D&D 5E Do you let PC's just *break* objects?

[FitzTheRuke]

It just depends, and it's largely an on-the-fly judgement call unless it's something important. I don't usually bother looking up the rules during a game, I'm not sure I'd use them anyway. It's easy to break a glass jar, difficult to break an anvil.

Yeah, I don't think they're particularly good or useful rules, but there are rules for it. But it basically boils down to: Give the object an AC, HP, a damage threshold, and reasonable immunities. Let the players go at it.

 

[Stalker0]

to me the two most common attempts at this are:

1) Breaking a door (pretty common)
2) Breaking a wall (which I see my 18-20th level characters try).

 

[Paul Farquhar]

PC points at moon: "can I break that?"

DM: "no."

PC:

 

[Vaalingrade]

Just for fun, I kind of want to take the scenario at face value.

The character encounters a void in their perception. Their eyes strain at trying to discern even what exact space and volume it occupies. Their senses slide off it, making identification impossible.

Being a player character, they want to break it. What happens when shards of this ineffable thing go flying around the room?

 

[Fanaelialae]

Sure, depending on the character and the object.

I'd let most PCs attempt to break down an ordinary wood door, but not a steel porticulis. Unless the PC in question had a girdle of giant strength, in which case I might, assuming that the porticulis wasn't designed to withstand an assault by giants.

If I don't know how strong the porticulis is, and I have no in game point of reference to base my decision on, I'll roll a die, with a low roll indicating that the object is quite flimsy (for what it is) and a high roll indicating it's of exceptional quality.

 

[Oofta]

Yeah, I don't think they're particularly good or useful rules, but there are rules for it. But it basically boils down to: Give the object an AC, HP, a damage threshold, and reasonable immunities. Let the players go at it.

If you're trying to break something that is difficult to do significant damage to as in my example of an anvil, you're going to have to come up with some other way than "I hit it repeatedly with my sword". Because all that would do is damage your sword.

Damage to inanimate objects will be all over the place and doesn't really fit nicely into D&D's simplified damage system. I guess I might start with the rules but I'm not going to follow them to the letter.

 

[DEFCON 1]

I let them break the wind without any roll.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If you're trying to break something that is difficult to do significant damage to as in my example of an anvil, you're going to have to come up with some other way than "I hit it repeatedly with my sword". Because all that would do is damage your sword.

Damage to inanimate objects will be all over the place and doesn't really fit nicely into D&D's simplified damage system. I guess I might start with the rules but I'm not going to follow them to the letter.

Just give the anvil immunity to non-magical S/P/B damage. Assigning damage resistance/immunity is in the DMG rules.

But I wouldn't tell the player they couldn't break the anvil with their sword, I would let them try, then tell them the outcome (your sword is broken).

 

[Oofta]

Just give the anvil immunity to non-magical S/P/B damage. Assigning damage resistance/immunity is in the DMG rules.

But I wouldn't tell the player they couldn't break the anvil with their sword, I would let them try, then tell them the outcome (your sword is broken).

If it's a special item I'll start with the rules if I think of it ahead of time. I would say that even with a magical sword you aren't going to chop up an anvil, you just aren't going to break the sword doing it.

In general I don't waste time during a game session looking up rules like this. I can't remember a time something this specific has ever come up.

 

[Paul Farquhar]

If it's a special item I'll start with the rules if I think of it ahead of time. I would say that even with a magical sword you aren't going to chop up an anvil, you just aren't going to break the sword doing it.

In general I don't waste time during a game session looking up rules like this. I can't remember a time something this specific has ever come up.

I'm pretty sure I've come across cutting through an anvil with a magic sword in order to demonstrate how powerful it is in the fiction.

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