[Basic] Skill of the week: Traps

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by weby

So if you buy something in a small quantity and use it to kill a single person or similar, the low resources given to such crime will likely not find you that way. But if you do a large quantity of small cash purchases and then do something like a terrorist attack with the purchased stuff the police will go out in such a force that they will likely find you buying them from several places and then suddenly your whole life is picked apart for any other proof.

Sure, but are we talking about Traps skill at this point? Surely not at the usual applications of it.

You can talk about buying chemical adhesives or other substances not directly lethal, and using them in making a trap, and maybe Chemistry would let you concoct your own. But I don't think that means that Chemistry substitutes for Traps. After all, a trap might very well have parts made of wood or metal, but neither Carpentry nor Machinist is a substitute for Traps skill.

Ultimately, I think, the point of Traps skill is not what specific materials or components you use to make the traps, but the specific intent of detecting, restraining, injuring, or killing, and the ability to look at a variety of components and materials as means to that end.

[simply Nathan]

I drew a picture of my original character making a Per-Based Traps roll to spot a trap and attempting his IQ-based roll to figure out how to safely disarm it. He's Taking Extra Time because his base skill is 12 and he doesn't have any monsters to worry about at the moment.

[ericthered]

I think traps is ultimately about detection technology. Its about using technology to determine when someone you don't want is in a location and then triggering something in response. In some respects its also about aligning the response with the intruder: lining up the crossbow with the door frame and so forth.

If you want to do something special, bringing in other skills is totally appropriate. Examples include explosives, chemistry, and armory (you either buy your swinging blades, or you make them with the appropriate skill).

[Lord Azagthoth]

Originally Posted by simply Nathan

I drew a picture of my original character making a Per-Based Traps roll to spot a trap and attempting his IQ-based roll to figure out how to safely disarm it. He's Taking Extra Time because his base skill is 12 and he doesn't have any monsters to worry about at the moment.

Doesn't he need to make a Will-based roll because it smells so delicious or because he's starved?

[simply Nathan]

Originally Posted by Lord Azagthoth

Doesn't he need to make a Will-based roll because it smells so delicious or because he's starved?

It's a golden idol, not a piece of cheese. Evil wizard was specifically setting traps for adventurer mice.