He's Stable!

[domino]

I freaking give up.

 

[Water Bob]

I freaking give up.

I'll give you an "E" for effort!

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

How is this handled in 3/3.5E D&D? Do you guys allow the thief to use his Disable Device skill to disable magical traps?

...

Restriction

Rogues (and other characters with the trapfinding class feature) can disarm magic traps. A magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the spell level of the magic used to create it.

Trapfinding

[...]
Rogues (and only rogues) can use the Disable Device skill to disarm magic traps. A magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the level of the spell used to create it.

 

[anest1s]

So let me get this straight. What if I am actually idiot? I mean what if I just don't know how to summon a devil in real life, or something like that? Do you have an intelligence check, or some kind of test ppl have to pass before they play with you? Is there a booklet with instructions?

If I have a character with INT of 18....then he is smarter than me, the player. How do I get to play a smart character if I lack the abilities? I mean, my rogue has a sky high INT, he would be able to pass through every part. He knows all about them.

I on the other hand, know nothing about traps. Neither I am intelligent enough to just figure it out.

Yet you tell me part of what my character knows, and ask me to figure out how to disable it. Well sorry but I don't rob banks on my free time or something.

About the hide thing. There are rules about hiding. You can't hide in a brightly lighted open field. Thats why I asked about a shadowy illumination situation. How can one explain how he hides into thin air?

EDIT: Actually, how could one explain doing this? :

Hide in Plain Sight (Su)

At 8th level, an assassin can use the Hide skill even while being observed. As long as he is within 10 feet of some sort of shadow, an assassin can hide himself from view in the open without having anything to actually hide behind. He cannot, however, hide in his own shadow.

 

[Water Bob]

If I have a character with INT of 18....then he is smarter than me, the player. How do I get to play a smart character if I lack the abilities?

Oh, good grief. Tell me you're just being argumentative.

You've never played 1E or 2E AD&D? You've never played any RPG that didn't use skills--where you had to use your noggin instead of just make a dice throw?

You've never played like this...

[FONT=TimesNewRoman,BoldItalic]The Pit Trap (Old Style)[/FONT]
GM: “A ten-foot wide corridor leads north into the darkness.”​

John the Roguish: “We move forward, poking the floor ahead with our ten foot pole.”​

GM: Is about to say that the pole pushes open a pit trap, when he remembers something. "Wait, you don’t have the ten foot pole any more. You fed it to the stone idol.” [if the party still had the pole, John would have detected the trap automatically]​

John the Roguish: “I didn’t feed it to the idol, the idol ate it when I poked its head.”​

GM: “That doesn’t mean you have the pole back. Do you go into the corridor?”​

John the Roguish: “No. I’m suspicious. Can I see any cracks in the floor, maybe shaped in a square?”​

GM: Mulls this over, because there’s a pit trap right where John is looking. But it’s dark, so “No, there are about a million cracks in the floor. You wouldn’t see a pit trap that easily, anyway.” [A different referee might absolutely decide that John sees the trap, since he’s looking in the right place for the right thing].​

John the Roguish: “Okay. I take out my waterskin from my backpack. And I’m going to pour some water onto the floor. Does it trickle through the floor anywhere, or reveal some kind of pattern?”​

GM: “Yeah, the water seems to be puddling a little bit around a square shape in the floor where the square is a little higher than the rest of the floor.”​

John the Roguish: “Like there’s a covered pit trap?”​

GM: “Could be.”​

John the Roguish: “Can I disarm it?”​

GM: “How?”​

John the Roguish: “I don’t know, maybe make a die roll to jam the mechanism?”​

GM: “You can’t see a mechanism. You step on it, there’s a hinge, you fall. What are you going to jam?”​

John the Roguish: “I don’t know. Okay, let’s just walk around it.”​

GM: “You walk around it, then. There’s about a two-foot clearance on each side.”




I'm sure you're capable enough to run your INT 18 thief without having to rely on a dice check.

EDIT: Actually, how could one explain doing this? :

That's a supernatural ability. It's like magic.

 

[anest1s]

I would never waste a waterskin to find a trap. I would carefully search the floor with my two eyes. And I would roll a dice to see how good I am at spotting.

As a DM, if a player used a 10ft pole or a waterskin, then they win- even without any ranks at search they will find the trap.

The same goes with almost every skill. If you can RP it, I will ask no roll (or give a high bonus if it is a difficult task). You will also get more RP exp.

But if the player doesn't want to think, or doesn't have the resources or the intelligence to think out of the box, I won't punish him. I won't reward him either, and he may fall in the pit.

But if I make the disable devise skill useless, then whats the difference between having it and not having it?

 

[Greenfield]

So, in 1e, you never depended on the Thief's Find Traps percentage roll?

Not surprising, really. I mean, you ignore the 3e rules, why should I expect you to have followed any others.

 

[xigbar]

Isn't it great how we have such a kind supportive community on this page?

 

[Greenfield]

Water Bob threatened to punch someone else for a bit of snark. He gave up the right "kind support".

 

[xigbar]

Water Bob threatened to punch someone else for a bit of snark. He gave up the right "kind support".

So you decided to go down to his level, and be petty about it. I understand now. The appropriate course of action, from where I'm sitting, would be to not post in his threads if you don't like him.