Break DC on mithril and adamantine chains? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Break DC on mithril and adamantine chains? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
catzo
08-12-07, 01:19 PM So me and da boys ar' out dragon huntin'? Yea? We want to capture one of them big ones to impress dis local princess. But now we a have a problem, see? Does big'ons they break the chains and we have to put them down, waste of money...and chains.

Eherm. sorry about that, a whole weekend of RPG can get you stuck. Anyway. We wanted to buy some more durable chains as normal iron chains 'only' have a break DC of 26 and many big monsters and even a strong highlevel barbarian can break those without many tries.
So it would make sense to get some mitril or adamantine chains. PBH p.166. lists Hardness and HP on those, but not what the Break DC would be for things made of it. Are there any easy rules to use to calculate break DC based on hardness and HP? Or at least some book that list such chains?

Thanks. Da boys and me really need 'em because that princess a fair one.
Kouk
08-12-07, 11:57 PM Break DCs are said to have more to do with construction than material, but materials probably do make some difference.

A normal iron/steel chain has hardness 10, 5 HP and a Break DC 26.

Mithral is 1.5 times as hard as Iron or Steel, but has the same number of HP 30/inch. Adamantine is 2 times harder than steel, and has about a third more HP than steel, 40/inch.

Just eyeballing, I would guess a Mithral chain would have a hardness 15, 5 HP, and Break DC 28. Adamantine chain would have hardness 20, 6 HP (6.666667 rounded down), and a Break DC 30.

I don't know of any "official" answer though.

Why not just weaken the creature with other means, such as spells or poison? Or just use spells that keep it unconscious. Dragons have good saves, but you are bound to succeed eventually.
catzo
08-13-07, 01:18 PM Why not just weaken the creature with other means, such as spells or poison? Or just use spells that keep it unconscious. Dragons have good saves, but you are bound to succeed eventually.

Well the question arised from wanting to capture a dragon (who btw. can be hard to weaken due to good saves and Spell resistance).

But it became a general question about how you determine Br4eack DC in general.

Your number of 28 and 30 actually this the same numbers that I came up with based on how little the difference is between a normal hemp rope (DC:23) and the iron one (DC:26) and rope have 0 Hardness and only 2 hp!

So yea +2 for mitril, +4 for Adamantine seems about right, and you proved it with math, so thats cool, thanks :)

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
catzo 08-12-07, 01:19 PM	So me and da boys ar' out dragon huntin'? Yea? We want to capture one of them big ones to impress dis local princess. But now we a have a problem, see? Does big'ons they break the chains and we have to put them down, waste of money...and chains. Eherm. sorry about that, a whole weekend of RPG can get you stuck. Anyway. We wanted to buy some more durable chains as normal iron chains 'only' have a break DC of 26 and many big monsters and even a strong highlevel barbarian can break those without many tries. So it would make sense to get some mitril or adamantine chains. PBH p.166. lists Hardness and HP on those, but not what the Break DC would be for things made of it. Are there any easy rules to use to calculate break DC based on hardness and HP? Or at least some book that list such chains? Thanks. Da boys and me really need 'em because that princess a fair one.
Kouk 08-12-07, 11:57 PM	Break DCs are said to have more to do with construction than material, but materials probably do make some difference. A normal iron/steel chain has hardness 10, 5 HP and a Break DC 26. Mithral is 1.5 times as hard as Iron or Steel, but has the same number of HP 30/inch. Adamantine is 2 times harder than steel, and has about a third more HP than steel, 40/inch. Just eyeballing, I would guess a Mithral chain would have a hardness 15, 5 HP, and Break DC 28. Adamantine chain would have hardness 20, 6 HP (6.666667 rounded down), and a Break DC 30. I don't know of any "official" answer though. Why not just weaken the creature with other means, such as spells or poison? Or just use spells that keep it unconscious. Dragons have good saves, but you are bound to succeed eventually.
catzo 08-13-07, 01:18 PM	Why not just weaken the creature with other means, such as spells or poison? Or just use spells that keep it unconscious. Dragons have good saves, but you are bound to succeed eventually. Well the question arised from wanting to capture a dragon (who btw. can be hard to weaken due to good saves and Spell resistance). But it became a general question about how you determine Br4eack DC in general. Your number of 28 and 30 actually this the same numbers that I came up with based on how little the difference is between a normal hemp rope (DC:23) and the iron one (DC:26) and rope have 0 Hardness and only 2 hp! So yea +2 for mitril, +4 for Adamantine seems about right, and you proved it with math, so thats cool, thanks :)