Where do you disarm a trap from?

[BlackJax]

I prefer not to assume but is it possible based on your Forum Language: English (United States) and Evil Sorcerer: Zargon preferences that you are providing answers based on the North American rules rather than the original version (UK 1989) that I was asking about?

I only ask because the original version (UK 1989) says that searching for furniture traps automatically makes them safe, so they wouldn't need to be disarmed and there is no mention of announcing your intent to disarm anywhere in the original version (UK 1989) that I can find.

[wallydubbs]

I prefer not to assume but is it possible based on your Forum Language: English (United States) and Evil Sorcerer: Zargon preferences that you are providing answers based on the North American rules rather than the original version (UK 1989) that I was asking about?

I only ask because the original version (UK 1989) says that searching for furniture traps automatically makes them safe, so they wouldn't need to be disarmed and there is no mention of announcing your intent to disarm anywhere in the original version (UK 1989) that I can find.

Oh, I didn't realize you were using the original European version. That's a bit different from the North American version or remake. I don't think you need to adjacent, at least I don't think such would be specified.

[The Admiral]

I mark found traps with a skull token. The Hero must stand on the token to disarm it and if they fail they suffer the consequeces of that trap. Chest traps are disarmed from an adjacent space.

Chests must be opened from their front so that traps which quite often are placed in front of them must be disarmed first.

Not necessarily the rules, but just what makes the most sense to me.

[wallydubbs]

I mark found traps with a skull token. The Hero must stand on the token to disarm it and if they fail they suffer the consequeces of that trap. Chest traps are disarmed from an adjacent space.

Chests must be opened from their front so that traps which quite often are placed in front of them must be disarmed first.

Not necessarily the rules, but just what makes the most sense to me.

Agreed, I do it this way as well. Strangely, Avalon Hill/Hasbro didn't catch the searching chest glitch from across the room until they implemented the Dread Shifter. Ambushes need the hero to be adjacent for this to work. However I'm not sure if the quest book answers the question of searching for traps with Dreadshifter present... Are they able to catch the ambush before it happens?

[manaknight14]

However I'm not sure if the quest book answers the question of searching for traps with Dreadshifter present... Are they able to catch the ambush before it happens?

The quest book does sort of answer this. In the section on revealing ambush monsters it says "Ambush monsters are uncovered when a hero searches for traps in the room or corridor where they are located. Replace the furniture with its corresponding monster." So a trap search reveals the Dreadshifter for what it is. While it does not explicitly say the monster loses its ambush ability as a result, I think that it is implied. The text on getting ambushed by a monster says it only happens the first time a hero comes close enough to it to be ambushed. Presumably this is because once an ambush attack has occurred, successive heroes entering the zone will not be ambushed because there are aware of the Dreadshifter's true nature. If a trap search similarly reveals that true nature, the Dreadshifter should no longer be able to ambush and should behave as a normal monster.

EDIT: I just realized you might be asking about whether the hero is able to discover other traps in the room while the Dreadshifter is still "hidden." That's a little trickier, but the text does say the Dreadshifter is discovered when a hero "searches for traps." This sentence would only make sense if the trap search action can be performed in the ambush monster's presence. Zargon might have to exercise some discretion here, but I think if this means you can execute a trap search action while the Dreadshifter is there, other traps should be revealed as well.

[BlackJax]

I mark found traps with a skull token. The Hero must stand on the token to disarm it and if they fail they suffer the consequeces of that trap. Chest traps are disarmed from an adjacent space.

I think that makes sense to me (although skull tokens aren't provided in the UK edition, but I found a suggestion elsewhere in the Inn to just use a face down tile), the hero must stand on the tile to disarm it for normal traps, chest, door and similar traps you would disarm from the square that you need to be in to trigger the trap so I agree the square next to it and if they fail they suffer the consequences of that trap but...if you are a hero that isn't the Dwarf or doesn't have a Tool Kit what are you supposed to do with these found traps if you can't disarm them?

Possibly some of them might be positioned by the quest creator in a way that you can avoid them, like in the middle of a room, but for those that aren't, like in a single width passageway or a trapped door that you have to open to pass through, do you just search, find, mark them and then just walk into them anyway?

[Daedalus]

I mark found traps with a skull token. The Hero must stand on the token to disarm it and if they fail they suffer the consequeces of that trap. Chest traps are disarmed from an adjacent space.

I think that makes sense to me (although skull tokens aren't provided in the UK edition, but I found a suggestion elsewhere in the Inn to just use a face down tile), the hero must stand on the tile to disarm it for normal traps, chest, door and similar traps you would disarm from the square that you need to be in to trigger the trap so I agree the square next to it and if they fail they suffer the consequences of that trap but...if you are a hero that isn't the Dwarf or doesn't have a Tool Kit what are you supposed to do with these found traps if you can't disarm them?

Possibly some of them might be positioned by the quest creator in a way that you can avoid them, like in the middle of a room, but for those that aren't, like in a single width passageway or a trapped door that you have to open to pass through, do you just search, find, mark them and then just walk into them anyway?

I'd say a non-Dwarf player character without a Tool Kit can jump the trapped square like with a Jumping a Pit (p. 12), even if it is a different trap. This is possible since the traps are triggered by stepping on their square (but not treasure chest traps which aren't located in passages anyway). If the jump is failed by rolling a skull, the player character triggers the trap.

[The Admiral]

I'd say a non-Dwarf player character without a Tool Kit can jump the trapped square like with a Jumping a Pit (p. 12), even if it is a different trap. This is possible since the traps are triggered by stepping on their square (but not treasure chest traps which aren't located in passages anyway). If the jump is failed by rolling a skull, the player character triggers the trap.

I allow any hero to jump a known trap as you describe, including the Dwarf. But in my game there is no auto disarm for anyone. Each character has a base disarm number e.g. Dwarf 3+, Elf 4+, Wizard 5+ and Barbarian 6+. A tool kit gives a -1 modifier to the die roll.

[BlackJax]

I'd say a non-Dwarf player character without a Tool Kit can jump the trapped square like with a Jumping a Pit (p. 12), even if it is a different trap. This is possible since the traps are triggered by stepping on their square (but not treasure chest traps which aren't located in passages anyway). If the jump is failed by rolling a skull, the player character triggers the trap.

I allow any hero to jump a known trap as you describe, including the Dwarf. But in my game there is no auto disarm for anyone. Each character has a base disarm number e.g. Dwarf 3+, Elf 4+, Wizard 5+ and Barbarian 6+. A tool kit gives a -1 modifier to the die roll.

Allowing the heroes to jump any "found" trap makes sense as a workaround, and I think that is the approach in the NA version, but I'm trying to understand the official UK rules first and I don't think they allow you to jump a found trap only to jump a pit (in the sense of a pit trap that has already been activated).

Back in the day we never manage to agree on a common understanding of this area of the rules, the whole trap and secret doors search, and the "found" versus activated traps handling, disarming traps and all that stuff so we ended up just agreeing to house rule the whole concept and moved on! Returning to the game now I wanted to at least try to understand the official UK rules first, even if I just end up giving up and house ruling it all again.

The Admiral, what is the auto-disarm that you are referring to? Is this the auto-disarm of furniture or spear traps when you search the area that they are in?

[The Admiral]

The Admiral, what is the auto-disarm that you are referring to? Is this the auto-disarm of furniture or spear traps when you search the area that they are in?

I am sure that in some version of HQ the Dwarf can automatically disarm traps.

It's on the character card in the UK 1st edition.