number of reasons, one of which is the complexity of the process and unintended confusion about how that works. Just look at how complicated Glyph of Warding is mechanically, and there are still arguments about what it can and can't do. IMO, you should limit it to using items, which includes weapons to attacks with, like blowguns with poisoned darts, nets, and alchemist's fire, but also things like wands which you could use to create the sort of functionality you desire, and you draw back the complexity significantly.

I feel like if I wanted to make traps using just items I have on hand, that wouldn't be worth a feat since I can already do that using Xanathar trapmaking rules. Opening it up to whatever you could do in a round includes spellcasting on purpose. It includes Stunning Fist on purpose. I'm also not concerned with the complexity - if I have to write 10000 words to properly explain what I want this feat to do, then I'll do that. I'm not gonna change the intention because people don't like reading.

I would also remove the ability to move the trap around: since you need to make a new check to replant the trap anyway, why not just make a new trap? I get that you could make the trap yourself and then get someone else to plant it for you, but this sort of functionality doesn't seem worth the extra complexity to me.

The person who made the trap doesn't need to make a check to replant it, it just takes time. It takes less time to plant the trap the second time. That option exists because this isn't just about you deploy it (or redeploy it), but about how other people interact with it who aren't on your side, which is important if you're using this to defend your own fortress from DMNPCs, but also useful if you're the DM using this on players. It's useful to the kobold for it to be mobile, in that it could be moved quicker than a new one could be built - and if its mobile, rules need to exist for how somebody who isn't the original creator can move it.