Rogues and the Alarm Spell

[Thanee]

By the current ruling, no. The descriptive text does not say that the spell is a trap.

In the world, there are things which a mighty rogue can't handle alone.

It does list the spell under Proximity Trigger in the DMG section about traps, however.

It's a bit different sure, but you must be able to circumvent an alarm spell somehow, if you can disarm such traps.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Darklone]

Handwaving rules: I usually consider the material components of the spell as being arranged in a certain way and the rogue can destroy it e.g. with a thrown stone.

 

[Orm]

It's a bit different sure, but you must be able to circumvent an alarm spell somehow, if you can disarm such traps.

It seems like the only way to circumvent an Alarm is the use of spells like Detect Magic followed by Dispel Magic .

 

[Orm]

Handwaving rules: I usually consider the material components of the spell as being arranged in a certain way and the rogue can destroy it e.g. with a thrown stone.

You don´t need components, you need a focus to cast Alarm . So there´s no bell lying on the floor or anything else like that.

 

[Shin Okada]

A rogue can't find/disable Alarm. Also, he cannot open a door with Arcane Lock.

To delve a well guarded dungeon, a rogue would better have some assistance from spell casters or items. Or, he himself should be a multi-classed caster. This is like a fighter cannot handle all the monsters by himself alone (it is hard for him to handle most kind of oozes, for example). I think this is a intended balance factor and game mechanism.

 

[Lamoni]

Search: You generally must be within 10 feet of the object or surface to be searched.

I still allow rogues to see that the square they are searching would trigger a trap, alarm, or whatever. They don't have to be within 10 feet of the center, only within 10 feet of the perimeter.

 

[MerakSpielman]

Trying to disable or disarm an alarm spell is like trying to disable or disarm a Consecrate spell. It's an emination, from a point in space. There is no physical object tied to it, and the spell doesn't mention any kind of visual reference that might suggest to a searcher that a spell is active. There is nothing to spot or search for - a detect magic is what's needed to find it, and a Dispel Magic to get rid of it.

There's a reason rogues don't break into wizard towers very often.

 

[Old Gumphrey]

It doesn't matter that there's nothing tangible to see; by the rules, a rogue can find and disable a trap with a proximity trigger, including a trap made with an alarm spell as the trigger. This doesn't explicitly allow you to find a single alarm spell, but if that spell is part of a trap then a rogue can find it.

 

[Caliban]

It doesn't matter that there's nothing tangible to see; by the rules, a rogue can find and disable a trap with a proximity trigger, including a trap made with an alarm spell as the trigger. This doesn't explicitly allow you to find a single alarm spell, but if that spell is part of a trap then a rogue can find it.

If the rogue can find a way to effect the proximity trigger, sure. It's pretty hard to see how the rogue can affect the trigger without setting it off in this case.

Believe it or not, the rules don't actually cover every single situation effectively. When a situation like this comes up, it's the DM's call as to whether it falls outside what the rules are meant to cover.

The DM can choose to hand wave it, and allow the rogue to disable a magical effect he can't reach, or he can rule that the magical spell needs magic to stop it. (Or you can just find or create another method of entry.)

 

[Thanee]

Well, to some extent, the magical effect must be "there", otherwise it couldn't trigger the spell.

It's that trigger, the rogue is going for, which must somehow at least partially be where the radius starts.

Many spells work like this, for example the Glyph of Warding also has a sort of proximity trigger and is listed as a magical trap, which can be found and disabled. If that would only work with detect/dispel magic or the likes, it would be pretty pointless to actually list this ability for the rogue.

Bye
Thanee