D&D 4E Should terrain be move vulnerable to damage in 4E?

[lukelightning]

I agree that terrain is very hard to destroy conventionally. Power Attack plus full attacking can do a number on a wall or something, given a few rounds, but on a per action basis stuff can be really tough. Especially with damage dealing spells.

I've never liked the concept of power attacking inanimate objects. Isn't it assumed that when you are chopping down a door, you are hitting it as hard as you can? I'd personally houserule against power attacking things.

 

[Incenjucar]

I think the main trick here is to factor in the variety of strength in different building materials, of different ages and qualities.

Most walls should NOT be made of reinforced stone or solid hardwood, except where you actually plan on someone trying to break down the walls, such as a dungeon or the like.

Your average dwelling wall should be closer to the strength of a cheap modern wall, whether you're talking plaster or sticks. A normal human being, given that they don't accidentally hit the wood in the wall, can punch right through drywall (an incredibly liberating feeling, but not recommended for those without great health insurance, just in case you hit it wrong ). Similarly, dealing with those boards, an axe can go through them fairly quickly.

Poor joints and mortar and simple age can make things much easier to take down (or, simply, pull apart. Seriously, why punch an old brick wall when you can just chip out the half-loose mortar and take the bricks apart?

There should also be some rules for damaging yourself (or others ) via impact... I can assure you, punch a tree hard enough, you'll drop a hit point or two. Slam an orc's face into a steel bar, and I think it not-unfair for them to lose a bit of vitality.

Even if they just had a few abstract categories of wall on the quality side (Crumbling, Poor, Average, Solid), and abstract categories for type (Paper, Plaster, Brick, Wood, Stone, Metal), with a few rules for how to deal with each type...

Just make sure you throw in enough Poor Plaster walls between your Solid Wood walls and Crumbling Metal walls for Grum the Pounder to get his fun in.


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On a related note, I once got my DM to give me a Pick of Earth Parting.

Suffice to say, the Tower dungeon he threw at me did not stand tall for long.

 

[Captain Eru]

That's my main problem with it. The hp values are nowhere "realistic". And miners trying to mine anything are screwed in 3E.
Eh, it's no good for the simulationists nor for the gamists - hence: Away with these rules.
I mean under these rules, a fireball is utterly unable to destroy a tree... and a lightning does 1d10 x 1d8 damage - and is hence utterly unable to blow a tree apart...
There's something wrong. So... it needs to be fixed.
Cheers, LT.

While I can’t speak for the strength of the tree, though this may explain the power of Dread Gazebo, as for the miners, they don’t actually try and destroy everything in one blow. Mining is attrition at its best. There’s a big difference between trying to utterly destroy, or break something in half, than there is to chip away a tiny portion of a gargantuan object.

 

[hong]

I think not. If the PC are able to destroy the wall, it will rob the DM of his power to nose-lead them through the tunnels and corridors of the Dungeon. So, no sunder, no breakable wall. Look for the red key to open the red door, then, look for the blue key.

* the above post is an exorcism*

Aha! Aloïsius has been playing Guild Wars: Eye of the North!

 

[Fallen Seraph]

It would be nice to see good rules for this. But yeah, it would be hard to implement properly.

 

[MarkB]

Just for comparison purposes, it's worth noting that Star Wars Saga Edition seems to have done away with halving damage when applying it to objects, and has not assigned items higher hit points to compensate. A metal or permacrete wall has DR 10 and 150 hit points.

 

[Mirtek]

I would love to see much more collateral damage as an automatic by-product of paragon/epic fights. I would also love to see much more involuntary movement after being hit by an powerfull oppoenent (like a balor parrying the fighters blow with his sword and then flinging the fighter 30ft. away (against and through the next wall) while disengaging the locked blades) .

However while this would certainly make greate cinematic battles, I am not sure how much unnecessary bookkeeping this would add since most of the collateral damage to the environment would be of no consequence to the actuall combatants themselves (so the fireball of an epic wizards deals 15d6 to his epic opponents in a 30-ft.-radius-spread and also devastates the landscape in a 300-ft-radius-spread with 5d6 (which is are not applied to anyone of paragon or higher tier))

 

[RigaMortus2]

Man, I wouldn't want to be a D&D lumberjack.

What are you talking about? With all those dungeon doors being knocked down by Adventurers, there will be a high demand on wood! You'll never be out of a job. Lumberjacks will be a lucrative profession.

 

[Delta]

This is one of these threads that's absolutely fascinating to read, because my desires in D&D play are precisely the opposite of what everyone else in the thread wants/expects for 4E. I've always thought that 3E objects were, if anything, a lot too easily destroyable (cartoonishly so with 3.5 adamantine weapon rules).

 

[lukelightning]

Just for comparison purposes, it's worth noting that Star Wars Saga Edition seems to have done away with halving damage when applying it to objects,...

That's a good idea, it makes it a lot simpler.