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Is there a rule that manages the fall of a potion on the ground, for exemple?
I don't think so but glass is pretty resilient when made the correct way. Have you ever tried breaking a beer bottle by hitting it on something before? It's pretty dang hard, and usually simply dropping it wont do it alone.
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Is there a rule that manages the fall of a potion on the ground, for exemple?I don't think so but glass is pretty resilient when made the correct way. Have you ever tried breaking a beer bottle by hitting it on something before? It's pretty dang hard, and usually simply dropping it wont do it alone.
This is true. When glass is made correctly, it can survive a pretty good fall. Corelle Dinnerwear comes to mind (but I think thats a ceramic type thing, now that I think about it).
Unless its dropped off a building onto a cobblestone city street below, the potion bottle should be fine.
Falling 1-10 feet causes 1d6 damage (Core rulebook, Environmental Rules). Apply that 1d6 damage to glass (hardness 1, HP 1, per the Equipment chapoter, Breaking Items).
So, it falls less than 10 feet so roll 1d6, subtract the hardness of 1, and apply any remaining damage to the 1 HP of the glass vial. If the HP are reduced to 0 or less, the vial is destroyed (per the rules for Breaking Items).
This means that, statistically speaking, if you drop 6 potion vials, 5 of them will break and the potions will be ruined. The remaining potion will be undamaged (this potion only took 1 damage from the d6, and when the hardness is subtracted, that leaves 0 damage).
Now, obviously dropping them onto a stone floor would be very different than dropping them onto a thick rug or a grassy field or a pillow. Equally obvious is the fact that dropping them from a 1' height is much different than dropping them from a 10' height.
For example, it's a houserule, but I don't let anything take more damage from a fall than the height of the fall (measured in feet). So if a potion falls out of your belt pouch (roughly 3' off the floor), you roll that 1d6 damage but if you roll more than a 3, reroll it (or for simplicity sake, just roll 1d3). This houserule makes it much less likely to break a potion by dropping it from your hand or knocking it off of a table.
Also, as another houserule, if the ground is soft I divide the damage by 2. If it's really soft, I treat it like a jump rather than a fall so the first 10' is non-lethal damage, and since objects are immune to non-lethal damage, it's impossible to break even fragile glass by dropping it from 10' or less onto a pillow.
Yes, I do this for falling people too (but they usually need much bigger pillows for it to make any difference).
And Metric had a good point. Cylinders are structurally solid, much more so than flat panes of glass. So the cylindrical shape of a potion vial might increase the hardness by a point or two (remember that a wooden door has hardness of 5, and I don't think a glass potion vial is likely to ever be as durable as a wooden door, so a hardness of 3 is probably a reasonable maximum). Of course, this is a houserule too.
To summarize:
By RAW, roll 1d6 (unless they fall more than 10' in which case roll 1d6 for every 10' or fraction thereof), subtract 1 for the hardness of glass, then deal that as damage against the 1 HP the vial has. This results in breaking 5 potions out of 6, and always breaking 100% of the time if they fall more than 10'. Optionally, consider housruling some of those other suggestions (or something of your own if you prefer) to give those potions a fighting chance.
This may make for comparing the hardness ratings an option for determining a result.
Take said beer bottle and hit it on the edge of a wood counter, and you'll more likely mar the edge, while a beer bottle on a stone table would most likely shatter.
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Sorry DM_Blake I have to disagree with you. The rules don't say 1-10 feet, they say per 10 feet fallen. You have to fall at least 10 feet to take damage. Note the first sentance in the Falling Objects section, "Just as characters take damage when they fall more than 10 feet, so too do they take damage when they are hit by falling objects."
If anything I would say a fall of less than 10 feet automatically counts as non-lethal damage, which wouldn't apply to objects.
--Earthenware Vrockery
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Sorry DM_Blake I have to disagree with you. The rules don't say 1-10 feet, they say per 10 feet fallen. You have to fall at least 10 feet to take damage. Note the first sentance in the Falling Objects section, "Just as characters take damage when they fall more than 10 feet, so too do they take damage when they are hit by falling objects."
If anything I would say a fall of less than 10 feet automatically counts as non-lethal damage, which wouldn't apply to objects.
--Earthenware Vrockery
So, the next question, could you apply an oil (read potion) by throwing it at someone as a ranged splash weapon? Something like throwing an oil of "Cure Serious Wounds" at an undead?
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So, the next question, could you apply an oil (read potion) by throwing it at someone as a ranged splash weapon? Something like throwing an oil of "Cure Serious Wounds" at an undead?Sorry DM_Blake I have to disagree with you. The rules don't say 1-10 feet, they say per 10 feet fallen. You have to fall at least 10 feet to take damage. Note the first sentance in the Falling Objects section, "Just as characters take damage when they fall more than 10 feet, so too do they take damage when they are hit by falling objects."
If anything I would say a fall of less than 10 feet automatically counts as non-lethal damage, which wouldn't apply to objects.
--Earthenware Vrockery
No way... potions and oils are 1 oz, splash weapons are 16 oz. That's what Holy Water is for.
--Vrock Pot
