trigger the trap without been damaged

[Duhan]

Hi,I'm playing a barbarian who has to be always in front of the team.
To avoid been caught by traps, I always use my reach weapon to punch the floor when I advance.
I think by this means I can trigger most Location,Proximity,Sound and Touch traps on ground without hurting myself.
But I need to persuade my DM about this, so is there a rule or FAQ about such action?
Thanks for your advice!

[Charon's Little Helper]

So - you're searching for them with the reach weapon?

That's in the rules... under 'perception'.

[Alric Rahl]

Yes anyone can perceive traps. Disarming them requires you to have Disable Device skill ranks again anyone can have these. Only Magical trap disarms require your class to have the Trap Finder special ability (i.e. Rogues as one example).

Perception allows any Class to find traps. If you dont want to roll every 5 ft just tell your DM you are always searching every 30ft (since you should be able to find a trap 30ft away from you with a perception check), and then he can tell you to make a roll when you're close to one. If you succeed you can proceed how to go about getting around the trap then. if he says you don't find any traps, then take that as you didnt make a roll in the first place and you activate the trap when you move onto the next 30ft increment.

As for the "without hurting yourself" bit, thats up to the trap, some explode in a 5, 10, and 20ft radius burst. Some shoot 50ft down a hall. Ya you may be activating them with a reach weapon but that doesnt necessarily exclude you from the effect. there's no way to argue with a GM that you don't take the damage from a trap that says 20ft radius burst when you activated it from only 10ft away. Nor can you argue that the healer at the back of the marching order didnt just get shot in the back from an arrow shot out of the wall 30ft behind you because "I activated the trap with my 10ft reach".

[Duhan]

Alric Rahl wrote:

Yes anyone can perceive traps. Disarming them requires you to have Disable Device skill ranks again anyone can have these. Only Magical trap disarms require your class to have the Trap Finder special ability (i.e. Rogues as one example).

Perception allows any Class to find traps. If you dont want to roll every 5 ft just tell your DM you are always searching every 30ft (since you should be able to find a trap 30ft away from you with a perception check), and then he can tell you to make a roll when you're close to one. If you succeed you can proceed how to go about getting around the trap then. if he says you don't find any traps, then take that as you didnt make a roll in the first place and you activate the trap when you move onto the next 30ft increment.

As for the "without hurting yourself" bit, thats up to the trap, some explode in a 5, 10, and 20ft radius burst. Some shoot 50ft down a hall. Ya you may be activating them with a reach weapon but that doesnt necessarily exclude you from the effect. there's no way to argue with a GM that you don't take the damage from a trap that says 20ft radius burst when you activated it from only 10ft away. Nor can you argue that the healer at the back of the marching order didnt just get shot in the back from an arrow shot out of the wall 30ft behind you because "I activated the trap with my 10ft reach".

Thanks Alric,I think you're right with some great traps, but if the trap is only a pit or some melee attack trap, can I escape it?

[Charon's Little Helper]

Once you see it you can just toss rocks at it if it's a pressure plate or some such. I don't think that the reach weapon will help you find it though - at least not by RAW.

[Duhan]

Charon's Little Helper wrote:

Once you see it you can just toss rocks at it if it's a pressure plate or some such. I don't think that the reach weapon will help you find it though - at least not by RAW.

If it's a pressure plate, won't a big punch trigger it? Given enough force and the plate should reflects?

[Alric Rahl]

Most traps allow a reflex, the rest require the GM to make an attack roll vs. your AC if that attack roll misses then yes you escape the effect. Otherwise no, there is no way to say "I dodge the trap" it all depends on what the trap does.

as for your question about triggering traps with the reach. Yes I believe you could trigger Location traps (these are usually pressure plate traps but its easier just to say Location) because it requires something be in that spot and slamming a weapon onto the spot would definitely make it think there is something there. Proximity traps are iffy because they are usually magical and it can be said that they could discern between an item and a living being. Some traps are activated by weight, like pit traps, again this is iffy because its hard to say how much weight your weapon has when slamming into it.

By RAW there is no direct Ruling saying that using your weapon to prod and poke things would activate traps. It's basically up to your GM to determine how feasible activating the trap just ahead with your weapon would be.