Power attacking objects?

[schnivelbiv]

1. Is sunder a standard action or does it take up one attack (i.e. can I full attack with 3 attacks and use the three to sunder)?
2. Can you use power attack on a sunder attack?
3. Can I attack an object more than once per round?
4. Can I use power attack when attacking objects like doors and walls?

I have a 16th level PC with a Maul of the Titans (does tripple damage to objects) and power attack so I need to find out if I can now destroy walls, doors, and anything else that stands still (inanimate) with the greatest of ease.

If I can power attack and full attack walls then the following becomes true,
BAB 14, power attack, str bonus +8, and the Maul = 3d10+129 damage per hit to objects. With 4 attacks (after haste) per round thats 12d10+516.
With average damage and a hardnes of 8 a 3 foot thick hewn stone wall comes down in one round.

 

[Caliban]

You can't sunder walls, door, or other objects. Sunder only applies to weapons and shields.

However, you can attack unattended objects all you want, including full attack and power attack.

 

[ElectricDragon]

The description of the Maul is copied from earlier editions without change. As the Mattock of the Titans changed into a Gargantuan weapon usable by Huge creatures or larger is 40 pounds lighter and 2 feet longer; the Maul should have also changed. No size category is mentioned for the maul; but it is 8 feet long and weighs 160 pounds. Even a 26 Str should have a problem swinging it four times a round unless his body mass more than quintupled the weapon's weight. A 20 lb. sledgehammer is tough enough to swing fast and it weighs only 1/8th or so of the wielder. A normal greatclub weights 8 lbs. and requires 2 hands to use. This one weighs 20 times that.

IMC I have ruled that the Maul of the Titans is a Gargantuan weapon. Titans (Huge) can use it two-handedly with their oversized weaponry ability. It is a two-handed weapon for gargantuan creatures and one-handed for colossal creatures. Colossal creatures suffer a -2 off-sized weaponry penalty. As a Gargantuan weapon, it deals 4d8+3/x2 damage against creatures and 12d8+9 damage against objects. This puts the Mattock and Maul out of player reach and back into the hands of Titans and Gargantuan Giants where they belong. It also stops players from making their own path at normal speed through dungeon walls, town walls, ship keels, treasure vaults, etc.

Ciao
Dave

 

[diaglo]

just get an adamantine weapon. and attack walls and doors at will

 

[Thia Halmades]

Generally speaking, you need to get past an objects Hardness and deal HP damage to it, just as you would anything else.

1. A Sunder is a standard action - it uses "a melee attack" (SRD).
2. You may Power Attack (sacrifice accuracy for force) on a Sunder.
3. You may attack an object so long as you have attacks to execute.
4. You may Power Attack just about anything.

Your MotT sounds absurd, however, and I side with ElectricDragon on this. How that got into your dirty little mitts I don't wanna know. However. If your DM allows it, then... well, yeah. You can (as Dave put it) move normal speed through whatever you dang well please.

 

[schnivelbiv]

MotT is in the DMG page 262. Its just a greatclub +3 that deals triple damage to objects. Also gives -4 to hit unless the wielder has an 18 str. Cost of 25305 gp.

What is really the big deal if a high level PC can break a wall? The party wizard could do the same thing with the flick of his wrist and a few magic words.

 

[Infiniti2000]

3. Can I attack an object more than once per round?

Yes, but then you have to roll to hit. Of course, you likely only miss on a 1, but unless you line up the shot, you still have to roll.

 

[kjenks]

An unattended object is AC 3 (plus or minus size modifiers). If you full attack it, you still might miss (maybe only on a natural 1).

Alternatively, as a full-round action, you can make a single melee attack on the thing that automatically hits.

Power Attack adds the usual damage bonus to melee damage rolls. If you make a full attack, you might care about the attack penalty, but probably not much since the object's AC is so low that you'll only miss on a natural 1. If you use the full-round action thing, you get the Power Attack damage bonus with no penalty, since you don't need to make an attack roll. (Unlike the Combat Expertise feat description, the Power Attack feat doesn't actually require you to make an attack roll; it just applies the penalty if you DO make an attack roll.)

SRD
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Smashing an Object

Smashing a weapon or shield with a slashing or bludgeoning weapon is accomplished by the sunder special attack. Smashing an object is a lot like sundering a weapon or shield, except that your attack roll is opposed by the object’s AC. Generally, you can smash an object only with a bludgeoning or slashing weapon.

Armor Class: Objects are easier to hit than creatures because they usually don’t move, but many are tough enough to shrug off some damage from each blow. An object’s Armor Class is equal to 10 + its size modifier + its Dexterity modifier. An inanimate object has not only a Dexterity of 0 (–5 penalty to AC), but also an additional –2 penalty to its AC. Furthermore, if you take a full-round action to line up a shot, you get an automatic hit with a melee weapon and a +5 bonus on attack rolls with a ranged weapon.

Hardness: Each object has hardness—a number that represents how well it resists damage. Whenever an object takes damage, subtract its hardness from the damage. Only damage in excess of its hardness is deducted from the object’s hit points (see Table: Common Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points; Table: Substance Hardness and Hit Points; and Table: Object Hardness and Hit Points).

Hit Points: An object’s hit point total depends on what it is made of and how big it is (see Table: Common Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points; Table: Substance Hardness and Hit Points; and Table: Object Hardness and Hit Points). When an object’s hit points reach 0, it’s ruined.

Very large objects have separate hit point totals for different sections.

Energy Attacks: Acid and sonic attacks deal damage to most objects just as they do to creatures; roll damage and apply it normally after a successful hit. Electricity and fire attacks deal half damage to most objects; divide the damage dealt by 2 before applying the hardness. Cold attacks deal one-quarter damage to most objects; divide the damage dealt by 4 before applying the hardness.

Ranged Weapon Damage: Objects take half damage from ranged weapons (unless the weapon is a siege engine or something similar). Divide the damage dealt by 2 before applying the object’s hardness.

Ineffective Weapons: Certain weapons just can’t effectively deal damage to certain objects.
Immunities: Objects are immune to nonlethal damage and to critical hits.

Even animated objects, which are otherwise considered creatures, have these immunities because they are constructs.

Magic Armor, Shields, and Weapons: Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to the hardness of armor, a weapon, or a shield and +10 to the item’s hit points.
Vulnerability to Certain Attacks: Certain attacks are especially successful against some objects. In such cases, attacks deal double their normal damage and may ignore the object’s hardness.

Damaged Objects: A damaged object remains fully functional until the item’s hit points are reduced to 0, at which point it is destroyed.

Damaged (but not destroyed) objects can be repaired with the Craft skill.
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(Note that the Main 3.5e FAQ has some changes to the way energy attacks affect objects, and there are two seemingly inconsistent FAQ entries on that topic.)