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5e damaging magic items.
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<blockquote data-quote="77IM" data-source="post: 7504137" data-attributes="member: 12377"><p>A magic broom, you say? I'd call that AC 15, because it's mostly wood:</p><p></p><p></p><p>How many hit points on a broom? It should definitely count as a "Resilient" item (see below) and if we're being very generous it's Medium-sized because it's as big as the person riding it, so that's 18 hit points:</p><p></p><p></p><p>All objects are Immune to psychic and poison (DMG p.247). Now, ordinarily I'd call a wooden broomstick Vulnerable to fire damage, and Resistant to piercing. But:</p><p></p><p></p><p>Therefore, I'd probably call it Immune to non-magical piercing, and Resistant to all other damage EXCEPT fire.</p><p></p><p>So at my table it would be:</p><p></p><p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong><u>Magic Broom</u></strong></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><em>Medium object</em></p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong>AC</strong> 15 (wood)</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong>Hit Points</strong> 18</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong>Damage Resistance</strong> acid, bludgeoning, cold, force, lightning, necrotic, piercing, radiant, slashing, thunder</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"><strong>Damage Immunity</strong> poison, psychic; piercing damage from non-magical weapon attacks</p> <p style="margin-left: 20px"></p><p></p><p>Now, I think there's plenty of reasonable justification for stats slightly different than what I posted above. Some people might object to a broomstick having a whopping 18 hit points; others might think that magical wood should have a higher AC than 15 due to the Magic Item Resilience; others might think that the resistances and immunities I came up with are too detailed and just shrug and say "resistant to all damage, except immune to poison and psychic." That's fine. My point is to illustrate the step-by-step way I decide an object's hit points. (Which seems to come up almost every session for some reason.)</p><p></p><p></p><p>BUT with "only" 18 hit points, and no resistance, it means a typical <em>fireball</em> spell would almost certainly one-shot this broom. That's actually true of most items the PCs would get, as many (such as weapons) would have considerably fewer hit points. So IF area attacks could hit items, it would be chaos and madness, as most PCs would be stripped of their precious items after a single hit from a dragon's breath weapon.</p><p></p><p>Therefore, I only allow items to be affected if they are deliberately targeted, or if they are caught in an effect that explicitly affects items.</p><ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you target an item with an attack, your attack roll has to beat both the item's AC and its wielder's AC, if the wielder is not incapacitated.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul">If you target an item with a saving-throw effect that is capable of hurting objects, the wielder makes the save for the item using their own saving throw bonuses. If no-one is wielding the item, it automatically fails its save. If it's a sentient magic item, it's always entitled to a save, using its own ability bonus or its wielder's saving throw bonus, whichever is better (count the sentient item as having +0 in Str, Dex, and Con).</li> </ul><p></p><p>(That last part, I entirely made up. There's no formal rules that I'm aware of for targeting an object, or for what happens when an object is subject to an effect that allows a saving throw. But those are rulings I made on the spot, that the players seemed satisfied with.)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="77IM, post: 7504137, member: 12377"] A magic broom, you say? I'd call that AC 15, because it's mostly wood: How many hit points on a broom? It should definitely count as a "Resilient" item (see below) and if we're being very generous it's Medium-sized because it's as big as the person riding it, so that's 18 hit points: All objects are Immune to psychic and poison (DMG p.247). Now, ordinarily I'd call a wooden broomstick Vulnerable to fire damage, and Resistant to piercing. But: Therefore, I'd probably call it Immune to non-magical piercing, and Resistant to all other damage EXCEPT fire. So at my table it would be: [INDENT][B][U]Magic Broom[/U][/B] [I]Medium object[/I] [B]AC[/B] 15 (wood) [B]Hit Points[/B] 18 [B]Damage Resistance[/B] acid, bludgeoning, cold, force, lightning, necrotic, piercing, radiant, slashing, thunder [B]Damage Immunity[/B] poison, psychic; piercing damage from non-magical weapon attacks [/INDENT] Now, I think there's plenty of reasonable justification for stats slightly different than what I posted above. Some people might object to a broomstick having a whopping 18 hit points; others might think that magical wood should have a higher AC than 15 due to the Magic Item Resilience; others might think that the resistances and immunities I came up with are too detailed and just shrug and say "resistant to all damage, except immune to poison and psychic." That's fine. My point is to illustrate the step-by-step way I decide an object's hit points. (Which seems to come up almost every session for some reason.) BUT with "only" 18 hit points, and no resistance, it means a typical [I]fireball[/I] spell would almost certainly one-shot this broom. That's actually true of most items the PCs would get, as many (such as weapons) would have considerably fewer hit points. So IF area attacks could hit items, it would be chaos and madness, as most PCs would be stripped of their precious items after a single hit from a dragon's breath weapon. Therefore, I only allow items to be affected if they are deliberately targeted, or if they are caught in an effect that explicitly affects items. [list][*]If you target an item with an attack, your attack roll has to beat both the item's AC and its wielder's AC, if the wielder is not incapacitated. [*]If you target an item with a saving-throw effect that is capable of hurting objects, the wielder makes the save for the item using their own saving throw bonuses. If no-one is wielding the item, it automatically fails its save. If it's a sentient magic item, it's always entitled to a save, using its own ability bonus or its wielder's saving throw bonus, whichever is better (count the sentient item as having +0 in Str, Dex, and Con).[/list] (That last part, I entirely made up. There's no formal rules that I'm aware of for targeting an object, or for what happens when an object is subject to an effect that allows a saving throw. But those are rulings I made on the spot, that the players seemed satisfied with.) [/QUOTE]
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