Why aren't adamantine weapons targeting touch ac?


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

Scarab Sages

I mean, they go through everything other than adamantine?


Having an extraordinarily hard metal doesn't turn your greatsword into a lightsaber.

You need a brilliant energy enchant for that.


While adamantine weapons ignore hardness.... well, living flesh doesn't have a hardness rating, but you still have to roll for damage rather than going right through people's arms.

Or another example, imagine a shovel going through soft mud. Sure, it is far, far harder than the much, but you still need to push it out of the way as you move.

Or the fact mechanical fact that that hardness only comes up when you are doing things like sunder, and has nothing really to do with AC. That and balance issues kind of explain most of it.

Sovereign Court

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Adamantine ignores the armor's hardness, but NOT its hitpoints.

People upon reading about adamantine immediately want to chop through walls. You can do this, but walls often have hundreds of HP, so it'll still take a while.


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Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

this actual made me realize, adamantine surgical equipment is probably very very good at doing what it needs to do.


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Because combat is highly abstracted, and involves a lot of maneuvering, parrying and blocking. Just because a weapon can theoretically cut through anything, doesn't mean it just slices through it like a hot knife through butter. After all, your kitchen knife is harder than the chopping block, but it'll take some time and dedication to cut through it.

It also occurs to me that sharpening adamantine weapons and tools must be a major pain.


Adamantine doesn't completely ignore hardness, either. It only ignores hardness less than 20. Adamantine isn't the only special material that has hardness 20, plus with magic items, "Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to the hardness of armor, a weapon, or a shield, and +10 to the item's hit points." and the Impervious enchant can double those numbers.

So, OK, let's say a GM lets you do this. You could in theory look at the hardness and hitpoints of each oppoenent's armor and add those to the hitpoints of said opponents in exchange for ignoring their armor bonus to AC. There are times that it would be a worthwhile tradeoff, but not all the time. I'd say it's much easier and smoother gameplay to let the sunder rules handle this.


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Squirrel_Dude wrote:

Having an extraordinarily hard metal doesn't turn your greatsword into a lightsaber.

You need a brilliant energy enchant for that.

Even lightsabers don't do that. In Ep1, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gonn are obviously struggling to cut through a blast door.


Bandw2 wrote:
this actual made me realize, adamantine surgical equipment is probably very very good at doing what it needs to do.

Not any better than steel for the most part. Flesh doesn't have a hardness rating for adamantine to ignore.

Now when it comes to things like bone saws, then the adamantine version would be better.

Quote:

Having an extraordinarily hard metal doesn't turn your greatsword into a lightsaber.

You need a brilliant energy enchant for that.

Brilliant Energy ignore non-living material. Lightsabers looked to be very effective against droids and railings.


Because AC is about maneuverability, hitting a vulnerable spot not protected by armor, et cetera

If you want a weapon to hit touch AC, pick up Inubrix in Shattered Star. Balance-wise, weapons that hit touch AC shouldn't cost a mere three thousand gold, deal normal damage, or other things. Plus, who would buy armor If adamantine weapons ignored hardness under twenty? Or how would damage work? I hit your touch AC for thirty points of damage minus the HP of your armor? Because you still have to hit through the armor.


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Pathfinder Lost Omens Subscriber

just sunder his armor and then attack him.


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Zhayne wrote:
Squirrel_Dude wrote:

Having an extraordinarily hard metal doesn't turn your greatsword into a lightsaber.

You need a brilliant energy enchant for that.

Even lightsabers don't do that. In Ep1, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gonn are obviously struggling to cut through a blast door.

How about we never again mention that movie? lol


I kind of lie the concept. Hm. Now I'm tooling around with the idea that adamantine weapons are treated as auto-sunder attempts if within the armor's "window" of defense, as an optional variant rule in some games. Interesting.

(It would not target touch AC, however.)


Ever play with the SCA? I know don't bring logic and physics into my game, but the difference between glancing blows and real hits feels tremendously different. Don't matter the weapon, so touch does not really work, mechanics of the game, or real world.


They don't attack touch ac because hardness and hitting something are notconnected in the rules.

Scarab Sages

K177Y C47 wrote:
Zhayne wrote:
Squirrel_Dude wrote:

Having an extraordinarily hard metal doesn't turn your greatsword into a lightsaber.

You need a brilliant energy enchant for that.

Even lightsabers don't do that. In Ep1, Obi-Wan and Qui-Gonn are obviously struggling to cut through a blast door.
How about we never again mention that movie? lol

Hate all you want, but that scene and the Darth Maul/Qui-Gonn and Obi-Wan fight were the two best individual moments of awesome in Star Wars film to date.

Yes the movie was bad overall. Still had moments of greatness.

Scarab Sages

Is it easy/hard to sunder armor? The table for the hardness and hitpoints of armor does not mention worn armor, just shields. It also says "Armor bonus x 5" which I don't understand. Any links that I can read from to better get this?

http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/exploration-movement#TOC-Table:-Commo n-Armor-Weapon-and-Shield-Hardness-and-Hit-Points


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Vincent The Dark wrote:
It also says "Armor bonus x 5" which I don't understand.

