Doors: Too hard to break, too easy to chop

[Shard O'Glase]

Re: As an aside...

What bugs me is that if you give this guy a club (an ordinary wooden club, costing 0 gp), he can bash through that castle wall someone mentioned upthread in a bit more than 15 minutes. Spend a few gp and give him a greatsword, and the wall's down in 6 minutes.

Castles really are kind of pointless in D&D.

And what bothers me is that someone can hack thier way through a wall, and yet a dragons breath weapon sem kind of punny vs the wall. Roughly 100 points of damage from a older dragon 1/2 that damage goes by-by, 8 points goes by-by so 42 points of damage every 1d4 rounds. A fighter 24 str, 11th level who power attacks with his +3 greatsword, and a specialist in it. Does 32-8 a hit or about 72 a round. The dragon with its really bg size modifer and str modifier could probably knock the wall over in a couple tries, but wierdly his attack that does the most damage in a single blow(the breath weapon) is the most inefective against walls.

 

[Christian]

Actually, that's one thing that makes perfect sense. Here's an experiment for you:

Step one
Requirements: a good-sized stone, a hammer, and a flamethrower.
a. apply the flamethrower for 3 seconds
b. observe the effect on the rock
c. take a couple of good whacks on the rock with the hammer
d. observe the effect on the rock

Step two
Requirements: the same hammer and flamethrower, and someone you don't particularly like
a. take a couple of good whacks with the hammer.
b. listen to the target cuss at you
c. apply the flamethrower for 3 seconds
d. bury the charred remains

(Well, make it a thought experiment then. )

 

[Shard O'Glase]

Actually, that's one thing that makes perfect sense. Here's an experiment for you:

Step one
Requirements: a good-sized stone, a hammer, and a flamethrower.
a. apply the flamethrower for 3 seconds
b. observe the effect on the rock
c. take a couple of good whacks on the rock with the hammer
d. observe the effect on the rock

Step two
Requirements: the same hammer and flamethrower, and someone you don't particularly like
a. take a couple of good whacks with the hammer.
b. listen to the target cuss at you
c. apply the flamethrower for 3 seconds
d. bury the charred remains

(Well, make it a thought experiment then. )

I disagree. Your examples are a bit lopsided. I could just as easily say take mount everest have a guy with a hammer whack at it, now throw mount everest into the sun observe the effect on mount everest.

Physical force might be the better tool to destroy certain objects when the forces delivered are equal, but when the other force far exceeds the physical force it should be the better tool than physical force.

There are 2 problems I see with non pyhsical mellee force attacks.

One their no mechanic for a str style check to shatter the object in one blow.

Two the 1/2,1/4 damage for energy attacks inordinantly weakens even the strongest of energy attacks. Perhaps double hardness would of been a beter option. It still would of signifigantly weakened lower end energy atacks like a fireball and flaming sphere. But it wouldn't cripple high end energy attacks like meteor swarm or a double empowererd con of cold or a dragons breath weapon.

 

[Pbartender]

Re: As an aside...

What bugs me is that if you give this guy a club (an ordinary wooden club, costing 0 gp), he can bash through that castle wall someone mentioned upthread in a bit more than 15 minutes. Spend a few gp and give him a greatsword, and the wall's down in 6 minutes.

Castles really are kind of pointless in D&D.

Use a little common sense, and read the rules already...

From the SRD, or PHB p. 135:

Ineffective Weapons

The DM may determine that certain weapons just can't deal damage effectively to certain objects. For example, a combatant will have a hard time chopping down a door by shooting arrows at it or cutting a rope with a club.

Or, likewise, trying to chip away at a stone wall with anything less than proper masonry tools.