Disabling a Symbol trap

[Curmudgeonly]

"Symbol of Pain has been placed on the floor of this
room. The symbol activates as soon as it is looked at."

Assuming there's nothing obstructing the view, correct me if I'm wrong, but there'd be absolutely no way to disable this, right?

[Curmudgeonly]

Bumping this, anyone?

[Martiln]

A rogue with trapfinding or a spellcaster with dispel magic can disable it, however it would be difficult to do so without looking directly at the symbol. The only way I could think of doing so would be to cover the symbol with something like a rug or blanket or whatever's big enough, then try to disable it so as not to look at it...then again, how would you know the symbol is there without having seen it prior to attempting it?

[Dennis Baker]

If the rogue has the trapspotter ability or is actively looking for traps, he would spot the effects of the symbol before entering the area.

Have him make a disable device check and if he succeeds he is able to deactivate it. The exact details of *how* is left to the imagination. Perhaps a rogue's kit has small paint capsules that he can throw at the symbol covering it enough to deactivate it. Or maybe it's a small vial of iron dust that shorts it out.

[Brigma]

Read the spell description, they can't be triggered by anyone over 60 ft away. So that's one way to get around it. Or your DM may rule that looking at it in a reflection may not trigger it, medusa style, but that would be house rule.
But it is kinda funny that "Magic traps such as symbol of death are hard to detect and disable. A rogue (only) can use the Perception skill to find asymbol of death"..... does that mean that every other class CAN'T see it and therefore can't be affected by it!? (Sorry for the irony)

[Dennis Baker]

Looking at the way the symbol spells are worded, you dont' have to actually see the symbols to be affected... seeing the symbol is one possible triggering mechanic, but once it's triggered everyone in the area is affected.

Quote:

As a default, a symbol of death is triggered whenever a creature does one or more of the following, as you select: looks at the rune; reads the rune; touches the rune; passes over the rune; or passes through a portal bearing the rune.

You could place a symbol in an area of deeper darkness and have it trigger when a creature walks over it in which case no-one actually sees it.... super nasty.

[Curmudgeonly]

Yea, I'm DMing this campaign and preparing for an upcoming session, the adventure has that text written for the trap. I'm making sure I understand exactly how it works :)

Thanks for all the answers! Let's see if the players come up with something creative ;)