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

[Lanefan]

For me it depends on the trap. A crude spear trap from a wall is going to have holes in the walls(telegraph). A resetting fireball trap in a ruins is likely to have been set off at some point in the past, scorching the walls(telegraph).

Indeed; and that very example of charred walls indicating a repeating fire trap came up in the adventure I'm running right now. And even without being set off it served its purpose, in that it first delayed the party and then, when they couldn't figure it out, caused them to take a different (and quite dangerous) route to get where they were going.

A well maintained trap in the hall to the king's treasure chamber, though, isn't going to have telegraphs.

By the same token a pit trap in a long-unused dungeon passage, even if fairly crude, also won't likely be telegraphed as it'll be equally as dust-covered as everything else and there won't be the usual clue of tracks going around the edges.

 

[Lanefan]

Let me ask you this.

If you placed something valuable in a false bottom of one of the desk drawers and I said to you, "I pull out all of the drawers and pry the boards off the bottom of both the inside and outsides of every drawer, just in case one has a false bottom." Would you make me roll to find the false bottom?

No, but if it was fragile I might make you roll to avoid destroying whatever was inside said false bottom in your enthusiasm to rip the drawer apart.

 

[Nefermandias]

Back in the 1E days, there were mechanics for that. Generally, the object got a saving throw depending on what it was made of, or if it was magical.

You don't have to go all the way back to AD&D 1st Edition to find rules on breaking objects.

 

[Oofta]

Let me ask you this.

If you placed something valuable in a false bottom of one of the desk drawers and I said to you, "I pull out all of the drawers and pry the boards off the bottom of both the inside and outsides of every drawer, just in case one has a false bottom." Would you make me roll to find the false bottom? And if so and my roll failed to find it, how would you narrate my missing the false bottom that I literally pried off?

Why would you be prying the bottom off? Do you describe that for every chest, drawer and container that you ever use or look at?

When searching a room I give people options. Are they just doing a quick search, are they being careful to leave no trace? How careful are they being to not trigger trap? Are they just going the tornado route where every piece of furniture is smashed, every vase broken, floorboards pried up? Do they escalate if the don't find something quick and so on. A quick search can be done in a few minutes, trashing the room could take an hour or more.

I don't usually go into specifics unless and until it's reasonable that it matters. If you're just totally trashing the room, you'll find the secret compartment. If you're trying to be careful and not leave a trace but also taking you're time I'll give the best of passive or roll for investigation.

But this goes back to my relying more on event-driven than location-driven sessions. Searching a room and whatnot, can take a long time depending on how you handle it. It's also something that typically leaves most of the party "guarding the door" while the rogue does all the actual work in my experience. So I'd rather hand-wave and fast-forward most of it with high level descriptions of what the party is doing. I'm sure that's not every body's cup of tea.

 

[Maxperson]

Why would you be prying the bottom off? Do you describe that for every chest, drawer and container that you ever use or look at?

Sometimes I just have a hunch and get specific.

When searching a room I give people options. Are they just doing a quick search, are they being careful to leave no trace? How careful are they being to not trigger trap? Are they just going the tornado route where every piece of furniture is smashed, every vase broken, floorboards pried up? Do they escalate if the don't find something quick and so on. A quick search can be done in a few minutes, trashing the room could take an hour or more.

I don't usually go into specifics unless and until it's reasonable that it matters. If you're just totally trashing the room, you'll find the secret compartment. If you're trying to be careful and not leave a trace but also taking you're time I'll give the best of passive or roll for investigation.

But this goes back to my relying more on event-driven than location-driven sessions. Searching a room and whatnot, can take a long time depending on how you handle it. It's also something that typically leaves most of the party "guarding the door" while the rogue does all the actual work in my experience. So I'd rather hand-wave and fast-forward most of it with high level descriptions of what the party is doing. I'm sure that's not every body's cup of tea.

So I wouldn't be allowed to be specific if I have a hunch about a room?

 

[Oofta]

Sometimes I just have a hunch and get specific.

So I wouldn't be allowed to be specific if I have a hunch about a room?

That's what I just said. I also can't remember something like this ever coming up. It's not like I describe every piece of furniture, every nook and cranny of every house or apartment the group might search.

 

[Maxperson]

That's what I just said. I also can't remember something like this ever coming up. It's not like I describe every piece of furniture, every nook and cranny of every house or apartment the group might search.

Okay, well count me among the people here who want a goal and an approach to what is being done. Searching plus an adjective isn't sufficient. How are you searching? Carefully, recklessly, quickly or whatever don't tell me enough to go on.

 

[Oofta]

Okay, well count me among the people here who want a goal and an approach to what is being done. Searching plus an adjective isn't sufficient. How are you searching? Carefully, recklessly, quickly or whatever don't tell me enough to go on.

It's worked for me for decades. Doesn't mean it's right for everyone.

Then again, I can't remember any time something this specific has ever come up whether I was DMing or not.

 

[Lanefan]

But this goes back to my relying more on event-driven than location-driven sessions. Searching a room and whatnot, can take a long time depending on how you handle it. It's also something that typically leaves most of the party "guarding the door" while the rogue does all the actual work in my experience.

Here, if they say they're searching the room without further specifics my default interpretation is they're all in the room helping with the search as best they can, unless they designate someone to guard the door (which they usually do) or specifically send someone in alone...or unless the room is simply too small and-or full for them all to usefully be able to move around, in which case I ask who is going in and who is staying outside.

 

[Clint_L]

It feels to me like so much of this discussion is predicated on a kind of bad faith relationship between the DM and players. But is that how we are actually playing? It's hard to imagine.

Like, I'm not trying to catch out my players, and I assume the same from them. If the player says "I smash the vase" I am always trying to go with how I perceive their intent, and the players understand that we are all on the same side. They'll correct me if I get something wrong, but I also don't see them trying to retcon if they made a mistake by not thinking through the situation. Unless it was kind of a dumb mistake that would have been obvious to character in the situation, and then they just correct it and I generally agree, figuring I could have done a better job on my description. But generally when a players screws up - often through impatience - they own it and we see where it goes. Same goes for the DM - I screw up with my NPCs all the time but c'est la vie.

And as a player...my screw-ups are usually more fun than what I should have done! Life is full of mistakes, and now the plot has a new wrinkle. My bone-headed maneuvers have given us more good memories than my genius ideas, that's for sure (partly because they are so much more numerous).