Strength Checks and crowbars?


Beginner Box


Just wondering what would be a good range to use when it comes to strength checks. I was thinknig of using the disable device as a template, 20 for simply, 25 for average, 30 for difficult and 40 for superior, but it strikes me, unlike skills, strength barely ever increase. So what would be a good template to use?


Ability checks and skill checks are very different because you can get ranks in a skill but not in an ability (and skills include the ability bonus).

The best plan is to start with what a reasonable bonus is for a character. Let us say that 14 is a good base value. So that's a +2. Think about what you want someone with a 14 to be able to do 50% of the time; that is a DC 13.

A DC 13 is considered the base value for breaking down a simple wooden door, like you have in your house. This isn't about smashing it to splinters, just shoving or smashing it open in one hit. A well made door would be a DC 18. For comparison, to simply rip apart a rope is a DC 23 and bending iron bars (such as in a prison cell) is a 24.

It is worth noting that the DC 24 would require a person with an 18 strength to roll a 20 to do it. This indicates only a 5% chance to succeed. That is very hard to do. Even a high level character with an exceptional strength of 24 will need to roll at least a 17 to bend iron bars.

Now, something like a crowbar falls under tools. A tool can give any bonus you want, though between +2 and +4 is considered reasonable. This is extra useful for ability checks since a character's bonus is so small (a strength 14 character with a +2 from his crowbar effectively doubled his bonus for breaking open a door).

So set those ability check DCs relatively low. Using the Disable Device system, you're talking about a simple lock at DC 20 but a good rogue with good tools is at least +10 at level 1 and probably +24 or higher at level 10. While his dexterity ability checks would be +3 at level 1 and maybe only +5 at level 10.


There is a table of DCs for damaging objects in the core rulebook. It's linked online here:
http://paizo.com/pathfinderRPG/prd/additionalRules.html#_breaking-and-enter ing

There should be something close to what you need there.

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