In thinking of ways to exploit the weaknesses of giants, it occurred to me that setting some simple traps might be a good way to take advantage of their low Reflex saves. In looking for how the construction of traps works, I found THIS PAGE.
Can someone please confirm that my math is correct because it does not seem to pass a basic sanity test.
Let's say I'm not a trap master or anything, just a level-1 guy with a shovel looking to even the odds a bit, right? I'm looking to make a camoflauged pit trap because that seems doable. According to the info on that page, this is a CR 3 trap. Constructing a trap costs 1000 gp x the CR so right off the bat that just seems insane. That puts the cost at 3000 gp to dig a hole in the ground and cover it with a tarp and some leaves. They do however specifically note that for a very simple trap such as a pit trap the cost might drop as low as 250 gp x CR. Oh, what a relief! My hole in the ground only costs 750 gp. I guess that covers the cost of the shovel and the 749 gold coins that I used to line the walls of the pit.
But here's the part I really don't get... the time. So if we assume that I'm just your average guy, let's say I took a rank of Craft (trap) so with my 10 Int I have a total bonus of +4 (1 rank plus 3 for Craft being a class skill). The hole in the ground has a DC of 20 so I can't take a 10 and succeed at... digging a hole in the ground. But let's just say I roll it and succeed if just barely. So I got a 20 and I multiply that by the DC of 20 for a total of 400. That gives me 400 silver pieces progress toward my goal of 7500 silver pieces.. after A WEEK of digging a hole in the ground. Since I need to roll a 16 or better to hit that 20 DC, I'm only going to succeed 25% of the time so on average I can expect to make 400 silver pieces progress every 4 weeks or 100 silver pieces per week.
That means I'm looking at 75 weeks of work. That's a year and a half. To dig a hole and cover it with a tarp and some leaves.
Is my math right?
Now, I get that the crafting system is designed to discourage PCs from spending their lives crafting instead of adventuring but this is me trying to dig a hole to trap some giants. I'm trying to adventure, to be clever, to utilize planning and reconnaisance to lure the enemy into a trap... that turned out to be a construction project on par with Boston's "big dig."
I really hope that I have totally misunderstood some essential element here that will snap this whole picture into focus so it will suddenly make sense.
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Yeah, crafting of any sort is basically broken. It takes four years to make a single suit of masterwork full plate. The best thing to do is just talk to your GM about the cost of materials, the DC to craft it and a reasonable mount of time it would take, decided by the GM.
For digging a pit, a shovel can move soil at a rate of 2 cubic feet per minute. A basic pitfall is a 10x10x20 hole, so it would take about 10 minutes to dig.
Then throw some Camouflage netting over it and you've got a trap. doesn't even need ranks in craft (trap), although the netting requires a survival check.
If you have a spellcaster, there's also the "create pit" spell, "expeditious excavation", "spiked pit" and "hungry pit"; in the advanced player's guide.
Lastly, there are ranger traps. http://www.d20pfsrd.com/classes/core-classes/ranger/archetypes/paizo---rang er-archetypes/trapper/ranger-traps
Hope this helps.
I created a trapmaster rogue class feature to allow players the use of traps - maybe that can help.