The amount of traps in APs


Pathfinder Adventure Path General Discussion


Hi everyone, I'm having a bit of trouble - our group is getting ready to start the Reign of Winter path, and the GM said that we need someone with trapfinding ability. Could you please tell us if there is a list which says which APS need trapfinding the most or the least - we thought that Reign of Winter wouldn't be very reliant on trapfinding and we were unpleasantly surprised. If there are other AP-specific ability requirements, it would also be nice to know them.

Many thanks in advance for your help.


There are few APs that don't feature magical traps (which is what you need trapfinding for).

The good news is that there are a LOT of options available to acquire trapfinding with so someone is not "stuck playing the rogue".

Your group is better off assessing the methods by which one can acquire trapfinding, then seeing if any of them are appealing for someone to play.

Reign of Winter is a real treat. Your group *really* needs to have its "A" game for it though.


"You're all going to die, except you, you'll live, but you won't live well" -Stan Smith, American Dad!


We are looking at alternatives right now(two new ones in ACG yay:) ), the point is we don't want to have the same unpleasant surprise when we will start another path. So which AP need trapfinding and which one don't? All what we know that mummy mask and iron gods really needs one what about the others?


About the only one that you can technically get away without trapfinding is the Kingmaker AP.

How *much* a group *needs* trapfinding in the rest of APs varies from "now and then" to "between every smoke break".


Yeah with Pathfinder adventures its not the frequency of traps per se but the creativity of both the traps and the placement of the traps;) have fun:)


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Adventure Path Charter Subscriber; Pathfinder Rulebook, Starfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Roleplaying Game, Starfinder Society Subscriber

Note that you only need Trapfinding to disarm magical traps with Disable Device. That's it.

Anyone with a high enough Perception check can detect any trap. Anyone with a high enough Disable Device check can disarm any non-magical trap.

Dwarves with Stonecunning (if they haven't traded it for an alternate racial trait) automatically get a Perception check when within 10 ft of "unusual stonework, such as traps and hidden doors located in stone walls or floors." Bards and inquisitors get the 0-level spell sift, which basically lets them "search" a 10 ft cube from 30 ft away ("Make a Perception check with a –5 penalty, modified as normal for conditions. No penalty is applied for distance. Apply the result against the DC for any hidden features, such as secret doors, traps, or hidden treasure.") an unlimited number of times a day. Spells such as erase (for explosive runes, glyphs of warding, or sepia snake sigil) and dispel magic (other magical traps) can be used to disarm/remove/suppress magical traps.


Ways to get trapfinding:
1) 1st level rogue (a bunch of archetypes give that up)
2) 3rd level urban ranger
3) 1st level trapper ranger
4) 1st level seeker oracle*
5) 1st level seeker sorcerer*
6) 1st level crypt breaker alchemist
7) 1st level trap breaker alchemist
8) 2nd level detective bard*
9) The 2nd level bard/alchemist/wizard spell Aram Zey's focus (too bad the duration is only 1 minute per level)
10) 2nd level archevist bard*
11) 6th level archeologist bard*
12) 1st level sandman bard*
13) 1st level pathfinder delver PrC*
14) The campaign trait trapfinder**

*those 7 get trapfinding in everything but the name
**gives you the ability to disable magical traps but doesn't give you a bonus for doing so

Keep in mind that i hadn't updated the list for ACG so there might be a few more ways to get it.


You could probably play Mummy's Mask without trapfinding, as long as your Barb has enough HP!


Trapfinding or its equivalent is fantastic in Serpent's Skull. Being able to shut down (or reverse!) traps without blowing resources (sometimes a LOT of resources - have fun trying to dispel something that was made by a much higher level caster) is really nice, because traps are all over the place in that AP, and a lot of them are brutal. Trapspotter served my rogue well all the way into Book 6.

@ibayboy - if the Mummy's Mask traps can all be solved with sufficient HP then those are pretty disappointing traps.

Honestly, your GM is wrong about trapfinding being "must have" for RoW, though some of the traps you'll probably set off are nasty. My current RoW party doesn't have trapfinding at all, and they're approaching the end of Book 4. They've set off some traps (sometimes hilariously, like actually stabbing it) but they've bypassed others.

Heh. Kingmaker didn't have many traps, but Book 3 had one of the nastiest magic traps I'd run into in an AP.

KM Book 3 spoiler:
I'm thinking of the 10d6 fireball that also did wisdom damage every pulse, and pulsed every time a particular door opened. Our rogue spotted it, botched his disable device and set it off, and then managed to turn it off the next round.


... I don't remember that trap. At all.

KM Book 3:
I remember the nasty water trap, but nothing involving a fireball.


ha! That was your GM, no fireball trap in Varnhold Vanishing, you should chew him out for it, preferrably on these boards so we can watch:)

im kidding of course:)


Interesting. Heh.

Shadow Lodge

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Paizo doesn't seem to like traps. At the very best, they have no love for traps.

I suggest a generous dollop of Grimtooth added to any adventure written by Paizo.


ibayboy wrote:
You could probably play Mummy's Mask without trapfinding, as long as your Barb has enough HP!

I am very dissapointed to hear that.

Paizo has shown us in shattered star that interesteing traps/puzzles can be made.

