I was reading up on some hazards in preparation of running Abomination Vaults. One of the hazards has an aura. I am curious how this would work with the Disable Device action.
Making the assumption that the party has detected the hazard and they wish to Disable it, how would a hazard's aura ability work?
I feel that normally you would have to be adjacent to the hazard's trigger to use the Disable Device action. This would mean to disable the hazard, the character making the check would need to be within the aura. So, would the aura effect the character before they could disable the hazard?
Thanks in advance for the help and knowledge.
You'd need to be a little bit more specific about this. You'll have to tell us which hazard it is.
You'd need to be a little bit more specific about this. You'll have to tell us which hazard it is.
I am hoping my players will ignore this...
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Ok, I see.
In the case the party discovers the hazard, I'd allow a Disable Device check without taking cold damage as long as the character disabling the hazard finds a proper way of keeping some distance. For me, it'd be part of the Disable DC, and the critical failure effect would represent the character failing at that.
Now, I may either ask the player to find a way or consider that it's entirely part of the check and handwave it. It's really a question of how important I want the hazard to be.
But I'd definitely not consider that you have to trigger the hazard to disable it. It's both against the spirit of disabling a hazard and not really interesting in my opinion (a bit too punishing for investing in a very specialized skill).
But I'd definitely not consider that you have to trigger the hazard to disable it. It's both against the spirit of disabling a hazard and not really interesting in my opinion (a bit too punishing for investing in a very specialized skill).
I agree fully with that. Triggering would not apply, unless they were foolish enough to bring a lit torch up to it but I would also warn them that it is triggered by fire.
In my case I think I would be willing to listen to reasons they could disable it with being within the aura but not sure about just hand waving it completely. That may also depend on how they are doing when they encounter it.
Thanks for the information.
Well, as I said, I don't think they should disable it while being in the aura. The aura is extremely small, so they can just protect their arms and disable it from 5ft. away, or use some kind of tool.
Also, about the torch, I'd not give them the information unless they succeed at a Recall Knowledge check (Nature in this case). Detecting a trap doesn't mean knowing how it behaves.