Trapfinding... for a Sorcerer.

[irdeggman]

6th level take Leadership feat and get a rogue cohort?

IMO ask the DM if you can swap your familiar for the class feature - maybe delay it for a few levels (like 3rd or so) if he thinks it is too powerful.

 

[StreamOfTheSky]

You could also ask your DM if you can research an arcane version of Find Traps. I actually have much less of a problem with a sorcerer learning a cleric spell than a wizard, since unlike a wizard you have so few spells known to limit you. Might want to make that argument when pitching the idea. That would make Trapfinding completely unnecessary. Aside from having it as a known spell, you could get a fairly cheap wand of it...maybe even have the whole party pay for it.

(Greater) Dispel Magic is also useful for getting rid of magic traps, or at least supressing them briefly.... Complete Mage has a level 2 spell called Arcane Turmoil that's just like Dispel Magic, but can only be used for the targeted version of the spell. That might be usable on some or all magical traps, and is a spell level cheaper.

 

[Particle_Man]

Depending on what kind of spells you like to cast, you might ask your DM if you can replace the sorcerer levels with beguiler levels (from the phb II). That is an illusionist/enchanter sorcerer type ("scamp" could definitely fit) with the trapfinding feature (and a nice amount of skill points). On the up-side, you get more spells known than a sorcerer (in fact, your spells known is the entire beguiler spell list, restricted only by the spell level slots you have available, so all 0th and 1st level spells are known at level 1). On the down side, the beguiler spell list is smaller and more focused than the sorcerer/wizard spell list, so undead can be a problem (kinda like rogues, now I think about it).

While it can't officially be "pathfindered" as it is not OGL, I am sure that your and your DM could figure out something that works for your game (perhaps give it whatever perks/penalties pathfinder gives to the sorcerer).

 

[Mistah J]

In the end, the DM and I discussed it and came up with the following houserule:

Anyone with Disable Device can disarm a trap (regardless of DC). The trapfinding feature now means that a character with it gets an auto-check to detect the trap when within 5ft of it (like elves and secret doors).

We both agreed that it made no sense that a sorcerer with 25 ranks in Disable Device still had to step back and let the Rogue with only 15 deal with any traps over DC 20.

Thanks for your help everyone!

 

[Alzrius]

It may be a bit too late now, but your solution sounds like what Sean K. Reynolds had in his second article about fewer absolutes.

 

[Jack Simth]

You can find traps, very effectively (if noisily), just not by way of skills.

At 1st level, you need:
Unseen Servant
Detect Magic
A lot of mundane sacks
A miner's pick

The way it works:
1) Use miner's pick to fill a sack with rocks, dirt, or whatever; it needs to weigh in at 100 lbs.
2) Use the Unseen Servant to to drag said sack of rocks at maximum range, ahead of you, along your intended path of travel.
3) Periodically use Detect Magic to check for magical traps.

When you find a trap, you use mundane methods to destroy it - hand the fighter rocks, and have him bury it from afar.

Works better at 9th or so, and with Complete Mage Reserve Feats, but it's doable by a Sorcerer at 1st.