Overcoming hardness alchemically.

[Elric VIII]

Okay, so from what I have managed to find in the PHB, simple acid does not actually bypass hardness (in spite of the fact that HCl reacts readily with iron, wood, and calcium-based rocks) and therefore has no reall effect.

What I want to ask is:

Is there a rule that states that acid bypasses hardness that I have missed?

Is there an alchemical item that bypasses all or a portion of an object's hardness?

[ericgrau]

Acid reacts rapidly with flesh. Iron, wood and rock... not so much. You'll see some rust, or a little bit get removed off the surface. If you can even find a youtube video they're dull and uneventful with a lot of fast forwarding.

But no, by RAW it doesn't bypass hardness. Probably shouldn't either. But at least the damage isn't halved.

[Dusk Eclipse]

stone breaker acid from A&EG deals 5d10 against rock objects that ignore hardness, around 20 GP a pop IIRC.

[Artillery]

Can you be more specific about the item you are going after?

If its stone there is Stonebreaker Acid, it does 5d10 dmg over 2 rounds and ignores hardness. Its from Arms & Equipment Guide.

Complete Scoundrel has the Rust Monster Wand for taking out metal. It needs fresh air and 5 coins a day as food.

You could get a Stone dragon Belt from Tome of Battle to gain Mountain Hammer. That is a go to thing for ignoring any and all DR/hardness. However it will only be useful outside of encounters, its 1/encounter. Outside encounters it very useful though.

[Igneel]

Stonebreaker acid as stated earlier is good for stone materials.

Rust monster wand does have a time limit of ~a few weeks best case scenario before the rust monster inside dies but works wonders on most metal items given enough time.

Defoilator (if I recall correctly, A&EG) is useful for wooden/plant items.

[Elric VIII]

Acid reacts rapidly with flesh. Iron, wood and rock... not so much. You'll see some rust, or a little bit get removed off the surface. If you can even find a youtube video they're dull and uneventful with a lot of fast forwarding.

But no, by RAW it doesn't bypass hardness. Probably shouldn't either. But at least the damage isn't halved.

That's why you catalyze the reaction with Hydrogen Peroxide. That causes fairly rapid and complete reacton. And the metals that are not affected by that can be dealt with by HCl/3 HNO3 (aqua regia). There are a few that can withstand those two mixtures, but they're not likely to be refinable in a D&D world (rutheneum weapons would be interesting, though).



Can you be more specific about the item you are going after?

If its stone there is Stonebreaker Acid, it does 5d10 dmg over 2 rounds and ignores hardness. Its from Arms & Equipment Guide.

Complete Scoundrel has the Rust Monster Wand for taking out metal. It needs fresh air and 5 coins a day as food.

You could get a Stone dragon Belt from Tome of Battle to gain Mountain Hammer. That is a go to thing for ignoring any and all DR/hardness. However it will only be useful outside of encounters, its 1/encounter. Outside encounters it very useful though.

Stonebreaker Acid is great for my purposes. Although for now the ToB maneuver items (and most likely the wand) are off the table. We are playing without magic items for now, but alchemical stuff is fair game. Is there something that would work on metal and/or wood?

[TuggyNE]

That's why you catalyze the reaction with Hydrogen Peroxide. That causes fairly rapid and complete reacton. And the metals that are not affected by that can be dealt with by HCl/3 HNO3 (aqua regia). There are a few that can withstand those two mixtures, but they're not likely to be refinable in a D&D world (rutheneum weapons would be interesting, though).

Yes! Strike down those catgirls! We must end the vile race now! :smalltongue:

[ericgrau]

That's why you catalyze the reaction with Hydrogen Peroxide. That causes fairly rapid and complete reacton. And the metals that are not affected by that can be dealt with by HCl/3 HNO3 (aqua regia). There are a few that can withstand those two mixtures, but they're not likely to be refinable in a D&D world (rutheneum weapons would be interesting, though).
Where "rapid" is a few minutes to remove a millimeter of thickness, as far as I could find in my brief laziness. Got any references?

[Elric VIII]

Where "rapid" is a few minutes to remove a millimeter of thickness, as far as I could find in my brief laziness. Got any references?

Look here (http://books.google.com/books?id=FV6z2VvHaVsC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false) on page 13, the section titled "Dissolving Matricies." I was incorrect about Hydrochloric Acid, however; I was thinking of Perchloric Acid, which is used to dissolve metals.

But, in deference to tuggyne, catgirls, and the topic at hand I think we should stick to more D&D stuff.