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<blockquote data-quote="candidus_cogitens" data-source="post: 221589" data-attributes="member: 770">The DM makes a creative trap, designed to challenge a rogue's skills as well as the player's savy.&nbsp; It's a difficult trap, carefully disguised and dangerous, but the challenges are balanced so that successful use of skills will allow the rogue to succeed. The DM makes clues available to tip off the player, if he can take a hint and use his noggin. &nbsp;Wonderful ... but then when the scene unfolds, what happens is this:&nbsp; the player simply says &quot;I search the room for traps.&quot;&nbsp; He rolls and succeeeds in finding it.&nbsp; &quot;I disable it,&quot; he continues.&nbsp; Again he rolls and succeeds.&nbsp; &quot;I unlock the door.&quot;&nbsp; Success...&nbsp; What could have been an interesting puzzle is reduced to sheer banality!!What do you do to avoid this?&nbsp; How could circumstance bonuses be used to encourage the player to be more creative?&nbsp; How can you give the truly creative roleplayer opportunities to use his cleverness and creativity to beat a trap ... rather than just asking him to roll the die?I considered abolishing the search skill altogether, and asking the player to specify exactly what he was looking for (cracks in stonework, squeeky floorboards, unusual smells, etc.).&nbsp; But before resorting to a house rule, I wonder if you folks have some ideas about how to make the rules work as they are.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="candidus_cogitens, post: 221589, member: 770"] The DM makes a creative trap, designed to challenge a rogue's skills as well as the player's savy. It's a difficult trap, carefully disguised and dangerous, but the challenges are balanced so that successful use of skills will allow the rogue to succeed. The DM makes clues available to tip off the player, if he can take a hint and use his noggin. Wonderful ... but then when the scene unfolds, what happens is this: the player simply says "I search the room for traps." He rolls and succeeeds in finding it. "I disable it," he continues. Again he rolls and succeeds. "I unlock the door." Success... What could have been an interesting puzzle is reduced to sheer banality!! What do you do to avoid this? How could circumstance bonuses be used to encourage the player to be more creative? How can you give the truly creative roleplayer opportunities to use his cleverness and creativity to beat a trap ... rather than just asking him to roll the die? I considered abolishing the search skill altogether, and asking the player to specify exactly what he was looking for (cracks in stonework, squeeky floorboards, unusual smells, etc.). But before resorting to a house rule, I wonder if you folks have some ideas about how to make the rules work as they are. [/QUOTE]

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