Trap Breaker Alchemist - Explosive Disarm

[Ross Byers]

What's the best way to get some use out of the Explosive Disarm ability? It seems neat to blast open a door or ruin a trap with a bomb, but the AC is the same as the trap DC...which is going to be higher than a typical touch attack. Why should I roll an attack roll with 3/4 BAB instead of a Disable Device check with full ranks, plus half level in bonuses from Trap Finding, when the difficulty is the same?

[VRMH]

Maybe team up with a Trapper Ranger, who can set traps from a distance?
He sets 'em up, you knock 'em down... with a double *boom*.

[Bazaar Trader]

Explosive Disarm wrote:

At 5th level, a trap breaker can attempt to disarm a mechanical trap by detonating it rather than disarming it with a Disable Device check. As a full-round action, a trap breaker may expend one of his bombs to make a ranged touch attack against a trap, using the trap's Disable Device DC as its AC. If the attack misses, the bomb's splash damage activates the trap. If the attack hits, the bomb deactivates the trap without setting it off. The trap breaker must both know the location of the trap and be able to reach the trap's trigger with a ranged touch attack in order to use this ability. At 8th level, a trap breaker can disarm magic traps with this ability.

I bolded the part of the quote that can easily be missed.

The archetype feature seems fine to me. Unless the trap your dealing with Automatically Resets or there is an active enemy who is Manually Resetting it, your not as screwed as you think.

Lets take a really simple trap like the Arrow Trap. Disable Device (DC 20), Resets [None].

If you use your "Explosive Disarm" and miss the DC, you disabled the device in the sense it went off. If nobody stood in harms way when the Arrow Trap goes off... You Win. Simple as that. Simply because no one got hurt and the trap no longer works because you disabled the trap from a distance which is another important thing to consider.

Worst case scenario, you "wasted" a bomb by activating a trap when a rock would have done it better. Best case scenario, you disabled the trap when a rock couldn't with your bomb.

Take it from me, I have been playing trapsmith characters since 3.0 D&D was brand-spankin new. Both as one who disabled traps and one who set traps.

[eakratz]

This just occurred to me, but you could set up a pretty nasty trap. Move away 150 ft, 5 range increments, and wait for the enemy to be in trap range. Then throw an explosive disarm, it doesn't matter that you are taking a -10 to the attack. You miss, trap goes boom on bad guys.