Any chance you just got super unlucky with your d20 perception checks? Every char makes a perception check separately from my understanding, hence why you let all your team mates walk side by side instead of running ahead.
Overall I agree that cones of perspective should be made larger as your trickery / stealth stat increase. I would be more then happy with a detect trap magical ability [cantrip]. And maybe a spell to disable all detected magic traps. Would make the under dark a lot less annoying to navigate
I saw the icon over her head pop up each time. Success. Boom. And the gosh darn chain system makes it worse. My companions jumped over just as the explosion would go off. One time I exploded and then the Perception check icon appeared and said success. As I was getting up, she said, "What's that now? Best watch out for those.". Um. Ya think? Day late and dollar short sweetie.
I get that if you are running around and jumping and not being careful there should be a higher risk of getting hit by traps. That's actually good. I actually don't like traps in either Pathfinder or Solasta because they are just annoying. You always detect them and can easily disable them as long as you have a good rogue with you. There's no real challenge to them.
What I want is what BG3 has now but just a smidge tweaked. Use that Passive Perception better. Don't have rolls/checks made as the party is running around. If they have a high enough Passive Perception, they automatically spot the trap way in advance. I'm approaching a jump with a trap on the far side. DC is 13. My Passive Perception is 13. The trap appears. My characters all stop abruptly as if I hovered over an enemy. "What's that? A trap.". If DC was 14, I would not detect it and Boom.
But if I'm Stealthing, then rolls are made. DC 15. That's higher than Passive Perception, so I have to roll. I roll 12+4 for Perception. The trap appears a good 20 feet ahead of me. Everyone abruptly stops. But make sure players understand. Stealth = Perception check.
