| Zarius |
OK, I'm arguing with my GM over some magic items. Books, which are in a sense, magically trapped. Some of them trigger their magical effect by being touched. The problem is that, he's saying, the only way to know if the trigger is touch based is to try to ID it. Which requires touching is.
If a character has Detect Magic and Trapfinding, can they determine the trigger of a magical trap without licking a damn grenade? (The last two created - yes, created, they didn't dissipate after killing it - a Saltwater Croc and a Winterwolf.)
| Pizza Lord |
In the case of detect magic:
Going on the assumption that the books are not magic items (so you can't use the spell to identify them if you determine the aura's school), just books with magical spells and traps placed on them, your detect magic will detect the magic on them. In most cases anyway: for instance, a fire trap would be noticeable, while a sepia snake sigil (despite the target being a book) appears in the text inside a book, and as such is probably detectable unless the book's cover would block it (ie. lead).
Otherwise, detect magic won't tell you what they can do. Some runes, symbols, or traps may be readable or identifiable, as per their descriptions with Spellcraft, but if those aren't visible (ie. inside the book, or on the cover of a book stuck between other books on a bookshelf) you would have to find a way to view it. Normally a person would think of pulling the book out, which is obviously touching it, but in this case you could pull one of the other books beside it out to get a look at the cover.
As for trapfinding (or just Perception, since anyone can find traps, trapfinding just adds a bonus and lets you disarm magical traps):
(Assuming you don't have trap spotting, which lets you check automatically,) you have to search for a trap. If you say that you are searching for traps as you are going for or looking at the books (and you succeed) you will note something about the trapped object before you trigger it. This might not be an identifying symbol or anything, it could just be "You notice a faint scorch-mark on the shelf and stop" or "You smell sulphur and think there might be something dangerous about this book" or "You notice a faint discoloration on the spine that reminds you of a trapped book you heard of once."
Of course, if you said something like, "I pick up/pull out the book and check it for traps," that would trigger it by touching (but of course, you'd never say that. ;) )
Unfortunately, as written, unlike mechanical traps, magical traps do not state that you detect their trigger on a successful Perception check (a success by 5 or more would also give you an idea of mechanical trap's function or what it's designed to do). There is no such clause in magical traps.
At best, you'd need a powerful spell like analyze dweomer or greater arcane sight to know what spell is on an item just by examining it (without any other visible indicators of a spell's effect to attempt Spellcraft with, like identifying a fire trap after it goes off.)
You can, attempt to dispel the magic aura. If it's a magical item, you rarely have to worry about ruining those, only suppressing them. It would be hard to think of a beneficial or non-harmful spell that you might be stripping from most books, maybe some protections against wear and tear or fire, or an oil of timelessness
With trapfinding, you can attempt to remove the magic trap with Disable Device. You don't necessarily have to identify it. They're hard to disarm, but you're basically drawing a tiny sigil of negation or wiping away a piece of ink or dust or erasing a small rune. Even if you are touching it when you do it (assuming you are successful) you're assumed to disarm the trap without setting it off (though a bad roll can trigger it even if your actions wouldn't normally trigger it, like if you're human and it was set to go off if an orc touched it. Well... you managed to trigger it.)
In the end, there doesn't seem to be a way to determine magic trap triggers (via trapfinding/searching and detect mage, as is the basis of your question). So touching a book may be the only way to determine if a trap is triggered by touch in the absence of any other notable evidence. Luckily, maybe you can use the advice here to plan ahead. Prepare some protection spells against summoned creatures or prepare some spells that prevent or take over summoned creatures, or use mage hand or unseen servants to manipulate the books (though these tend to set some off in many campaigns), etc.