Silver Crusade

Pathfinder Adventure Path, Starfinder Adventure Path Subscriber
leo1925 wrote:
ibayboy wrote:
You could probably play Mummy's Mask without trapfinding, as long as your Barb has enough HP!

I am very dissapointed to hear that.

Paizo has shown us in shattered star that interesteing traps/puzzles can be made.

Actually that's not true, the fire and forget traps are common, the creative killers are also fairly prevalent.


leo1925 wrote:
ibayboy wrote:
You could probably play Mummy's Mask without trapfinding, as long as your Barb has enough HP!

I am very dissapointed to hear that.

Paizo has shown us in shattered star that interesteing traps/puzzles can be made.

and...

Quote:
@ibayboy - if the Mummy's Mask traps can all be solved with sufficient HP then those are pretty disappointing traps.

sorry guys, it was an old joke about using the barb as a trap-triggerer. I haven't even read Mummy's Mask, I would expect an AP on that theme to have some of the tricksy-est traps out there.


DM_aka_Dudemeister wrote:
leo1925 wrote:
ibayboy wrote:
You could probably play Mummy's Mask without trapfinding, as long as your Barb has enough HP!

I am very dissapointed to hear that.

Paizo has shown us in shattered star that interesteing traps/puzzles can be made.
Actually that's not true, the fire and forget traps are common, the creative killers are also fairly prevalent.

What's not true? That shattered star had a few fun/interesting traps/puzzles?

Liberty's Edge

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ibayboy wrote:
leo1925 wrote:
ibayboy wrote:
You could probably play Mummy's Mask without trapfinding, as long as your Barb has enough HP!

I am very dissapointed to hear that.

Paizo has shown us in shattered star that interesteing traps/puzzles can be made.

and...

Quote:
@ibayboy - if the Mummy's Mask traps can all be solved with sufficient HP then those are pretty disappointing traps.

sorry guys, it was an old joke about using the barb as a trap-triggerer. I haven't even read Mummy's Mask, I would expect an AP on that theme to have some of the tricksy-est traps out there.

It's OK to say Barbarian like a grown up ... just saying :)


Don't talk about Barbarians and Traps in the same phrase.

Brings back bad memories about Frenzied Berserker, with low Will Save, armed with Greataxe. He usually survived the trap but his friends didn't survive him =(


soul31 wrote:
We are looking at alternatives right now(two new ones in ACG yay:) ), the point is we don't want to have the same unpleasant surprise when we will start another path. So which AP need trapfinding and which one don't? All what we know that mummy mask and iron gods really needs one what about the others?

I've run Legacy of Fire once to completion, and now I'm GMing it again for a different group of players. By my last count, strictly speaking, there are eleven traps in the entire Adventure Path, including the optional set-pieces. There are a few other quasi-traps: obstacles or effects that a GM might rule that a character with Trapfinding could disable with an appropriate Disable Device check.

Chapter by Chapter Breakdown:

Part 1: Howl of the Carrion King
-None in the main path
-Set Piece: The Refuge of Nethys
--4. Chamber of Choices: Fireburst Statues - CR3
--5. Sanctuary of Inner Darkness: Altar of Fangs - CR2

Part 2: House of the Beast
-Grundmoch's Lair--C3. Courtyard: Falling Bricks - CR3
-The Great Dome--G2. The Western Atrium: Toxic Stair Spikes - CR2
-The Warrens--H16. Foyer: Primitive Guillotine - CR6
-J2. The Stone Speakers: Quasi-Trap, a GM might rule that one could disable the rast-summoning stone heads.

Part 3: The Jackal's Price
-None (Surprising for a chapter involving a thieves guild)

Part 4: The End of Eternity
-The Haunted Isle--B5. The Memorial Ground: Quasi-Trap - One might be able to disable the magical protections on Nex's mausoleum with an agreeable GM.

Part 5: The Impossible Eye
-Dungeons of Fire
--A1. Hazneh: Quasi-Trap - A GM might let you disable the damaging, teleporting, brass-man-summoning fire curtains.
--A5. Trapped Corridor: Pit Trap - CR1
--A6. Magnetic Cylinder: Spinning Cylinder Trap - CR10 (These are really one trap; the spinning cylinder is your punishment for falling into the pit.)
-Faith in the Flame--C8. Trapped Chamber: Molten Brass Trap - CR10

Part 6: The Final Wish
-Siege of the Brazen Tower--B5. Gallery of Lightning: Gallery of Lightning - CR9
-Return to Pale Mountain--The Stone Speakers: Dead Man's Breath - CR10
-Legacy of Fire--D9. Xotani's Tears: Xotani's Tears - CR14

Since they potentially involve immersion in lava, the Hazneh fire curtains and Xotani's Tears are by a significant margin the most worryingly deadly.

All of those traps can be avoided or bypassed by means other than a character with Trapfinding making a Disable Device check. I don't think a party needs a dedicated trap disabler for Legacy of Fire.

This may come months too late for the original poster, but maybe it will be a useful to someone else. I think I'm only sufficiently familiar with Legacy of Fire. If someone else wants to post this sort of information about other Adventure Paths for future guidelines, that would be great.


Honestly I would add - if your entire group doesn't like traps (including the GM) - just take them out.

That's it. There is no rule that you have to run the AP's as written.

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