Trap maker = magic item?

[Tony Anderson]

Alright, so I have a PC that is making magical traps as her main form of damage/support/ect. She is following the chart in the DMG for costs and such to make them but here is what I have some problems with.

One of her traps is a trap of minor healing. The trap is infused onto a ribbon with a trigger of touch and an automatic reset.

Effectively she has given herself fast healing +1.

Reading as much as I can on traps in the DMG and talking to my fellow DM's, we can't initially find any reason for her to not be able to do this. But it is very unsettling to me cause she can abuse this method in the blink of an eye.

Basically what I am asking is what are the limits to a "trap"? Do I need to draw the lines? Is there anyway for her to have her cake and eat it too while the abuse level stays low?

 

[BlackSeed_Vash]

Time, gold, the necessary craft skills(or buying the needed items) and someone able & willing to cast the needed spells. Unless you're running a very laid back, take your time kinda game, not all off these are going to be available all the time. That in itself should restrict the construction of new traps.

Since the healing trap is touch activated, give any intelligent opponent a chance to notice her touching it for the heal. Each time she does so, lower the DC to notice the odd behavior, giving them a chance to guess at what she is doing. Once that happens, some should actively try to steal if not destroy the item. Eventually some is going to figure out what it does and/or that its really important. News will get around and someone with a lot of gold and not much sense will want it. Thieves would try to steal it, someone will want to buy it and others will try to kill for it.

Take a gander at the Dungeonscape splat book. Chapter 6 is dedicated to a variety of old and new traps.
It also contains the Trapsmith PrC (pg 53-55) which may give you some idea on what she should and should not be able to do.

Best of luck and don't forget that just because there are rules for crafting something doesn't mean you should allow it. For example, would you allow a player to craft a ring of continuous True Strike {Spell Lvl (1) * Caster LvL (1) * 2000g * 4 = 8000g} Even if you tack on the 1.5 surcharge for wrong slot, 12,000g is damn cheap for +20 to all attacks.

 

[Grogg of the North]

Combat Trapsmith from Complete Scoundrel is all about setting up traps during combat. However, most of the traps appear to be alchemical. It may be worth looking at to give you another perspective on trap making.

 

[DMZ2112]

Since the healing trap is touch activated, give any intelligent opponent a chance to notice her touching it for the heal.

My first assumption was that she was touching it every round, as well, but then I thought about the fact that it was a ribbon, and it occurred to me that she might just be /wearing/ it. Is that the case, Tony? Because if it is I would absolutely rule that's not how automatic resets work. She has to /stop/ touching it for the reset to trigger.

If she is taking time to actually touch the ribbon every round, presumably with her hand, that's at least a move-equivalent action in combat. She needs her hands to be doing whatever she's doing for a standard action -- you only get so many extraneous movements before the orc has stuck a spear in you.

If she's wearing the ribbon on her hand in such a way that all she has to do is flex a finger to touch it, then the ribbon occupies her hands magic item slot. That seems like a fair trade.

 

[the Jester]

Though it has clearly been written up as one, how exactly is that ribbon of healing a "trap"?

Simply put, that would earn a big fat "nope" from me. As the dm, you don't have to justify saying no to something like that; the pc needs to figure a way to get you to justify saying yes.

Note that you won't find a "cure minor wounds at will" item in the game anywhere, and if you did, it CERTAINLY wouldn't follow the pricing guidelines- emphasis on guidelines, explicitly NOT rules!

Exercise your discretion.

 

[DMZ2112]

Though it has clearly been written up as one, how exactly is that ribbon of healing a "trap"?

If you're questioning the premise of a magic trap being a mundane object enchanted with a spell that goes off when the object is touched, you're pretty much questioning the entire premise of magic traps.

I see what she did here, and I'm impressed. I don't feel like "nope" is a constructive response.

 

[the Jester]

If you're questioning the premise of a magic trap being a mundane object enchanted with a spell that goes off when the object is touched, you're pretty much questioning the entire premise of magic traps.

I'm questioning the premise of something that gives you a benefit, magical or mundane, being a trap.

While not wanting to just say no is a fine attitude, I have found that dming requires a willingness to do just that when a player comes up with something blatantly abusive, and this falls squarely under that category. Like I said, you won't even find a beneficial magic item in an official source at ANY price that does what this cheap-ass "trap" does.

 

[DMZ2112]

I'm questioning the premise of something that gives you a benefit, magical or mundane, being a trap.

I feel like there have been examples of healing "traps" in the canon before, but I can't locate any right now. Still, the rules don't specify that a spell in a magic trap must be harmful. I think the real rules-interpretation question about this technique is "is an armed trap something that can be carried on one's person?" rather than "is a trap with a healing effect really a trap?"

While not wanting to just say no is a fine attitude, I have found that dming requires a willingness to do just that when a player comes up with something blatantly abusive, and this falls squarely under that category.

I'm not convinced of its severity, but I'm convinced you're convinced.

Like I said, you won't even find a beneficial magic item in an official source at ANY price that does what this cheap-ass "trap" does.

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/rings/ring-of-regeneration

Admittedly, the original D&D3 version healed 1 HP/hour, rather than per round, but it was also a complete waste of a ring slot by the time you reached a level where it might drop or be forged. I don't find the Pathfinder version overpowered.

 

[the Jester]

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic-items/rings/ring-of-regeneration

Admittedly, the original D&D3 version healed 1 HP/hour, rather than per round, but it was also a complete waste of a ring slot by the time you reached a level where it might drop or be forged. I don't find the Pathfinder version overpowered.

Although the OP didn't state the cost the pc paid for the trap in question, I would bet a dollar it's far, far less than the 90,000 gp a ring of regeneration costs.
[MENTION=6775526]Tony Anderson[/MENTION], can you tell us what the ribbon of healing 'trap' cost?

 

[Tony Anderson]

I believe the final result was around 3000 gp