Disabling a Trap

Characters can attempt to disable analog and technological traps with the Engineering skill, magical traps with the Mysticism skill, and most hybrid traps with either skill. Some traps require other skills to deactivate—for example, if a trap is controlled by a computer system’s control module, characters must use the Computers skill to hack the control module to prevent the computer from triggering the trap. For some traps, more than one skill can be used to disable them; often, these skill checks have different DCs and different results (which may not entirely disable the trap). Other traps require multiple skill checks to completely deactivate. The skills required to disable a trap (and the method of deactivation) are listed in the trap’s stat block.

A character must first detect a trap in order to attempt to disable it, since only through observing particular details about the trap can the character know the proper countermeasures. Even if a trap has already been triggered, characters can still attempt to deactivate the trap. Some traps no longer pose a danger once they’ve been triggered, but the PCs might be able to stop the trap’s ongoing effects, if any. Other traps might not have ongoing effects, but reset over a period of time; characters can still attempt to disable the trap during this time.