OotS #840 is up

[Noir le Lotus]

On another note, Haley's suspiciously specific claim that she's been keeping her search rank maxxed may be a clue as to why she didn't find that mega-deathtrap that hit Roy back in the dungeon of Dorukan.

Perhaps she's suffered from the same mistake as Belkar, no ranks in an important class skill.

I'm not sure Haley isn't lying about her search ranks ; the kobold is a good reason to let someone risk his life trying to find traps : he is a rogue, no one in the party cares about him and he can't refuse.

And believe me, I played enough CN rogues to know all the tricks !!

 

[SnowleopardVK]

I'm not sure Haley isn't lying about her search ranks ; the kobold is a good reason to let someone risk his life trying to find traps : he is a rogue, no one in the party cares about him and he can't refuse.

And believe me, I played enough CN rogues to know all the tricks !!

Has she ever actually proven that she's got ranks in it though? If I recall, when they were treasure searching at the end of the Dungeon of Dorukan all she did was hand out search jobs to everyone else and then use Vaarsuvius as a magic item divining rob rather than do any searching herself (page 116). And I can't think of any other instances when we've seen her do any searching.

 

[tomBitonti]

Hmm, seems that the instruction was off, at the least: The goal was to find the traps most effectively. Actually trying to find them while avoiding them involves a tradeoff which is perhaps had to put as a simple instruction. Most effectively avoiding the traps would mean just staying off of the stairs. Even, "reach the top of the stairs while detecting traps and while safeguarding yourself" might be a problem, if the kobold had special maneuvers, say, to fly or shadowstep.

And they didn't check if the Kobold actually knew how to find traps. With no ranks in it, maybe simply walking up the steps was the best the Kobold could do.

TomB

 

[jeffh]

I'm not sure Haley isn't lying about her search ranks

I think you missed SnowLeopard's (and Berlew's) point. She's visibly embarrassed, and obviously (or at least it struck me as obvious) speaking... "sarcastically" isn't quite the right word, but it's closer than any other I can think of, and certainly closer than "lying" which would imply that she was at least trying to to be convincing.

 

[prosfilaes]

I had no doubt, and have no doubt, that Haley has not been keeping her Search skills maxxed. There's no other way for me to read that. However, she did have Search skills in the first book; remember the wardrobe malfunction? One might also remember that the wardrobe malfunction search took a 20 and didn't find the traps, which were left for Roy.

I don't think that V is doing anything but what she said; directing him to search for traps to the best of her ability. I think she tends to be literal about such things.

 

[Falkus]

And they didn't check if the Kobold actually knew how to find traps. With no ranks in it, maybe simply walking up the steps was the best the Kobold could do.

I think it's more likely that V just told the Kobold to walk up the stairs; in defiance of Roy's expectations.

 

[Relique du Madde]

I'm looking at it like this:

V mentally said "Search for a trap on the stairs."
Easiest solution: Walk up and down the stairs until you set off a trap.