Exploration

Adventurers spend time exploring dark caverns, cursed ruins, catacombs,
and other dangerous and forbidding areas. A little careful
forethought can help the characters in their adventures.
PREPARATIONS
Characters should have the supplies they need for their adventures:
arrows, food, water, torches, bedrolls, or whatever is needed for the
task at hand. Rope, chains, crowbars, and other tools can come in
handy, too. Characters should have ranged weapons, if possible, for
combats in which they can’t close with the enemy (or don’t want to).
Horses are useful for overland journeys, while sure-footed pack
donkeys and mules can be handy for exploring ruins and dungeons.
VISION AND LIGHT
Characters need a way to see in the dark, dangerous places where
they often find adventures. Dwarves and half-orcs have darkvision,
but everyone else needs light to see by. Typically, adventurers bring
along torches or lanterns, and spellcasters have spells that can create
light. See Table 9–7: Light Sources and Illumination for the radius
that a light source illuminates and how long it lasts.
In an area of bright light, all characters can see clearly. A creature
can’t hide in an area of bright light unless it is invisible or has cover.
In an area of shadowy illumination, a character can see dimly.
Creatures within this area have concealment (see page 152) relative
to that character. A creature in an area of shadowy illumination can
make a Hide check to conceal itself (see page 76).
In areas of darkness, creatures without darkvision are effectively
blinded. In addition to the obvious effects, a blinded creature has a
50% miss chance in combat (all opponents have total concealment),
Table 9–7: Light Sources and Illumination
Object Bright Shadowy Duration
Candle n/a1 5 ft. 1 hr.
Everburning torch 20 ft. 40 ft. Permanent
Lamp, common 15 ft. 30 ft. 6 hr./pint
Lantern, bullseye2 60-ft. cone 120-ft. cone 6 hr./pint
Lantern, hooded 30 ft. 60 ft. 6 hr./pint
Sunrod 30 ft. 60 ft. 6 hr.
Torch 20 ft. 40 ft. 1 hr.
Spell Bright Shadowy Duration
Continual flame 20 ft. 40 ft. Permanent
Dancing lights (torches) 20 ft. (each) 40 ft. (each) 1 min.
Daylight 60 ft. 120 ft. 30 min.
Light 20 ft. 40 ft. 10 min.
1 A candle does not provide bright illumination, only shadowy
illumination.
2 A bullseye lantern illuminates a cone, not a radius.
loses any Dexterity bonus to AC, takes
a –2 penalty to AC, moves at half
speed, and takes a –4 penalty on
Search checks and most Strength and
Dexterity-based skill checks.
Characters with low-light vision
(elves, gnomes, and half-elves) can see
objects twice as far away as the given
radius. Double the effective radius of
bright light and of shadowy illumination
for such characters. For
example, a torch provides bright
illumination to a radius of 40 feet
(rather than 20 feet) for a character
with low-light vision, and it
provides shadowy illumination to a
radius of 80 feet (rather than 40
feet).
Characters with darkvision
(dwarves and half-orcs) can see lit
areas normally as well as dark areas
within 60 feet. A creature can’t hide
within 60 feet of a character with
darkvision unless it is invisible or has
cover.
BREAKING AND
ENTERING
There inevitably comes a time when a
character must break something,
whether it’s a door, a chain, or a chest
full of treasure.
When attempting to break an
object, you have two choices: smash it
with a weapon or break it with sheer
strength.
Smashing an Object
Smashing a weapon or shield with a slashing or bludgeoning
weapon is accomplished by the sunder special attack (see Sunder,
page 158). Smashing an object is a lot like sundering a weapon or
shield, except that your attack roll is opposed by the object’s AC.
Generally, you can smash an object only with a bludgeoning or
slashing weapon.
Armor Class: Objects are easier to hit than creatures because
they usually don’t move, but many are tough enough to shrug off
some damage from each blow. An object’s Armor Class is equal to 10
+ its size modifier + its Dexterity modifier. An inanimate object has
not only a Dexterity of 0 (–5 penalty to AC), but also an additional –2
penalty to its AC. Furthermore, if you take a full-round action to line
up a shot, you get an automatic hit with a melee weapon and a +5
bonus on attack rolls with a ranged weapon.
