Suggestions to make Craft: Traps useful in adventures?

Dr_Rictus

First Post
So, I have a player whose character concept is a saboteur, and who's therefore interested in crafting traps.

Problem is, Craft: Traps is marvelously useless in an adventure context due to the time involved. There is a lower limit of 100 gp on trap market prices, and to craft a 100 gp item in as little as a day takes something like a DC 100 Craft check. So, that's not so good.

Great skill if you're fortifying a stronghold, I guess, but not so good if you want to jury-rig a little surprise on a dungeon door. Which is something I'd like to see happening, but it sure isn't useful enough to be worth weeks of work.

So, any ideas for making quick-and-dirty crafting of traps workable without throwing the other end of the spectrum out of whack? It seems like the real problem is that reasonable market prices (like, say, more like 10 gp than 100 gp) are just way outside the design range of the traps system, and it's not clear how to extend it.
 

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I'd be interested in seeing good rules for this too. I have a couple of quick ideas though:

It should be possible to improvise a limited list of simple CR 1 through about CR 3 traps for free with a high enough Craft or Survival check. The time frame for this will depend on the task (obviously it takes a while to dig a pit), but on the low end should only take a few minutes.

The trapmaker should be able to pre-fab reusable mechanical trap components which are light enough to carry on adventure. The cost and manufacture time for these should be high - in line with the current absurdly high trap costs. This would be a down time activity for trap makers much like magic item construction for spellcasters. These components (triggers + firing mechanism + payload in most cases) could then be put to use on the fly, with an assembly time as low as a couple of rounds.
 

Heres the best in game trap I have ever consrtucted during the play of a game. Evil wizard runs away from the party and partially closes a door while the party fights off his minions. in that time the wizard placed an alchemist fire on the top of the door so it would fall when the door was open. (craft traps dc 10 is what I put it at) one of the players knowing he had just gone through the door 3 rounds earlier dedided to run into the door knocking the door open as he ran through it. (spot dc 20 for running through the door, reflex save 15 failed)*KABOOM* Small amount of damage, and kept the fighter busy for an extra round trying to put it out. :p
 

I don't know of any official stuff that handles this, but a few years ago I made a prestige class for exactly that kinda niche. It's undergone minor tweaks over time to make sure it was balanced and workable, so it should be useable IMHO. Also, at my Rhunaria homebrew webpage (linked in my sig), in the Prestige Classes section, I have a link to my Kobold Trapmage PrC, which immediately gains the capacity to produce a magic trap 1/day super-fast, with some limitations and costs. Over the course of the prestige class, they gain the ability to craft traps faster by expending spell slots for, effectively, supernatural speed. Just remove the "must be a kobold" prereq and it should be useable. The PrC below is not the same, and is quite mundane in nature. Since the Trapmaster was devised in 3.0, its Uncanny Dodge should be renamed Trap Sense, and the Traps ability is now called Trapfinding, but nothing in the class needs any actual conversion for 3.5 (it's fully compatible as-is). Keep in mind that 0.05% the normal time to craft a trap is something like a matter of minutes or hours, as opposed to the usual worktime of days upon days.

The Trapmaster
There are people who think that a trap is the ultimate method of defeating a foe; simply set it up, lure them in, step back, and watch them blunder into it as you cheer with glee at their defeat. Hardly anything to it, and their enemies never even laid a hand on them. Or so they would have others believe. They relish in the construction and use of traps, and are the absolute masters of trap-making. However, it takes great effort and skill to hastily construct a trap while a foe is nearby and time is short. These trapmasters spend a long time learning about traps, practicing their methods of constructing and setting traps, and determining ways to set traps faster. Generally, trapmasters tend to be of some neutral or chaotic alignment, though each one has differing reasons for honing their trapmaking skills, and thus they cover the whole range of alignments. Gnomes, for instance, often become trapmasters just because they love pranks, and in warfare, traps are the greatest and most effective pranks of all.

Hit Die: D8.

Requirements
To qualify to become a trapmaster, a character must fulfill all the following criteria.
Base Attack Bonus: +3.
Base Reflex Save: +3
Craft (trapmaking): 7 ranks.
Disable Device: 7 ranks.
Knowledge (architecture and engineering): 7 ranks.
Search: 7 ranks.
Feat: Either Skill Focus (craft - trapmaking) or Skill Focus (disable device).
Special: Must have the Traps class ability.

Class Skills
The trapmaster's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Balance (Dex), Climb (Str), Concentration (Con), Craft (Int), Disable Device (Int), Listen (Wis), Jump (Str), Knowledge (architecture and engineering) (Int), Open Lock (Dex), Search (Int), Spot (Wis), Swim (Str), and Use Rope (Dex).
Skill Points at Each Level: 6 + Int modifier.
Class Features
All of the following are class features of the trapmaster prestige class.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: The trapmaster gains no new proficiency in any weapons, armor, or shields.

