Post/Author/DateTime	Post
AethanRomn 06-26-07, 03:04 PM	So, I'm throwing a clock at a party. It's medium sized and follows the standard stats for a medium sized animated object (with hardness) from the MM...or does it? Being hollow, are there additional rules to take into account when dealing damage to the clock? As mentioned on another wesbite I posted my query on, were the clock to fall or take excessive damage to the middle of the case it would, in theory, break completely. I've been told that the clock, despite being CR2 and having hardness 5, wouldn't be too much of a pain for a 1st level party, though I wonder if hardness 5 warrants it being CR3. Should I alter the statistics of the clock in any way to either make it less deadly to the group, or are there already rules to deal with hollow animated objects?
Bruunwald 06-26-07, 03:19 PM	So, I'm throwing a clock at a party. It's medium sized and follows the standard stats for a medium sized animated object (with hardness) from the MM...or does it? Being hollow, are there additional rules to take into account when dealing damage to the clock? As mentioned on another wesbite I posted my query on, were the clock to fall or take excessive damage to the middle of the case it would, in theory, break completely. I've been told that the clock, despite being CR2 and having hardness 5, wouldn't be too much of a pain for a 1st level party, though I wonder if hardness 5 warrants it being CR3. Should I alter the statistics of the clock in any way to either make it less deadly to the group, or are there already rules to deal with hollow animated objects? I don't think it would be so big a deal to use the rules as written to stat the clock, and to assume that whatever magical force is activating it is responsible for the fact that it seems tougher than a normal (non-animated) hollow object might be. It's really a trivial thing, and probably not worth worrying over. That said, when I throw robots at my PCs, I tend to allow critical hits from melee attacks, as I personally think that all the delicate clockwork mechanisms inside of a finely-tuned machine make it more vulnerable than a regular construct with no innards at all (such as a clay golem). In my case, allowing one type of critical damage through does not merit a change to CR. I would not do something like that with the clock, though, as it is fully a magical construct, and its status as an animated monster does not rely on any internal mechanism, or even whether or not it is hollow. However, if you really feel you have to, you could probably try to treat it as having 1 HD less for its size. It still gets the bonus hit points from size that a construct would get, but it gets a little less from the dice, which might simulate your "hollowness" well enough. Since this will affect its BAB and probably saves, etc., this will likely merit a -1 to CR. I wouldn't do it, though. Think of it in these terms: You ever see a Stephen King movie where the glass in the haunted house could not be broken out while the evil spirits didn't want the people inside to leave? I have. Same thing with the middle of the clock case. It's magic.