ToME WikiI know this may seem a bit of an odd idea, since mages generally rely on magic for disarming, but I think that giving mages a zero multiplier for the Disarming skill is an unnecessary restriction on the directions one might take one's character. I can see why mages wouldn't be as good at learning to disarm traps as warriors or rogues, but reducing the multiplier to zero is rather harsh.
LordEstraven: Hmm, my bad, it's not a penalty but simply +0 multiplier, which makes disarming for mages worthless for a lot of races. I'd change the multiplier to +700 or so, not as good as the warrior's +900 but good enough to actually use.
BitsySpider: As a heavy mage player, I rely very little on the disarm skill, since I'm generally not willing to invest points in it. Considering that Disarm requires a mighty 3 Conveyance, it seems rather silly to give mages a skill that they in all likelihood will never care about unless they want the Trapping talent.
BobbyJim: You have a point, but if for some reason you can't cast the spell (not enough mana, lost spellbook, etc.) then it might be wise to have the skill to fall back on.
LordEstraven: I'm basically thinking of spiral vaults. Fighter-mages are not necessarily going to dump a lot of points into Conveyance, and it is *annoying* to have to stop and and cast Trap Destruction with every step.
NeilStevens: Then get a rod or a staff...
Derakon: This actually highlights how useless the Disarming skill is currently; even a totally untrained Magic Device user can find a rod of Simplicity of Nothing, stick a Rod Tip of Disarming on it, and have a fairly reliable large-scale disarming tool. I'm not aware of any situation in which you would want to invest in the Disarming skill; it's basically sunk skillpoints for no useful gain.
EricDerKonig: And the fact that there's still a chance of (deadly) failure unless you're willing to dump a whole lot of skillpoints into it.
BucketMan If it were me, I'd eliminate disarm spells, scrolls and devices from the game completely. Make traps sufficiently less viscious that it's possible (though difficult) to make it through the game just by blundering through them, and people who don't invest in disarming skill just have to suffer through it. Gives rogues and assassins a very high modifier so that 'not having to worry about traps' is a strong benefit to playing them. Also add 'thieves tools' items that inrceases disarming skill. Remove the antimagic ability to remove traps. A stone falling on your head isn't magic. Finally, allow moderately obscure spells that damage terrain to remove traps. For example, a Geomancer turning a tile into lava should take care of any traps. And after all that, then yes, I don't see any reason why it should be more difficult for a mage to learn to disarm traps than a warrior.
EtMarc: To add on BucketMan suggestion, I would remove the random chance per turn to discover a trap. On generation, gives each trap a "hidden" rating. If your perception skill is higher than that, you see it, otherwise you don't. Much less boring "rest next to the obviously undetected trap in the vault until you see it" stuff.
EricDerKonig: Ooh, I like both of the above suggestions. Especially EtMarc's, because as it is, Perception and Searching have to be the most worthless skills in the game - having only a chance of detecting a potentially deadly trap is pretty bad compared to being able to cast "Detect Traps" on the cheap.
Sirrocco: I, too, like both suggestions - though I'd offer a small change to EtMarc's. Leave the search command in, and have it raise your effective perception. That way, if you have reason to believe that there's a trap, and you take a bit of extra time, you're more likely to find it than if you're just blundering around, but if you spend that action searching and still can't find it, sitting there for the next 5 minutes staring at the wall isn't going to make it any more likely. Likewise, I'd apply the "hidden rating" plan to secret doors - there's the one's you'll see by walking next to them, there's the ones you'll see by spending a moment to really look, and there's the ones you won't see at all. It becomes something like the Dball T item id system, which I'm also somewhat fond of - and which perception skill could also offer a bonus to, if you wanted to run things that way.