Uncanny Dodge: The trapmaster gains the extraordinary ability to react to danger before his senses would normally allow him to do so. However, his instinctive ability to react to danger more quickly only applies against traps, unlike the rogue ability of the same name. At 1st-level, the trapmaster gains an intuitive sense that alerts him to danger from traps, giving him a +1 bonus to Reflex saves made to avoid traps and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks by traps. This ability increases with each level, granting a +2 bonus at 2nd-level, a +3 bonus at 3rd-level, a +4 bonus at 4th-level, and a +5 bonus at 5th-level. These bonuses against traps stack with other Uncanny Dodge bonuses against traps, such as having several levels in the rogue class. The bonuses from this Uncanny Dodge ability are retained even when the trapmaster would be denied a Dexterity bonus to AC, regardless of whether or not their Dexterity modifier is positive, except that these bonuses are lost when immobilized. This makes an experienced trapmaster even better at avoiding harm from traps than a seasoned rogue.

Rapid Trapmaking: A trapmaster learns to build and set traps quickly, so as to surprise opponents and to throw up defenses around an area at a moment’s notice. At 1st-level, the trapmaster takes only 60% as much time as normal to construct a trap. At 2nd-level, the trapmaster takes only 30% as much time as normal. At 3rd-level, the trapmaster takes only 10% as much time as normal. At 4th-level, the trapmaster takes only 1% as much time as normal. By 5th-level, the trapmaster has perfected their methods of rapid trapmaking, and can henceforth construct a trap in only 0.05% as much time as normal. However, this ability is not entirely reliable, and whenever a trapmaster tries to build a trap at accelerated speed, he suffers a chance of the trap not working, being a 'dud'. The chance is 5% when building within 60% of normal time, 15% when building within 30% of normal time, 20% when building within 10% of normal time, 30% when building within 1% of normal time, and 35% when building within 0.05% of normal time.

The trapmaster does not have to build a trap at their fastest speed, but can choose one of the slower speeds they have learned to build in, or can choose to build at the normal rate. The chance that a trap will end up a dud is negated if the trapmaster rolls 5 or more above the trap's Craft DC when creating it, counting only their last skill check for the process. The roll for determining a dud is made upon completion of the trap, and if the trap is a dud, then it will not function correctly; the spikes within a spike pit may suddenly dislodge and fall flat upon the ground, the walls of a pit may cave in and make it less deep, the tripwire of an arrow trap may snap or slacken, the pressure plate for a blade trap may get stuck or disconnected from the trap, etc. The DM determines the exact sort of failure, when it occurs, and how it affects the trap. Some traps may still function partially afterward, such as a pit trap becoming less deep but retaining enough depth to slightly injure someone, or an arrow trap randomly misfiring sometime after the tripwire snapped, or a blade trap still extending its blades and leaving them out after the pressure plate got stuck, etc. Rapid Trapmaking is an extraordinary ability, representing extensive practice and quick construction. The trapmaster must have a trapmaking kit (costing 50 gold, effect same as artisan's tools, but specifically for Craft - Trapmaking) or masterwork trapmaking kit (costing 100 gold) in order to use this.

Bonus Feats: At 1st-, 3rd-, and 5th-levels, the trapmaster gains a bonus feat, chosen from the following list: Alertness, Improved Initiative, Lightning Reflexes, Run, Skill Focus (craft - trapmaking), Skill Focus (disable device), Skill Focus (listen), Skill Focus (spot), Skill Focus (search), or Toughness.

Fast Movement: At 2nd-level, the trapmaster becomes faster than a typical member of his race, through intense training and practice, as they have learned that speed is of the essence when building or escaping traps, and since they often have to run back and forth when building a trap. Thus, the trapmaster's base speed is increased by +10 feet when wearing no armor, light armor, or medium armor, and not carrying a heavy load. This is an extraordinary ability, and is as the barbarian ability of the same name.

Knack: A trapmaster develops their talents for finding, building, and disarming traps as they grow in level, and this rubs off on some of their related skillsets. They gain a +1 bonus on all Craft (trapmaking), Disable Device, and Search checks at 2nd-level, which increases to a +2 bonus at 4th-level in the trapmaster prestige class.

Limited Skill Mastery: At 4th-level, the trapmaster has honed their skills to such an extent that it has become almost natural and instinctive for them to use some of those skills, making it easier for them when the time comes to use those skills. The trapmaster selects 3 skills with which they have at least 7 ranks in. When making a skill check with any of these skills, the trapmaster may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent him from doing so. He becomes so certain in his skill that he can use it reliably even under adverse conditions. This is an extraordinary ability, and is as the rogue Skill Mastery ability, except for the number of skills that can be chosen and the requisite skill ranks.

The Trapmaster:
Class Attack Fort. Ref. Will
Level Bonus Save Save Save Special
1 +0 +0 +2 +0 Uncanny Dodge, Rapid Trapmaking, Bonus Feat
2 +1 +0 +3 +0 Fast Movement, Knack +1
3 +1 +1 +3 +1 Bonus Feat
4 +2 +1 +4 +1 Limited Skill Mastery, Knack +2
5 +2 +1 +4 +1 Bonus Feat
 

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