Horn of Blasting broken?

[James McMurray]

besides the fact that as krenolds pointed out if they're on the person you dont have to worry about the save.

Sorry, I idn't realize that your post was directed at carried items. I assumed it was directed at items in general, as it didn't say otherwise.

Magic items are granted bonuses for being just that.

True, but immaterial to the matter at hand.

If you feel that armor +5 is the same as regular armor for this purpose you'd be mistaken.

The rules do not support your stance.

Unattended +5 armor gains a +5 bonus to its hardness and hitpoints. However, the Horn specifically ignores hardness. It doesn't just ignore nonmagical hardness, or it would say so. Thus, in the case of unattended armor, +5 and +0 are the same for the purposes of a Horn of Blasting (other than the +5 armor having 5 more hit points, and thus being harder to destroy).

 

[kreynolds]

James, you gave me an idea for a really great use for this horn when you mentioned unattended items. I'm getting this picture of my players surprising the baddies and blasting away at their piles of gear. Man, if you think having your alarm clock go off in the morning can put you in a bad mood!

 

[kreynolds]

Kreynolds is right, yet he's not

No, I was right. I just thought it would be easier to reference the relevant pages in the PH than to type it all up myself. I know...I'm lazy.

 

[James McMurray]

James, you gave me an idea for a really great use for this horn when you mentioned unattended items. I'm getting this picture of my players surprising the baddies and blasting away at their piles of gear. Man, if you think having your alarm clock go off in the morning can put you in a bad mood!

Just be careful. Most gear will require more than one blast (armor and weapons). Some gear will be immune (clothing). You could find yourself blowing up a horn just to do 3 points to everyone's weaponry. Of course, you'd have to roll pretty poorly to have that happen.

 

[Stalker0]

No, I was right. I just thought it would be easier to reference the relevant pages in the PH than to type it all up myself. I know...I'm lazy.

What you had said was that if I blew the horn 12 times, only if every single item rolled a natural 1 on their fort save would ANY of the items be affected. That's not true. For every use of the horn, one of your carried items would be affected if you roll a natural 1. You then roll a save for that item. With the next blast of the horn the same thing happens.

I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just want to make sure everyone is clear, since it seems some people don't know exactly how the saving thrown for carried magic items works.

And speaking of which, the DMG saves specifically under magic items saving throws that magic items should always get saves, even in cases where normal items do not. And for carried items, you'd only have a problem if you rolled a natural one on a fort save. If everytime you blew the horn, you got a chance to break my magic gear, then those fireballs I took a while back would probably have gotten to them a long time ago

 

[kreynolds]

What you had said was that if I blew the horn 12 times, only if every single item rolled a natural 1 on their fort save

No, that's not what I said. Read the post again. I said I would have to roll 12 natural 1's for 12 blasts from the horn for there to be any chance of an item being affected. One natural 1 per blast.

It was the bold numbers that threw you off, wasn't it?

And speaking of which, the DMG saves specifically under magic items saving throws that magic items should always get saves, even in cases where normal items do not.

The PH also says...

Unless the descriptive text for the spell specifies otherwise, all items carried and worn are assumed to survive a magical attack.

By the way, I'm not trying to be argumentative, I just want to make sure everyone is clear, since it seems some people don't know exactly how the saving thrown for carried magic items works.

 

[Someone]

No, I was right. I just thought it would be easier to reference the relevant pages in the PH than to type it all up myself. I know...I'm lazy.

That´s page 150, "Items surviving after a saving throw": "Unless the description says otherwise, all items carried and worn are assumed to survive a magical attack..." Then describes how items can be affected, but only if the wearer rolls a natural 1 for the saving throw.

However, the ultrasonic, item-damaging wave does not grant any saving throw, so I´m not sure if that part of the rules apply, since they detail a particular aspect of that kind of attacks. Note that while the horn grants a saving throw for the stun effect, that´s a different effect from the damaging one, though they work at the same moment.

 

[kreynolds]

That´s page 150

I know. I referenced that page in my second post, but it's nice to know that there are others not as lazy as myself. Thanks for posting the info.

However, the ultrasonic, item-damaging wave does not grant any saving throw, so I´m not sure if that part of the rules apply, since they detail a particular aspect of that kind of attacks.

I believe it does, at least partially. You don't have to be allowed a saving throw for your magic items to get a save of their own. Magic items are always assumed to survive a magical attack, unless the attack specifically states otherwise (meaning that they don't even have to make a save most of the time), and the Horn of Blasting doesn't state that attended items are automatically affected.

So, 1) either the horn effects all items within the 1-foot wide 100-foot long path, attended or not, or 2) it doesn't affect attended items at all.

Based upon the description of the Horn of Blasting, as well as its price, it seems to me that the intent of the Horn is that it is not meant to be an exception to the rule in regards to attended magic items and that it wouldn't effect attended items anyway. By the same token, cost of the item is pretty low because it is dangerous to use it more than once per day, and a single blast from the horn more than likely won't utterly destroy all the items you are carrying. This last part is just my opinion, of course.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Can anyone break the Lyre of Building for me?
Apparently you can big a good-sized pit under an opponent in one round, and fill in the pit the next round...

 

[kreynolds]

Can anyone break the Lyre of Building for me?
Apparently you can big a good-sized pit under an opponent in one round, and fill in the pit the next round...

LOL