Have one player arguing this... Is he right? If so, meh... Seems to totally trivialize 99% of magical traps once they are found.
Depend of the trap IMHO.
Some magical traps aren't even real objects, more like runes, or just magic implemented on other thinks (like walls or floors). Break wouldn't affect most of them.
And don't forget you must detect the trap, and manage to make it fail his saving throw (okay, it can be pretty easy).
Non-magical traps however... As soon as the mechanism isn't too big, it can work like a charm, yep... But maybe you risk to trigger the trap too.
GM call in the end.
Made me read the spell again, I was sure it was against non-magical only.
The Break spell causes an object to gain the broken condition.
This means it would actually take 2 castings (min) of the break spell to destroy a trap (magical or not).
Notes:
1) The break spell only effects a medium object, a trap may be bigger than a medium object.
2) The object targets an object, not a area. So spells that are not centered on a object cannot be broken (alarm, forbiddance).
3) Magical traps always get a save. (Magical Items: Magic items always get saving throws. A magic item's Fortitude, Reflex, and Will save bonuses are equal to 2 + half its caster level.)
Wow. Nice spell. But you need two castings to get rid of a trap that you've already detected and understand sufficiently to target the Break spell. And it can't be bigger than Medium, so the really scary kinds of traps that collapse the ceiling are hard to target. Also, depending on the trap, just breaking it might actually cause the bad stuff to happen (collapsing ceiling).
Seems reasonable. A barbarian with a polearm could also Sunder it.
I see few logical reasons that even casting break once on a trap wouldn't immediately set it off. Same with sundering it.
Let's look at trap trigger types...
"Proximity"
No brainer here IMO, the wizard casts a standard action spell. Well before he ever gets near it (since Break is a close range spell).
"Sound"
Yeah, break has Somatic component. Trap goes off. Barbarian gets hit too, on any sunder attempt (as above)
"Visual"
Yeah, wizard gets chopped in half.
"Touch"
Break probably works here. No need to touch the trap.
"Timed"
I'm tempted to say this wouldn't work since you need LoE to break the item.
Suppose the real question is, can a broken trap attack? I'd say yes. I think Break does not just automatically break mechanical traps. In many cases my opinion is that the trap would trigger anyways. Interested to hear how other DMs (or PFS) runs this. Seems absurd that a little level 1 spell could disable a CR 12 or higher trap so easily.
taldanrebel2187 wrote: Interested to hear how other DMs (or PFS) runs this. Seems absurd that a little level 1 spell could disable a CR 12 or higher trap so easily. Speaking of absurd, have you looked at the rules for traps lately or the meta of them? The guy with 20 ranks in trapmaking, arcana, religion, perception, spellcraft, and disable device can't actually disable a magical trap. Meanwhile a trap that just goes off may just be set off by a pony summoned by the mount spell and its possible you just heal up and walk away without a scratch. That's before talking about DCs and the like too!
Well I mean the whole purpose of a magical trap is to kill people. If they were meant to just be road blocks, then DDO rules would come into play. You could just have a Barbarian run through all the traps and disable them. Heal him up then be on your way.
I don't see it is as ridiculous that a summon spell could trigger a trap. That's sort of the danger of magic, right? Yeah the fact you need magical trapfinding is ridiculous in a sense.
The way I'll probably run it in my campaigns is that break can actually activate some traps outright (trigger: Sound, Touch, Visual). This is because the spell would actually have to apply magical force in order to break the object, thus triggering the trap.
I highly doubt the intent of the SRD creators was to allow a level 1 spell to disable any non-magical trap automatically.
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Setting off a trap might be ok, the spell has a 25' range.
Since finding a trap is not a perception check (no range limit, just modifiers) to find it, a PC could easily see a trap from 25'+ away.
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Traps in populated areas wouldn't normally be of the Sound activation
Traps with Visual triggers require a 3rd level spell (min), which adds 7500gp to the trap price and +3 to the DC. That's most likely not a low level trap.
That leaves you, realistically, with; Location, Touch and maybe Proximity.
If the PCs make the perception check with these they should be able to 'break' them with the spell.
To help the PCs they should cast Create Water to set the trap off. Create water creates 2 gallons per caster level (16lbs) so a 2nd level caster makes enough water that it weighs the same as a halfling.
This will let them know where the trap is and what it does (if the DMs being a ass and won't give them info).
Also keep in mind just because you can't see a trap, doesn't mean you can't see the effects of a trap. Burnt walls, pile of old arrows that have smashed against a wall, gouges of metal scraping into a wall, etc.
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If your in a unpopulated area and worried about trap, then you just use a barrel full of water down the hall way before you. If the barrel breaks because of a trap, mending fixes it and create wall fills it.
Worried about traps that only detect creatures? Detect magic and put a good sized fish in the barrel. (or animate a skeleton).
taldanrebel2187 wrote: Well I mean the whole purpose of a magical trap is to kill people. If they were meant to just be road blocks, then DDO rules would come into play. You could just have a Barbarian run through all the traps and disable them. Heal him up then be on your way. I don't know what "DDO" means, I'm curious.
In my campaigns, traps aren't only here to kill (I don't know for PFS): they can alarm the owner, block a road, "jail" the party (blocking two ways in a corridor, or a pit with a closing entry), create illusions to fear/lost/miss some passages, etc...
Not everyone is a BBEG who wants to kill people you know. Why kill someone when you can just make him give up by blocking the ways? Or better, capturing them so you can have some informations!
In the end I even prefer that kind of traps, because you can create something else than just "trigger -> heal -> go".
Edit: So back to the topic, break can be useful to bypass some threats, but I think it will only shine at low levels. I still always planned to keep 2 first-level slots for break when going on some ruins or heavy-trapped area. Never really used it tbh.
DDO -> Dungeons and Dragons Online. Some players do tend to pretty much disregard at least some traps, just because a character with enough health can just walk through them, depending on difficulty levels.
I think I need to get this for my Archaeologist (bard, even though it's a sorc/wiz only spell). Time to focus on that UMD.
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