Large Barred Gates: Hardness, Hit Points, and Knock spells

[johnsemlak]

I'm creating a massive gate to a cave exit/entrance (at least 25-30 feet high). It will be closed with a massive bar. It's normal method of opening will be sort of a chain pulled by a giant of 30+ strenght (sort of like the Black Gate of Morder but a bit smaller).

First, I want to create accurate hardness and hit point stats. for it.

THe basic idea is to make it impervious to straightforward attempt to open it by a level 9 party.

I figure treat it as a stone door, but giving it a hardness rating of 25, and 200 HP. The DC to lift the bar would be 30, and to open the door 28. That sound reasonable?

Also, what would a knock spell do to such a door?

 

[Pyrex]

Why would the door be 25% harder than adamantine? I agree it should have lots of HP, but the hardness is a little extreme.

If you assume it's a two-foot-thick stone wall, that gives it a hardness of 8 and 360hp. Anything but a team of miners with adamantine pics is going to take quite a while to chew their way through it.

...Knock does not raise barred gates or similar impediments (such as a portcullis)...

I think a bar that requires a large Str30+ creature to move counts as a "similar impediment" to a portcullis.

 

[Silveras]

I agree with Pyrex. If it is a standard material, it should have a standard hardness and hp. Nothing says you can't augment it magically at some point, though.

Also, I would not regard that as a door. It sounds more like a moveable piece of wall, really.

Hewn stone wall: Hardness 8, Break DC 50, 540 hp for a 3-ft-thick, 10x10 section.
Iron wall: Hardness 10, Break DC 30, 90 hp for a 3-inch-thick, 10x10 section.

Magically treated: +20 Break DC, x2 Hardness, x2 hit points.

 

[johnsemlak]

Thanks for the ideas guys. I was going to use them, but the party flew over the gate on the back of a Roc! But I had the stats on the gate ready just in case!