For example, rogues can disarm magical traps, if the trap is normal you could easily narrate "looking at the wall you notice one stone brick slightly perch more outwards than the others" but for something magical where there is no switch, leavers or thereof, how would you narrate them disabling magical traps?
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Carefully scuffing magical runes, breaking perfect circles, scratching out arcane symbols to harmlessly dissipate the spell, and so on.
That sort of thing, really.
And you disable the magical fireball trap. Good job you!
*Player rolls*
Player: I roll a 40 disable device
GM: Congratulations, you disabled the trap
Do you regularly try to describe how magic spells are cast or how the martial characters swing their weapons?
Carefully scuffing magical runes, breaking perfect circles, scratching out arcane symbols to harmlessly dissipate the spell, and so on.
That sort of thing, really.
The issue is for things like Symbol spells that can activate at range.
...
a creature more than 60 feet from a symbol of death can’t trigger it
...
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.
How do you describe a rogue noticing and disarming a symbol spell 50ft down a corridor that they can't even look at, or disarming a symbol on the other side of a door that is too high for them to reach and they can't cross the doorway without triggering it.
Other traps can also have things like proximity triggers. How do you disarm a magical gem that shoots fire beams at anything which comes within 60 feet?
by disabling it! The rogue knows how
Or maybe it's magical electromagnetic radiation that interferes with the magical electrons in the trap.
As long as it's something that works, of course.
This whole question seems like a non sequitur in Pathfinder.
I can't think of any session I've ever played where I had to describe how the magic worked. Not for spells, or traps, or any other magic.
Describing components, gestures, words, sure. Describing the outcome in sensory terms, sure. Describing what happens to the victim, sure.
But never have I had to say *how* it worked or had to convince a GM that my description would actually work.
Perhaps the skill is just a version of magic missile that destroys the magic trap. If you can describe how magic missile works you can describe how disabling the trap works.
If it were a particularly complicated or devious trap, I might go into a bit more detail: but for the most part, it would either be smudging/modifying runes, perhaps extracting a reagent, or if it had some pseudo-mechanical/alchemical theme, removing a propellant/explosive fuel whatever.
I only go into massive depth on descriptions when something happens game wise to warrant it (an obscenely large crit, a surprise skill check roll that is very high, or dangerously below DC).
If the trap is more of a dramatic device than a speed hump, it might get more description: but that depends on how complex the trap is described to be to begin with: if it's just "fireball trap on the wall", it doesnt warrant much fanfare, generally.
The rogue solved for P in the magical equation, P-X+2Y=10. Once he solved for P, the trap deactivates. It was so simple.
If he solved it really good (beat DC by 10), he knows the cheat code so it doesn't activate when he/allies go through it without deactivating it.
MATH it disables traps.
*Player rolls*
Player: I roll a 40 disable device
GM: Congratulations, you disabled the trap
Yep - and that's when the player is still only level 8.
Level 8 with the +22 disable and +17 perception without any real effort. Don't mind that finding a trap with a DC higher than 40 is pretty rare. It's best to not sweat it too much I think otherwise you'll drive yourself to distraction.
Oh, look, another "good" metagaming thread.
Seriously, it would depend on how important disarming the trap is to the storyline. In the Thieves Tournement, a convention tournament nearly 40 years ago, the final encounter was 3 thieves working together to disarm the Worldkiller Device, while everyone else was doing their best to keep the Three from being interrupted. The descriptions of towers sinking into the pools, orreries slowing to a stop, and the like were Huge as our task progressed. The description of the device locking itself down was easily as dramatic as any Boss death.
EDIT I think I have all the autocorrects stomped out.
I've always been a fan of the Rogue being able to kind of sense the magic around a trap, and just like any good trap with physical mechanisms he finds the magical threads in the air and:
1) Plucks them apart
2) Creates the exact opposite magical field or signature
3) Destroys a physical portion
4) Cuts the magic off from a source quick enough to disable it (much like the Indiana Jones Idol swap)
5) Is capable of casting Dispel Magic, but doesn't really realize it
6) He does some math and finds a small loophole in the magic, enough to exploit the backdoor so he can erase certain parts
Pick your poison. Its high fantasy!
Do you regularly try to describe how magic spells are cast or how the martial characters swing their weapons?
Um, yes?
Like not every time or in a great amount of detail but it's extremely common for us to spend a line or two specifying the form of their attack or some detail about the spell, and I really doubt we're alone in that.I'm actually surprised by the number of people treating "how should I describe this in-game event" like it's a weird question.
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Do you regularly try to describe how magic spells are cast or how the martial characters swing their weapons?
A fair chunk of the time, yes.
We try to make it a requirement of our gaming group that actions are described either by the player or the GM, our table would find it a bit dull if we went through the game without flexing our imaginations.When a player rolls under the enemy's AC, rather than simply missing the target we normally explain how the enemy is going to deflect the blow or meet the character's swing with their blade. It adds a bit of immersion into the game and gives the enemies a bit more credit than being meat-bags that aren't as skilled as the heroes of the story.
Magic that has uses a roll to hit mechanic (e.g. scorching ray) is sometimes a bit more difficult to describe how/why they missed, the first couple of times we can say it was down to not compensating for the kickback of the ray. After so many times they'd be used to it, so we tend to go down the lines of the player not having a clear shot and dispersing the energy to save from hitting their ally.
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@Mudamaza
For a rogue spotting and disarming magical traps, I give the rogue a more specialised set of thieves tools with something akin to a specialised tuning fork and focus gem to allow them to see the magical traps.
The an example of the kind of narration I'll give as a GM:
"You catch a glimpse of arcane energy sparks emanating from a suspiciously concealed location near the door, unsure of the origin of the energy source you draw your tuning fork to pinpoint the source and discover a magical trap. You peer through your focusing crystal to see the arcane swirls moving in an almost clockwork motion and spot the epicentre of the mechanism."
I'll then let ask the player how they want to disarm the trap with the information they've been given.
*Player rolls*
Player: I roll a 40 disable device
GM: Congratulations, you disabled the trapDo you regularly try to describe how magic spells are cast or how the martial characters swing their weapons?
Of course I do, it brings immersion to the game. I dislike it when a GM doesn't describe how things go.
There's nothing more boring than a GM going through the game with " Roll attack"..."hits"..."ok you did 6 dmg...next"
this is how I GM:
GM: Alright so the orc, visually pissed off at you now, he swings his axe vertically at you *roll 14*
Shiv: Miss
GM: As the orc comes contact with you, you parry his swing, sparks fly from the contact of your blade with his..Shiv it's your turn
Shiv: I'll attack the orc who just swung at me. *roll 19*
GM: hits, roll damage
Shiv *rolls 8 slashing damage*
GM: as you parried his swing, using the momentum of your parry you pivot spinning around and slashing into his armor, the orc takes a foot back holding his chest and growls in pain"
A lot of my inspiration comes from Matthew Mercer from Critical role.
But back to the disable device,
When my rogue disables a trap, I like for him to feel like he did actually something to disable it, rather than "yep you did it," I'm just trying to see if there are other GMs like me out there who like to use descriptions in their game to make the players feel more immersed.
