Attacking held items at range?

[Kitsune]

Hey folks,

I happened to think today, 'Hey, what happens if a mage tries to Disintegrate someone's sword? It's a ray and all, so by all accounts it shouldn't be hard to target an item...' So I searched around in the rules. The only thing I could find was a discussion of melee-range Sunder attempts, nary a whisper about messing up someone's stuff at range.

Now, admittedly, your average ranged attack wouldn't do much to a sword; arrows aren't exactly metal-shattering bolts of doom. So I can see why the rules were written with the assumption that any breaking of personal property would be done in a face to face manner. However, this is D&D, and Legolas clones must therefore be taken into consideration, along with non-standard ranged attacks, like a giant throwing a boulder at your shield, or a wizard using a ray to zap your sword.

Bringing me to a simple question: Has anyone ever seen any official rules involving the use of magic or ranged attacks specifically targeting a held item? The rub, specifically, is the 'can't be damaged by a lesser weapon' clause of magic weapons, which gets weird once spells come on the scene.

 

[Hypersmurf]

The rub, specifically, is the 'can't be damaged by a lesser weapon' clause of magic weapons, which gets weird once spells come on the scene.

That clause has been removed in 3.5, so you're good to go.

-Hyp.

 

[Elephant]

Hey folks,

I happened to think today, 'Hey, what happens if a mage tries to Disintegrate someone's sword? It's a ray and all, so by all accounts it shouldn't be hard to target an item...' So I searched around in the rules. The only thing I could find was a discussion of melee-range Sunder attempts, nary a whisper about messing up someone's stuff at range.

Now, admittedly, your average ranged attack wouldn't do much to a sword; arrows aren't exactly metal-shattering bolts of doom. So I can see why the rules were written with the assumption that any breaking of personal property would be done in a face to face manner. However, this is D&D, and Legolas clones must therefore be taken into consideration, along with non-standard ranged attacks, like a giant throwing a boulder at your shield, or a wizard using a ray to zap your sword.

Bringing me to a simple question: Has anyone ever seen any official rules involving the use of magic or ranged attacks specifically targeting a held item?

Or, say, taking a shot at your enemy's blaster in a D20 Star Wars firefight?

The best thing I can come up with is the last paragraph in the first column of pg. 158 of the PHB (Sundering worn or carried objects), stating that you make an attack roll against the object (AC = 10+size mod+DEX modifier of wielder). Doing so provokes an AoO.

For doing so with a ranged attack (your disintegrate, for example), I would house-rule something like requiring a Concentration or Spellcraft or Spot check, increasing casting time to one full-round action for spells used in this manner, or perhaps even requiring a custom "Ranged Sunder" feat.