D&D 5E Shatterspike in 5E: breaking an enemy's weapon

Prakriti · Apr 3, 2017

In Tales from the Yawning Portal, an enemy wields Shatterspike, a weapon that always critical hits against objects. In the encounter, we're told that the wielder "uses Shatterspike to destroy his foe's weapon."

Now, I would LOVE to do this, because it makes the encounter way more interesting. However, you know what will happen. As soon as the players claim Shatterspike for their own, they're going to want to do this ALL the time. After all, what's good for the goose (DM) is good for the gander (players).

So...

How would you handle this in 5E? Or would you just ignore the encounter text and rule that sundering weapons is impossible?

(Note: The AL has already ruled that magical weapons cannot be destroyed in this way, so don't worry about that. This is a low-level adventure, so we're talking about replaceable, mundane weapons.)

Goober4473 · Apr 4, 2017

In my own conversion of this adventure a while back, this is what I came up with for Shatterspike, since there's no standard "sunder" option.

Shatterspike (Rare). Taken from a dead paladin in the Sunless Citadel, Shatterspike is an heirloom of another age. It a +1 longsword, and on a hit, the wielder can choose to break an item instead of dealing damage. On a critical hit, the wielder can choose to both deal damage and break an item. The item must be held or obviously worn. Armor and large pieces of clothing cannot be targeted in this way. A non-magical item or a common magic item is automatically destroyed. A magic item that is Uncommon or higher gets a DC 10 Charisma save to resist. If it is not intelligent, it uses its wielder's Charisma bonus (if positive). Rare items get +2 to this save, Very Rare get +4, Legendary get +6, and Artifacts are immune.

It worked out quite well. One player kept it through level 20, ultimately exchanging it for a scimitar of speed found in Nightfang Spire, but keeping it for utility purposes like smashing locks. It was a lot of fun.

MostlyHarmless42 · Apr 5, 2017

I like the above suggestion. Fortunately, however, the problem is more or less self-control Ling even with no changes. Keep in mind a player spending attacks to destroy enemy weapons is basically no different than doing the same to disarm them...and both actions means trading the chance to do damage to the enemy for a chance to reduce its offense. The enemy can still attack back while they attack the enemy's weapons. Most experienced fighters would carry a backup blade, so it would be reasonable to give monsters backup weapons. If they run out of weapons? Have them try to grapple the player with the shatterspike and tear the weapon from the players hands! Or trip them and run. Hell, some monsters like ogres or giants could just rip a tree out of the ground and boom: instant club.

pukunui · Apr 5, 2017

Goober4473 said:
The item must be held or obviously worn.

I'm going the opposite way in my thinking, namely that you can only target an object that is *not* being carried or worn. That seems to fit better with 5e's paradigm about no harm coming to anything someone has on their person (as ridiculous as that might be).

Gardens & Goblins · Apr 5, 2017

Could we add to the weapon's rules something like:

- On a natural roll of a 1, the Shatterspike breaks, rather than the targeted weapon/object.

Guest 6801328 · Jul 24, 2017

In the intervening 3 months, has anybody come up with a good interpretation for this? How should I run this encounter so that it's fair to the players when they are fighting against Braford, and fair to my monsters once they have it?

Tony Vargas · Jul 24, 2017

Elfcrusher said:
In the intervening 3 months, has anybody come up with a good interpretation for this? How should I run this encounter so that it's fair to the players when they are fighting against Braford, and fair to my monsters once they have it?

Having played in a 3.x campaign where a PC still had Shatterspike at 13th level, and had even taken Sunder to use it better, it's really wasn't that big a problem, most of the time.

Tons of monsters don't use weapons, at all, so it's a non-issue in all those encounters. Some of those who do will just be mooks you can drop with a hit more readily than sundering their weapons. More powerful weapon-users can carry multiple weapons to the point that repeatedly sundering or disarming is a waste of time (and, in the case of enemies specifically out to get the party with said famous weapon, probably will do just that). And, of course, the party will be reluctant to destroy magical weapons that they hope to claim. If magic weapons are invulnerable, as in AL, important weapon-using enemies can have 'magic weapons' that aren't PC-usable, due to alignment or allegiance requirements, too.

thethain · Jul 24, 2017

I used the statistics for objects which are available in the DMG and Basic rules.

Most weapons would be Iron therefore have an AC of 19 (wood has ac of 15) and as small resilient items have 10 HP. Which means shatterspike with even a +1 strength mod will break 1h weapons in a single hit, which is pretty cool. And reasonable as it still needs to hit AC 19.

Guest 6801328 · Jul 24, 2017

Tony Vargas said:
Having played in a 3.x campaign where a PC still had Shatterspike at 13th level, and had even taken Sunder to use it better, it's really wasn't that big a problem, most of the time.

Tons of monsters don't use weapons, at all, so it's a non-issue in all those encounters. Some of those who do will just be mooks you can drop with a hit more readily than sundering their weapons. More powerful weapon-users can carry multiple weapons to the point that repeatedly sundering or disarming is a waste of time (and, in the case of enemies specifically out to get the party with said famous weapon, probably will do just that). And, of course, the party will be reluctant to destroy magical weapons that they hope to claim. If magic weapons are invulnerable, as in AL, important weapon-using enemies can have 'magic weapons' that aren't PC-usable, due to alignment or allegiance requirements, too.

Thanks for the response, Tony.

I really meant "what are the rules for trying to break an opponent's weapon?" Is this specifically defined in the PHB?

Guest 6801328 · Jul 24, 2017

thethain said:
I used the statistics for objects which are available in the DMG and Basic rules.

Most weapons would be Iron therefore have an AC of 19 (wood has ac of 15) and as small resilient items have 10 HP. Which means shatterspike with even a +1 strength mod will break 1h weapons in a single hit, which is pretty cool. And reasonable as it still needs to hit AC 19.

That seems a decent system. So the player specifically targets the weapon, and then just applies normal damage with an auto-crit (when using Shatterspike).

D&D 5E Shatterspike in 5E: breaking an enemy's weapon

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