Sonofapreacherman
Explorer
For all those people who just clicked on this thread to tell me that you can't sunder armor that is worn, don't bother. I read the rules too. It says so right there on page 158 of the new Player's Handbook, second column, first sentence.
"You can't sunder armor worn by another character."
Okay, having cleared that up, if you were going to sunder the armor worn by another character anyways, how would you go about doing it from a game mechanic perspective?
How do you separate attacking an opponent from attacking their armor? It would seem (at first glance) that you can't separate the two. By attacking an armored opponent, you automatically attack their armor as well.
Yes and no.
For the sake of keeping the combat game mechanic simple, I can certainly understand this oversimplification. But what if you are such a skilled warrior that your melee attacks can literally strip your opponent of all their armor without so much of drawing a drop of their blood?
Do you represent this skill with a feat?
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PRECISE SUNDER [General]
You are skilled at aiming sunder attacks and exploiting structural weaknesses.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack, Improved Sunder.
Benefit: When making opposed attack rolls to determine the success of a sunder, add +4 to your roll.
With this feat, you may also directly apply damage against armor that is worn by making a touch attack against that armored opponent (see Sunder, page 158).
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This solution would certainly make sundering armor a highly skilled ability. But a more down to earth part of me thinks that there must be a far less *refined* way of destroying your opponent's without overcomplicating the rules.
Right now, you can fire at any opponent engaged in melee, but with a —4 attack penalty. Taking the Precise Shot feat negates this penalty. This is a great example of how a potentially complicated combat situation can be seamlessly abstracted with a simple game mechanic. It's not hard to apply the same game mechanic to attacking armor that is worn, but with a —4 attack penalty. That way anybody could do it. You would provoke an attack of opportunity, but taking a feat like Precise Sunder would negate this penalty. Moreover, attacking armor in this way would be a regular attack to hit (rather than a touch attack).
Now assuming the attack is successful, how would you apply the resulting damage? Do you divide it evenly between the armor and opponent? Or do you apply an equal amount of damage to both armor and opponent?
I option for the second solution. Equal damage to both. Adding math into the combat equation (even exceedingly simple math) is never a good idea. Besides, if when you apply the same amount of damage to both armor and opponent, you still have to get through armor Hardness. That will greatly minimize the damage armor takes by comparison.
Lastly, once armor hit points drop to 1/2 or lower, the AC bonus for that armor is halved. Once armor hit points reach 0, the armor is destroyed.
*
Please tell me what you think. I'm genuinely interested in getting some feedback on this proposal.
"You can't sunder armor worn by another character."
Okay, having cleared that up, if you were going to sunder the armor worn by another character anyways, how would you go about doing it from a game mechanic perspective?
How do you separate attacking an opponent from attacking their armor? It would seem (at first glance) that you can't separate the two. By attacking an armored opponent, you automatically attack their armor as well.
Yes and no.
For the sake of keeping the combat game mechanic simple, I can certainly understand this oversimplification. But what if you are such a skilled warrior that your melee attacks can literally strip your opponent of all their armor without so much of drawing a drop of their blood?
Do you represent this skill with a feat?
------
PRECISE SUNDER [General]
You are skilled at aiming sunder attacks and exploiting structural weaknesses.
Prerequisites: Str 13, Power Attack, Improved Sunder.
Benefit: When making opposed attack rolls to determine the success of a sunder, add +4 to your roll.
With this feat, you may also directly apply damage against armor that is worn by making a touch attack against that armored opponent (see Sunder, page 158).
-----
This solution would certainly make sundering armor a highly skilled ability. But a more down to earth part of me thinks that there must be a far less *refined* way of destroying your opponent's without overcomplicating the rules.
Right now, you can fire at any opponent engaged in melee, but with a —4 attack penalty. Taking the Precise Shot feat negates this penalty. This is a great example of how a potentially complicated combat situation can be seamlessly abstracted with a simple game mechanic. It's not hard to apply the same game mechanic to attacking armor that is worn, but with a —4 attack penalty. That way anybody could do it. You would provoke an attack of opportunity, but taking a feat like Precise Sunder would negate this penalty. Moreover, attacking armor in this way would be a regular attack to hit (rather than a touch attack).
Now assuming the attack is successful, how would you apply the resulting damage? Do you divide it evenly between the armor and opponent? Or do you apply an equal amount of damage to both armor and opponent?
I option for the second solution. Equal damage to both. Adding math into the combat equation (even exceedingly simple math) is never a good idea. Besides, if when you apply the same amount of damage to both armor and opponent, you still have to get through armor Hardness. That will greatly minimize the damage armor takes by comparison.
Lastly, once armor hit points drop to 1/2 or lower, the AC bonus for that armor is halved. Once armor hit points reach 0, the armor is destroyed.
*
Please tell me what you think. I'm genuinely interested in getting some feedback on this proposal.
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