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Castle siege questions. (Long)
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<blockquote data-quote="AuraSeer" data-source="post: 522272" data-attributes="member: 1331"><p>Not quite.</p><p>It has 90 hp per 10'x10'x1' volume. To get through the entire thickness of the wall, you need to do 900 points of damage. Your elemental would take more than an hour to bash all the way through it.</p><p></p><p>The Break DC of 35 is also far too low. A 3' wall of hewn stone has Break DC 50; masonry is weaker than hewn stone, but this wall is three times as thick, so I'd be comfortable using DC 50 here as well. Even an elder earth elemental (Str 33) or the strongest dragon (Str 47) would have no hope of success; a monster with Str 70 would succeed only 5% of the time.</p><p></p><p>(Aside: remember that for a break check, you roll a d20 and add your strength <u>bonus</u>. I've seen some people use the whole strength <u>score</u>, which is not correct, and makes walls and doors far too fragile.)</p><p></p><p>A Break DC is all or nothing. Either you succeed and break the entire object, or you have no effect at all. You cannot Break-check your way through a stone wall 1' at a time.</p><p></p><p></p><p>240 hp sounds about right. They have about 25% as many hp as an equivalent section of wall, and they're far easier to damage because of their lower hardness.</p><p></p><p>Again though, you need to increase the Break DC when you increase the thickness. The DC 25 in the book is for a normal-thickness door with a normal-sized bar. A 2'-thick castle gate is a whole other animal, and I'd call it DC 30. </p><p></p><p>This Break DC is obtainable by your forces. The large elemental has a strength bonus of +7; if the Medium elementals assist, they each grant a +2 bonus from Aid Another. That's a total bonus of +11, which means they could bash through the gate on a roll of 19.</p><p></p><p></p><p><u>Striking</u> an object-- ie, attacking to do damage-- works like a normal attack. Attempting a Strength check is not explicitly given an action type, but it's clearly not a melee attack, so I allow only one attempt per round.</p><p></p><p>Anyway, if you have spellcasters on your team, why are you bothering with these crude physical attacks? The easy way into a castle involves <em>Passwall</em> or <em>Disintegrate</em>. Poof, instant breach.</p><p></p><p>Maybe your sorcerer doesn't have those spells and can't get them on scrolls. In that case, forget the earth elementals, and have your druid summon air elementals instead. Since they can fly, they can carry troops to the top of the walls and make hash of the ballista crews.</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="AuraSeer, post: 522272, member: 1331"] Not quite. It has 90 hp per 10'x10'x1' volume. To get through the entire thickness of the wall, you need to do 900 points of damage. Your elemental would take more than an hour to bash all the way through it. The Break DC of 35 is also far too low. A 3' wall of hewn stone has Break DC 50; masonry is weaker than hewn stone, but this wall is three times as thick, so I'd be comfortable using DC 50 here as well. Even an elder earth elemental (Str 33) or the strongest dragon (Str 47) would have no hope of success; a monster with Str 70 would succeed only 5% of the time. (Aside: remember that for a break check, you roll a d20 and add your strength [u]bonus[/u]. I've seen some people use the whole strength [u]score[/u], which is not correct, and makes walls and doors far too fragile.) A Break DC is all or nothing. Either you succeed and break the entire object, or you have no effect at all. You cannot Break-check your way through a stone wall 1' at a time. 240 hp sounds about right. They have about 25% as many hp as an equivalent section of wall, and they're far easier to damage because of their lower hardness. Again though, you need to increase the Break DC when you increase the thickness. The DC 25 in the book is for a normal-thickness door with a normal-sized bar. A 2'-thick castle gate is a whole other animal, and I'd call it DC 30. This Break DC is obtainable by your forces. The large elemental has a strength bonus of +7; if the Medium elementals assist, they each grant a +2 bonus from Aid Another. That's a total bonus of +11, which means they could bash through the gate on a roll of 19. [u]Striking[/u] an object-- ie, attacking to do damage-- works like a normal attack. Attempting a Strength check is not explicitly given an action type, but it's clearly not a melee attack, so I allow only one attempt per round. Anyway, if you have spellcasters on your team, why are you bothering with these crude physical attacks? The easy way into a castle involves [i]Passwall[/i] or [i]Disintegrate[/i]. Poof, instant breach. Maybe your sorcerer doesn't have those spells and can't get them on scrolls. In that case, forget the earth elementals, and have your druid summon air elementals instead. Since they can fly, they can carry troops to the top of the walls and make hash of the ballista crews. [/QUOTE]
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