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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 9047695" data-attributes="member: 1465">The most generalized answer I can find: I let them break anything they want, if they have the means and the time.I don't usually rely on the rules for breaking objects, they are never even remotely realistic, and as soon as you grant a roll to the players, you are putting the rules in their hands for them to start applying abilities, bonuses, spells and whatever... you're pretty much guaranteed that they'll stack the odds in their favour, or even worse they'll start claiming rights for retrying after failure.So instead of asking them to roll for success or damage, I just tell them how long it's going to take, and in many cases they quit without trying.Breaking dungeon doors is a little bit different, it's quite a clichè situation in D&amp;D adventures, and if it amuses me to let the dice decide instead of me, of course I ask the PC for a roll, but I usually also make it clear they only get one chance (as if the roll doesn't represent their performance but rather the random chance that the door in question can or cannot be broken by them) otherwise it goes down again the rabbit hole of endless and pointless rules complications to represent retries.The only situation where I would agree to use more consistent rules for breaking objects, is in the middle of combat or otherwise in clearly timed scenarios, such as the PCs have X number of rounds to collapse a rope bridge or to topple a statue or to bash through a gate, before something bad happens. In such cases, for the sake of drama, I'd be fine with using either repeated skill checks or HP attrition.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 9047695, member: 1465"] The most generalized answer I can find: I let them break anything they want, if they have the means and the time. I don't usually rely on the rules for breaking objects, they are never even remotely realistic, and as soon as you grant a roll to the players, you are putting the rules [I]in their hands[/I] for them to start applying abilities, bonuses, spells and whatever... you're pretty much guaranteed that they'll stack the odds in their favour, or even worse they'll start claiming rights for [I]retrying[/I] after failure. So instead of asking them to roll for success or damage, I just tell them [I]how long it's going to take[/I], and in many cases they quit without trying. Breaking dungeon doors is a little bit different, it's quite a clichè situation in D&D adventures, and if it amuses me to let the dice decide instead of me, of course I ask the PC for a roll, but I usually also make it clear they only get one chance (as if the roll doesn't represent their performance but rather the random chance that the door in question can or cannot be broken by them) otherwise it goes down again the rabbit hole of endless and pointless rules complications to represent retries. The only situation where I would agree to use more consistent rules for breaking objects, is in the middle of combat or otherwise in clearly [I]timed[/I] scenarios, such as the PCs have X number of rounds to collapse a rope bridge or to topple a statue or to bash through a gate, before something bad happens. In such cases, for the sake of drama, I'd be fine with using either repeated skill checks or HP attrition. [/QUOTE]

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