Saving throws for unattended magic items

[zlorf]

Hi,

How do people handle saving throws made against unattended magic items when they are
hit by fireballs, lighting bolts etc?

I understand that the magic item gets a save of 2+1/2 CL, do people actually play this rule?
If you had alot of unattended items, you would have to work out the CL, hardness, Hitpoints, whether the damage should effect it etc

Does the mage in the party become very care of placing area effect damage spells, ie fireball?

If the magic item saves, does it only take 1/2 damage?

At higher levels, i can see many magic items being damaged or destroyed regularly.

Do you use your own house rules?

Cheers
Zlorf

 

[Li Shenron]

It happens very rarely in our games, and when it does it's always an attended item purposefully targetted with a spell, rather than an unattended one.

IIRC it goes something like this:

- make a ST using the formula you mention (even if the spell didn't have a ST)
- divide the damage by 2 if fire or lightning, and by 4 if cold
- subtract hardness from the previous result (hardness depends on number of '+')

That's the damage taken.

I'm not sure but I think that magic items are not considered to have Evasion, so on a successful Reflex save they should still take damage.

 

[starwed]

Is it really that common for magic items to be lying around unattended? I suppose PC's sometimes drop one weapon to pull another...

 

[hong]

Dead PC == big pile of unattended items!

 

[zlorf]

ITs more likely to happen when you have 8 half-orc with magic weapons and armor and
a bunch are already lying on the ground dead, and then you get a fireball in the area of the dead half-orcs...bye bye magic items. .

Is it really that common for magic items to be lying around unattended? I suppose PC's sometimes drop one weapon to pull another...

 

[pallandrome]

Dead PC == big pile of unattended items!

This is why the first thing that happens to any Dead PCs in my party is that they immediately get equipped by my Barbarian.

I know a PC takes a -4 penalty for using a weapon without being proficient, but do I get a bonus on the attack and damage for his magic items?


/hijack!

 

[Len]

I understand that the magic item gets a save of 2+1/2 CL, do people actually play this rule?

Yes.

ITs more likely to happen when you have 8 half-orc with magic weapons and armor and
a bunch are already lying on the ground dead, and then you get a fireball in the area of the dead half-orcs...bye bye magic items. .

In my experience, it's more likely to happen when the party has been ambushed and captured, and our equipment has been stolen, and we escape and go after the guys who took our stuff, and my character casts a fireball, and there's an innocuous-looking shed sitting there, and... :\

But whenever the guys remind me of this incident, I just have to mention the time another player's cohort fireballed the tent containing the hostage we were trying to rescue. "We tried to rescue the Prince, Your Majesty, but unfortunately, somehow, during the battle..."

 

[Dross]

I know a PC takes a -4 penalty for using a weapon without being proficient, but do I get a bonus on the attack and damage for his magic items?
/hijack!

Yep, all normal bonuses from the weapon kick in.

 

[Li Shenron]

Dead PC == big pile of unattended items!

Aah... but is a dead character not a character anymore? "Dead" is listed in the conditions summary And what is the exact RAW definition of "attended/unattended object"?

 

[hong]

Aah... but is a dead character not a character anymore? "Dead" is listed in the conditions summary And what is the exact RAW definition of "attended/unattended object"?

No! Nooo! NOOOOOOoooooo!!!!!!!!