Trap Identification - How much info does "Search" give?

[Murrdox]

Okay, so you have a Rogue searching for Traps... when he finds one.. how much does he know?

I don't have Song and Silence... so forgive me if this info has been published.

Let's say I have a basic pit trap. Now, the Rogue succeeds on his search check to find it. What does he know? What do I tell him? Does he know he's found a trap as opposed to a secret door? Does he know what kind of trap it is? How it functions?

What about a magical trap? Does he know what spell it casts and what it targets when the trap is triggered? Is there ANY way to discern any of this information?



Personally, I've been in the habit of telling my players the complete nature of mundane traps, such as "You find a hidden panel in the floor that looks like it's meant to fall open if it is stepped on", or "You see arrow slits in the walls, and a trigger on the floor that is associated with them".

I don't tell them ANYTHING about magical traps aside from just saying "This door is triggered to set off a spell if its opened".

I'm concerned maybe I'm not doing traps right. Am I giving away too much information about mundane traps? Am I not telling them ENOUGH about magical traps?

 

[Steverooo]

The rules don't cover this. I'd tell the player what his/her PC can see, hear, smell, and feel. "There's a movable plate in the floor", "You discover a covered, spiked pit", "There are holes in the walls, and a movable plate on the floor, between them. The holes seem to point towards the plate... Yes, you can see arrows in the holes, when you shine your light in there.'' In general, PCs who can detect traps should know what they've found. If they found something and didn't recognize it as a trap, then they would have failed their Search check.

As for magic, at least tell them what their senses do. "You see a glowing rune on the door", "The closure has charcoal all over it", etc. The spell description will give you this info. Again, if they manage to find the trap, then they'll probably know what they've found - otherwise, how would they know they'd found something?

 

[Murrdox]

One of my friends has recently started DMing, and we've been playing a second campaign under him. He's been doing traps a bit differently, which is why I ask.

When we succeed at a search check for a secret door, he's in the habit of telling us "you see the outline of a door hidden in the wall" or "something looks funny about that bookcase" and then we have to search all over to figure out how to OPEN the secret door. On the other hand, if the party succeeds at a search check, I usually tell them, "you find a loose brick in the wall... when you pull it out, a secret door swings open". Or, "you notice hinges on the corner of the bookcase, and one of the books appears to have an opening mechanism attached to it".

With traps, sometimes we detect a mundane trap, but really have no idea what it's going to be.

So, if you have a trap of something like "Suggestion" or "Dominate Person", what the heck is it supposed to look like? Scortch or acid marks on the walls and such for a Fireball or a Melf's Acid Arrow trap are easy.

But what if you have a "Suggestion" trap on a doorway which tells the person to go and take a drink out of a nearby fountain of water? If the Rogue detects it, what do they know about the trap?

 

[Saeviomagy]

I'd say that you tell the rogue that there is a magical trap there, and probably how it would be triggered, but anything else is really up to the mage.

As to having to search again to find the trigger for a secret door - what the hell is the point? If you find a secret door, you'll just take 20 to find the trigger. Much better just to hand out the trigger on it's own "You find a trigger for something, but you're not sure what...". At least then you get an entertaining game out of it.

Not giving the trigger just leads to a really boring game.