Optimizing Disable Device

[Jowgen]

Following the Can I disable a magic itemm with Disable Device? thread, I thought this would be a wonderful opportunity to explore ways to make this generally lack-luster skill more of a useful thing.

What uses are there for this skill? How can it be made more potent? Any and all suggestions/snippets of knowledge are welcome

Two things I can contribute off the top of my head are the "quick fingers" ACF from Dungeonscape that greatly reduces the time required for a check (by RAW only appears to work for traps?), and of course the "Disabling Wal Augmentations" application from Stronghold Builders Guidebook that started the above-mentioned thread.

[Lightlawbliss]

Use it to really lock the door to your inn room, and the window while your at it.

Rig the table/chair that-guy-who-ripped-you-off always eats dinner at to do something unpleasant when his meal is served.

Block the flu of the castle's oven as a distraction. A minute or two of proper use doesn't hurt this one.

Disable a trap with a visible trigger and then cover it with thick cloth. Now remove it and sell it.

[daremetoidareyo]

First let's get everyone on the same page:

PHB 3.5

Spoiler: PHB 3.5

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Use this skill to disarm a trap, jam a lock (in either the open or closed position), or rig a wagon wheel to fall off. You can examine a fairly simple or fairly small mechanical device and disable it. The effort requires at least a simple tool of the appropriate sort (a pick, pry bar, saw, file, etc.). Attempting a Disable Device check without a set of thieves’ tools (page 130) carries a –2 circumstance penalty, even if a simple tool is employed. The use of masterwork thieves’ tools enables you to make the check with a +2 circumstance bonus.
Check: Your DM makes the Disable Device check for you secretly, so that you don’t necessarily know whether you’ve suc- ceeded. The DC depends on how tricky the device is. Disabling (or rigging or jamming) a fairly simple device has a DC of 10; more intricate and complex devices have higher DCs.
If the check succeeds, you disable the device. If it fails by 4 or less, you have failed but can try again. If you fail by 5 or more, something goes wrong. If the device is a trap, you spring it. If you’re attempting some sort of sabotage, you think the device is disabled, but it still works normally.
You also can rig simple devices such as saddles or wagon wheels to work normally for a while and then fail or fall off some time later (usually after 1d4 rounds or minutes of use).
Action: The amount of time needed to make a Disable Device check depends on the task, as noted above. Disabling a simple device takes 1 round and is a full-round action. An intricate or complex device requires 1d4 or 2d4 rounds.
Try Again: Varies. You can retry if you have missed the check by 4 or less, though you must be aware that you have failed in order to try again.
Special: If you have the Nimble Fingers feat, you get a +2 bonus on Disable Device checks.
A rogue who beats a trap’s DC by 10 or more can study the trap, figure out how it works, and bypass it (along with her companions) without disarming it.
Restriction: Rogues (and other characters with the trapfinding class feature) can disarm magic traps. A magic trap generally has a DC of 25 + the spell level of the magic used to create it. For instance, disarming a trap set by the casting of explosive runes has a AC of 28 because explosive runes is a 3rd-level spell.
The spells fire trap, glyph of warding, symbol, and teleportation circle also create traps that a rogue can disarm with a successful Disable Device check. Spike growth and spike stones, however, create magic traps against which Disable Device checks do not succeed. See the individual spell descriptions in Chapter 11: Spells for details.

Device Time Disable Device DC Example
Simple 1 round 10 Jam a lock
Tricky 1d4 rounds 15 Sabotage a wagon wheel
Difficult 2d4 rounds 20 Disarm a trap, reset a trap
Wicked 2d4 rounds 25 Disarm a complex trap,cleverly sabotage a clockwork device

Spoiler: Complete adventurer

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You can reduce the amount of time it takes to disable a device or add a bypass element to an existing trap.
Bypass Trap: You try to incorporate a bypass element enabling you to avoid a trap’s effects if you encounter it again later. Doing this imposes a –10 penalty on your Disable Device check. If you succeed, you can not only bypass a trap without disarming it (just as if you had beat the trap’s DC by 10 or more—see page 72 of the Player’s Handbook) but also add a bypass element allowing you or your companions to avoid triggering the trap again later. For example, you could insert a wedge that blocks the gears of a mechanical trap, or pick out a narrow path between the pressure plates that trigger poison darts from the wall.
Quick Disable: You can try to disable a device more quickly than normal. To reduce the time required to disable any device to a full-round action, add +20 to the DC. For example, a trap that normally requires a DC 20 check and 2d4 rounds to disarm could be disabled in 1 round with a successful DC 40 check.

Spoiler: Epic

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You can rush your Disable Device attempt, reducing the amount of time it takes to perform the attempt.
Reduce to DC Modifier
Move-equivalent action +50
1 round +20
Free action +100

Spoiler: DMG hinges on doors

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Hinges: Most doors have hinges. Obviously, sliding doors do not. (They usually have tracks or grooves instead, allowing them to slide easily to one side.)
Standard Hinges: These hinges are metal, joining one edge of the door to the doorframe or wall. Remember that the door swings open toward the side with the hinges. (So, if the hinges are on the PCs’ side, the door opens toward them; otherwise it opens away from them.) Adventurers can take the hinges apart one at a time with successful Disable Device checks (assuming the hinges are on their side of the door, of course). Such a task has a DC of 20 because most hinges are rusted or stuck. Breaking a hinge is diffi- cult. Most have hardness 10 and 30 hit points. The break DC for a hinge is the same as for breaking down the door (see Table 3–17: Random Door Types, page 78).

