Sundering a ring?

[kreynolds]

riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiight...you can't attack specific body parts, but you can attack a ring on someone's finger without hurting the finger...

Personally, I think this is not a very good rule (or a logical one)...but it seems possible...

Granted, it isn't realistic, but it sure keeps the game from becoming a pain the ass to run. In a real fight, you aim to disable your opponent, his sword arm to weaken his blows, his leg or ankle to slow him down, his nose or eyes to mess up his vision, his chest or throat to screw up his respiration, whatever. Unfortunately, to be able to specifically strike someone in the arm and have the damage inflicted actually affect them in the game would require a completely different subset of rules.

1) How much damage must you inflict to determine how affected said body part is?
2) If the body part is a hand, what kind of attack penalty do they suffer?
3) If the body part is a hand, what kind of penalty do they suffer on skills, and more to the point, what about a time penalty?
4) What feats suddenly become unavailable because you have a broken finger (Quickdraw comes to mind)?
5) Can you still effectively cast spells (somatic)?
6) Can you retrieve your spell components quickly enough (material)?
7) How long does it take for your hand to heal? Same rate as everything else?
8) At what point does your wrist become sprained? Broken?
9) At what point does your hand become crushed? Cut off?
10) What class abilities become unavailable because of an injured hand (Tempest comes to mind)?
11) Are the hand and wrist considered separate?
12) What about the fingers?
13) How much damage would you have to deal to someone's hand, barring cutting it off, in order to cause the injuries to affect their fingers?
14) If you're hit in the chest, how much damage does it take to bruise you? Break your chestbone? Knock the wind out of you? Collapse a lung? Kill you?
15) and on and on and on and on....

see how stupid this gets? If this is 4th edition...keep it.

 

[EvilGM]

Sundering a ring

Ring AC 13, 2hp, hardness 10, break DC 25 (DMG 192)(default material is iron, see PHB 136 for other materials)

Attacking Objects AC = 10 + 8 (size) + 5 (in hand bonus) + wearer's Dex modifier + wearer's magic deflection bonus (PHB 135)

so...AC 23 + Dex + deflection

Keep in mind, however, that the ring has cover - protected as it were by the characters fingers (at the very least) or perhaps a glove.

If just the character's other fingers are providing cover, I would grant 50% cover (+4 cover AC bonus, +2 cover Reflex save bonus).

so final ring AC is 27 + Dex + deflection

Keep in mind, if the attack comes within 4 of hitting the ring, you have hit the character's fingers.

If the character is wearing a glove or gauntlet, the ring could not be attacked until the glove or gauntlet was damaged (or destroyed) and, as a result, granted less effective cover.

 

[kreynolds]

Re: Sundering a ring

Keep in mind, however, that the ring has cover - protected as it were by the characters fingers (at the very least) or perhaps a glove.

If just the character's other fingers are providing cover, I would grant 50% cover (+4 cover AC bonus, +2 cover Reflex save bonus).

so final ring AC is 27 + Dex + deflection

Keep in mind, if the attack comes within 4 of hitting the ring, you have hit the character's fingers.

If the character is wearing a glove or gauntlet, the ring could not be attacked until the glove or gauntlet was damaged (or destroyed) and, as a result, granted less effective cover.

Where the heck are you getting all this from? The ring has cover from the wearer's fingers? I swear I don't remember seeing that in the PH, and I have a feeling I know why.

 

[EvilGM]

I'm getting all this from the PHB and DMG.

Of course the ring would have cover - part of it is covered by the wearer's fingers. While it is worn, you cannot possibly see the whole ring. I give it one-half cover.

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

See where Rule -1 comes in handy?

 

[kreynolds]

See where Rule -1 comes in handy?

I'm familiar with Rule 0...but what's Rule -1?

 

[Varius]

Its a rule used by players to over rule Rule 0.

The end is near....

 

[noretoc]

I kind of like Evil GM idea. but I will try something even different. Because the ring moves with the user and the user protets his body, I would have the AC be that of the wearer, Plus the ring is fine giving a +8, plus half cover. That number to hit gets really high. But if you are very very good, I'd allow it. Why not, fantasy is made of stuff like this.

"The evil wizard is just about to say the word that will throw the land in utter darkness using his ring of ultimate wishes, when william the daring, Paladin of Kerius, Wielding the Long sword of ultimate goodness, sweeps belwo the wizard's defences, and slices at the ring. The two monumental forces battel for what seems like minitues, but is less then a second in reality, and bang. The rings fall to the floor, nicle slice on one end. The wizard looks at his most prized possesion in disbelief, before the palidin, cut him too, in half."

Now why would anyone strike the ring, instead of just killing the wizard. It's cool. (plus maybe the wizard had a ton o' hitpoints)

 

[Shard O'Glase]

I think the ring should get the full AC bonus of the target, +the size modifier,+ the in hand modifier. Something worn on a finger is much more protected than something I happen to be holding in my hand. All your AC should protect it just like your chain shirt somehow protects your legs. I think letting someone attack a ring is stretching the attack an object rules further than they were intended.

 

[ConcreteBuddha]

I'm familiar with Rule 0...but what's Rule -1?

As per my first post: The DBS Rule.
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.
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Seriously though, as a DM, I only want hard and fast rules for situations that regularly occur. I do not want my game to be filled with lots of obscure rules that see almost no gameplay. A game cannot have a rule for everything. With this in mind, I use these criteria for what rules I allow in my game:

1) There should only be official rules for situations that happen regularly. (Example: Initative, attack rolls, saving throws, etc...)

2) There should not be official rules for situations that happen rarely.
(Example: Swinging on a chandelier while whistling showtunes, sundering a ring, lighting a house on fire, etc...)


Anything that happens during gameplay that is not a regular, hum-drum occurance falls under rule #2. Storyline advances such as sundering the ring off the Evil-Demon-Lord's hand definitely applies, IMHO.