How do ranger snares work?

[Mellack]

I am very confused about snares. Can some kind people please help explain them to me?

For example, Snare Specialist 4 says you can now craft snares in 3 interact actions instead of one minute. Then Quick Snares 6 lets you craft snares in 3 interact actions instead of one minute. IS the difference now that you don't need to decide at the start of the day which snares you have and can choose as you set them? Do both of those now mean you can set the snares in combat in one round, using all your actions?
The whole thing seems very feat intensive for what it does.

[lordcirth]

That's correct, Snare Specialist lets you prep 4 snares to make quickly later.
Quick Snares lets you make any snare quickly. It does seem like a minimal upgrade, but I haven't yet looked at the variety of snares available.

[Mellack]

Then before Snare Specialist at level 4 you would have to pay the full cost of each snare? At a few gold each? That would seem to make it pretty costly for the early levels.

[Squiggit]

Quick Snare doesn't force you to pick so you can use it on any snare as many times as you want in a day, but unlike Snare Specialist the stuff it gives you isn't free.

And you're right, snares are very expensive. Best to not bother until level 4, imo.

And yeah, since snares are armed as part of crafting them, Quick Snare lets you plant a snare in one round.

As for feat intensiveness, I can kind of agree, but snares are expensive enough that skipping quick snare altogether and waiting for lightning snares at 12 (or taking quick and then retraining) should be fine.

Sorta wish snare crafting wasn't a feat at all, but that's beyond this thread.

[Mellack]

Thanks for the information, depressing as it is. I find it irritating that I would need to spend my 2nd level skill feat to get snare crafting, and my 3rd level expert training in crafting just to still not even afford to use snares. Seems like the resource cost might be too high for me to bother with.

[Mellack]

I anyone has tried using snares and has some feedback to give, I would love to hear it.

[Squiggit]

I took snare crafting at 1 with versatile heritage and snare specialist at 4.

My plan so far has been to just ignore snare crafting outside my free daily snares and use them as a way to prep ahead of combat. It's been pretty fun tossing down a snare in a doorway we knew enemies might come through.

Because of the action economy and placement issues though, planting a snare IN combat isn't really viable. Might be fun to mess around with when/if I ever pick up Lightning Snares.

It also feels like something the GM has to be kind of willing to play along with, though. The campaign I'm in is kind of flexible in terms of how we approach encounters, but in a more traditional dungeon crawler where you walk into a room, kill enemies then walk into the next room to kill enemies I feel like the ability would be kinda useless.

Ultimately it feels pretty neat, but it feels more like something I'm making the best out of rather than something awesome. Not sure it's actually worth the two feats and specific skill increase I had to spend on it.

[Mellack]

Thanks for sharing your experience.

[Zwordsman]

My alchemist (mostly debuff based) is multiclassing Ranger. He's planning to pick them up too. I haven't gotten to use them yet.

but I've had times where I snuck forward and peekd around corners or doors and saw enemies, then reported back to the group. It would be neat to be able to set a trap on that door then we make noise-and the enemies come to "ambush" us but get ambushed.

Also, even if I dont' use during the day--I think it makes pretty useful resting prep. Trap your window and door at the inn, disarm in the morning.

I think it has a pretty fun niche over all. But it does have an annoying opportunity cost if you aren't already working towards it.

[Dragonchess Player]

Snares are moderately useful if you have a round or two (or more) before an enemy gets close as a form of (proactive) battlefield control and/or damage. It's not really a "do this every fight" type of activity, but can be a nice option for debuffing or to guard against enemies going after "squishies."

Taking the Alchemist Dedication and other alchemist multiclassing feats can open up additional options at the cost of taking fewer ranger class feats. Of course, a goblin ranger (for instance) may be OK with the trade-off...