Oversized Thrown Splash Weapons?

[Scorponok]

I was wondering, is there any rules regarding the use of oversized thrown splash weapons? Say, a frost giant wants to hurl a barrel of acid at the PCs, or if a troll wants to throw a large amount of alchemist's fire? I could probably treat the acid as a submerge for one round, but I was wondering if anyone has played with huge sized enemies flinging everything and the kitchen sink at PCs.

[Darrin]

Giants have the Rock Throwing ability that removes the improvised weapon penalty, although if you want to get persnickety about RAW it doesn't really cover barrels of acid. Hulking Hurler's "Really Throw Anything" is also worth a look, and they get a reduced improvised penalty. I'd say you're looking at a -2 circumstance or -4 improvised penalty, unless there's a really good reason this creature is very good at throwing barrels (i.e., giant monkey wearing a necktie).

[stack]

Giants have the Rock Throwing ability that removes the improvised weapon penalty, although if you want to get persnickety about RAW it doesn't really cover barrels of acid. Hulking Hurler's "Really Throw Anything" is also worth a look, and they get a reduced improvised penalty. I'd say you're looking at a -2 circumstance or -4 improvised penalty, unless there's a really good reason this creature is very good at throwing barrels (i.e., giant monkey wearing a necktie).

Ooh, necktie of barrel throwing, new item!

I have nothing to contribute.

[Scorponok]

Giants have the Rock Throwing ability that removes the improvised weapon penalty, although if you want to get persnickety about RAW it doesn't really cover barrels of acid. Hulking Hurler's "Really Throw Anything" is also worth a look, and they get a reduced improvised penalty. I'd say you're looking at a -2 circumstance or -4 improvised penalty, unless there's a really good reason this creature is very good at throwing barrels (i.e., giant monkey wearing a necktie).

Yeah I agree on the attack modifier. But what to do about amount of damage? You're no longer dealing with being hit with just a flask of acid.

[Flickerdart]

I don't think there's any existing way to scale this stuff, but you can always just duct-tape a dozen vials together and fling that. "Grenade taped to four more grenades" was a very effective resistance fighter weapon against tanks in WWII.

[Darrin]

Yeah I agree on the attack modifier. But what to do about amount of damage? You're no longer dealing with being hit with just a flask of acid.

Complete Warrior has rules for determining the damage of improvised projectiles by weight. As for the acid damage... yeah, the DMG has some rules for submerging a creature in boiling water (10d6) or lava (20d6). Those seem kinda harsh, though, unless you're dealing with high-level characters.

Determining the volume of the barrel gives you an idea of how many flasks you're dealing with, but I'm not all that comfortable saying "you get hit by 144 flasks of acid, take 144d6 damage". The alternative of only applying a smaller volume directly to the target and then hitting them with splash damage for everything that "missed" is also not so appealing, as the splash damage is likely to be 100+ and thus instant death without even a saving throw. I'd probably houserule it with something like "2d6 = equivalent number of flasks you get hit with". If this is something that happens often, I'd adjust the range of possible damage to something that is CR-appropriate for what the party can handle so it's not an automatic death sentence.

Hmmm. Maybe the boiling water example might be the simplest method, with a Ref save for half thrown in there so it's not quite so harsh.

[GoldfishBowl]

Splash weapons and the like shouldn't really benefit much from being oversized. It's the intrinsic nature of the material that's damaging, though granted it is ALL over you now. I'd personally maybe double the initial damage for being soaked in it, then make them take regular damage for a couple rounds later for still being wet. Also, increase the Splash radius to maybe 10-15 feet, depending on how big a barrel. These folks would take normal, maybe double splash famage for a round, no after effects.

Just my initial thoughts