Remorhaz

[James McMurray]

Are you playing 3E or 3.5?

-Hyp.

Does it matter? The 3.5 SRD still says you can't damage a weapon unless you have the same or higher enhancement bonus. The DMG is a bit vague on the subject, and possibly even contradictory. But those contradictions don't (to my knowledge) exist in the SRD. The SRD's magic item section is very clear on how shield and weapon hardnesses are affected by enhancement bonuses, and that you need an enhanced weapon to damage an enhanced weapon.

 

[Camarath]

But those contradictions don't (to my knowledge) exist in the SRD. The SRD's magic item section is very clear on how shield and weapon hardnesses are affected by enhancement bonuses, and that you need an enhanced weapon to damage an enhanced weapon.

From the 3.5 SRD

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.

Also from the 3.5 SRD

Hardness and Hit Points: An attacker cannot damage a magic weapon that has an enhancement bonus unless his own weapon has at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon or shield struck. Each +1 of enhancement bonus also adds 1 to the weapon’s or shield’s hardness and hit points.

 

[James McMurray]

I suppose its a good thing I said "to my knowledge."

 

[d20Dwarf]

And a creature that is hunting for food will generally not kill more than it wants to eat if the others flee. (In fact, since there's more meat on your standard pack mule/pack horse, it might go for one of those first. That could also add interest to an adventure if the PCs start to run out of food or lose important equipment).

This is exactly what I did to one of my parties. An ankheg popped up and started spitting at them, so they rushed to attack it. Meanwhile, its 2 buddies had a field day with the horses. One of the horses fell over on the side where they had packed their tanglefoot bags.

 

[Trellian]

I play 3,5.

So a remorhaz, which does not possess damage reduction, cannot injure a magical sword? Or does that only count for weapons? Confused..

To give my characters a chance, I will let the ranger or/and the druid make Survival check DC 18 3 rounds in advance to notice the increased warmth. If they succeed in a 22 check, they will notice that a creature is possibly moving beneath them. The wizard can then, based on the information from the wilderness people, deduce from a Knowledge (Arcane) DC 20, that it is a remorhaz. They will then have approximately 2 rounds in which to spread out and cast spells to buff them up.

They are bringing along three pack mules, and will attack them first. He probably eats a mule, but if attacked, he will attack back for a couple of rounds before moving away.

The thought of a remorhaz stalking them from beneath for the rest of their overland trek should bring them to new levels of paranoia

Still curious about the magic weapon issue though..

 

[Trellian]

This is exactly what I did to one of my parties. An ankheg popped up and started spitting at them, so they rushed to attack it. Meanwhile, its 2 buddies had a field day with the horses. One of the horses fell over on the side where they had packed their tanglefoot bags.

Wil Upchurch? Played through Forest of Blood couple of weeks ago. Awesome! My players loved it. The final battle was a really close call, as Kazok kept healing himself over and over again. I suspected a death or two, but the blink dogs really made some fools out of themselves by fumbling one time each.
When can we see your work in Dungeon again?

 

[James McMurray]

I personally would probably house rule it to simply deal its fire damage to weapons that hit it. With hardness and half damae from energy, that could mean a very long time before any weapons were actually destroyed (an average of 9 damage per hit to a non-magical sword). If that turned out to be too tough still, perhaps the sae listed could be used to halve the damage (thus it would usually deal no damage on a successful save vs. a metal weapon).

 

[d20Dwarf]

Wil Upchurch? Played through Forest of Blood couple of weeks ago. Awesome! My players loved it. The final battle was a really close call, as Kazok kept healing himself over and over again. I suspected a death or two, but the blink dogs really made some fools out of themselves by fumbling one time each.
When can we see your work in Dungeon again?

Hi Trellian, glad you guys enjoyed it. I always worry about single-foe encounters, so I'm glad Kazok was a challenge. *devil*

As for seeing me in Dungeon again, I suppose I should write a few more proposals up. In the meantime, you can catch my entire Adventure Path series of modules at www.direkobold.com .

 

[Trellian]

I personally would probably house rule it to simply deal its fire damage to weapons that hit it. With hardness and half damae from energy, that could mean a very long time before any weapons were actually destroyed (an average of 9 damage per hit to a non-magical sword). If that turned out to be too tough still, perhaps the sae listed could be used to halve the damage (thus it would usually deal no damage on a successful save vs. a metal weapon).

Half damage from energy? A +1 longsword will have Hardness 12, Hitpoints 15, and is about 40% likely to be destroyed after one use unless they succeed at a fortitude save.

 

[Camarath]

So a remorhaz, which does not possess damage reduction, cannot injure a magical sword? Or does that only count for weapons? Confused..

The Remorhaz's ability does not do damage to the weapon it destroys the weapon. Thus IMO protection from being damaged by an attacker if the attacker uses a weapon that does not have at least as high an enhancement bonus as the weapon being attacked is irrelevant. I believe that being damaged and being destroyed are two different things, items can be destroyed because of damage but they can also be destroyed with out suffering damage.