3.5 - Looking for a good starting build to transition into a Trapsmith

[ranttila]

I own Dungeonscape and whilst reading through it the Trapsmith class has intrigued me greatly. I'm a beginner at 3.5 (Although I bought too many books, including some supplemental, like this one) and don't really know the best or coolest options to jump off into the Trapsmith. I'm joining a campaign where we start at level 1 so I need a plan to take levels in Trapsmith in advance, and am looking for some help. Could I get some suggestions or maybe even a build to set me up to be a Trapsmith and have fun?

The DM has told me that homebrew is permitted as long as it gets the O.K. from him, so that's on the table as well. As for point buy, he has given us 36 points to start off our characters. I would greatly appreciate any tips for building this character!

[Blackhawk748]

Well Rogue and Ranger are the two obvious intros to the PRC, With Factotum and Binder (to an extent) getting honorable mention as well.

The builds are fairly straightforward, get your pre reqs then probably play high stealth focus so you can get your traps in an advantageous position

[WhamBamSam]

I love Trapsmith. Spellthief, PsyRogue, Mountebank, Savant, Trapkiller Barbarian, Kobold Domain Cleric, and True Thief Lurk can all meet the Trapfinding prereq on top of the classes already mentioned. You might also be able to enter with the Theft Gloves hand bind, but as it doesn't specifically say "as the class feature" or similar, it arguably doesn't count as the "Trapfinding Class Feature" by RAW.

My favorite entry is probably Factotum 3/Swordsage 2 using Setting Sun throws to force enemies into Booby Traps.

Perhaps my favorite build I've ever done for Iron Chef, Nick Snarespan, used Trapsmith, and I think could be a lot of fun to play.

I've always wanted to enter with Goliath or Half-Giant Trapkiller Barbarian 3/Dungeon Crasher Fighter 2 with Knockback and going on into Swiftblade, but the skill prereqs prevent it from working. If your DM is allowing homebrew maybe you could get some class skills swapped around.