beating on walls

[durath]

Simple question here.

If a person in the REAL WORLD was really strong(say like Ah-Nold in his prime kinda strong) do you think that they could beat their way through a 5 foot thick stone wall if the only tool they had was a big warhammer?

Why or why not?

If you do think they could how long do you think it would take?

I ask this because my DM is ruling that my 23 strength barbarian could not do this unless he had weeks. By the rules I could do it in roughly 120 something rounds. A stone wall has 900 HP and I would be using the warhammer 2 handed so I would do minimum of 10 DMG a round.
I realize that fatigue would be a problem but just assume I could take care of the fatigue issue.

Basically my DM is saying that it is physically impossible and I think he is friggin nuts.

 

[DarkJester]

I think its possible, my dad is a big guy, works construction, I've seen him take down a 2 foot round stone pillar in two swings of a heavy sledge.

Your dm is probly just annoyed and thinks you will just start knocking down dungeon walls to get places instead of finding keys or something.

 

[hong]

Realistically speaking, you would probably destroy your warhammer before you broke through the wall. Regardless of what the rules say, the problem is that you and your DM have different views on the degree to which the campaign should be grounded in the real world. I think your DM is perfectly within his rights in this case to say that you can't smash through the wall -- at least not within a reasonable span of time.

 

[Umbran]

Toppling a pillar and bashing through a wall are not the same thing. And there's a big difference between 5 feet of stone wall and an isolated 2 foot thick pillar.

Real simple - do you see guys at a quarry working with only hammers? No. They use chisels. Generic stone does a good job of ignoring simple bashing.

And think - the handle of that warhammer is wood. It will break long before the stone will. Even if it were a metal handle, the handle is much, much thinner than the wall. Unless you do something to concentrate your force (like using a cutting tool and knowledge of mining or stonemasonry), the weapon should give out before the wall.

 

[Magus_Jerel]

If you had a set of "spikes" or wedges - and knew what you were doing - yeah - you COULD get thru it that fast if all you were doing is whacking away at it. Removing the stone chunks is the major problem - and that is going to take time.

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

"If a person in the REAL WORLD..."

People in the real world cannot cast spells, track like a greyhound, wield a greatsword in one hand etc...

I say this, not to say your DM is dumb, but that your character has a 23 Strength. What is THAT in the real world?

"I ask this because my DM is ruling that my 23 strength barbarian could not do this unless he had weeks."

Weeks to do this feat of Strength? Maybe in the real world...but this game (key word: game) is about your character being a "hero".

In situations like this, I ask myself one question: "Could <fill in the blank> do this?"

Could Conan do this?

Yes...but he would only do it if it was "heroic" to do so.

IMHO, the DM should allow your character your chance to shine in the sun.

Just don't abuse it, dear player, or the DM is justified in making all dungeon walls made out of "black impenetrable substance #1".

And if he's really worried about the walls of his dungeon being breached, just wait until the casters get Stone Shape, Teleport, Stone to Mud, D. Door...

Then your piddly Rock Breaking will seem completely inferior.

 

[kramis]

John Henry

I suggest all you doubters listen to this song about a classic American legendary hero:

http://hem.bredband.net/taub/

 

[durath]

OK-thanks for the replies so far. I would like to clarify a couple things.

The PC's are not looking for an easier way to get through dungeons by collapsing walls. The situation is that we are at a small dwarven stronghold in a cave system. We have just routed a group of goblins from the place and in searching it we found stone tablets which seemed to be correspondences betwqeen goblin tribes.

The tablets said that in 3 days time a group of 120 goblins, 20 blink goblins(My Dm has these nasty little goblins that can blink at will) 2 goblin shamans, and 2 "cave trolls" would be arriving to reinfirce the fort.

The PC's DO NOT want this fortress to be retaken. UNfortunately we are only 4th level and couldn't possibly hold off these goblins with the abilities and magic at our disposal. So we want to collapse sections of wall and make the fort as useless as possible.

Now admittedly we do not have the best tools for the job. What we do have is a dwarven warhammer(metal hafted by the way) and pitons.(I forgot about those in my earlier post)

I am arguing that between my 23 str barbarian and the 18 str Paladin we should be able to collapse enough wall to make some serious breaches in the fortress. All we are looking to do is make this place as hard to defend as possible.

HONG-I agree the Dm can rule that way but we have 3 days to do this. Do you think that is sufficient enough time for the task I propose?

Also let us one again assume this can be done at all- how big a breach would a person create?

 

[Shin Okada]

I say just give that wall hardness and HP according to PHB P.136. Typical stone wall have hardness of 8 and 15 HP per inch. Thus that wall have HP of 900.

In DnD, a strong character can slay 80 ft. tall stone statue (colossal animated object) only with his sword anyway.

 

[kreynolds]

Basically my DM is saying that it is physically impossible and I think he is friggin nuts.

Not only is your DM nuts, but he is also a frickin' moronic buffoon. I mean that in the nicest way, of course. Yeah, you could bust through a wall. The time it will take depends on the wall's hit points and how well you deal damage. No real good way of shortening it without magic.

There's a funny thing about weapons and smacking a wall with it. Sure, technically, your warhammer would bust or bend long before you chewed through a wall that big. But hey, this isn't real life, is it, folks? Let's see; dragons, magic, undead, vampires, psionics, etc, etc, etc. Nope! No real life there.

Tell your brilliant DM this: If your warhammer will break before you finish the wall, ask him the following questions.
"When will it break?"
"Why will it break?"
"Why did it break just then?"
"Do you have rules for weapon breakage and wear-n-tear? Does that apply to armor as well? What about shoes and clothing? Wagons? Everything that is used on a regular basis? Mind if I see the rules for weapon/armor/equipment breakage and wear-n-tear?"
That last one should stump him pretty good, though asking him what 2 + 2 equals would probably be just as bad.