The Burglar hireling description says that when a burglar springs a trap, the players “get +[the burglar’s ]skill against the trap,” among other effects. What does that mean?
The Burglar hireling description says that when a burglar springs a trap, the players “get +[the burglar’s ]skill…
The Burglar hireling description says that when a burglar springs a trap, the players “get +[the burglar’s ]skill…
I assume it means “…when they subsequently Defy Danger to avoid the trap’s effects.”
Like in the fiction, the burglar springs a trap whereby a statue of a big lizard spouts a jet of fire down the hall the PCs have been exploring. Just as the hireling steps on the pressure-plate, the rest of the party hears him say “Oh damn,” and instinctively duck. Hence the +1 (or whatever) to Defy the trap’s Danger. 🙂
That bonus might also be used by an actual Thief to completely disarm the trap (Tricks of the Trade) in cases where the trap can “go off” multiple times.
OR if the trap is just a one-time thing, that triggers to affect a single victim, then the bonus is meaningless, since there is no need to make moves vs a sprung/harmless trap.
As usual, totally depends on the fiction.
I think it is armor.Â
“If a trap would be sprung while a burglar is leading the way the burglar suffers the full effects but the players get +skill against the trap and add the burglar’s skill to their armor against the trap.”
Tim Franzke, I think the OP was asking about the boldface part. You’re right about the part after that.
aaah, i was just going from memory. No idea then. Probably just +forward to their next move against the trap.Â
When you’re unlucky enough to trigger a trap you might have a chance to get out of the way, throw up a quick protective spell, or save a friend—most likely by defying danger. Of course not every trap is so crude as to give you time to get out of the way. A well-built trap will have a blade in your side before you even know it’s sprung. [p40]
In general I’d say the burglar converts a trap that would have been a hard move into a soft move. So if the trap would have just done automatic damage without any warning or chance to evade it, the burglar trips it first, and when you see what happens to him you have a chance to act.
With your warning you can either jump out of the way (automatic success if it is avoidable), scorn the trap and do something else instead (Defy Danger with a bonus), or if it is unavoidable and/or causes some deleterious effect like poison then Defy Danger (with a bonus) to resist. And if you take damage from it for any reason, then your damage is also reduced.
It certainly strikes me as the weakest of the Hireling skills. Â Then again, the games I’m in usually aren’t the exclusive dungeon crawl types with statues/traps/riddles either.