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Is this fair? -- your personal opinion
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<blockquote data-quote="delericho" data-source="post: 3024844" data-attributes="member: 22424"><p>The lever had been checked for a trap. No trap was found.</p><p></p><p>This suggests:</p><p></p><p>1) There is no trap.</p><p>2) There is a trap, but the Rogue failed to spot it.</p><p>3) There is a trap that is beyond the ability of the Rogue to spot.</p><p></p><p>Of these, #1 is by far the most likely outcome - far more levers are not trapped than are trapped. #2 should not apply - the Rogue should have taken 20. If the Rogue failed to do so, the party deserves to be hit by the trap.</p><p></p><p>#3 should not occur in a level-appropriate dungeon. The trick here is that the Rogue needs to look in the right place, but if the Rogue looks where there is, in fact, a trap, then in a level-appropriate dungeon he should find it (assuming he takes 20).</p><p></p><p>Ah, you say, but isn't that metagame thinking? My answer is "no". My reasoning for this is that the group will know in fairly short order whether or not they are over their heads. If the Rogue has been doing his job, he's been looking in all the sensible places for traps. In a non-level-appropriate dungeon, he will have failed to spot at least some of them. In this case, the party will be well aware that the Rogue's ability can't be trusted.</p><p></p><p>So, except in the case where the party know they're in over their heads, they shouldn't be missing traps that exist.</p><p></p><p>And this isn't a lack of "tactical thinking" either. The party did the RIGHT THING. If you suspect a trap, have the Rogue check for traps. If it's there, he should find it (again, unless #3 applies, in which case, you'll know).</p><p></p><p>The assumption, once the Rogue has taken-20 on his search, should be that there is no trap.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>An undetectable, extreme-save-DC, insta-kill trap has no business being in any level-appropriate dungeon.</p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>I file this under, "but don't be an idiot". Okay, the Rogue has detected no traps, and is confident about that assessment (he's taken-20). But even the best of us make mistakes. Therefore, if someone's going to pull the lever, you send forward the person best able to survive a mistake, just in case. (Hardly metagaming.)</p><p></p><p>Presumably, the reason for pulling the lever (at all) is that they think it might open the secret door. Which is a sensible goal, and hardly metagaming. And they've taken reasonable precautions - the Rogue has satisfied himself that there is no trap.</p><p></p><p>Did you read my other post, with the example trap where if you don't pull the lever you get zapped? Isn't that an equally valid set-up? Do you think that's fair too?</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="delericho, post: 3024844, member: 22424"] The lever had been checked for a trap. No trap was found. This suggests: 1) There is no trap. 2) There is a trap, but the Rogue failed to spot it. 3) There is a trap that is beyond the ability of the Rogue to spot. Of these, #1 is by far the most likely outcome - far more levers are not trapped than are trapped. #2 should not apply - the Rogue should have taken 20. If the Rogue failed to do so, the party deserves to be hit by the trap. #3 should not occur in a level-appropriate dungeon. The trick here is that the Rogue needs to look in the right place, but if the Rogue looks where there is, in fact, a trap, then in a level-appropriate dungeon he should find it (assuming he takes 20). Ah, you say, but isn't that metagame thinking? My answer is "no". My reasoning for this is that the group will know in fairly short order whether or not they are over their heads. If the Rogue has been doing his job, he's been looking in all the sensible places for traps. In a non-level-appropriate dungeon, he will have failed to spot at least some of them. In this case, the party will be well aware that the Rogue's ability can't be trusted. So, except in the case where the party know they're in over their heads, they shouldn't be missing traps that exist. And this isn't a lack of "tactical thinking" either. The party did the RIGHT THING. If you suspect a trap, have the Rogue check for traps. If it's there, he should find it (again, unless #3 applies, in which case, you'll know). The assumption, once the Rogue has taken-20 on his search, should be that there is no trap. An undetectable, extreme-save-DC, insta-kill trap has no business being in any level-appropriate dungeon. I file this under, "but don't be an idiot". Okay, the Rogue has detected no traps, and is confident about that assessment (he's taken-20). But even the best of us make mistakes. Therefore, if someone's going to pull the lever, you send forward the person best able to survive a mistake, just in case. (Hardly metagaming.) Presumably, the reason for pulling the lever (at all) is that they think it might open the secret door. Which is a sensible goal, and hardly metagaming. And they've taken reasonable precautions - the Rogue has satisfied himself that there is no trap. Did you read my other post, with the example trap where if you don't pull the lever you get zapped? Isn't that an equally valid set-up? Do you think that's fair too? [/QUOTE]
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