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Traps are way too hard to disarm
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<blockquote data-quote="Saeviomagy" data-source="post: 4425579" data-attributes="member: 5890"><p>I believe that there are a few problems with traps. One is the bizarre "conduct a skill challenge that doesn't follow the rules or pursue the goals of skill challenges" mechanics that some of the traps have. A skill challenge is supposed to involve the party, not make them stand aside while one party member makes 5 rolls.</p><p></p><p>The second problem is that you can simply smash them. Destroying the blades of the example trap one-by-one is a comparitively trivial act that guarantees success in disarming the trap, and is far, far more effective than trying to disable it with thievery.</p><p></p><p>My suggestion is to change the trap descriptions so that wherever they require a thievery skill challenge to disarm, they require a single thievery check. Take the critical failures right off. For the pendulum trap, thievery checks to disable each blade individually would also seem very appropriate.</p><p></p><p>If you really want the critical failures, then put them in as a penalty for not disarming the trap <em>quickly</em>. Have the specified critical failure occur a set number of rounds after first tampering with the trap (attacking it's components, failing to disarm components etc).</p><p></p><p>These changes mean that, in the absence of enemies, you can either</p><p>a) Run the gauntlet of the trap to the control panel and disable it quickly</p><p>b) Methodically destroy the blades one at a time</p><p>c) Methodically disarm the blades one at a time</p><p></p><p>Sure the trap itself isn't much of a threat on it's own - but that's part of the new edition to - most solo encounters won't be all that interesting: you have to build an interesting encounter using different elements.</p><p></p><p>Using the rules I gave above, we put a monster near the control panel, some spaces between the pendulum lines, and a bunch of monsters who have push and move-hindering attacks in those squares. Both players and monsters will aim to pin foes in the pendulum paths, but the monsters will switch the trap on and off to avoid it's effects, and will coordinate to trigger it where they need it. The players can destroy the pendulums one at a time as though they were foes, make thievery checks to disable the pendulums (which will probably be a bit quicker if they succeed), or attempt to get the thief to the control panel as quickly as possible to disable it there, and keep him alive until he succeeds.</p><p></p><p>The skill makes success easier, but the challenge can certainly be overcome with force of arms and tactical play.</p><p></p><p>Oh, I'd probably also have a rule that says "if you smash a control panel to a trap, you just ruin the ability to control the trap - it remains either on or off, you don't disable the trap itself". That means that a valid tactic in the above encounter is to get someone to the trap panel and smash it, putting the monsters and players on even ground with respect to trap attacks. If you just want to smash your way through a trap to stop it working, you have to smash the triggers or actuators.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="Saeviomagy, post: 4425579, member: 5890"] I believe that there are a few problems with traps. One is the bizarre "conduct a skill challenge that doesn't follow the rules or pursue the goals of skill challenges" mechanics that some of the traps have. A skill challenge is supposed to involve the party, not make them stand aside while one party member makes 5 rolls. The second problem is that you can simply smash them. Destroying the blades of the example trap one-by-one is a comparitively trivial act that guarantees success in disarming the trap, and is far, far more effective than trying to disable it with thievery. My suggestion is to change the trap descriptions so that wherever they require a thievery skill challenge to disarm, they require a single thievery check. Take the critical failures right off. For the pendulum trap, thievery checks to disable each blade individually would also seem very appropriate. If you really want the critical failures, then put them in as a penalty for not disarming the trap [i]quickly[/i]. Have the specified critical failure occur a set number of rounds after first tampering with the trap (attacking it's components, failing to disarm components etc). These changes mean that, in the absence of enemies, you can either a) Run the gauntlet of the trap to the control panel and disable it quickly b) Methodically destroy the blades one at a time c) Methodically disarm the blades one at a time Sure the trap itself isn't much of a threat on it's own - but that's part of the new edition to - most solo encounters won't be all that interesting: you have to build an interesting encounter using different elements. Using the rules I gave above, we put a monster near the control panel, some spaces between the pendulum lines, and a bunch of monsters who have push and move-hindering attacks in those squares. Both players and monsters will aim to pin foes in the pendulum paths, but the monsters will switch the trap on and off to avoid it's effects, and will coordinate to trigger it where they need it. The players can destroy the pendulums one at a time as though they were foes, make thievery checks to disable the pendulums (which will probably be a bit quicker if they succeed), or attempt to get the thief to the control panel as quickly as possible to disable it there, and keep him alive until he succeeds. The skill makes success easier, but the challenge can certainly be overcome with force of arms and tactical play. Oh, I'd probably also have a rule that says "if you smash a control panel to a trap, you just ruin the ability to control the trap - it remains either on or off, you don't disable the trap itself". That means that a valid tactic in the above encounter is to get someone to the trap panel and smash it, putting the monsters and players on even ground with respect to trap attacks. If you just want to smash your way through a trap to stop it working, you have to smash the triggers or actuators. [/QUOTE]
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