does anyone think sunder is too easy?

[hammymchamham]

Power attack - 1st level Feat
Sunder - Fighter Bonus Feat
Improved Sunder - 2nd level Fighter Bonus Feat

Using sunder on your players for the first time just to see their face? Priceless

 

[Delgar]

Does it really say that the enchantment is lost when the weapon is sundered? Is there a page number?

Delgar

 

[Celebrim]

Delgar: Yes, it does. No, I don't have a page number with me but IIRC read the description of the various craft item feats.

Sundering is balanced at low to low mid levels, because a low level character has a hard time dishing out enough damage and the risk of lost damage to the foe generally balances with hindering your foe. At high levels the mechanic becomes busted, as any reasonably well built and strong fighter with a magic weapon is capable of sundering his foes weapon about 50% of the time. This is bad for PC's because it means a significant portion of thier wealth (and therefore their CR) can go away pretty easily, and bad for DM's because it means a PC can disarm his foes with undue and sometimes cheesy ease.

 

[HeavyG]

I think sundering is only dangerous to people who are stuck in a 2e mindset.

"This is my weapon. This is my BEST weapon. This is My Only Good Weapon. If I don't have This Weapon, I am NoThInG."

That's not a 2E mindset, that's a 3E mindset !

In 2E, it was (officially) much harder to buy and make magical items (i.e. turn gold into magic), so people actually kept many different semi-useless magical items around "just in case". Everybody had a magical dagger, for example. Now, most people would sell those to upgrade their one true weapon.

 

[hammymchamham]

That's not a 2E mindset, that's a 3E mindset !

In 2E, it was (officially) much harder to buy and make magical items (i.e. turn gold into magic), so people actually kept many different semi-useless magical items around "just in case". Everybody had a magical dagger, for example. Now, most people would sell those to upgrade their one true weapon.

Depends on the campaign world. In one I play in, we do this freely. In another we can only buy certain items in town.

And IMC, its a mix. Sometowns they can buy MOST everything (but not everythign), but most town they cant seel and buy as they please, their are GP limits on both ends

 

[00durrin]

What's this "Signature Item" feat from?

 

[Henry]

I believe it's from Oriental Adventures or from a Dragon Magazine. Hong will be able to explain better.

If there is a problem, it's that it's slightly too easy to sunder due to low hardness. If the hardness were about 5 points higher, the weapon might take an extra round to break, which is enough IMHO. But I have no problem with weapons being sundered, because it is a viable tactic. The ony thing I can say is it would be nicer if it were more likely that your weapon were damaged, rather than simply healthy or broken, giving you a chance to put that weapon up if you saw someone able to damage it.

 

[Spatula]

This is bad for PC's because it means a significant portion of thier wealth (and therefore their CR) can go away pretty easily, and bad for DM's because it means a PC can disarm his foes with undue and sometimes cheesy ease.

If the players sunder the villian's weapon, then (a) they just destroyed some of the loot for the encounter, and (b) they're not hurting the villian. If the villian doesn't have an adequate back-up weapon, he should flee and come back to haunt the PCs in the future.

Another option is to use adamantine weapons. Doesn't stop a weapon from being sundered, but it does make sundering harder.

 

[Celebrim]

The problem with raising the hardness by a flat ammount is that the weapon becomes impossible to break at low level. Some might be ok with only allowing super heroes (functional) access to the manuever, but that's not my thing.

No, I think the best solution is to allow a combatant to add some or all of his BAB to the effective hardness of the weapon.

Even if bested, a skilled fighter isn't going to let his weapon take the full damage of the blow - any more than he would let himself take the full damage of the blow (that is what h.p. represent).

 

[dcollins]

Does it really say that the enchantment is lost when the weapon is sundered? Is there a page number?

Note the mending spell itself, PHB p. 227: "The spell can repair a magic item, but the item's magical abilities are not restored. (For restoring a broken magic item's abilities, see the item creation feats in Chapter 5: Feats.)"