Items surviving Saving Throw Question ...

[Lucius Foxhound]

My DM and I are rereading the 3E rules to make sure we do everything right. On p.150 on the PHB it talks about items surviving a saving throw.

From the SRD:
Items Surviving after a Saving Throw: Unless the descriptive text for the spell specifies otherwise, all items carried and worn are assumed to survive a magical attack. If a character rolls a natural 1 on his saving throw, however, an exposed item is harmed (if the attack can harm objects). The four items nearest the top on Table: Items Affected by Magical Attacks are the most likely to be struck. Determine which four objects are most likely to be struck and roll randomly among them. The randomly determined item must make a saving throw against the attack form and take whatever damage the attack deals.

Just to make sure I've got it right, if a character rolls a natural 1, then ONE item of the characters might be affected by the spell and needs to make a save. The PHB lists what items are most likely to be affected.

So if you make your save, you don't keep rolling for each of the top 4 items, right? The way it's worded is confusing to me...

Thanks!

 

[Berk]

If a character rolled a natural 1 on a save it is an automatic fail, no matter what the characters bonuses are. Also to go along with the automatic failure items become exposed and might be harmed. They then receive a saving throw depending on how many items are exposed and such.

If the character makes the save, which is impossible on a natural roll of 1, then no items need to make saves.

Only the 1 randomly determined item needs to make a saving throw though. Well atleast I am pretty sure it is only 1, I would get my books out to check but they are packed away and it's time to go play. =o)

 

[shilsen]

Just to make sure I've got it right, if a character rolls a natural 1, then ONE item of the characters might be affected by the spell and needs to make a save. The PHB lists what items are most likely to be affected.

So if you make your save, you don't keep rolling for each of the top 4 items, right? The way it's worded is confusing to me...

Thanks!

You're correct. You roll randomly among the 4 most likely items to choose any one. When that item is chosen, you roll a save for it, and it takes damage (or not) as appropriate.

And yes, the wording is confusing. Since you typed "so if you make your save" when you meant "so if the item makes its save", it must be catching

 

[Stalker0]

Just to chime in, the other entries on that table are for when your character doesn't have some of the top four entries.

 

[Lucius Foxhound]

Gotcha. Thanks! We'd be playing this wrong...

Personally, I'm glad for this change from 2E! It sucked to have to roll for every item every time you failed a save against lightning bolt...

 

[shilsen]

Gotcha. Thanks! We'd be playing this wrong...

Personally, I'm glad for this change from 2E! It sucked to have to roll for every item every time you failed a save against lightning bolt...

Not to mention what happened when the darn lightning bolts ricocheted...

 

[Artoomis]

If a character rolled a natural 1 on a save it is an automatic fail, no matter what the characters bonuses are. Also to go along with the automatic failure items become exposed and might be harmed. They then receive a saving throw depending on how many items are exposed and such.

If the character makes the save, which is impossible on a natural roll of 1, then no items need to make saves.

Only the 1 randomly determined item needs to make a saving throw though. Well atleast I am pretty sure it is only 1, I would get my books out to check but they are packed away and it's time to go play. =o)

To be precise, the auto failure (and success on a 20) of saves is not in the published core rules, SRD or errata, but it is in the FAQ.

The rest is correct

 

[Lucius Foxhound]

To be precise, the auto failure (and success on a 20) of saves is not in the published core rules, SRD or errata, but it is in the FAQ.

The rest is correct

But the core rules DO say that if you roll a natural 1 on a save, your items may be destroyed.

 

[Artoomis]

But the core rules DO say that if you roll a natural 1 on a save, your items may be destroyed.

True enough. Nonethless, they do not state that a 1 automatic fails - merely that it defines the situation in which an item must make a save.

You certainly are free to follow the FAQ and feel you are following the rules. I am only pointing out what is in the actual rules, or, in this case, what is not in the rules.

 

[yeebarr]

Is it ok to add another (related) question to this thread?

Can someone tell me what happens if your bag of holding is destroyed (say by a fireball)? Is everything inside the bag lost?