Pre-rolling trap checks

[Janx]

I was looking at a random dungeon I'm going to use tonight, a thought occurred to me.

If a DM has the PCs Spot, Search, and Find Trap #'s available before the session, he could go through his notes and pre-roll the checks where they matter for the PCs.

For example, my dungeon has a DC21 trap. Rather than clueing in the PCs that there's a trap because I'm rolling. Or making the rogue declare a "search for traps" check every 5 feet, I could just assume the rogue would always be doing that, and take care of the matter at the point it actually matters, the real trap.

The result then, would be that I would KNOW the trap is going to spring (or not) and simply describe what happens next in a more seemless fashion.

Doing this method would require the players trust, and you would have to tell them that you effectively assumed the PCs (rogue in particular) are always looking for traps (not a take 10 or take 20, but still, always looking, especially at doors and such). Thus getting the benefit of the doubt, but closing the door on "but I woulda done this...." arguments when the trap springs.

A tweak on this, would be to simply roll the skill check and write down the result for that trap. When the PCs come up to it, you could add +10 or +20 if you felt they would have approached it cautiously (take 10 or take 20).

 

[smootrk]

I would go with your tweaked option. Having pre-rolled checks is fine if your players understand what it is you are doing, but there are always specific circumstances that cannot be pre-planned.

 

[Quartz]

Try having the players mark down 10 or so rolls of d20 and hand them to you before you start. Then it's their roll, not yours.

 

[Janx]

I would go with your tweaked option. Having pre-rolled checks is fine if your players understand what it is you are doing, but there are always specific circumstances that cannot be pre-planned.

Yeah, it's a simple thing to write down the check result next to the DC on the adventure.

And technically, there's nothing to stop you from not using the result if game play causes the situation to be altered by the time the party gets to the trap or room.

The main thing I like about it is that it lets you get all the odd rolls out of the way, before the party gets to the location. You can then just describe what they find (or don't find) and leave it at that. It might speed up game play in non-combat situations.

 

[Janx]

Try having the players mark down 10 or so rolls of d20 and hand them to you before you start. Then it's their roll, not yours.

Actually, as a DM, skill checks where failure means the PC may not know if they failed are always handled by myself. So they're my rolls anyway.

I suspect most DM's who don't do it this way, don't give it much concern. The "realism" isn't worth the effort or interest.

But technically, if the PC searches and didn't find something, they have no clue how close they were to finding it. This is what hiding the die roll ensures. If you roll a 20 and I say "you don't find any traps" versus you roll a 1 and I say "you don't find any traps" there's a whole difference in how the player may interpret that. You know how many ranks you've got, you know the types of traps that roll would have revealed. Whereas, if I roll the check, and tell you "you don't find any traps" You've got to take it on face value.

 

[Dracorat]

For the record, you can spot passively, but you cannot search passively. You may have meant the rogue was using spot passively, but in case you were under some other impression I felt compelled to point it out.