Pathfinder: Can a rogue disable spells?

[MonkeySage]

Not talking about magical traps, but actual spells and other magical effects on, say, a door.

Not a symbol spell, but like a wall of force, or something like that.

[Lord of Shadows]

Not talking about magical traps, but actual spells and other magical effects on, say, a door.

Not a symbol spell, but like a wall of force, or something like that.

In most cases, probably not. Disable Device might apply if there is something mechanical going on. There are uses for Rogue skills other than Disable Device that might come into play, such as Use Magic Device, which can be used to attempt to bypass some requirement to pass thru a portal (the Emulate portion of UMD).

But just a standard Wall of Xxxxx? That's a job for the caster in the party.

[MonkeySage]

So I had a password activated wall: The stone would melt apart when the password was spoken, then reassemble after a few moments. Wall was protected by a special kind of wall of force: a person could place their hand on the stone without being repelled, but come at it in aggressive manner and they'd be repulsed (several feet). I had a player try to disable it as if it were a magical trap, and was uncertain whether that would actually work.

[Particle_Man]

As a rogue I would focus on the non-force walls, pillars or posts that the wall of force was attached to, myself.

[Crake]

So I had a password activated wall: The stone would melt apart when the password was spoken, then reassemble after a few moments. Wall was protected by a special kind of wall of force: a person could place their hand on the stone without being repelled, but come at it in aggressive manner and they'd be repulsed (several feet). I had a player try to disable it as if it were a magical trap, and was uncertain whether that would actually work.

I would say yes, as the mechanism has a trigger (approaching with too much force). The detector for this trigger could be disabled, thus disabling the mechanism. It's technically a trap in the same way a self resetting spell trap that creates food and water is technically a trap, just a defensive one, rather than one that aims to kill the victim.

For this circumstance, I would say yes.

[DeTess]

So I had a password activated wall: The stone would melt apart when the password was spoken, then reassemble after a few moments. Wall was protected by a special kind of wall of force: a person could place their hand on the stone without being repelled, but come at it in aggressive manner and they'd be repulsed (several feet). I had a player try to disable it as if it were a magical trap, and was uncertain whether that would actually work.

Yeah, this is not just a wall of force spell, but a wall-shaped magic item, so I'd probably let the rogue take a crack at it.

[Serafina]

So I had a password activated wall: The stone would melt apart when the password was spoken, then reassemble after a few moments. Wall was protected by a special kind of wall of force: a person could place their hand on the stone without being repelled, but come at it in aggressive manner and they'd be repulsed (several feet). I had a player try to disable it as if it were a magical trap, and was uncertain whether that would actually work.

That "Wall of Force" is obviously some form of custom spell that works similarly to a Gylph of Warding, or a Permanent Symbol spell. And Disable Device clearly states that you can disable those if you have Trapfinding.

Sure, only specific spells are listed - but if you make up a custom spell, that spell should clearly be added to that list. Take a look at the design intent:
All the spells that are listed as being possible to disarm with trapfinding are ones that have some sort of trigger mechanism that can be bypassed. Fire Traps explode when interacted with by anyone but the owner, Gylphs are set to a password but can also identify certain characteristics, Symbols can recognize a host of characteristics or actions - all of those are triggers that someone trained in disarming magical traps (so, someone with Trapfinding) can bypass.
Take a look at the spells which can't be bypassed (Spike Growth/Spike Stones). Those don't have triggers, they're just always-active. They're only "traps" in the sense that they're hard to spot and dangerous, not because they have a magical trigger. That's the logic behind whether someone with Trapfinding can disable it - whether the magic has a trigger that can be fooled. An invisible wall of fire would be a "trap" (you could fail to notice it and just take damage by accident), but there's nothing to disable.


So yes, a Rogue can disable magical triggers. They can't disable spells in general, but if the spell has a trigger which makes it go off, or allows it to be bypassed, they can bypass that.
That means you can't do anything against a normal Wall of Force - but you can do something against the custom "Wall of Repelling Force" that only lets certain people pass. In the same way that you can Disable Device a door, but not a wall.

[Lord of Shadows]

So I had a password activated wall: The stone would melt apart when the password was spoken, then reassemble after a few moments. Wall was protected by a special kind of wall of force: a person could place their hand on the stone without being repelled, but come at it in aggressive manner and they'd be repulsed (several feet). I had a player try to disable it as if it were a magical trap, and was uncertain whether that would actually work.

With this added bit of information I would agree with others and say yes. In fact, probably either Disable Device or Use Magic Device might work. I'd let the player decide which one they wanted to try, and maybe allow high ranks in one to grant a Synergy bonus in the other (not much, +1 to +3) if the activation method was really obscure. This seems like a construction method that might have been learned during training, or from a book or tome somewhere. Good imagination on your part, MonkeySage!

I'm half-tempted to try to reverse-engineer this one... Let's see, Wall of Force, some modified form of Repulsion, Permanency...yessss.