Mechanical Traps
"To determine how much progress a character makes on building a trap each week, that character makes a Craft (traps) check. See the Craft skill description for details on Craft checks and the circumstances that can affect them.."
Using the craft system, it seems that traps cost 1/3rd for the "raw materials"
If you fail a check by 4 or less, you make no progress this week., If you fail by 5 or more, you ruin half the raw materials and have to pay half the original raw material cost again.
CR1 is DC 20.
I have skill focus(3), Class Skill(3), 1 rank, a +2 for int, and +2 for gnome, and +2 for MW artisan tools
I need to roll a 7 (+13) to make progress in a week.
My 'average' roll is 23, meaning I will probably average (if no losses) 23x20sp in progress, or 46gp/week for 21.74 weeks of work.
I can either sell the trap for 1000GP, making 777gp/22 (35gp/week), or for 500gp, making 177gp/22 (8gp/week). It isn't clear to me which I can use.
HOWEVER, since there is a 10% failure rate (Rolls of 1-2), I would expect that in 22 weeks I would lose half my material a total of 2 times, for a total of 333gp (5x166.5) that I'll need to spend in addition to my original 333gp..
In the 22 weeks of work, I would expect a 20% chance (3-6 on a d20) of making no progress, so this would add approximately 4 weeks,
So I add 4 weeks of no progress and two weeks of failure and a loss of materials, so it becomes a total of 28 weeks to make a CR1 trap.
(1000gp-666gp)/28= 11.9gp/week
Now, if I have an assistant, with at least a +9 skill modifier (after adding MW tools), then if he rolls a 1, then he gives me a +2 bonus to my roll, which prevents me from ever losing material, and I average 50gp/week, for 20 weeks, but have to add 4 weeks of no work accomplished, so 24/weeks.
666gp/24weeks = 27.75gp/week or 177/24= 7.375gp/week
Since the 1st level spell, "Casters Fortune" lasts 'per day' then a 7th level caster would be needed each week for 70gp (unless you had a 10 day week), unless it was possible to have it cast on the 'last day' of the week.
It seems that while 1000gp x CR sounds mathmatically simple, I don't see it working all that well as a measure. Low level characters will be completely unable to make a CR1 trap for less than what they can buy it for.
HOWEVER, since there is a 10% failure rate (Rolls of 1-2), I would expect that in 22 weeks I would lose half my material a total of 2 times, for a total of 333gp (5x166.5) that I'll need to spend in addition to my original 333gp.
Unless your GM feels that you are in Immediate danger you can take 10 on your craft check.
The book doesn't list any "dangerous" consequences for failing your craft(trap) check.(that I can find)
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.
You can even add +10 to your DC to make your work go quicker.
Yeah, I don't get trapmaking at all.
One of my PC's took Trapmaking skill, because he likes to set up an "Alarm" trap around camp... a string with bells.
Well... I mean, what's the CR for this? Logically, depending on how good he is at it, is how hard it should be able to find and "disable," but it should also not take any longer than 15-20 minutes to get it working.
The system doesn't really support this at all.
My 'average' roll is 23, meaning I will probably average (if no losses) 23x20sp in progress, or 46gp/week for 21.74 weeks of work.
Here I made a Spreadsheet that makes Craft Skills easy.
My 'average' roll is 23, meaning I will probably average (if no losses) 23x20sp in progress, or 46gp/week for 21.74 weeks of work.
Here I made a Spreadsheet that makes Craft Skills easy.
Wow, quite incredible if I do say so. This will definitely come in handy. Thanks Karlgamer!
Wow, quite incredible if I do say so. This will definitely come in handy. Thanks Karlgamer!
Thanks, I'm glad someone appreciates the work I put into it. I didn't study for French class because I was working on the darn thing.
I assume that most traps found in dungeons are made with the Fabricate spell.
A 9th level Wizard will likely have a very high INT bonus (28 for a typical PC) and plenty of skill points. Craft Traps 31 is not unreasonable (9 Ranks, +3 Class Skill, +9 INT bonus, +5 Crafter's Fortune, +5 Skill Item) so he can take 10 for a skill check of 41. As a Wizard, he can also cast Alarm, or whatever other miscellaneous spells are required for the trap.
If you want some traps in your dungeon, hire a wizard.