Spot / Disarm Same / Different Characters?

[Samy]

Hey,

so, Perception is a Wis skill and Disable Device is a Dex skill. I think it's fairly rare to have a character focused on both, so what do you guys usually see at your gaming tables? Is the spotter usually a different character than the disarmer? Is the usual routine "cleric spots, rogue disarms"? Or is the spotter usually the same person who disarms? Do you have high Wis mid Dex clerics who do both? Do you have high Dex mid Wis rogues who do both?

What techniques exist to mitigate the DAD on spot/disarm? Wisdom of the Flesh trait allows you to use Wis for Disable, but is that the only one?

[Mysterious Stranger]

The stat the skill is based on is only one of the factors that add to the skill. The class skill bonus is still +3 which mean that a skill monkey with a 10 Wisdom will still have +4 without any other bonuses. Most clerics don’t have the extra skill points to pump perception every level so only have an advantage for the first few levels anyways. Elves and half elves also get a bonus to perception so either of those races will start out with at least a +6 in perception.

The Ranger usually has decent wisdom and dexterity and also have a couple of archetypes that get trapfinding.

[Samy]

Mysterious Stranger wrote:

The stat the skill is based on is only one of the factors that add to the skill. The class skill bonus is still +3 which mean that a skill monkey with a 10 Wisdom will still have +4 without any other bonuses.

But a druid with an 18 Wisdom and also having the class skill bonus would have +8 without any other bonuses. So you end up with a situation where a druid (or a cleric with Perception in-class through some other route) is a better spotter than the disarmer. So, do you just eschew Perception on the divine casters, and let the weaker rogue do the spotting with its weaker Perception?

Essentially, is the usual route that the Wis-monster classes steer clear of maxing their Perception so that the lower-Wis classes have something to spot?

[blahpers]

No, I don't think anybody leaves off Perception to throw a bone to other classes. In fact, I've found that the roguish party members usually have higher Perception scores simply because they have more skill points and can easily afford to devote one of them each level. Rogues and the like also tend to get situational bonuses to Perception that clerics do not.

[Kayerloth]

Quote:

Essentially, is the usual route that the Wis-monster classes steer clear of maxing their Perception so that the lower-Wis classes have something to spot?

No, as Mysterious Stranger said, clerics and druids simply don't have the skill points in most builds to keep taking ranks in Perception. And in my experience the trapfinder also tends to be the one with ranks (and items) devoted to Disabling as well. So in the early levels a cleric will have a decent total mod to Perception. But two things tend to occur from that point onward. First the Rog or other Trapfinder will tend to put an ever increasing amount of points into gaining ranks that the cleric is not likely to be matching (or it's costing them caster levels to gain the skill points to keep up). Second the clerics preferences in magic item choice(s) is less likely to see further boosts in Perception (outside of a +Wis item) when compared to the Rog or Trapfinder. A single +5 Perception item is more of a boost than gaining +6 to Wis would be for the cleric (and +Wis is about the only thing a cleric is typically going to acquire that adds to Perception). And by mid levels the Rogues trapfinding ability is mostly cancelling out the clerics higher Wis. At 10th level, for example, the Rog has a +5 to both Perception and Disable the cleric can't match due to his class ability: trapfinding (That's a potential 10 pts worth of Wis cancelled out).

Now could you build a cleric, druid or other divine caster to be your Trapfinder and Disabler ... I'm going to hazard that the answer is yes, but it is hardly the typical cleric, druid etc. character build.

[Samy]

Interesting thoughts, thank you both.