L'historien's page

The words "immediate danger" and "threat" from the take 10 rule are vague enough for us to divert from the bear trap questions I have regarding disable dc to set up, str dc required to evade, and the possibility of setting it up through strength alone (with or without a chance of it springing in the user's face).

You may be right on whether or not a take 10 is possible to set up a trap outside of combat. I understand your points.
I believe this should be the subject of another thread and encourages you to open it up if you wish to discuss this matter further.
I will gladly participate.

Thank you.

"Taking 10: When your character is not in immediate danger or distracted, you may choose to take 10. Instead of rolling 1d20 for the skill check, calculate your result as if you had rolled a 10. For many routine tasks, taking 10 makes them automatically successful. Distractions or threats (such as combat) make it impossible for a character to take 10. In most cases, taking 10 is purely a safety measure—you know (or expect) that an average roll will succeed but fear that a poor roll might fail, so you elect to settle for the average roll (a 10). Taking 10 is especially useful in situations where a particularly high roll wouldn't help."

I would like to accept your interpretation Ansel, but I think the threat of getting hit with a +10 (2d6+3) is significant enough to prevent a take 10.

Taking 10 on the setup of a trap would be Skill Mastery in my opinion.

"Skill Mastery: The rogue becomes so confident in the use of certain skills that she can use them reliably even under adverse conditions.

Upon gaining this ability, she selects a number of skills equal to 3 + her Intelligence modifier. When making a skill check with one of these skills, she may take 10 even if stress and distractions would normally prevent her from doing so. A rogue may gain this special ability multiple times, selecting additional skills for skill mastery to apply to each time."

But we are drifting.. let me reiterate my request for a ruling on the 3 above questions. If possible.
Thank you!

Could the following questions be clarified in an official ruling?
I would like to have this ability to use this equipment in PFS without too much table variance.

1. What is the strength check required to escape from the bear trap?
(ultimate equipment dc26 right?)

2. Can this be set up by prying open the jaws with strength DC20?
(if so, can it snap in your face if you fail by 5 or more)

3. What is the disable device DC required to set it up?
('reset a trap' dc20 seems too hard, but it's not my call)

Thank you!

p.s. I believe it would be unbalanced, if "prying open the jaws" (str dc20) had no risk, as opposed to "resetting the trap" (disable device dc20?)

Taking 10, implies there are no risks.
This case really requires a roll.

I would likely ask my GM to consider the disable DC of this trap to be a "tricky device" DC of 15 to set up (as per the table).

With a lv 1 Merisiel with Mwk Thieves tool (+10), even on rolling a 1 (+10 for 11) she could not fail by 5 or more and accidentally trigger the bear trap.

Although, I think that the GM could spice things up a little on a natural 1 even though, technically there are no automatic failures on skills.

Otherwise.. Merisiel would have 25% chance of accidentally triggering the bear trap.. Come on... If an exceptionally dextrous elven rogue with trap training has 1 chance out of 4 to risk death when setting up a bear trap, we have a problem.

I am just building a character that will use bear traps and I have a similar concern.
This character is a human rogue with a skill focus on disable devices.
I thought it made sense to use the "reset a trap" dc of the disable devices skill to set up the bear trap. The thing is.. this dc of 20, makes it really hard for my character to set it up.
But it makes a lot more sense than prying open the jaws.. to set up a bear trap.
We all know that setting up a bear trap is not done through brute force.
The thing is.. if I fail by 5 or more, it snaps in my face.

That makes the setup of the bear trap, too hard to accomplish for a low level character in my opinion.

If we were to look at a level 1 PFS Merisiel (lets add masterwork thieves tools to make her life easier) and her trapfinding bonuus of +1... she would have a +10 (+7+mwk tools+trapfinding)

http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/npcCodex/iconic/merisiel.html

Basically, if she rolls a 5(+10) she gets 15, which is failing by 5 or more the disable devices (reset a trap) DC of 20.
So, she has 5 chances out of 20, 25% chances of being hit with a +10 attack doing 2d6+3. Ouch!

So.. That seems broken.
On the other hand.. doing a strength check of 20.. to set it up.. is so unlikely.. is this really the intent, or there is a mistake?
Again, bear traps are not set up by prying open the jaws...