Find Traps & Secret Doors - Problem Solving
he procedure for creating a hidden compartment, trap or secret door is as follows: make a problem solving roll, based on the appropriate skill level and how well you intend to hide it. This yields a Trap Level that is added to the searching roll of persons seeking for your trap or secret door.
The procedure for finding a hidden compartment, trap or secret door is as follows: make a problem solving roll, based on I and Em. From this roll, a modifier may be subtracted, based on your survival skill and any other appropriate skill, if you have it. The Level of the trap or door is added to your roll.
Creating traps and hidden doors
One of the following skills is needed to make a trap or secret hiding place in the listed environments:
| Skill | Environment |
|---|---|
| Carpenter | Furniture, wooden constructs |
| Mason | Stone constructs, buildings |
| Architect | Any environment |
| Smuggler | Any environment |
| Locksmith | Indoors, furniture |
| Thief | Indoors and city environment |
| Assassin | Indoors and city environment |
| Survival | Simple traps and hiding places in the specific terrain |
The EL in the applicable skill from the table above is the Base Chance. If the skill used is NOT a Survival skill, the EL in Survival may be added to this chance to yield the effective Base Chance.
The next thing to do is choose the difficulty of the trap or secret door; this determines how difficult it is to make and find the trap. From the table below the difficulty level yields both the Success and Result Modifier. Multiplying the Base Chance by the Success Modifier yields the Success Chance.
The Trap Level can be calculated by multiplying the Base Chance by the Result Modifier. The Trap Level is used in finding the trap or secret door. The higher the Trap Level, the better the trap has been hidden and the more difficult it is to find.
| Success Mod. | Result Mod. | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Difficulty | or80 | Other | or80 | Other |
| Easy | x2 | x20 | /3 | x3 |
| Normal | x1 | x10 | /2 | x5 |
| Difficult | /2 | x5 | x1 | x10 |
| Very Difficult | /3 | x3 | x2 | x20 |
| Impossible | /4 | x1 | x3 | x30 |
Rolling less than the Success Chance on D100 yields a trap or secret door with the Trap Level as intended. Partial Success yields a trap one level simpler, i.e. a partially failed difficult trap has the result modifier for a normal trap etc. Failure indicates that it is hidden to the most casual observer only. The Trap Level is calculated from the Base Chance divided by 2 and subtracting D100. This may result in a negative Trap Level.
EXAMPLE - Djamas tries to stash his highly illegal merchandise in a secret hiding place on the Ro'bal Plains. He has EL31 Smuggler and EL9 Plains Survival. His Base Chance is 31+9=40. He opts for a difficult hidng place, so his Success Chance is 40/2=20%. If he succeeds the Trap Level is 40. He rolls 52, Partial Failure. The resulting trap has a Trap Level for a normal trap, i.e. 40/2=20.
Finding traps and hidden doors
When a trap or hidden door has been created as outlined above, the Trap Level is known. In other cases the Referee assigns a Trap Level, normally ranging from 10 to 80, depending on the quality of the trap, how well it has been hidden, and any other factors he deems applicable.
When a person tries to find a trap he makes a problem solving roll against I+Em. The difficulty of the search depends on the time searched. When the Player does not specifie the time being searched the search speed is automatically 5 turns/hex (Normal). The time searched is per object or hex.
| Skill Mod. | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Time searched | Difficulty | Base Chance | or80 | Other | |
| Quick | 1 turn | impossible | (I+Em)/4 | /4 | x1 |
| Short | 3 turns | very difficult | (I+Em)/3 | /3 | x3 |
| Normal | 5 turns | difficult | (I+Em)/2 | /2 | x5 |
| Long | 10 turns | moderate | (I+Em)x1 | x1 | x10 |
| Forever | 25 turns | easy | (I+Em)x2 | x2 | x20 |
The Trap Level is added to his problem solving roll. He may subtract his Survival EL in the appropriate terrain and if he has a skill that allows him to make the trap, subtract that EL multiplied by the skill modifiers, see Table above.
Success means the object searched for has been found. Partial Success indicates the object hasn't been found, but a new search may be tried at the same difficulty level. Failure indicates a new search may be started, but will be one category more difficult than normal, i.e. a moderate search becomes difficult etc. When a search would become a level more difficult than impossible, the search fails automatically.
EXAMPLE - Gahni (I:13, Em:7, Surv:4) searches for an EL30 hidden door. Even with a long search his chances of finding the door are next to nothing. If he opts to search forever, he has a 14% chance. Djamas (I:40, Em:45) searches for the same door. He has EL9 Underground II survival and is an EL31 Smuggler. His chance to find the door in a normal search is (40+45)/2 +9+31/2-30 = 37%. If he searches long, his chance becomes 95%, if he searches forever, Success becomes automatic.
NOTE - Finding a hidden door does not mean that it is opened, finding a trap does not mean it is disarmed. A locksmith may still be needed to open a lock or disarm a trap mechanism.