Post/Author/DateTime	Post
KangTheCallipygian 10-20-04, 10:45 AM	Let's say a PC entangles a foe with a net, then attacks the entangled creature with a slashing weapon. Do they have to cut through the net first in order to be able to damage the foe within? How about piercing or bludgeoning weapons? There's nothing in the core books about this; at least, nothing I've found that's clearly applicable to this. I could see the net taking damage from slashing weapons (though perhaps not bludgeoning or piercing? Not sure about this...); in fact it's difficult to imagine it not taking damage if the entangled creature gets hit with a slashing weapon, since it's wrapped around the guy, presumably pretty much from head to toe. But if that's the case, would the PC have to attack the net first, and destroy it, in order to even be able to attack the creature within at all? Or could there be some way one could attack the netted opponent and deal damage, but also damage the net itself? The latter seems most reasonable to me from a realistic point of view, but I'm not sure how to resolve this rules-wise. Should I maybe reduce the foe's damage by whatever damage the net took after hardness is taken into account, or something along those lines? Despite my lofty goals to stick to core (or at least "official") sources as much as possible in this campaign, I guess I'm probably looking for a houserule here, unless I've overlooked something in the core books or someone remembers something from a splat source or accessory I haven't read... The alternative would be to rule you can attack the guy in the net without hurting the net at all, I guess, which seems sort of wierd IMO even if that is the way other "worn" items are normally treated when the wearer gets hit. Any suggestions would be appreciated, as my group is starting a new campaign soon in which one player has created a fighter with EWP(net). (And Lightning Reflexes, Skill Focus (Climb), maxxed out ranks in climb and jump, and he plans to pick up some monk levels later. Too much Spider-Man, anyone? :)) Thanks for any input; I've been mentally grappling with this one for a couple of days now... Kang
CruelDM 10-20-04, 11:16 AM	Without consulting the rules (someone will correct me if Im wrong I am sure ;) ) I would think that bludgeoning and piercing weapons wouldnt damage the net, nor would the net hamper them damaging the entangled target. With regards to slashing weapons, I would think that any attack that damages the enangled target with enough damage to overcome hardness and HP of the net would destroy the net in the process. This would un-entangle the target, or, at the very least, give him a modifier to his escape/Str check. Edit: Ok, I couldnt resist, I looked in a book. The hardness for a rope net is 0 and it would only have 2 hit points, so almost any hit with a slashing weapon that dealt damage would destroy the net (non magical, made of rope). The DM could, and IMO probably should, rule that the target takes 2 less damage than the attack dealt (because the net took the damage), furthermore, the net is destroyed when reduced to 0 HP, not damaged, and is unrepairable according to the PH. If its destroyed then it shouldnt be entangling the target anymore.
KangTheCallipygian 10-20-04, 12:01 PM	Thanks, CruelDM, for pointing out the 0 hardness - some remote corner of my mind had maliciously caused me to believe it actually had some, despite my having looked it up last night. But my copy of the SRD lists the net as having 5HP, not 2... I do agree that when the net reaches 0 HP it is destroyed and that the entanglement would end at that point. I also find it interesting that the SRD makes no mention of nets being unrepairable, or did you just mean it's unrepairable once it's completely destroyed, ie. at 0 HP? You can still repair a net that's merely damaged, n'est-ce-pas? So you're suggesting the net would take full damage from slashing weapons but not piercing or bludgeoning, and that the net would also (effectively) bestow DR<net's HP when the attack began>/Piercing or Bludgeoning on its contents until destroyed, removed, or escaped from, right? I think I like it! Seems a little better than your first suggestion, in which some of the HP dealt appeared to apply to both the net and its contents... Thanks! Anyone else have any comments about this? <edit - I thought about this over the weekend, discussed it with a couple other DM's (one of whom is also an occasional boards poster) etc. I'm not sure I'll use it after all as it would seem to open the door to all manner of special-casing where web spells and other forms of entanglement are concerned, the fact it's a little too much like sundering, etc. I'll probably just assume slashing weapons hit some portion of the body that's sticking out of the net to keep things simple...> Kang