Trapmaking

Overview
Trapmaking is a feat made available to Rogues once they reach Level 4. It gives the ability to not only craft traps, but scavenge parts from existing traps.

The Basics, Acquiring parts
The only way to do any crafting is the Trapmaking feat. At 4th level a rogue is granted this automatically. Other classes can purchase the Trapmaking feat so long as they meet the prerequisites. The trapmaking feat allows two things. It lets a rogue use crafting stations to make traps, and it allows a rogue to harvest parts from the boxes he disables. Once your rogue has the ability to collect trap parts, you should find your pack beginning to fill with an assortment of parts as you quest. Every box you disable has a chance of bestowing trap parts, and trap boxes are the only place to get parts. Your chance of parts, and how many you receive depend on four things:


 * 1) The level of rogue. (The higher the rogue, the more parts you'll get)
 * 2) The level of quest. (Again, the higher, the better)
 * 3) The DC of the trap. (Tougher traps generally give you more parts)
 * 4) Having Rogue Mechanic I + II (Increases the chances that a trap will give parts)

However, it is always a random amount of parts. These factors just better your chances of getting a larger amount of parts. Sometimes a box will give you 1 part, another time it will give 15. Since you do have a random amount of parts, your best bet to obtaining many parts are to go to quests that have many trap boxes, especially many boxes of the same type of trap, such as Fire or Mechanical. It's important to note that if a single box controls multiple traps of different types, that box will only give one type of trap part.

There are 9 types of trap parts, each corresponding to their particular type of trap that the box controls:


 * Mechanical (Spikes, Blades, etc.)
 * Fire
 * Electric
 * Acid
 * Cold
 * Sonic
 * Force
 * Unholy (drops from Haunted Library, not currently usable as they don't work in any known trap recipe [source])
 * Magical (Both Poison and Spell Traps)

In addition to parts, there are a few other trapmaking ingredients


 * Vials (Only from the Free Agent Vendor)
 * Soul Gems (From the Trap the Soul spell)
 * Siberys Dragonshard Fragments (From chests and collectables)

All of the parts do stack by type, but I highly recommend heading over to the Twelve and claiming the free small ingredient bag as soon as possible. If you plan to do serious crafting on your rogue, then you'll want to invest in a larger ingredient bag and potentially a small soul gem bag as well.

Mines and Grenades
With parts, you can make traps, specifically two types of traps. Mines and Grenades.

Grenades are very much like the various bombs that kobold throwers have, or like the Sun Flasks during the Festivult. They fly in an arch, and can be aimed to hit places a bow might miss. They can also simply be used while targeting, and they will usually hit the monster. Grenades are splash weapons, so it's best to use them when there are many monsters gathered close together and out of reach.

Mines function in a unique way. When used, you will enter in a short duration and a small device will be placed on the ground. After a second, the mine will set, indicated by a small light switching on. After that, any monster that steps on the mine will trigger the explosion. Since mines can be set up in the midst of combat, they are very useful when surrounded.

The weaker mines only have a blast radius similar to a fireball. The average and large mines however have an area of effect of twice that size. Deadly mines are even larger, with an area of effect that will hit an entire room.

If you plan to use mines regularly, it is important to make sure that DC is as high as feasibly possible. Since the DC is based on the total Disable Device skill, equipping an item to boost the skill is a good practice before setting up traps. Mine DC's are determined in the following way.


 * Normal Rogue : Disable Device Skill* 1/3
 * Mechanic I Rogue : Disable Device Skill* 1/2
 * Mechanic II Rogue : Disable Device Skill * 2/3

Magical Traps are a very unique type of trap. You can only use a select list of spells from 1st to 3rd level with magical traps, and all of them are focused towards crowd control. Examples include: Grease, Glitterdust, Hold Person, etc. These traps function similarly to mines, except that when they activate, the spell is cast. Since these spells are solely derived from the scrolls, the durations are very short in general, and the DC's very low.

Crafting
Crafting the traps is a very simple process, provided you have all the ingredients. First you have to find a Crafting Station, one of which is located in the Harbor among all the warehouses. If your guild is high enough, these crafting stations can be rented on the airship.

The process of crafting is similar to the other crafting systems in the game. You open up the interface, place in the various materials, and press the craft button. Recipes can be finicky, so always make sure to check your recipe to make sure you're making the right trap.

Of special note are the Soul Gems. Since Soul Gems can only be acquired through the use of the Trap the Soul spell, some rogues may find them difficult to obtain. These gems may be found on the Auction House, but your best bet is to find a wizard or sorcerer to help you. The spell component for the Trap the Soul spell is Khyber Dragonshards. Fragments of these are primarily found in random collectables (such as bookshelves and adventurer's packs), and to a lesser extent in chests, but Tiny Khyber Dragonshards can also be purchased from the Portable Hole at a small cost. These Tiny Shards can then be combined using a Stone of Change to make Small Khyber Dragonshards, and then again to make Average Khyber Dragonshards.

When used to trap souls, Tiny Shards will capture Weak Souls (HD 10), Small Shards will capture Normal Souls (HD 20), and Average Shards will capture Strong Souls (HD 30).

In regards to the trap crafting recipes, soul gems are important in making the strongest versions of traps. Elemental traps must match the same type of elemental soul. For example, a Fire Trap needs a Fire Elemental Soul Gem. Sonic and force traps have no elemental associated with them, but use Magical Beast and Aberration souls (as discovered by Ghoste). The pairings are listed below.


