I Think You Cracked the Ceiling

[mythusmage]

A (not very) idle question.

Do you take into account damage done to the environment in the course of a game? You know, that roofbeam the barbarian cracked with his axe in the fight with the ogre. Or the secret door that errant mace revealed, and jammed shut.

Does damage to the environment play a part in the game? Not only that caused by combat, but by time and neglect?

(I'm still a tad under the weather, eitherwise I'd add something to this, but this should get things going.)

 

[KB9JMQ]

I have allowed fights in which spilt ale and wrestling on the floor revealed a trap door.

Also have let the act of leaving open doors in a house on a windy day let wind move around secret doors a bit.

 

[Cbas10]

Do you take into account damage done to the environment in the course of a game? You know, that roofbeam the barbarian cracked with his axe in the fight with the ogre. Or the secret door that errant mace revealed, and jammed shut.

Does damage to the environment play a part in the game? Not only that caused by combat, but by time and neglect?

I don't by any means keep track of how many hit points the floor takes each time something happens, but I certainly keep the environment in mind.

-If a single moron can start a forest fire by forgetting to properly extinguish his campfire, imagine what a fireball in the woods can do.

-Some arcane casters love to use Sonic energy for Energy Admixture or Substitution since so few creatures have resistance to it. Hewn caves, natural caverns, and mountainous regions are probably not the best places for those spells, however.

-I've had players use flaming arrows in a house before; hitting the solid wood of the walls did little damage, but when the furniture and rugs were hit by stray arrows, that complicated the combat quite a bit.

-Time and neglect are fun concepts to play with; especially when the party is dealing with lost ruins and what-not. Rusted hinges, collapsing floors, surprisingly brittle walls, and other things can trip-up a party as easily as traps and monsters.

 

[the Jester]

Absolutely! In fact, the pcs in my campaign (currently going through a bastardized version of Return to the Tomb of Horrors) have used spells to attack the environment in order to defeat enemies before- such as collapsing a roof in order to let sunlight in on a vampire! Very clever idea, that...

 

[Nightfall]

Depends on the setting. But yeah if it's like complete overkill with two goblins in a thatched shed, there's a good chance of breaking said shed.

 

[Telperion]

-If a single moron can start a forest fire by forgetting to properly extinguish his campfire, imagine what a fireball in the woods can do.

Well, actually the heat from a fireball spell goes away too quickly to set anything on fire, but that's besides the point.

I enjoy mixing up a fight with a cave-in if the characters are using high-level spells in a closed area. One of my favourites is the flamestrike spell. It's a pillar of flame, right? Half divine damage and half fire damage. Well, it comes from the sky and strikes at the ground. So what happens when a cleric casts that spell in a tavern? With enough levels the damage becomes fairly significant, and pretty soon the tavern has a new entrance =). Not to mention all those roof tiles, support timbers and all the rest of the rubble (that wasn't disintegrated by the spell) that usually cave in afterwards.

I remember a single time when a meteor swarm (3.0, when the spell still did absolutely huge amounts of damage) was thrown at a hay barn. The resulting explosion and inferno was quite enough to kill the bad guys within. A smart PC takes a look around before starting a fight in my game .

 

[ruemere]

Well, actually the heat from a fireball spell goes away too quickly to set anything on fire, but that's besides the point.

If you supply enough energy to anything, it will burn.
Fireball, as stated in d20 SRD:
"The fireball sets fire to combustibles and damages objects
in the area. It can melt metals with low melting points, such as
lead, gold, copper, silver, and bronze. If the damage caused to
an interposing barrier shatters or breaks through it, the fireball
may continue beyond the barrier if the area permits; otherwise
it stops at the barrier just as any other spell effect does."

Drought, anyone?

[..]I remember a single time when a meteor swarm (3.0, when the spell still did absolutely huge amounts of damage) was thrown at a hay barn. The resulting explosion and inferno was quite enough to kill the bad guys within. A smart PC takes a look around before starting a fight in my game .

Heh, why enter a building (temple) to get a coven of black hats when you could just pummel it with Call Lightning (2nd ed., 3.0)? Lately, a bard in a party I run games for has discovered the joys of advanced demolishing using Shout spell. The archers on stairs fell over in appreciation of his performance.

Regards,
Ruemere

 

[Buttercup]

I don't keep an exact tally of the hitpoints of the walls, furniture and curtains. But if a player throws a flask of burning oil, say, and rolls a 1, well, the drapes are gonna burn.

Once a few years ago, my players were investigating a drug ring's compound. They got into a fight with one of the guards, and ended up burning down the house where the BBEG lived. BBEG was asleep in his bed upstairs when this happened. Sadly, I had planted some really good weapons around the house, tailor made for each party member. They never knew it, because they incinerated them.

 

[Altalazar]

I probably only pay a lot of attention to environmental damage if it is significant and/or if the party will be back any time soon. If it is a way station on the road to somewhere else and the damage is minor, it probably is irrelevant anyway - they'll never be back there and even if they do come back, such minor damage would have been repaired by then.

But if it is significant, then yes, I do keep track - gotta hold players responsible.

 

[diaglo]

most definitely.

but not all areas are static.

so if the pcs kicked down a door killed the orc and took his pie. and then went to town X to sell it. when they came back a week later. the door maybe repaired.

or the dagger they used to hack into a stone coffin may need repairs. most of the time the player knows this. but occassionally i will remind them. and they can either do the maintenance/repair themselves or seek a professional in town.