D&D 5E Breaking down the door

[inmused]

How do you handle a party repeatedly trying to break down a door? For example, the party approaches a locked door and fails a pick check. They try to break it down. They fail the first check, and the second and they just keep trying to they succeed.

I can think of four ways of handling this.

1. They take damage from the door on subsequent attempts (damaged shoulders)
2. An ambush encounter on the other side of the door for making so much noise
3. An encounter on the party side of the door for making noise
4. They can do damage to the door until it is destroyed (boring)
5. They will never succeed.

I am aware of the help action. I usually set the DC's at

• 10 for decrepit old wooden doors
• 15 for a wooden door in good condition
• 20 for a iron banded door
• 25 for an iron door
• 30 for a safe like door

Show me some creative ideas for this please.

 

[MortalPlague]

How do you handle a party repeatedly trying to break down a door? For example, the party approaches a locked door and fails a pick check. They try to break it down. They fail the first check, and the second and they just keep trying to they succeed.

If there's no danger anywhere nearby, I'd just allow the PCs to eventually batter down the door. No roll required. Or maybe one roll to see 'how long it takes' (higher result means less time and noise).

As the DM, you know what sort of creatures are nearby who might hear the noise and come to investigate. Intelligent monsters will probably have an ambush waiting. Beasts might be wary and threatened, and might even make noise to discourage someone coming through the door (dogs might bark, for instance). If there's nobody around for miles, the PCs ought to be able to bash down the door to their heart's content.

If you want your PCs to reconsider this course of action, you could have them need the door later. For instance, they bash down a door and find a vastly superior force on the other side. Being able to close and bar the door would be a huge help in avoiding combat (be sure to mention that fact so it's not lost on them that they just smashed down their built-in barricade). Or maybe the door would stop a water trap from flooding the entire dungeon, rather than just the one room. Or perhaps there's an intelligent, reasonable, non-hostile creature on the other side who is quite offended at having his door smashed down (and demands it be fixed or replaced).

There are plenty of fun ways to deal with it. But above all, kicking down doors isn't always a bad thing. So long as your players are having fun, don't punish them every time for their brashness. Only occasionally, to keep them guessing.

 

[Paraxis]

What point is the door serving the story?

If there is not a time pressure, or a combat encounter going on, why bother rolling?

If it is a door you think a big strong character can knock down with a little help, or a competent lockpick could pick in a couple minutes of work, why ask for the check at all?

In my games, before I ask for a roll, I know two things, how will a success move the story forward and cause something interesting to happen, and with a failure how will the story move forward and what interesting thing will happen.

So will failing the first roll give the enemies on the other side a round to prepare and ready actions? Will a success grant the characters a surprise round? Will the noise alert some distant adversary who now is informed something is up?

Same thing goes with a locked chest, why bother rolling unless there is a risk/reward? If it is a standard lock, no time pressure, no trap, why bother rolling? Now if a failed check/or if brute force is used to smash the chest a vial of acid destroys the scrolls and other fragile things in the chest, now there is a need for a roll.

 

[Bumamgar]

Agreed, however, it is important to be consistent or at least throw in some rolls even when there isn't a specific consequence, otherwise it becomes very hard to avoid player meta gaming. If you only call for rolls on some doors or some chests, then the players know that those are the special ones and will adjust their play style appropriately. Gotta keep em on their toes! One thing I do is leverage more passive checks. In other words, if 10+ mod is enough to beat the DC and there's no extenuating circumstances, I'll generally forgo the roll. But I've also run several campaigns where I (as the DM ) make all skill checks. This way the players don't know if I applied passive skills, if they botched the roll, or have really any chance of meta gaming. It works if your players trust you, and allows them to focus on the story more, rather than spending time trying to game the system.

 

[Nemio]

What point is the door serving the story?

If there is not a time pressure, or a combat encounter going on, why bother rolling?

If it is a door you think a big strong character can knock down with a little help, or a competent lockpick could pick in a couple minutes of work, why ask for the check at all?

