Hardness/Hit points of non-weapons/armor

[Yogibear41]

I have a question about the hardness/hit points of magic items that aren't weapons or armor.

Looking at table 9-9 in the PHB on page 166 gives us the hardness and hit points for various substances such as Leather, Iron, or Stone. My question is that while I know adding +1 bonuses to armor and weapons increases their hardness and hit points, is there a similar rule for other magic items?

For Example a belt of giant strength as described in the DMG is a thick leather and studded with iron. In the DMG we see that Leather has a hardness of 2, and 5 hit points per inch of thickness, the belt says it is thick so It might be 2 inches wide.

Therefore this 36,000 gp magic item has 2 hardness and approximately 10 hit points.

Looking through the PHB I see the Acid Fog spell which specifically says that it does 2d6 acid damage a round to each creature and object within it. Based on the previous mention example, could potentially all of a characters non-metal based magic items be destroyed in as little as 1 to 3 rounds of standing in said spell? Am I missing something important here?

[Maxrim]

In a cursory search, I didn't find rules on it, but a decent houserule would be for every 3 caster levels, an item gains +2 hardness and +10 hp.

[Jack_Simth]

Looking through the PHB I see the Acid Fog spell which specifically says that it does 2d6 acid damage a round to each creature and object within it. Based on the previous mention example, could potentially all of a characters non-metal based magic items be destroyed in as little as 1 to 3 rounds of standing in said spell? Am I missing something important here?
Yes. Attended items are only harmed when the wielder rolls a natural 1 on the save (and even then, only one stratified random item is harmed), the spell explicitly affects attended items, or the item is specifically targeted.
Unless the descriptive text for the spell specifies otherwise, all items carried or worn by a creature are assumed to survive a magical attack. If a creature rolls a natural 1 on its saving throw against the effect, however, an exposed item is harmed (if the attack can harm objects). Refer to Table: Items Affected by Magical Attacks. Determine which four objects carried or worn by the creature are most likely to be affected and roll randomly among them. The randomly determined item must make a saving throw against the attack form and take whatever damage the attack deal.

If an item is not carried or worn and is not magical, it does not get a saving throw. It simply is dealt the appropriate damage.

From Here (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicOverview/spellDescriptions.htm#savingThrow)

There's no save for acid fog, and it's a magical attack. While yes, it harms objects... it'll only be that cloak of Charisma +6 lying on the ground that gets hurt, not the one worn by the Paladin, Sorcerer, or Bard.

[Yogibear41]

But the descriptive text of this particular spell says it deals damage to each object. I understand something like a fireball not doing the damage to the object, but this spell specifically says each object.

[Duke of Urrel]

But the descriptive text of this particular spell says it deals damage to each object. I understand something like a fireball not doing the damage to the object, but this spell specifically says each object.

I think you may be right, but I don't want you to be right about this. I don't want the Acid Fog spell to be such an effective destroyer of magic items!

True, the Acid Fog spell itself allows no saving throw, so we could argue that this in itself means that if the creature wearing or carrying an object gets no saving throw, then the object also gets no saving throw and simply takes the damage. Specific trumps general, and this is the text of a specific spell.

At the same time, I don't like this outcome. I would rather interpret the following general rule as a rule that can't be broken unless a specific rule explicitly mentions it and makes an exception to it. This is of course the rule that Jack_Simth mentioned.


Items Surviving after a Saving Throw
Unless the descriptive text for the spell specifies otherwise, all items carried or worn by a creature are assumed to survive a magical attack.

In other words, all attended items, whether magical or not, survive magical attacks unless the creature that wears or carries them makes a saving throw that scores a natural one. Even if a spell doesn't normally allow a saving throw, you need to make a saving throw anyway for the sole purpose of determining whether you have a stroke of very bad luck and lose an attended item to a magical attack.

I don't know whether this magic-item-friendly interpretation of the rules will satisfy every rules lawyer, but I prefer it, that's for sure.

[Yogibear41]

I think you may be right, but I don't want you to be right about this. I don't want the Acid Fog spell to be such an effective destroyer of magic items!


Pretty much my thoughts exactly lol :smallsmile:

[Elxir_Breauer]

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#damagingMagicItems From what I see there, they have no special resistance to damage aside from getting to save against stuff that normally wouldn't allow one for non-magical items. As for Acid Fog automatically dealing its damage to items the character is wearing, I'd lean more towards the safe end of the spectrum to smooth gameplay but it is possible to interpret it as containing a specific override of the general rule that attended items don't get damaged as well. I could see any given table going either way on it.