Trap Monkey Help?

[Mallets]

Another question concering my 13 Monk / 7 Rogue that I'm trying to put together. Maybe this thread should be in the Multiclass section... but it's a Rogue-based question... so I figured you guys would be the best help.

The main question is... what skills are essential to be a Trap Monkey?

I know Disable Device and Search for certain. How important is Open Locks? And how important is Spot?

I'd think Open Locks would be important... cause if you can't do the full job of a rogue, then why would the group want you?

Spot on the other hand seems like it could be secondary. It seems that about anytime you group... someone in the party has ran the quest several times and knows where all the traps are.

Now obviously, the answer would be to just max out all 4 skills... I should have enough skill points. But I'll need to put at least 1pt to Concentration each lvl (cause of Monk). I'd like to put points to UMD... but may have to forgo it.

Mind you. I'll only have 10 or 12 base Intelligence. Maybe 14 at the most. (I won't be using Tomes anytime soon on the build). At 10 Int, that only leaves me 4pts per Monk lvl... and 8pts per Rogue lvl. Even at 14 Int, I'll only have 6pts per Monk lvl. 1pt to Concentration... then that'll leave 2 pts to DD and 2pts to Search. With only a point to spare. Not even enough to keep Open Locks up. Of course I'll have several points left over each Rogue lvl to close the gap on Open Locks. But I'm pretty sure I'll not have enough for Spot... and certainly not for UMD.


So some advice would be a great help? I've played a Mechanic Rogue to lvl 10. And it was a really good build. But I had 16 Int and was getting 11 skill points per lvl as a pure Rogue.

[JustWinBaby]

15 Base OL is just fine, just get a +OL item and you're good to go. If you know where all the traps are, then 0 Spot would be fine.

If you don't, then I would get Spot as high as possible.

Not only does Spot help you locate the traps....it also helps you see those invisible mobs

[Samwiser77]

I would argue that Open Locks doesn't have to be maxed out. It isn't like disable traps where if you fail and blow the trap, you don't get a second chance. Or search, where if you don't have the right skill level, you can't see the trap at all. You can try over and over again until you open the lock. So, if you need to take points away from OL, you should be safe with 10-15 ranks, an OL item, and buffs...maybe even less.

[Clay]

if you go human you will have 2 extra skill points to use. And there is no really penalty except not having Halfling guile--but you will have the cheaper AP line of Sneak Attack Training in any case.

[Rawel_San]

You need nowhere near full OL. I know on my multiclass I have about 10 and can open
every non epic door I have come too and do it at level. I will have to see about
epic chains of flame and optional doors (not many are ran so haven't tried that yet).
Best,
Rawel

Ps.: A nice thread to check is http://forums.ddo.com/showthread.php?t=173623.

[Mercureal]

You really don't need to max your open Lock skill. With items, skill boosting enhancements, Heroism, and +4 or +5 tools, plus the ability to endlessly re-roll, you can leave your skill at 6 or 7 ranks and get any lock in the game. Example:

Level 10 Character Open Lock Skill

- 7 ranks (4 at creation, plus 1 every other level up to 7)
- 6 from +4 Thieves Tools (available at the Free Agent vendor once you have the favour)
- 5 from 20 Dex (which you should have at this point with the stat gear available)
- 1 Voice of the Master trinket from Delera's Tomb
- 2 from Heroism (potion or clickie item)
- 3 from rogue skill boost enhancement
- 7 from Open Locks skill boost item

= 31 base, plus results of d20 roll
= 32-52 OL skill

This is enough for any lock I've encountered in the game. And all of those items I listed above are easily acquired.


Edited to add:

Spot is a very good skill to have if you want to do traps. Not absolutely essential because in theory you can memorize the location of every trap, or run with party members that have, but you likely won't reach that point until you've been playing for quite a while. For a very general benchmark, I found that having a spot skill that was around 65-70% of my maxed search skill was good enough to find traps up until levels 13-14. Spot difficulty seemed to go up quite a bit after that, but I was also using my trap skills a lot less.