Sunder a dwarven Throwing hammer in mid flight

[UKGnome]

I am about to run a campaign in which one of the fighter is a Dwarf with a throwing hammer and I know they will come up against giants with big clubs etc.

If the dwarf throws the hammer at the Giant, I am thinking the giant should have the ability, possibly as an attack of opportunity, to bat it away.

I was thinking of Sunder, but that seems restricted to held weapons, so is there a way in the game mechanics to do this.

Gnome

 

[Schmoe]

A couple suggestions:

First, I would never just do this as a blanket ability for giants. It takes too much away from the character's signature abilities, and it just feels like a "gotcha".

Second, probably the easiest way to do this is to model it off of the Deflect Arrows ability for Monks. I would require some sort of investment on the giant's part to get access to the ability, such as a feat or levels in a class. You also might want to tweak the DC, as it seems to me that deflecting a mundane arrow would be a little easier than deflecting a 10 pound magical hammer.

 

[Celebrim]

To do this successfully, the giant needs special training. That is to say, the giant must have the 'Deflect Arrows' feat or something similar that allows you to actively parry away projectiles.

Keep in mind that whatever you rule for the giant, by logical reason should apply both ways. If you are happy with the giant batting away the thrown hammer of the giant, are you happy with drawf batting away the thrown boulders of the giant? What is good for the goose should be good for the gander. This is especially true since you as the DM are always in the driver's seat and can always provision the foes with whatever resources (in this case special training) that you want. After all, you are well within your rights to customize monsters by exchanging feats around or adding additional class levels to them. Defeating the PC's is a trivial exercise, and you should beware of the impulse that tempts you to want to impress your players in some way with the prowess of NPCs. That way is the Dark Side.

 

[billd91]

I am about to run a campaign in which one of the fighter is a Dwarf with a throwing hammer and I know they will come up against giants with big clubs etc.

If the dwarf throws the hammer at the Giant, I am thinking the giant should have the ability, possibly as an attack of opportunity, to bat it away.

I was thinking of Sunder, but that seems restricted to held weapons, so is there a way in the game mechanics to do this.

Gnome

Don't do this out of the blue and don't do this using the AoO mechanics. Characters (and that means NPCs too) have limited ways of directly affecting incoming ranged attacks. As others have pointed out, having some monk abilities can do part of the job. You should use that as a hint that characters in the game aren't meant to be able to do this willy-nilly just because you want to make things tougher for the dwarf PC. The mechanics also aren't based on AoO - that's another hint.

If you wanted to consider a sunder of an incoming ranged weapon, consider requiring a held action at the very least. The giant, in effect, waits for the pitch and tries to bat it out into left field. And then telegraph to the players that the giant is definitely holding back for something with his club at the ready. Give the PCs an even break rather than just dropping nerf on them.
But better is having a giant or two invest in the feats and/or classes necessary to deflect or catch the offending weapon. If there already is a mechanics for something... use them.

 

[GMMichael]

a Dwarf with a throwing hammer and I know they will come up against giants with big clubs etc.

If the dwarf throws the hammer at the Giant, I am thinking the giant should have the ability, possibly as an attack of opportunity, to bat it away.

Isn't that what Armor Class is for?

 

[Dave Goff]

I'm curious- is this an effort to have something cool, interesting and unexpected happen, or is it an effort to de-power the hammer?

If you're just trying to de-power the hammer, meh...

If you're trying for something cool and unexpected, maybe just have one giant, or one class of giants, who can do this. Maybe a smaller, faster giant monk-like class. That might be fun and interesting.

 

[ElectricDragon]

I can see this an an extention of the giant rock-catching ability; especially if on a world where a long, drawn-out war between giants and dwarves forced both sides to develop new tactics. Imagine an elite unit of giants that have practiced catching thrown hammers in preparation for dwarven throwers and even the dreaded hammer of thunderbolts.

 

[Greenfield]

On the face of it, I'd argue for the same AoO option for incoming arrows, spears etc.

Thrown hammers are actually kind of rare, since only rare, returning ones come back. Without that property on the weapon they're just throwing their melee weapon away. So developing a special ability to deal with this rare weapon seems overkill. So maybe save that for a boss-monster ability, as a "Deflect" more than a "catch", so the PC can get his weapon back.

 

[ElectricDragon]

Again, IF a devastating race war between dwarves and giants seemed never to end; I can see the development of this tactic. Large battles would most likely have at least one of these weapons in use; and its use would be detrimental to the giants chances to win. They can already catch incoming missile weapons, described in their entry, extending it to cover giant-damaging/killing weapons seems natural. Especially since the dwarves already have an advantage against giants that other humanoids do not: an AC bonus versus giants. Catching rocks (even catapult missiles) is not assured, but even a 5% chance to prevent instant death (a la Hammer of Thunderbolts) would be something any semi-intelligent race should consider.

 

[Caliban]

I am about to run a campaign in which one of the fighter is a Dwarf with a throwing hammer and I know they will come up against giants with big clubs etc.

If the dwarf throws the hammer at the Giant, I am thinking the giant should have the ability, possibly as an attack of opportunity, to bat it away.

I was thinking of Sunder, but that seems restricted to held weapons, so is there a way in the game mechanics to do this.

Gnome

Why should they have this ability? Should PC's have the ability to "bat away" thrown javelins and daggers?

Maybe if you have a Giant Monk, this would make sense. But otherwise, I'm not seeing why they should have this extra ability.