When would I deal damage to items?

[Neurotoxin]

Recently, my players fought a squad of babaus, and to their credit, they handled it like champs. However, the demons' Protective Slime ability got me thinking about weapon and armor damage.

Under what situations would I deal damage to, say, a shield, armor, or an item hanging from somebody's belt, in addition to what the player would take? Up until now I've just been ticking off the players HP total, but it seems like something along the lines of a breath weapon or Acid Fog might eventually break their items.

What sort of effects damage a character's items, and what is the procedure for saving throws, knowing what items were affected, etc?

[wraithstrike]

The only time items take damage is if they are targeted directly or if the character rolls a natural one against certain spells.

Quote:

Items Surviving after a Saving Throw: Unless the descriptive text for the spell specifies otherwise, all items carried or worn by a creature are assumed to survive a magical attack. If a creature rolls a natural 1 on its saving throw against the effect, however, an exposed item is harmed (if the attack can harm objects). Refer to Table: Items Affected by Magical Attacks: Items Affected by Magical Attacks. Determine which four objects carried or worn by the creature are most likely to be affected and roll randomly among them. The randomly determined item must make a saving throw against the attack form and take whatever damage the attack dealt.

If the selected item is not carried or worn and is not magical, it does not get a saving throw. It simply is dealt the appropriate damage.

The fireball spell is an example of such an attack.

[wraithstrike]

Otherwise there would be too much book-keeping.

[Neurotoxin]

That was incredibly helpful, thank you.