Spoiler: DMG2 - business events

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Sabotage: This could be as simple as petty vandal- ism or as dangerous as a legitimate attempt to destroy the business. The business owner should make a special profit check to determine how bad the damage is, opposed by the saboteur’s Disable Device check (which should be equal to the business owner’s base profit check). Success indicates the attempt was thwarted in time, but failure indicates damage. The profit check for this term takes a –4 penalty.

Spoiler: DMG2 bonding ritual

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Ritual of Theft
You forge a bond with your chosen item by using it in grand larceny.
Prerequisites: Any three of the following skills (6 ranks each): Bluff, Disable Device, Hide, Move Silently, Open Lock, Search, or Sleight of Hand.
Task: You must steal one or more objects that together are worth at least as much as the gp cost of the ceremony (see below) from a foe whose Challenge Rating is at least 2 higher than your character level. The foe need not be in physical possession of the objects at the time of the theft, but he must be within 100 feet of them. You must then use your chosen item in some fashion that involves one of the same rolls or checks you made during the theft.
Ceremony: Within 1 hour of completing the task, you must give away stolen treasure whose gp value equals or exceeds the cost of imbuing the bonded item with its new abilities. Throughout the distribution of these items, you must spread tales of your skill and cunning.
Benefit: You gain a +1 bonus on any Open Lock check or Search check on which you take 10.
Truebond Benefit: You gain a +2 bonus on any Open Lock or Search check on which you take 20, and on any Bluff, Disable Device, or Sleight of Hand check on which you take 10.
Typical Items: This ritual can be used on any boots, cloak, gloves, or container.

DMG2 also has the ghost gauntlets, which grant +5 on disable checks
PHB2 has a spell bigby's helpful hand: +2 disable device
Unearthed Arcana has aquatic goblins which have a racial +2 bonus

Spoiler: tome of magic

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RECITATION OF MINDFUL STATE
This recitation narrows and focuses your perception so you can concentrate on a delicate task at hand.
Prerequisites: Truespeak 6 ranks, ability to speak utter- ances, must know your own personal truename.
Benefit: You gain a competence bonus equal to one-third your truenamer level on your next skill check using one of the following skills: Craft, Disable Device, Forgery, Open Lock, or Sleight of Hand.

Spoiler: dungeonscape miscellaneous

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Lockslick:
A can of lockslick holds 10 doses.
Effect: When lockslick is applied to a lock, the substance
provides a +2 alchemical bonus on an associated Open Lock check. When applied to a trap or mechanism, lockslick provides a +2 alchemical bonus on a Disable Device check to disarm it. The effect lasts on the lock or trap until it is thoroughly scrubbed clean (a full-round action).

Feat: combat tinkering
COMBAT TINKERING
You can disarm traps or pick locks quickly and efficiently, even under the pressure of combat.
Benefit: You gain a +4 bonus on Concentration checks to avoid being distracted in combat while making Disable Device or Open Lock checks. You also gain a +4 bonus when attempting to quicken a Disable Device or Open Lock check (see the Quickened Skill Checks sidebar).
Normal: You must make a Concentration check whenever you are damaged or otherwise distracted while attempting to use the Disable Device or Open Lock skills. The DC to open a lock or disable a device is increased by 20 if you attempt to complete the task in a shorter amount of time.
Special: This feat is particularly useful against encoun- ter traps (see page 120).

join war tower wardens. get affiliation score above 11: get +2 competence bonus

Trapsmith prestige class!!!

Spoiler: complete scoundrel

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Clever IMProvIser [ManIPulaTIon]
Tools? Why would you need tools? It’s just a combination lock with a poison needle trap, after all .
Prerequisite: Disable Device 5 ranks, Open Lock 5 ranks .
Benefit: When making a Disable Device or Open Lock check without using thieves’ tools, you ignore the normal –2 penalty .
You can use this trick any number of times per day until you fail a Disable Device or Open Lock check made without using thieves’ tools . After a failure, you can’t use Clever Improviser again until after you have rested for 8 hours .

[Jowgen]

Found something else, the Arcane Key from Sharn, City of towers. For 500 gp, it provides quite the nice upgrade to what Disable Device can do.

Spoiler: Arcane Key

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Arcane Key: This is a set of thieves tools enchanted to allow the bearer to interact with mystical
bonds and seals. A rogue—and only a rogue— equipped with an arcane key can use Open Lock against a door sealed with arcane lock or hold portal, and he can use Disable Device to temporarily shut down the alarm function of an arcane seal.
To pick a mystically sealed lock, the character must make a successful Open Lock check. The DC of the check is increased by 10. Doors sealed by magic may not have any sort of physical lock; in this case, the DC of the Open Lock check is 20. A successful check permanently dispels the effects of hold portal, while the sealing magic of arcane lock and arcane seal is simply suppressed for 10 minutes.
Opening an arcane seal in this manner triggers the seal’s mental alert, unless that effect has already been suppressed. This requires a successful Disable Device check, with a DC of 10 + the caster level of the seal. Success suppresses the effect for 10 minutes.