NEW TRAPS article!

[Mezzer]

Well the interesting thing about the maiden's kiss trap is that it's apparently considered to be a minion. As a result you get to place 4 for the cost of one monster.

One thing that did annoy me though is they have the concept of minion traps in the article, but they don't really explain what it's supposed to mean. Obviously a minion trap is weaker then normal (and the maiden's kiss trap is certainly weak) but unless I missed them there are no guidelines for how it all works.

You missed it, it's under designing your own traps:

Single-shot traps should be considered minions. Ongoing and other traps should give the XP for standards or elites.

It's not a ruleset for minion traps, but it does tell you what they are in general.

 

[Stalker0]

Stalker0, you're a smart guy who always posts really good stuff, but I really can't get behind this perspective on traps. [\QUOTE]

In which case I'll repeat my active stealth roll for trap suggestion. Just take 10 off the traps current stealth, and roll it once when the party encounters it. That way the party sometimes sees the trap and sometimes doesn't. Quick and easy.

 

[Stalker0]

You know, I think maybe the problem here is the passive checks being +10.

You could make passive checks skill + 5. That way the "sonar" in your party won't see everything. But don't be surprised if the party tries a lot harder to make active checks.

 

[Rechan]

Think of it this way, in comparison to the Orc Berserker, imagine if the Berserker were permanently immobilized and had only 10 hit points (i.e. the party rogue has only to succeed on one fairly easy attack to eliminate it). I fully understand that traps should not be alone and that they should be in an interactive environment, but as it stands, they're just a waste of an encounter slot. Right now, traps are very easy to disarm and very easy to see. Further, some do ridiculously little to those who trigger them (the above referenced Maiden's Kiss). A trap should, on average, present as much threat as a monster, otherwise, all it does is make the game less fun.

A better example is something like the Scything Blade trap or the Spinning Blade trap. They aren't sitting still, and cover a wide area. The crossbow turret trap is the equivalent of a stationary archer.

 

[Tellerve]

Stalker0, you're a smart guy who always posts really good stuff, but I really can't get behind this perspective on traps.

In which case I'll repeat my active stealth roll for trap suggestion. Just take 10 off the traps current stealth, and roll it once when the party encounters it. That way the party sometimes sees the trap and sometimes doesn't. Quick and easy.

So just so I get this straight, in your estimation I would say for Kissing Maiden have it roll a d20 stealth and add +2 for the general notice, and +7 for the part about the pressure plate correct?

Are you ok with the new DCs to disable the traps?

Tellerve

 

[FadedC]

It's a little wierd that one shot traps would be considered minions then since the kissing maiden can definitely trigget multiple times. Not that I think the kissing maiden is too powerful for a minion trap though.

I kind of like the idea of rolling active stealth too, though another thing I'd like is some concept of distance a trap can be noticed from. It seems like noticing a pressure plate from 50' away should be MUCH harder then noticing it from 5' away. Unless this is covered somewhere that I missed.

 

[darkadelphia]

Ah, minion trap, guess the Kissing Maiden isn't quite as bad then. Don't I look like a bit of a fool. I still think the DC is a tad low, but it's not as ridiculous as I asserted above.

 

[Stalker0]

It's a little wierd that one shot traps would be considered minions then since the kissing maiden can definitely trigget multiple times. Not that I think the kissing maiden is too powerful for a minion trap though.

I kind of like the idea of rolling active stealth too, though another thing I'd like is some concept of distance a trap can be noticed from. It seems like noticing a pressure plate from 50' away should be MUCH harder then noticing it from 5' away. Unless this is covered somewhere that I missed.

It is. Perception rolls suffer a -2 if your more than 10 squares (50 feet away).

 

[FadedC]

It is. Perception rolls suffer a -2 if your more than 10 squares (50 feet away).

Well I knew there was some rule like that, but only getting a -2 to detect a trip wire 50+ feet away seems a little silly. So does having the same chance to detect a trap 45 feet away as 5 feet away.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

Adjudicating incremental distance penalties isn't fun.