Aquillion
2013-11-08, 12:35 AM
From the SRD (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/MSRD:Improvised_Weapons):
Unlike real weapons, improvised weapons are not designed to absorb damage. They tend to shatter, bend, crumple, or fall apart after a few blows. An improvised weapon has a 50% chance of breaking each time it deals damage or, in the case of thrown objects, strikes a surface (such as a wall) or an object larger than itself.
That 50% chance seems awfully high, especially considering that it applies to anything you can pick up and swing or throw!
Just some thoughts on the oddities this causes:
If your arms are chained together, and you can't make the DC 26 strength check to break your bonds, just declare that you start hitting people with them! Even if you're a pasty little mage, half the time swinging the chains around your wrist at someone will make them inexplicably shatter.
Note that material doesn't matter. Adamantite objects break as easily as a wooden stick. When throwing an object, only the size of your target matters -- you can irrevocably shatter a solid adamantite door by throwing it at a mattress slightly larger than itself.
Magical objects break just as easily. Have a magic ring that can only be destroyed by taking it to the mountain of doom and casting it into the flames from which it was forged? Just throw it at an orc! 50% of the time, it shatters.
But it gets better. When you're using an improvised weapon in melee, it only has a chance of breaking if it does damage. That means that swinging at a mage with stoneskin up, or a gargoyle, or a knight in full armor is unlikely to break your improvised weapon, while swinging your weapon at an unarmed, unarmored commoner is very very likely to damage it.
Additionally:
A character can effectively wield or throw an object of his or her size category or smaller using one hand. A character can effectively wield or throw an object one size category larger than him or herself using two hands.Your DM might refuse to let you treat other characters as objects, but really, why wouldn't you be able to wield someone with two hands? If you can do so, every attack you make with them has a 50% chance of breaking them.
Unlike real weapons, improvised weapons are not designed to absorb damage. They tend to shatter, bend, crumple, or fall apart after a few blows. An improvised weapon has a 50% chance of breaking each time it deals damage or, in the case of thrown objects, strikes a surface (such as a wall) or an object larger than itself.
That 50% chance seems awfully high, especially considering that it applies to anything you can pick up and swing or throw!
Just some thoughts on the oddities this causes:
If your arms are chained together, and you can't make the DC 26 strength check to break your bonds, just declare that you start hitting people with them! Even if you're a pasty little mage, half the time swinging the chains around your wrist at someone will make them inexplicably shatter.
Note that material doesn't matter. Adamantite objects break as easily as a wooden stick. When throwing an object, only the size of your target matters -- you can irrevocably shatter a solid adamantite door by throwing it at a mattress slightly larger than itself.
Magical objects break just as easily. Have a magic ring that can only be destroyed by taking it to the mountain of doom and casting it into the flames from which it was forged? Just throw it at an orc! 50% of the time, it shatters.
But it gets better. When you're using an improvised weapon in melee, it only has a chance of breaking if it does damage. That means that swinging at a mage with stoneskin up, or a gargoyle, or a knight in full armor is unlikely to break your improvised weapon, while swinging your weapon at an unarmed, unarmored commoner is very very likely to damage it.
Additionally:
A character can effectively wield or throw an object of his or her size category or smaller using one hand. A character can effectively wield or throw an object one size category larger than him or herself using two hands.Your DM might refuse to let you treat other characters as objects, but really, why wouldn't you be able to wield someone with two hands? If you can do so, every attack you make with them has a 50% chance of breaking them.