The idea of Trapfinding as an ability is ridiculous to me. For a number of reasons:
1) As a player, if the rogue decides not to take Search (Or Perception) and Disable Device then every time we go Kobold hunting somebody is going to die painfully.
2) As a Dungeon Master, if I want to throw some traps into the dungeon, the PCs have no chance of finding the traps and bypassing them or using them to their own advantage.
So here are some things that I'm using in my Pathfinder game.
1) Any trap no matter how high the DC can be searched for with a Perception Check. A character who has spent a skill slot in Perception should be allowed to perceive of traps just as well as a rogue.
2) Disable Device is a class skill for Bards, Rangers and Wizards. A character may choose to use their Craft (Trapmaking) ranks instead of their Disable Device check to disable a trap, but they do not get the other uses of Disable Device (sabotage), and has the time taken multiplied by 10.
Example of Play -
Blurg the Kobold Barbarian with Craft (Trapmaking) +6, and Dojo the Dwarf Wizard with Disable Device +8 have found a trap. Realising it is a magical trap they decide to go slow and Dojo takes Blurg's advice regarding the disabling of the burning hands trap.
He makes his skill check roll 1d20+8, while Blurg uses aid another (1d20 +6), it takes 2d4x10 rounds (because they can only use the skill as fast as the slowest character).
Dojo rolls 16 adding his skill mod gets 24, while Blurg get 12 and successfully aids another). All together that adds up to 26 beating the Disable Device DC of the Trap (25 +1 for a first level spell). It takes 40 rounds (or a little under a minute), but together they have bypassed a deadly burning hands trap. High fives all round!
What think you all?
Does not having a rogue (or a suboptimal rogue) effect you guys negatively? Have you ever changed a dungeon to accommodate a play group without a trapfinder? Do you think the above rules will help in your game? Let the Paizonians know!
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I do think that any class should be able to find traps, but not necessarily diable them.
I'm running a Rise of the Runelords campaign, but I wanted to slip an adventure between Burnt Offerings and Skinsaw Murders. Overall it went pretty well. The proprietor of the Way North and the headmaster of the Turnadok academy approached the PCs. They had determined the location of a pirate treasure on an island and had pieced together a number of clues. They knew the dungeon could only be accessed during the low spring tides (the lowest tide of the month) and they needed the PCs to deal with it.
Now, the adventure had some other parts to it, and I altered the flow because the night we were playing the rogue's player was missing. The next time we played we were starting right at that point and the rogue wasn't going to be able to get there on time.
The dungeon was full of traps. It was hard to go 10 feet without running into one. And the players actually loved it. But the rogue missed his chance to shine. He was controlled by the other players. If another player had been able to locate traps, the whole set might have given a player who was present the chance to really shine, and I would have liked that.
The idea I'm thinking of is allowing any with Craft(traps) or Disable Device to use Perception to search for traps.
I've long come to the conclusion that Trapfinding should simply be a feat, just like Track was. Give it as a free bonus feat to those classes that currently have the ability.
To expand on this, I think it might be an interesting idea to let each PC pick one or maybe two skills that aren't class, and make them class. So if you REALLY want to make a Barbarian who's studied arcane arts so he can better be a magekiller, he can pick up Spellcraft. If you REALLY want to make a wizard trapfinder, she can pick up Disable Device and Perception. Maybe - just maybe - change how class and cross-class work and remove the cap. Just make cross-class cost two skill points. So you can be as good at something as a different class, it just takes more effort.
I'm sick and tired of having to have a rogue (or ninja) in order to handle traps. I don't need classes to pigeon-hole my characters.
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RPG Superstar 2008 Top 32, 2011 Top 16
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I agree that trapfinding should be a feat, but also have to point out that there are ways to deal with traps other than trapfinding. Magic traps can be found with detect magic and dispel magic can disable them. For physical traps, you can summon a monster to walk the halls in front of you, use a 10' pole to prod the floor, hide and wait to watch what guards do to bypass traps, or notice a safe route that doesn't even encounter traps, etc. There's also the find traps spell on the cleric list.