DeathTraps and Actions

[Bongo BigBounce]

If my Baddie has a pre-set trap that requires a pressure plate to activate it, will it require an action to activate that pressure plate or is merely placing enough weight on it while passing by in a move action be enough (the creature is heavy enough) to activate it? If so, what kind of action? My Baddie took a move action to move on the surface of the floor (though it did have a Fly spell up), thus setting of the Trap. It then used a standerd action to Teleport away. Good tactics? Cheap? Cheat?

[Shifty]

Once you hit the plate then the trap normally goes off, so you don't normally qualify for your standard action no.

Dpends on how you design the trap.

On a classic trap though, stepping on is enough.

[Stubs McKenzie]

It depends on the type of activation. It could be set to go off as soon as a set minimum amount of weight was placed on it, or it could be set to go off the moment a set minimum amount of weight was placed on it and then released. In rules terms, most of the time the difference between those 2 mechanisms is moot, as they will function the same way in the end, the character activating the trap will still be in the same 5ft square whether or not it goes off when he steps onto it or off of it. The only difference will usually come in situations like the one you mentioned, where a bad guy has a plan to set off a trap then avoid it somehow, and therefore wants to actually start his turn on the trap mechanism.