Why buy the tool kit?

[The Road Warrior]

If the dwarf dies, who is going to disarm the traps?

Buying the tool kit may be everyone's lowest priority but every group should buy at least one eventually.

My poison rule is that it lowers your maximum BP by a certain amount until
cured with an antidote or cure poison magic spell...something like that.

Sotiris is using this in the current PBP game and I really enjoy it. I actually wouldn't mind a mechanic that makes the effect becoming permanent at some point, perhaps after 2 quests or something similar!

[slev]

I'm not imagining a treasure chest that zaps Mind and/or makes low mind characters gleefully fight for the bad guys for a turn or two...

[Sotiris]

..I actually wouldn't mind a mechanic that makes the effect becoming permanent at some point, perhaps after 2 quests or something similar!

..hmmm..very interesting! I like this effect!

Why buy the tool kit?
Only in case of party split or Dwarf's absence/death as RW said.
Afterwards, it's not a bad idea for someone to be equipped with a tool kit. Just in case..

If you want some houserule here, give a bonus to the hero who carries a Tool Kit to
make better searches by including all of the adjacent squares in his searching area,
sell items higher than half-price etc.

[Schmidt]

maybe be able to search for traps when you stand in a door way (I always thought that rule is stupid)

[torilen]

Slev brings up a great point.
I would just assume that any spell could be placed as a trap. Using a control spell as a trap would
just be outstanding. If it is a higher level game (one of the harder expansion packs), then you could
even increase the check needed to resist the spell.

And if you really want to have some fun, check out my expanded spell sets. I expand both Hero spells
and Evil Wizard spells quite a bit.

viewtopic.php?f=58&t=1212

[slev]

Just thinking on this, you want to get to a state where the Heroes don't know if they'll lose BP, lose MP, be hit with an effect like Rust, or end up mind controlled.

It gets to the point where the Barbarian and Wizard are both too vulnerable if it turns out to be a MP or BP los respectively (though they can easily tank the other), while the Dwarf and Elf can only really tank one BP or MP trap respectively.

If things like Mind or Body tests are needed to escape traps later on in the quest, all the better.

[Daedalus]

It sounds like your main gripe is with trapped chests. Since the Dwarf's ability only covers disarming traps, you could occasionally include locked chests that can only be opened with a tool kit in Quest notes. When the players realize they are losing out on treasure, they will surely fork over the tool-kit coin as an investment.

[Jafazo]

Incapacitating the Dwarf isn't a solution.
Making traps more difficult or dangerous isn't a solution.
Improving a tool kits effect isn't a solution.
Making a tool kit more financially affordable isn't a solution.

Another Hero's reliance on the Dwarf to disarm most of the traps is, in part, the way it's meant to be when you consider the Hero's as a single team-based unit. The Wizard is supposed to handle magic, the Barbarian is supposed to be the heavy hitter etc. When you try evening the scale on trap disarming, you take away from the Dwarf's purpose. Don't steer your game toward independence between players. It's a team based effort. If the Dwarf falls, the Heroes suffer.

If your Heroes don't need to buy extra toolkits because the Dwarf is disarming everything, then they're doing something right. You should probably praise them, not panic. As long as the Dwarf is around, traps should only threaten Heroes on a 1 of 6 scale. You can only provide a customized solution so many times before your players start to feel like you just want them to gain a sense of importance from a toolkit. A player like that'll buy it just to shut his DM up or keep him happy so that he, hopefully, won't start making the world a worst place. Let the Heroes win that element of the game. Challenge them once in a BLUE with a quest that has EPIC traps, but dont make that a habit. Anytime such a Dwarf disarms a trap in my game I'd be like, "You hear the familiar click os another safely disarmed trap proving, yet again, the importance of your Dwarven talents."

The Dwarf's the man, gj. As for blue moon epic traps...

"You search for traps and discover a number of arrow traps peppered about the room." Zargon points to the 10 trap containing squares. The Dwarf, with an exaggerted smile, turns to his buddies, "This could take a few turns." His comrades agree to skip their turns so the Dwarf can disarm each trap one at a time. After disarming the first spear trap, Zargon stops the Dwarf, "As soon as you safely disarm the trap the room fills with a series of clicks all in rapid succession. ClickClickClickClackClickClackClickClackClickChick-Chick!" You realize the true masterful complexity of this trap a moment too late. Each trap has been linked and by disarming one, you've armed the rest. By Zargons second turn, all the traps will trigger!

And don't tell the Heroes that when you sounded a Click for each trap, that the ChikChik was the sound of the doors locking so they couldn't get out. I sure hope they each have a toolkit.

[FainFlynn]

I thought about getting rid of the rule where they can't search or disarm traps while there is a monster in the room. What say you guys? That, in addition to the lack of ability to search through doorways, I think opens the game more.

Thoughts?

[Goblin-King]

I don't think that's a good idea FainFlynn.
Not being able to search with monsters present is one of the situations that really create tension.
You don't want to remove everything that create difficulty.