I have a player, level 4, who just bought a long line of fishing tackle, and ten bells. His idea was to string the bells along the ground like trip wire on the perimeter of their camp, where the bells would sound to wake them up if something approached. Since he has a criminal background and is proficient in thieve's tools, I figure he could just about successfully put the 'trap' together without any rolls. However, the amount of time it takes to properly do so increases with the length of the trap. Five minutes for a simple door, one hour for a camp about 25 feet across (about 75 feet worth of wire). There of course, needs to be some items available that the wire can be attached to, furniture in a room or pitons in the ground in the wilderness.
I was thinking that the trap can be seen plainly with a PP of 10 in bright light. As specified in DM guide, -5 general disadvantage in dim light, so PP goes up to 15, and impossible to see in in darkness. If a creature with an intelligence of 5 or above knows the trap exists, it can always avoid it, no perception roll needed. The only exception is if it is in darkness, at which point it needs to roll Stealth.
When the trap is disabled, say due to cutting the fishing tackle, the target must make a DC 15 sleight of hand check to not set it off.
Finally then, what is the PP needed for the party to wake up due to this alarm? I've seen sources that claimed a PP of 15 and you would wake up from general whispering in the room. PP of 10 and you would wake up from conversation at normal volume. So I was thinking they would need to have PP somewhere between 10 and 15 to wake up, depending on how many of the bells got set off. A single bell at 30 feet distance, you probably wouldn't wake. A bunch of goblins charging in, and they'd certainly wake.
Your approach with the bells is well done, very similar to how I've handled it in the past. As to the "DC to Wake" a 10 is sufficient unless there's something that could mask/muffle/hide the sound. A waterfall nearby, a thunderstorm, or something akin to that would increase the DC as the party is already sleeping through some noise as is.
I have a player, level 4, who just bought a long line of fishing tackle, and ten bells. His idea was to string the bells along the ground like trip wire on the perimeter of their camp, where the bells would sound to wake them up if something approached. Since he has a criminal background and is proficient in thieve's tools, I figure he could just about successfully put the 'trap' together without any rolls. However, the amount of time it takes to properly do so increases with the length of the trap. Five minutes for a simple door, one hour for a camp about 25 feet across (about 75 feet worth of wire). There of course, needs to be some items available that the wire can be attached to, furniture in a room or pitons in the ground in the wilderness.
I was thinking that the trap can be seen plainly with a PP of 10 in bright light. As specified in DM guide, -5 general disadvantage in dim light, so PP goes up to 15, and impossible to see in in darkness. If a creature with an intelligence of 5 or above knows the trap exists, it can always avoid it, no perception roll needed. The only exception is if it is in darkness, at which point it needs to roll Stealth.
When the trap is disabled, say due to cutting the fishing tackle, the target must make a DC 15 sleight of hand check to not set it off.
Finally then, what is the PP needed for the party to wake up due to this alarm? I've seen sources that claimed a PP of 15 and you would wake up from general whispering in the room. PP of 10 and you would wake up from conversation at normal volume. So I was thinking they would need to have PP somewhere between 10 and 15 to wake up, depending on how many of the bells got set off. A single bell at 30 feet distance, you probably wouldn't wake. A bunch of goblins charging in, and they'd certainly wake.
I'd just go with a flat 10 (which is more or less saying 'it just wakes you up'.)
Your approach with the bells is well done, very similar to how I've handled it in the past. As to the "DC to Wake" a 10 is sufficient unless there's something that could mask/muffle/hide the sound. A waterfall nearby, a thunderstorm, or something akin to that would increase the DC as the party is already sleeping through some noise as is.