D&D 5E Damaging Armor

[Grazzt]

Ideas for damaging armor and shields? I know the PHB says DM can set AC and hit points for them, but rather than do that, I'd like to come up with something else.

A game I'll be running, the PCs run across at least one leucrotta. Already converted it, and trying to find the best way to do it's 1e/2e armor and shield damaging bite. In those editions, the item simply made a save vs. crushing blow. Ideas/methods I've thought about:

* Mimic the rust monster's attack; deal a cumulative -1 penalty to armor/shield with each bite. Item can be repaired (for a cost) since it's really just damage and not rust.
* Mimic the rust monster's attack but only if the leucrotta scores a critical hit (and it deals a -2 penalty to the armor/shield instead of -1) but this may not even come up at all since monsters are designed to not live that long necessarily.
* Assign hit points to armor/shield. Don't really want to do this. Yes, more "realistic" (and we use it more or less in our main 3.x E6 game), but I don't necessarily want to use it in our 5e game.

 

[Erik42]

I've always ruled that critical hits have a chance to damage armor equal to the amount of damage. The result of the damage is generally of reduction of effectiveness of 1 until it is repaired.

 

[I'm A Banana]

One way to mimic the save vs. crushing blow might be to have the armorbearer make a Dex or Str save (representing twisting so that the bite doesn't damage the item, or keeping the leucrotta's jaws apart when it bites down). It's Another Roll, but it might be closer to the in-play vibe of the original. The shield is ruined on the first failed save, the armor on the next.

The way I'd personally probably go: substances are given AC's in the DMG. Iron/Steel is AC 19. If leuie hits an AC of 19, shield gets wrecked, then armor gets wrecked. Wood and bone is 15, which also seems a good starting point for leather gear/druid's wooden shield/etc. These don't rely on a crit, and it's not unreasonable to have monsters hitting that AC on a pretty regular basis.

Mimicing the rust monster's attack seems like too much tracking for me personally (as does object hit points), so while it works, it's a bit fiddly. Just wreck the thing! This is 5e, as a general rule, we don't need to be precious about someone's gear anymore.

You might also want to consider what CR you put the leucrotta at. Put it a bit lower than the PC's level, and a pack of the things can mob the party, vastly increasing your crit potential.

 

[Li Shenron]

* Mimic the rust monster's attack; deal a cumulative -1 penalty to armor/shield with each bite. Item can be repaired (for a cost) since it's really just damage and not rust.
* Mimic the rust monster's attack but only if the leucrotta scores a critical hit (and it deals a -2 penalty to the armor/shield instead of -1) but this may not even come up at all since monsters are designed to not live that long necessarily.
* Assign hit points to armor/shield. Don't really want to do this. Yes, more "realistic" (and we use it more or less in our main 3.x E6 game), but I don't necessarily want to use it in our 5e game.

I would go with the first idea. I don't think HP would be more realistic, armor increases AC mostly because it covers the creature, so the creature's effect might be that of stripping away your armor one piece at a time, thus manifesting gradually but starting as soon as the first hit. HP would have no effect until 0.

 

[Rune]

I plan on letting my players mitigate damage by choosing to have their armor, shields, or weapons take the damage, using the object hp rules from the DMG.

If the armor, shields, or weapons survive the encounter, they can be repaired a variable number of hp during a short rest.

 

[Mephistopheles]

* Mimic the rust monster's attack; deal a cumulative -1 penalty to armor/shield with each bite. Item can be repaired (for a cost) since it's really just damage and not rust.

Oozes also use a similar mechanic to handle item damage (weapons, in that case) so I think this option would be a consistent choice.

 

[the Jester]

I have taken to a "wear point" system. Various things inflict a wear point on various items; basically, the way I do it is that 1 wear point is cosmetic damage; 2 wear points give the item a -1 to whatever is applicable; and 3 wear points destroys the item. Some items might get extra wear points at the "just cosmetic" stage, and others might get a save to avoid gaining a wear point, but that's the general deal. I find it adapts well to many different situations.

 

[I'm A Banana]

I have taken to a "wear point" system. Various things inflict a wear point on various items; basically, the way I do it is that 1 wear point is cosmetic damage; 2 wear points give the item a -1 to whatever is applicable; and 3 wear points destroys the item. Some items might get extra wear points at the "just cosmetic" stage, and others might get a save to avoid gaining a wear point, but that's the general deal. I find it adapts well to many different situations.

Hmm, like Exhaustion for items! Not bad! WAY less fiddly than -1's, but more granular than "wreck the thing."

 

[Paraxis]

Personally this type of thing isn't for me and my game, but if I was to want something like this I would put it in the players hands, when they take a critical hit they can turn it into a normal hit by damaging their AC and reducing the value by 1, until a later time when they can get the armor repaired.

But honestly doesn't the mending cantrips existence kind of make any system like this pointless.

 

[Grazzt]

Oozes also use a similar mechanic to handle item damage (weapons, in that case) so I think this option would be a consistent choice.

Good call. I completely forgot about the oozes when I was perusing the MM earlier.