Paul Farquhar
Legend
But is it obvious to a PC with INT 8?
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D&D 5E Do you let PC's just *break* objects?
- Thread starter Asisreo
- Start date
aco175
Legend
Am I stocking up on wood, bricks, or metal?
I guess I would generally allow the PC to try about anything, but some things just fail (like using persuasion to get the King to give you his crown). General breaking things within reason might just require time. The room is filling up with water and the PC bulrushes the wooden door will need a check. There is no danger in the room and the PC just wants to chop the wooden door down with his axe does not need a check, but may alert monsters and requires a few rounds.
I guess I would generally allow the PC to try about anything, but some things just fail (like using persuasion to get the King to give you his crown). General breaking things within reason might just require time. The room is filling up with water and the PC bulrushes the wooden door will need a check. There is no danger in the room and the PC just wants to chop the wooden door down with his axe does not need a check, but may alert monsters and requires a few rounds.
Andvari
Hero
A chain is only as strong as its weakest link.
jmartkdr2
Hero
The player's alignment immediately changes to chaotic.
Roll a die: evens, it is unbreakable. Odds, it breaks. Make a dex save.
MGibster
Legend
Oddly enough, it's pretty rare for players in my game to break things. In my last D&D campaign, the players hacked through a stone wall which was a much easier task than I expected it to be. The few times they do break objects, I don't make them roll unless there's some dramatic reason. If they want to break through a door, unless it's particularly stout, I just say something like, "After a few well placed kicks, you shove your shoulder into the door and it gives way." If they're trying to break the door while something exciting is happening, like a stone golem is bearing down on them, then I'll have 'em roll.
overgeeked
B/X Known World
Depends on what the object is made of, if they can access it, and if they have the means to break it. Verisimilitude is king for me. If they don’t have the means to break it, then no. If they can’t access it, then no. If the object is unbreakable, then no. Otherwise they’re free to break anything they want to. The PCs are free to destroy and create anything they’re able to.
Cordwainer Fish
Imp. Int. Scout Svc. (Dishon. Ret.)
Sorry, pal. Nowhere in the rules does it say it's possible to break an egg.
overgeeked
B/X Known World
That’s my new favorite rules lawyer gotcha.
If it's something that a person of their strength and size and situation should be able to break easily on their first couple of tries... they can break it on their first try without rolling, because it's silly to make them roll for something they're going to succeed at within a round or two anyway. I say "strength" instead of "Strength" because in my games, high-level characters are stronger than their STR would indicate, especially when it comes to breaking things.
If it's something that a person (yadda yadda yadda) cannot reasonably expect to break without resource to hand tools and hard labor, they don't get to break it and they don't get to roll and I will just stare at them-- like my best Tommy Lee Jones impression-- until they quit screwing around and agree to get back to the game we all agreed to play.
For everything in between... we either use the rules or I tell them how long it's going to take them to break with the tools they're trying to use.
If it's something that a person (yadda yadda yadda) cannot reasonably expect to break without resource to hand tools and hard labor, they don't get to break it and they don't get to roll and I will just stare at them-- like my best Tommy Lee Jones impression-- until they quit screwing around and agree to get back to the game we all agreed to play.
For everything in between... we either use the rules or I tell them how long it's going to take them to break with the tools they're trying to use.
Charlaquin
Goblin Queen (She/Her/Hers)
I mean, yeah, that’s the fundamental premise of roleplaying games.
I think if the approach (e.g. “punch the warship once”) doesn’t have a reasonable chance of succeeding at the goal (e.g. “break the warship,”) then its in everyone’s best interests for the DM to just say so. But, fundamentally there’s no object the PCs shouldn’t be able to break, provided they can come up with a feasible approach.
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