VOIDHand's page

I have found myself a fan of the Rogues-autosearch-for-traps, similar to the elves-autosearch-for-secret-doors ability, as it sounds like it would really streamline a major portion of dungeon crawling.

The thing that I can see happening is that traps might loose their effectiveness. Instead of a rogue getting careless and forgetting about checking for traps (which seems to be one way that traps really seem to hit), most traps can be bypassed, without too much risk. I would even suggest adding a chance that the trap misfired (I can't think of a great method to represent this. Should it be when the rogue fails its Disable Device check, or a percent chance either overall or when failed, etc.)

Also, with the current rank system (haven't checked if it was changed since Alpha 2, but I'm assuming it's the same). Rogues essentially get a +3 for having Disable Device as a class skill. This would be in addition to any bonus to this check for being a rogue (usually +1/2 rogue level).

Of course, what can be done to differentiate between magical and non-magical traps?

I allow a feat that grants trapfinding, with the prerequisites of Search 4 ranks, and Disable Device 2 ranks...

I like the idea of it as a feat. That allows any character to take it, without having to worry about changes to the classes.

I love the materials in A3, very juicy and all.

But I have one major gripe, the formatting issues that seem to crop up every once in a while. Spell and class descriptions that list the heading on the bottom of one column and list the rest of the description on the next page, certainlinesoftextthatseemliketoomanywordsarebeingpushedtogether (it usually comes off like this), etc.

Of course, this is just the Alpha Version so I'm not angry or anything, but it's sometime a bit of an annoyance. I'm just getting them off my chest here, just to make them known. (I don't want a repeat of Revised 2nd ed. Mage: the Ascension, where pages would list a reference of the mysterious "(See Pg. XX)". Yes, in the final product a year or two after its release.

I have faith in the pathfinder crew that this will be fixed, but I'm just giving a heads up.

I was going to post about being able to see both sides of the fence, but I'm really going to have to disagree with 2+int with the current system (haven't checked if the skill point system was changed since A2).

Assuming a character has an int of 10. The fighter and co. only receive two measly points. While that seems inconsequential, it's only two points.

There is one potential compromise here. Would it be possible to insert an optional rule to the skills section to allow DM's to up the number of points?

I would agree with this point. I don't want to sound like I'm pushing a 4th edition comparison, but the roles of any team seem to fall under the same groups, except for the trap finder.

Tanks have barbarian, paladin, and fighter.
Healers have cleric and Druid.
Spellcasters have paladin, bard, sorceror, wizard, and ranger
Trapfinders (traps being an extremely common element in many dungeons) have rogues only.

Having rogues be the only class with trapfinding makes it so any party that wants to do dungeoneering is forced to have a rogue, or at least a few commoners to send in first. This makes the rogue essential, without allowing for variety that other roles provide.

Traps even fall under the theme of the Ranger very well. Rangers can easily be seen setting traps for their favored targets or prey. Wouldn't it make sense for their understanding to allow them to find them as well?

Edit: After a bit of thinking, I could see the "setting of traps themselves" as being a very viable tool (in the form of bonuses and such to setting traps). It would also encourage groups to plan ahead for their next combat. I could see this working for both the rogue and the ranger.

Orlando, Florida, USA for me

I can't say there isn't anything that I'm not looking forward to in A3. I love Monks, I'm honestly curious about the changes to Ranger. I guess I /could/ care less about bards.

The conversion rules and the Monster Creation rules seem to be one of the things I would like to see most.

2 hours and 20 minutes left.