Armor has a number of hit points equal to whatever its armor bonus is multiplied by 5. So, since full plate has an armor bonus of +9, it has (9x5=) 45 hit points. Leather armor has an armor bonus of +2, and so has (2x5=) 10 hit points.

Armor hardness varies by material. Padded armor would have Hardness 0, leather/hide armors have Hardness 2, and metal armors have Hardness 10 (15 for mithral, 20 for adamantine).

Scarab Sages

Jeraa wrote:
Vincent The Dark wrote:
It also says "Armor bonus x 5" which I don't understand.

Armor has a number of hit points equal to whatever its armor bonus is multiplied by 5. So, since full plate has an armor bonus of +9, it has (9x5=) 45 hit points. Leather armor has an armor bonus of +2, and so has (2x5=) 10 hit points.

Armor hardness varies by material. Padded armor would have Hardness 0, leather/hide armors have Hardness 2, and metal armors have Hardness 10 (15 for mithral, 20 for adamantine).

Thanks : )

Sovereign Court

Bandw2 wrote:
just sunder his armor and then attack him.

I did that against a drow sorceress... the DM says: she has no armor, you can't do it. I replied: I still target whatever she's wearing. DM: you sundered her 1 hit point magical robe.

It was fun to fight the naked drow sorceress

Shadow Lodge

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I don't think anyone would buy adamantine weapon if they had
- roll to hit
- determine if you missed because of dex, armor, deflection, or dodge
- work out that person's armor's hardness (or *gasp* natural armor hardness)
- keep track of the HP of that armor while everyone else doesn't need to bother
- etc, if there's anything I've missed, because my head hurts already


Avatar-1 wrote:

I don't think anyone would buy adamantine weapon if they had

- roll to hit
- determine if you missed because of dex, armor, deflection, or dodge
- work out that person's armor's hardness (or *gasp* natural armor hardness)
- keep track of the HP of that armor while everyone else doesn't need to bother
- etc, if there's anything I've missed, because my head hurts already

Why would the player be keeping track of the armor's hp?

Why would the player be doing any of this?
That sounds dumb and annoying.

What is the armor's AC? If the attack is within that window of hitting the character, if the armor's hardness is less than 20, deal weapon damage to the armor. Otherwise, subtract the hardness. Voila.

Why would you be so convoluted?
And this is me asking, so you know you're being convoluted!
;P

Sovereign Court

Avatar-1 wrote:

I don't think anyone would buy adamantine weapon if they had

- roll to hit
- determine if you missed because of dex, armor, deflection, or dodge
- work out that person's armor's hardness (or *gasp* natural armor hardness)
- keep track of the HP of that armor while everyone else doesn't need to bother
- etc, if there's anything I've missed, because my head hurts already

I agree with you. I think that's the main reason most people don't make sundering builds; that, and also the fact that you're destroying loot... unless you have a mage on your side that can make whole the armor/shield you just destroyed (and correct me if I'm wrong, but if you sunder a magical something, there's no quick way to bring back the enchantment to it... you patch the item but the enchantment is gone)

I could be wrong though..... hmmmmm my head is starting to hurt too

Sovereign Court

head hurts...

Broken: Items that have taken damage in excess of half their total hit points gain the broken condition, meaning they are less effective at their designated task. The broken condition has the following effects, depending upon the item.

If the item is a weapon, any attacks made with the item suffer a –2 penalty on attack and damage rolls. Such weapons only score a critical hit on a natural 20 and only deal ×2 damage on a confirmed critical hit.
If the item is a suit of armor or a shield, the bonus it grants to AC is halved, rounding down. Broken armor doubles its armor check penalty on skills.
If the item is a tool needed for a skill, any skill check made with the item takes a –2 penalty.
If the item is a wand or staff, it uses up twice as many charges when used.
If the item does not fit into any of these categories, the broken condition has no effect on its use. Items with the broken condition, regardless of type, are worth 75% of their normal value. If the item is magical, it can only be repaired with a mending or make whole spell cast by a character with a caster level equal to or higher than the item's. Items lose the broken condition if the spell restores the object to half its original hit points or higher. Non-magical items can be repaired in a similar fashion, or through the Craft skill used to create it. Generally speaking, this requires a DC 20 Craft check and 1 hour of work per point of damage to be repaired. Most craftsmen charge one-tenth the item's total cost to repair such damage (more if the item is badly damaged or ruined).

...also, when making an attack that would bring the item at 0 hp or lower, the sunderer has the option to destroy the item or leave it at 1 hp; so if you're a sunderer that likes to keep the loot, all you gain from bringing items to the broken condition is that the opponent gets -2 to hit you with his weapon or he loses half his armor bonus to AC (that last one might be worth it as you can nullify tanks)

Scarab Sages

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Full HP to Half HP = item is fine.
Half HP -1 to 1 HP = Item is broken, you take the penalties listed
0 HP = Item is destroyed and unusable.

Edit: It can also be worth leaving the weapon broken on a high crit range weapon like a Falchion, Scimitar, or Rapier, especially if who ever you are fighting is a crit fisher.

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