Spot and traps. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Spot and traps. [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Valoy_Muniz
03-16-06, 12:37 PM I have been playing DDO and I got a idea for it. In the game it lets you use spot as a passive skill to find traps. If you sucseed you get a warning that a trap is near but that is it, you still need search to find where the trape is. I am think I am going to do something like that in my game. I plan to do it as if they take 10 on there spot at all times. If they meet the seach DC I will tell them that something looks wrong around here and let them work on if for there. The only thing with this do you think I should reduce the xp a trap gives to a person? I am thinking about lowering the CR by 1 becouse of this. What do you think.
Mnky
03-21-06, 12:46 PM You would need to adjust the CR by way more than 1. Most traps rely on you not noticing them, and even then give you a save of some sort. All the player has to do if informed that there is a trap in the area is roll a marble down, or prod around a bit with their 10 foot pole and see what happens. You could introduce 'amateur traps' which give a spot check but doing this all traps would majorely affect gameplay
Ace the Dead
03-29-06, 04:05 PM Bad idea for many reasons:
Spot is already one of the most powerful skills in the game. A high spot modifier counters disguise, hide & slight of hand; allows you to pick up on all the little tidbits the DM throws at you; can be used to counter invisibility (DC 40 to pinpoint an invisible creature, I have a PC pulling this off at lvl 10); and can even, under the right circumstances give you a suprise round or at least allow you to act in the suprise round.

If a trap isn't hidden, its useless. PCs will find a way to get around, over, or through it (even if they cannot find a way to simply disarm it) in a matter of moments. (Trust me, even if you're PCs don't have a 10 pole or a marble, they'll find a way). This makes it easier to notice traps and thus greatly reduces their effectiveness.

Traps should rarely be used, and when they are there should be a good reason for them to be there, and the people who are there should be able to get around without much danger (my favorite example is a pit trap that requires about 100lbs of force to fall through in a kobold dungeon: it creates noise to act as an alarm, repels oversized invaders, & the kobolds can walk over it fearing only malfunction). Traps in anything but a tomb, dungeon, or vault designed to keep people out strain disbelief and annoy more than anything else. When I play the party rogue (which is my personal favorite class) I often max search and disable device, and I always groan when I find a trap.

So I would definately NOT do that for all traps, however it could work for some traps:
I've actually encountered a trap that had a spot check to notice it that was very entertaining: it was a large spiderweb like thing with a big rune in the center of it. Our guide used her presumably high escape artist check to slip through the web, and not to be outdone Ace (spot mod -1) sliped right on through before looking up to see what he had done. A search check (which I made), a spellcraft check, or a knowledge(arcana) check revealed the rune to be a symbol of death trap activated by pulling on the "spider" threads. I still remember the look of fear that passed over the rest of the party when the pair of wizards revealed what it was.
The point being: only allow a spot check if the trap is meant to be a visible deterent to admitence rather than a tradtional trap desinged to injure, incapacitate, or kill intruders who are not where they belong.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Valoy_Muniz 03-16-06, 12:37 PM	I have been playing DDO and I got a idea for it. In the game it lets you use spot as a passive skill to find traps. If you sucseed you get a warning that a trap is near but that is it, you still need search to find where the trape is. I am think I am going to do something like that in my game. I plan to do it as if they take 10 on there spot at all times. If they meet the seach DC I will tell them that something looks wrong around here and let them work on if for there. The only thing with this do you think I should reduce the xp a trap gives to a person? I am thinking about lowering the CR by 1 becouse of this. What do you think.
Mnky 03-21-06, 12:46 PM	You would need to adjust the CR by way more than 1. Most traps rely on you not noticing them, and even then give you a save of some sort. All the player has to do if informed that there is a trap in the area is roll a marble down, or prod around a bit with their 10 foot pole and see what happens. You could introduce 'amateur traps' which give a spot check but doing this all traps would majorely affect gameplay
Ace the Dead 03-29-06, 04:05 PM	Bad idea for many reasons: Spot is already one of the most powerful skills in the game. A high spot modifier counters disguise, hide & slight of hand; allows you to pick up on all the little tidbits the DM throws at you; can be used to counter invisibility (DC 40 to pinpoint an invisible creature, I have a PC pulling this off at lvl 10); and can even, under the right circumstances give you a suprise round or at least allow you to act in the suprise round. If a trap isn't hidden, its useless. PCs will find a way to get around, over, or through it (even if they cannot find a way to simply disarm it) in a matter of moments. (Trust me, even if you're PCs don't have a 10 pole or a marble, they'll find a way). This makes it easier to notice traps and thus greatly reduces their effectiveness. Traps should rarely be used, and when they are there should be a good reason for them to be there, and the people who are there should be able to get around without much danger (my favorite example is a pit trap that requires about 100lbs of force to fall through in a kobold dungeon: it creates noise to act as an alarm, repels oversized invaders, & the kobolds can walk over it fearing only malfunction). Traps in anything but a tomb, dungeon, or vault designed to keep people out strain disbelief and annoy more than anything else. When I play the party rogue (which is my personal favorite class) I often max search and disable device, and I always groan when I find a trap. So I would definately NOT do that for all traps, however it could work for some traps: I've actually encountered a trap that had a spot check to notice it that was very entertaining: it was a large spiderweb like thing with a big rune in the center of it. Our guide used her presumably high escape artist check to slip through the web, and not to be outdone Ace (spot mod -1) sliped right on through before looking up to see what he had done. A search check (which I made), a spellcraft check, or a knowledge(arcana) check revealed the rune to be a symbol of death trap activated by pulling on the "spider" threads. I still remember the look of fear that passed over the rest of the party when the pair of wizards revealed what it was. The point being: only allow a spot check if the trap is meant to be a visible deterent to admitence rather than a tradtional trap desinged to injure, incapacitate, or kill intruders who are not where they belong.