In my games, before I ask for a roll, I know two things, how will a success move the story forward and cause something interesting to happen, and with a failure how will the story move forward and what interesting thing will happen.

So will failing the first roll give the enemies on the other side a round to prepare and ready actions? Will a success grant the characters a surprise round? Will the noise alert some distant adversary who now is informed something is up?

Same thing goes with a locked chest, why bother rolling unless there is a risk/reward? If it is a standard lock, no time pressure, no trap, why bother rolling? Now if a failed check/or if brute force is used to smash the chest a vial of acid destroys the scrolls and other fragile things in the chest, now there is a need for a roll.

But then your players know something is up when you make them roll?
Shouldn't you always let them roll at least once to keep them guessing?

 

[Thaumaturge]

Let them try as often as they want. Every time they try, I roll 1d6. On a result of 1 or 2, I roll on the Attracted Monster Table.

I'm running Ruins of Undermountain (converted to 5e), so my answer may not be the best overall.

Thaumaturge.

 

[Jer]

How do you handle a party repeatedly trying to break down a door?

If there's no time pressure, I'd use a modified version of the 3e take 10 and take 20 rules. If they could open it on a roll of 10 or better and have just had bad luck on their initial roll, then they can take 10, spend 10 or so minutes beating on it with their axes and hammers and whatnot and get it open. If they could open it with a role of 20 then they can spend an hour hammering on it if they choose and eventually get it open. If there's no way for them to open it even if they had rolled a 20 then there's no way to open it. Depending on the context I'd probably allow for some kind of Int or Wis roll to determine if they could get it open in 10 minutes, in an hour, or if it was impossible so they don't waste an hour trying to get it open (fail the Int check spend the next hour beating on an impossible door - probability is a harsh mistress).

Of course the noise of them battering down a door for an hour will echo through wherever they are and attract attention - either alerting targets to flee the area or bringing sentries to figure out what the racket is all about. But from a purely practical perspective if you want die rolls to batter down a door I've found that approach works quite well.

 

[Rod Staffwand]

I only have characters roll to break down a door in a combat or chase situation--essentially to do it in a few seconds or less. The same is true for a lot of 'demi-obstacles' such as to climb a tree or over a large boulder. I assume the PCs are able to negotiate these obstacles easily when not pressed. They only need to roll to do it 'right now!'.

If it's a question of battering down a door out of combat without alerting nearby enemies, that's usually impossible in my games. The party can batter down the door and alert the enemies OR they can find an alternate route or method. The choice is theirs.

All of this is assuming a stout wooden door that can be battered down. If I wish to add more of an obstacle, I'll put in a stone, metal, adamantium or enchanted door that can't be battered down (without a magic hammer or some such). In this case, the party must find an alternate method such as picking the lock, getting the key, or using the secret door from the library to the conservatory.

 

[Mistwell]

I use multiple failed attempts as essentially an alarm. The more the players fail, the more the chance for a wandering monster, and the more chance that monsters can prepare an ambush and gather allies.

 

[inmused]

Thank you for your replies. They are all helpful.

I seems to me that the pressing factor is weather the party are pressed or not. If they are not pressed for time or under some other kind of pressure, whats the point of forcing the roll if they can take their time in bashing it down?

I would also suggest that if the party is not under some kind of constraint (time, combat, being chased, potion effect etc) then its a pretty mundane bit of the adventure anyway.

Most replies would suggest an alarm response to the repeated attempt. I am still waiting for a party to cast silence before battering down a door. I do like the idea of a wolf starting to snarl behind a half splintered door.

interestingly, no one has suggested that the party member/s doing the battering take damage for subsequent attempts of they are just shoulder charging it.

I don;t like getting into a situation as a DM that when ever you ask for a roll the party know something is up. Rolls need to be peppered into mundane tasks to, even if it is at a DC of 5. Although the idea of noting the passive strength of the party members is a good one. Thank you.

In the end it comes it seems to come down to story. Detail works.