Trapmaking in 3.5

[inukai132]

After doing some research on what exactly goes into crafting traps I realize that it is a lot of work for little payoff. In example a 20' Pit Trap (CR1) would be a DC 20. Given a CR1 character with INT of 18 and 4 ranks that means you have to roll 12+ in order to make progress. The most progress you can make per week is 28*20=560sp/week maximum. Apparently a 20' hole in the dirt with leaves over top costs 13,000sp so that's a minimum of 23 weeks to build. On top of that you have to provide 433gp in "raw materials" to craft the trap in the first place (That's one snazzy shovel). I don't know about you but that seems a little silly to me. What would a better system be for these survival traps that are more feasible for a forest ranger/survivalist type character?

Sources:
Deeper Pit Trap
Craft DC for Traps
Craft Skill  

[Yurro]

That is actually quite interesting.... I never even noticed that that before.

Sadly the only other thing I can think of [off my mind] on alternate rules for at least digging a hole is a entry in 'Races of the Dragon', but that is for Profession [Miner] meant for digging holes horizontally as tunnels.

Almost makes me wonder how much it would cost to craft all of the traps in one of those Indiana Jones movie temples...  

[MT the Clown]

A wizard/heart-ripping sorc/aliens did it mate... that or an act of God.  

[Yurro]

And somehow Nazis/Arabs/Savage Tribesmen where involved in most if not all of them if memory serves me correctly.

If you think some of those traps are crazy, you should look into the Book of Challenges [3.0 if I recall] or Dungeonscape. They both have some interesting traps in them meant more for dungeons, but still. A trap door that opens a greased chute that plops you into a room with a random monster of the Dm's choosing is one of my favorites.  

[inukai132]

There was one that I read about that was just clever. pretty much a copper disc with a wire brush attached to an axle and attached to that was a weight and string. When the trap was activated the weight would fall down a chute causing the rope to unwind around the axle and spin the wire brush. This causes a charge to build un in the copper plate until -ZAP- Non-Magical electric trap for convincing pc's that at the end of the dungeon is a magic user when it is a gadgeteer. This causes pc's to prepare for a magic battle and then hilarity ensues.  

[Cowpies77]

inukai132

After doing some research on what exactly goes into crafting traps I realize that it is a lot of work for little payoff. In example a 20' Pit Trap (CR1) would be a DC 20. Given a CR1 character with INT of 18 and 4 ranks that means you have to roll 12+ in order to make progress. The most progress you can make per week is 28*20=560sp/week maximum. Apparently a 20' hole in the dirt with leaves over top costs 13,000sp so that's a minimum of 23 weeks to build. On top of that you have to provide 433gp in "raw materials" to craft the trap in the first place (That's one snazzy shovel). I don't know about you but that seems a little silly to me. What would a better system be for these survival traps that are more feasible for a forest ranger/survivalist type character?

I was running on the assumption that it was being built into a pre-existing structure. Like if you were building a pit trap in a castle and had to tunnel through the stone flooring.
I suppose if you're just digging holes out in the middle of a field, then yeah, you could probably do it for nearly nothing outside of maybe a day or two of work. Of course, then you run into the question of where would you put 10' of dirt to not arouse suspicion, and why on earth you'd be digging a pit trap in a garden.  

[Fan_Boy]

This is a case where common sense should overturn the rules.

Costs would most likely be for the stone walls lining the pit, a disguised floor and making sure the hole is reinforced enough not to collapse in on itself. Though the trap could probably be made faster with the use of a few rather simple spells - namely a disintegrate per 10' cube and wall of stone to line the thing, then all that would be left is making a collapsible top for the pit.

Or if playing in a Pathfinder game then a simple magic trap that casts Create Pit would make things much simpler. And very cheap if you can cast the spell yourself ...