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What is the point of the caltrop snare? It looks to me as though it is ten times more expensive than a set of caltrops and doesn't really do anything that normal caltrops don't.
Also, caltrops are arguably reusable, whereas snares generally aren't.
EDIT: I guess it's negligible bulk rather than L. Is there anything else?
If you have special abilities you can increase its size or DC...if you have a lenient GM because the trap itself just flings them.
Not sure it even lessens the Bulk until the snare's made since you have to carry caltrops in order to make them. And that's wasted gold if you replace that snare with a better one.
All I can imagine is that it's for NPC/GM use in encounters, to represent the kind of snare a villain might easily produce. But yeah, other than fulfilling its role in the medieval genre, it's pretty bad. At that level it even takes more actions to set up the Snare than toss them down normally so it's ridiculously situational.
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The Snarecrafter Archetype can make a number of these per day for free, so there is that, plus as Gunter mentioned this is something that is deployed on a trigger with the requirement to actually spot it from them to have any chance at avoiding the effect.
That and with Powerful Snares you can make this snare using your Class DC to avoid the damage + persistent damage + slow movement and if the PC in question has a fairly good Crafting Skill bonus that will help make sure that there is a good chance they'll not even notice the Snare sine the only time that Snares get an automatic secret check to discover them is during Exploration (not Encounter) mode and there are VERY few creatures out there that when pressed with danger are going to burn precious time using the Seek Action.
...and there are VERY few creatures out there that when pressed with danger are going to burn precious time using the Seek Action.
Obligatory note that the effectiveness of Snarecrafter builds is hugely GM-dependent.
Also, the craft requirement ("supply a container of caltrops") suggests that you can't even use it to save money with free snare effects.
Technically, the fact that you can have them trigger into a square that is not the snare's square means that you could prep the field with a series of caltrop snares for rapid deployment behind you as you flee, but that's kind of niche (and expensive).
Other than that, it's just the bit where it's unexpected. If they don't see the snare, they won't know that the caltrops are there until partway through their movement. Still... not great.
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...and there are VERY few creatures out there that when pressed with danger are going to burn precious time using the Seek Action.Obligatory note that the effectiveness of Snarecrafter builds is hugely GM-dependent.
Also, the craft requirement ("supply a container of caltrops") suggests that you can't even use it to save money with free snare effects.
Technically, the fact that you can have them trigger into a square that is not the snare's square means that you could prep the field with a series of caltrop snares for rapid deployment behind you as you flee, but that's kind of niche (and expensive).
Other than that, it's just the bit where it's unexpected. If they don't see the snare, they won't know that the caltrops are there until partway through their movement. Still... not great.
The enemies will see the not-hidden caltrops once the hidden trap that they might not see flings them. That's the problem with this trap, it disperses a mediocre non-snare "trap" that's not augmented by the character's snare abilities. You make it 10' x 10'? It still flings a one square batch of caltrops. The only advantage I see is that a trap would be independent so if preset (more an NPC thing IMO) it would save actions. A PC would get more mileage (and use fewer actions at the low levels where this is functional) just carrying caltrops. An NPC would get better use out of a level 1 creature (the snare's level) carrying actual caltrops.
Caltrops require an empty square to target, and the snare has the advantage it can fling caltrops into a non-empty square, but that'd require a contrived situation to be useful since creatures can step out of caltrops just fine. Another contrived situation is where a creature has an ability vs. opponents with bleed and the target hasn't invested in Acrobatics and the target needs to move through the caltrops.
So yeah, other than suiting the genre well, the snare is inferior outside of extreme corner cases PCs shouldn't expect and GMs will likely avoid. The Caltrops Snare would have been notably better if it had mimicked caltrops instead of tossed them. So yeah, maybe some GM might allow for that interpretation for balance/kindness/whatever.
Considering some other snares have a ridiculous amount of lethal elements, it's funny it's this one that has a bonus cost for pointy bits.
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That and with Powerful Snares you can make this snare using your Class DC to avoid the damage + persistent damage + slow movement andNo, you can't. The problem of this (and some other?) snare is that is doesn't have its own save DC, so Powerful Snares won't work. All this snare does - it scatters caltrops. They have their own DC14 which doesn't change.
When it comes to an interpretation that makes a given rule fun and fulfilling, versus an interpretation that makes an ability useless and disheartening, I think I know which one I'd go with for our table.
The enemies will see the not-hidden caltrops once the hidden trap that they might not see flings them. That's the problem with this trap, it disperses a mediocre non-snare "trap" that's not augmented by the character's snare abilities.
You missed a bit of what I was saying. Essentially, finding out that there are caltrops to deal with in the middle of your move action is more problematic than if you can spot them from across the room. So that is a thing to deal with. That said...
So yeah, other than suiting the genre well, the snare is inferior outside of extreme corner cases PCs shouldn't expect and GMs will likely avoid.
Yeah, pretty much. I can't come up with any way to make good use of it that isn't at least somewhat contrived. In particular, it's hard to come up with a situation where you aren't better off with the caltrops in one place and an actual snare somewhere else.
Considering some other snares have a ridiculous amount of lethal elements, it's funny it's this one that has a bonus cost for pointy bits.
I'm guessing that that's to prevent people from using their "make free snares" abilities to make extra money by producing, saving up, and selling free caltrops... as caltrops can be recovered if no one steps on then.
The caltrops being extra, I'm assuming those are recoverable even if your group interprets that snares are not, provided no one has walked through the caltrops yet.
The caltrops being extra, I'm assuming those are recoverable even if your group interprets that snares are not, provided no one has walked through the caltrops yet.
I'd run it that way, though a strict reading would have them "consumed" when making the snare which is kinda silly.
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And yeah, I guess the snare could activate during a creature's Stride so they (if lacking other routes) might stop striding so they can leap?
Funny thing is even creature Untrained in Acrobatics have a reasonable chance of avoiding damage, which is minimal enough it's hardly worth losing actions over except for the lowest level minions. It would be hilarious though if a boss bled out or just needed that extra 5' of movement. Except of course it'd be an inept PC that didn't have a Strike or Cantrip that was superior.
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Mind, they'd have to save and risk damage per square of caltrops.
Snare effects not withstanding, you can toss quite a few caltrops about in one turn.
A long, narrow hallway full of these things would kinda suck to traverse.
The caltrops being extra, I'm assuming those are recoverable even if your group interprets that snares are not, provided no one has walked through the caltrops yet.
The snare generates caltrops. It's what it does. Caltrops on the floor can be recovered, if they haven't been stepped on. The rules are pretty straightforward here.
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Good. Only it's not 'interpretation', it's literally RAW. And I understand, there are loads of RAW things (sometimes small ones) in this game I really dislike. But it matters very rarely.When it comes to an interpretation that makes a given rule fun and fulfilling, versus an interpretation that makes an ability useless and disheartening, I think I know which one I'd go with for our table.That and with Powerful Snares you can make this snare using your Class DC to avoid the damage + persistent damage + slow movement andNo, you can't. The problem of this (and some other?) snare is that is doesn't have its own save DC, so Powerful Snares won't work. All this snare does - it scatters caltrops. They have their own DC14 which doesn't change.
You do you.