 * Fire = Fire Elemental
 * Acid = Earth Elemental
 * Electric = Air Elemental
 * Cold = Water Elemental
 * Sonic = Magical Beast
 * Force = Aberration

Trap Recipes
All recipes follow the same basic pattern. In all traps, replace  with your element of choice.

Mines

 * Noisemakers
 * Recipe: 25 Mechanic Trap Parts
 * Result: 5 Noisemakers (Creates a small noise after several seconds)
 * Level 2 to use item


 * Weak  Mine
 * Recipe: 10  Trap Parts, 10 Mechanic Trap Parts
 * Result: 5 Weak  Mines (10d6 Damage)
 * Level 3 to use item


 * Small  Mine (minimum level 5)
 * Recipe: 25  Trap Parts, 10 Mechanic Trap Parts, 10 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments
 * Result: 5 Small  Mines (20d6 Damage)
 * Level 5 to use item
 * [fixed on 7/23/10 to reflect correct mechanical trap part investment]


 * Average  Mine
 * Recipe: 50  Trap Parts, 25 Mechanic Trap Parts, Weak Soul Gem, 50 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments
 * Result: 5 Average  Mines (30d6 Damage, Large Area of Effect)


 * Large  Mine
 * Recipe: 75  Trap Parts, 25 Mechanic Trap Parts, Average Soul Gem, 100 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments
 * Result: 5 Large  Mines (40d6 Damage, Large Area of Effect)


 * Deadly  Mine
 * Recipe: 100  Trap Parts, 25 Mechanic Trap Parts, Strong Soul Gem, 250 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments
 * Result: 5 Deadly  Mines (50d6 Damage, Huge Area of Effect)

Grenades

 * Weak <Elemental> Grenades
 * Recipe: 10 <Elemental> Trap Parts, 10 Crude Vials
 * Result: 10 Weak <Elemental> Grenades (2d6 Damage, Reflex Save - 12)


 * Small <Elemental> Grenades
 * Recipe: 25 <Elemental> Trap Parts, 10 Crude Vials, 10 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments
 * Result: 5 Small <Elemental> Grenades (6d6 Damage, Reflex Save - 16)


 * Average <Elemental> Grenades
 * Recipe: 50 <Elemental> Trap Parts, 10 Simple Vials, Weak Soul Gem, 50 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments
 * Result: 5 Average <Elemental> Grenades (12d6 Damage, Reflex Save - 20)


 * Large <Elemental> Grenades
 * Recipe: 75 <Elemental> Trap Parts, 10 Simple Vials, Average Soul Gem, 100 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments
 * Result: 5 Large <Elemental> Grenades (20d6 Damage, Reflex Save - 24)


 * Deadly <Elemental> Grenades
 * Recipe: 100 <Elemental> Trap Parts, 10 Unadorned Vials, Strong Soul Gem, 250 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments
 * Result: 5 Deadly <Elemental> Grenades (30d6 Damage, Reflex Save - 28)


 * Magical Traps*
 * Recipe: 10 Scrolls, 10-50 Magical Trap Parts, 10-25 Mechanical Trap Parts
 * Result: 5 Magical Traps


 * Note about Magical Traps: Magical traps can only be made with scrolls of 1st, 2nd, and 3rd level debilitation spells, such as Grease, Glitterdust, and Hold Person.

Grenades

 * Weak Alchemist's Spark
 * 10x Electrical Trap Parts + 10x Crude Vials yields 10 grenades
 * 2-12 dmg area
 * Weak Alchemist's Cacophony
 * 10x Sonic Trap Parts + 10x Crude Vials yields 10 grenades
 * 2-12 dmg area
 * Weak Alchemist's Frost Grenade
 * 10x Cold Trap Parts + 10x Crude Vials yields 10 grenades
 * 2-12 dmg area
 * Weak Alchemist's Fire Grenade
 * 10x Fire Trap Parts + 10x Crude Vials yields 10 grenades
 * 2-12 dmg area

Mines

 * Weak Fire Trap
 * 10x Mechanical Trap Parts + 10x Fire Trap Parts yields 5 mines
 * 10-60 fire dmg
 * Weak Cold Trap
 * 10x Mechanical Trap Parts + 10x Cold Trap Parts yields 5 mines
 * 10-60 cold dmg
 * Weak Acid Trap
 * 10x Mechanical Trap Parts + 10x Acid Trap Parts yields 5 mines
 * 10-60 acid dmg
 * Weak Lightning Trap
 * 10x Mechanical Trap Parts + 10x Electrical Trap Parts yields 5 mines
 * 10-60 electrical dmg
 * Weak Sonic Trap
 * 10x Mechanical Trap Parts + 10x Sonic Trap Parts yields 5 mines
 * 10-60 sonic dmg
 * Weak Force Trap
 * 10x Mechanical Trap Parts + 10x Force Trap Parts yields 5 mines
 * 10-60 force dmg


 * Small Cold Trap
 * 25x Mechanical Trap Parts + 10 Siberys Dragonshard Fragments + 25 Cold Trap Parts yields 5 mines
 * 20-120 cold dmg

info courtesy of -Coldin 7/2/2010 Coldin's Trapmaking Guide