Magic items hit points and hardness

[noce]

Hi, my DM has a doubt and I'll ask to you on his behalf.

Last time we played, a player stood in a fire explosion, and suffered 72 damage (144, but he made the save).
The DM wants the explosion to affect player's items, too, but we can't find rules on magic items hit points.

We know items suffer half damage from fire (36 in this case), and we know rules about weapons and armor.
We also know there's a table in the SRD for hit points and hardness of substances (so cloth, leather and so on), but it does not specify whether magic items have standard or increased values.
Is there a general rule about magic items hit points/hardness (for example, based on cost)?

Thank you in advance for your help :)

EDIT: the explosion is very, very strong. Between an enormous dynamite explosion and a little nuclear weapon.

[Morcleon]

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.

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

Worn items never take damage unless they are specifically targeted, or the creature wearing them rolls a natural 1. In the latter case, only one item is actually damaged.


Magic items, unless otherwise noted, take damage as nonmagical items of the same sort. A damaged magic item continues to function, but if it is destroyed, all its magical power is lost.

Hardness and Hit Points
Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to a weapon’s or shield’s hardness and +10 to its hit points.

(Link) (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicItemBasics.htm#damagingMagicItems)

As for magic item hardness/HP, they have the same as if it were a nonmagical version of the same with the exception of weapons and shields.

[nyjastul69]

There is a very nice simple Q&A thread for questions such as this.

[noce]

Worn items never take damage unless they are specifically targeted, or the creature wearing them rolls a natural 1. In the latter case, only one item is actually damaged.

As for magic item hardness/HP, they have the same as if it were a nonmagical version of the same with the exception of weapons and shields.

Worn items never take damage from spells, according to what you linked. In our case, the player took a little nuclear explosion in the face, so it would be unrealistic if his equipment were unaffected.

Furthermore, my DM considers magical equipment sturdier than mundane one. Maybe we could go with a houserule, something like this:
2 hardness and 10 hp for items worth less than 1000gp
4 hardness and 20 hp for items worth from 1001 to 4000gp
6 hardness and 30 hp for items worth from 4001 to 9000gp
and so on, simulating magic armor and shield progression.

Anyway, thank you for the answer about rules on the topic, it has been helpful.


There is a very nice simple Q&A thread for questions such as this.

You don't always know how simple is your question until someone answers it, anyway thanks, maybe next time I'll try the Q&A thread first.

[nyjastul69]

Worn items never take damage from spells, according to what you linked. In our case, the player took a little nuclear explosion in the face, so it would be unrealistic if his equipment were unaffected.

Furthermore, my DM considers magical equipment sturdier than mundane one. Maybe we could go with a houserule, something like this:
2 hardness and 10 hp for items worth less than 1000gp
4 hardness and 20 hp for items worth from 1001 to 4000gp
6 hardness and 30 hp for items worth from 4001 to 9000gp
and so on, simulating magic armor and shield progression.

Anyway, thank you for the answer about rules on the topic, it has been helpful.



You don't always know how simple is your question until someone answers it, anyway thanks, maybe next time I'll try the Q&A thread first.

Yeah, nuclear explosions do that in a game not designed for them. House rule as you will your nuke. The OP didn't make reference to nuclear weapons.

[noce]

Yeah, nuclear explosions do that in a game not designed for them. House rule as you will your nuke. The OP didn't make reference to nuclear weapons.

Edited the first post.

[Morcleon]

Worn items never take damage from spells, according to what you linked. In our case, the player took a little nuclear explosion in the face, so it would be unrealistic if his equipment were unaffected.

Regardless of how strong the explosion is, worn items do not take damage from spells unless the wearer rolls a natural 1 or if the spell specifically targets an item.

[noce]

Regardless of how strong the explosion is, worn items do not take damage from spells unless the wearer rolls a natural 1 or if the spell specifically targets an item.

Exactly. And what I was trying to say is that the explosion wasn't a spell, but a non-magical explosion.

[Troacctid]

The default is that items would be unharmed unless the player rolls a natural 1 or the effect specifically targeted items. However, if it's an effect that doesn't already exist in the game, the DM gets to define what it does, and can just say that it specifically damages both creatures and items.

[Sliver]

"It's not realistic" in a rather poor reason for shafting a player. The entire game is not realistic, and the character survived a small nuclear explosion, so going after realism at this point is a bit... Meh.

If broken items can be fixed, sure. If they can't, and need to be replaced entirely, I'd make sure the player is okay with that.