BREAKING OBJECTS
To break an object, you can either use a weapon or rely on force.
Smashing an Object
Sundering an opponent's weapon or an object they carry uses the sunder combat maneuver. To break an unattended object, make an attack roll against its Armor Class.
- Armor Class: Unattended objects are easier targets than creatures as they don't move, but some can resist minor damage. Their Armor Class is 10 plus modifiers for size and Dexterity (Dexterity is always 0, with a –5 modifier), plus an extra –2 penalty. If a creature spends a full action to aim, it automatically hits with melee attacks or gets +5 to ranged attack rolls.
- Hardness: Every object has a hardness value, which indicates how resistant it is to damage. Whenever an object takes damage, subtract its hardness from the total; only the damage that exceeds its hardness reduces the object's Hit Points. Typically, sturdy equipment like weapons or armor has a hardness of 5 plus twice its item level, while other equipment has a hardness of 5 plus its item level.
- Hit Points: An object's Hit Points are based on item level. Sturdy equipment has 15 + 3 × item level HP; other equipment has 5 + item level HP. Items at level 15 or higher gain an extra 30 HP. Large objects may have separate HP totals for each part. Objects lack Stamina Points.
- Damaged Objects: Damaged objects continue to work, even though they have the broken condition (refer to page 273), until their Hit Points drop to 0—at which point they are destroyed. Objects that are damaged but not yet destroyed can be fixed using the Engineering skill or certain spells.
- Ineffective Weapons: Some weapons are ineffective against certain objects; for example, low-level melee weapons rarely damage metal walls or doors. Specialized equipment can cut through metal.
- Immunities: Objects are immune to nonlethal damage and to critical hits.
- Vulnerability to Certain Attacks: Certain attacks are especially strong against some objects. In such cases, attacks deal double their normal damage and might ignore the object’s hardness.
- Saving Throws: Effects that deal damage generally damage unattended objects normally but don’t damage held or attended objects unless the effect specifically says otherwise. Effects that do something other than deal damage affect only objects if their descriptions specifically say so (only common with spells) or note “(object)” in the description of the effect’s saving throw. An object’s total saving throw bonus for STR, DEX, CON, INT, and EGO saves is equal to the object’s caster level or item level. An object that is held or worn uses the saving throw bonus of the creature carrying it if that bonus is better than its own saving throw bonus. Items with a caster level or item level of 0 don’t receive saving throws when unattended.
Destroying Objects
Using Strength When a character tries to destroy a certain object by using sudden force rather than by dealing damage, he attempts a Strength check (rather than making attack and damage rolls, as with the sunder combat maneuver) to determine whether he succeeds. Since hardness does not affect an object’s break DC, this value depends more on the construction of the item in question than on the material the object is made of. Consult Table: DCs to Break Objects for a list of common break DCs. If an object has lost half or more of its Hit Points, the object gains the broken condition (see 2.10.4 Broken ) and the DC to break it is reduced by 2. Larger and smaller creatures get bonuses and penalties to Strength checks to break objects as follows: Fine –16, Diminutive –12, Tiny –8, Small –4, Large +4, Huge +8, Gargantuan +12, Colossal +16.
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