Leomund's Trap

[francisca]

I guess I always just gloss over this spell, but when looking at the description the other night, I noted the first sentence of the description:

This false trap is designed to fool the dwarf and/or thief attempting to pilfer or otherwise steal the spell caster's goods.

Emphasis mine.

What do you guys make of that?

[Falconer]

I don’t know, but it makes me think of the Dwarves sending poor Burglar Bilbo to pick the Trolls’ pockets. “Ere, ’oo are you?”

[EOTB]

That it will also fool a dwarf's ability to detect stonework traps and/or mess with finding sliding walls? That's the only thing I can think of, but I hadn't ever noticed that either.

[grodog]

That it will also fool a dwarf's ability to detect stonework traps and/or mess with finding sliding walls? That's the only thing I can think of, but I hadn't ever noticed that either.

That's my read as well (and a nice catch, Rich!).

[francisca]

I just wonder if it is a pre-thief artifact left over from the OD&D days.

Are there references in folklore and myth of dwarves being sneaky thieving types?

[Flambeaux]

I just wonder if it is a pre-thief artifact left over from the OD&D days.

Are there references in folklore and myth of dwarves being sneaky thieving types?

I thought all the qualities we ascribe to goblins in D&D terms were ascribed in Norse folklore to dwarfs.

[Falconer]

Oh sure, the dwarfs of Norse Mythology and Arthurian Legend are all sneaky little shits. Imp, kobold, and dark elf are all names for the same thing, or at least the same mythological trope. Even in Tolkien they are nasty little fuckers, until The Hobbit made them more like Garden Gnomes, and The Lord of the Rings made them more like vertically-challenged Bersekers.

[Flambeaux]

Oh sure, the dwarfs of Norse Mythology and Arthurian Legend are all sneaky little shits. Imp, kobold, and dark elf are all names for the same thing, or at least the same mythological trope. Even in Tolkien they are nasty little fuckers, until The Hobbit made them more like Garden Gnomes, and The Lord of the Rings made them more like vertically-challenged Bersekers.

ROFLMAO!

[Philotomy Jurament]

Personally, I think of dwarves as the primary D&D trap-finder, as far as dungeons go. Dwarves find the big, constructed traps: pits, sliding walls, collapsing ceilings, crushing blocks, et cetera. Thieves find the (mostly small) clockwork-style fiddly traps: spring-loaded needles, scything blades on a chest, et cetera.

I think that division is "by the book." The PH describes the Thief ability as pertaining to "...mechanical devices such as poisoned needles, spring blades, and the like." And dwarves are awesome, by the book, at detecting "sliding or shifting walls" and "traps involving pits, falling blocks, and other stonework."

If I were putting together a low-level party for a dungeon expedition, I'd choose a dwarf over a thief, every time. (Or maybe a dwarf Fighter/Thief.)