Hardness: Each object has hardness—a number that represents
how well it resists damage. Whenever an object takes damage,
subtract its hardness from the damage. Only damage in excess of its
hardness is deducted from the object’s hit points (see Table 9–8:
Common Armor, Weapon, and Shield Hardness and Hit Points;
Table 9–9: Substance Hardness and Hit Points; and Table 9–11:
Object Hardness and Hit Points).
Hit Points: An object’s hit point total depends on what it is made
of and how big it is (see Table 9–8, Table 9–9, and Table 9–11).
When an object’s hit points reach 0, it’s ruined.
Very large objects have separate hit point totals for
different sections. For example, you can attack and ruin a
wagon wheel without destroying the whole wagon.
Energy Attacks: Acid and sonic attacks deal
damage to most objects just as they do to
creatures; roll damage and apply it
normally after a successful hit. Electricity
and fire attacks deal half
damage to most objects; divide
the damage dealt by 2 before
applying the hardness. Cold
attacks deal one-quarter
damage to most objects;
divide the damage dealt
by 4 before applying the
hardness.
Ranged Weapon Damage:
Objects take half
damage from ranged weapons
(unless the weapon is a
siege engine or something
similar). Divide the damage dealt
by 2 before applying the object’s
hardness.
Ineffective Weapons: The DM may
determine that certain weapons just
can’t effectively deal damage to certain
objects. For example, you may have a
hard time chopping down a door by
shooting arrows at it or cutting a robe
with a club.
Immunities: Objects are immune to
nonlethal damage and to critical hits. Even
animated objects, which are otherwise considered
creatures, have these immunities because they
are constructs.
Magic Armor, Shields, and Weapons: 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. For example, a +1 longsword has hardness 12 and
15 hp, while a +3 heavy steel shield has hardness 16 and 50 hp.
Vulnerability to Certain Attacks: The DM may rule that certain
attacks are especially successful against some objects. For example,
it’s easy to light a curtain on fire, chop down a tree with an ax, or rip
up a scroll. In such cases, attacks deal double their normal damage
and may (at the DM’s discretion) ignore the object’s hardness.
Damaged Objects: A damaged object remains fully functional until
the item’s hit points are reduced to 0, at which point it is destroyed.
For instance, the wielder of a damaged weapon takes no penalty due
to the weapon’s damage, and damaged armor and shields still
provide their full normal bonus to AC. Damaged (but not destroyed)
objects can be repaired with the Craft skill (see page 70).
Saving Throws: Nonmagical, unattended items never make
saving throws. They are considered to have failed their saving
throws, so they always are affected by (for instance) a disintegrate
spell. An item attended by a character (being grasped, touched, or
worn) makes saving throws as the character (that is, using the
character’s saving throw bonus).
Table 9–8: Common Armor, Weapon,
and Shield Hardness and Hit Points
Weapon or Shield Example Hardness HP1
Light blade Short sword 10 2
One-handed blade Longsword 10 5
Two-handed blade Greatsword 10 10
Light metal-hafted weapon Light mace 10 10
One-handed metal-hafted weapon Heavy mace 10 20
Light hafted weapon Handaxe 5 2
One-handed hafted weapon Battleaxe 5 5
Two-handed hafted weapon Greataxe 5 10
Projectile weapon Crossbow 5 5
Armor — special2 armor
bonus × 5
Buckler — 10 5
Light wooden shield — 5 7
Heavy wooden shield — 5 15
Light steel shield — 10 10
Heavy steel shield — 10 20
Tower shield — 5 20
1 The hp value given is for Medium armor, weapons, and shields.
Divide by 2 for each size category of the item smaller than Medium, or
multiply it by 2 for each size category larger than Medium.
2 Varies by material; see Table 9–9.
Table 9–9: Substance Hardness and Hit Points
Substance Hardness Hit Points
Paper or cloth 0 2/inch of thickness
Rope 0 2/inch of thickness
Glass 1 1/inch of thickness
Ice 0 3/inch of thickness
Leather or hide 2 5/inch of thickness
Wood 5 10/inch of thickness
Stone 8 15/inch of thickness
Iron or steel 10 30/inch of thickness
Mithral 15 30/inch of thickness
Adamantine 20 40/inch of thickness
Table 9–10: Size and Armor Class of Objects
Size (Example) AC Modifier Size (Example) AC Modifier
Colossal (broad –8 Medium (barrel) +0
side of a barn) Small (chair) +1
Gargantuan (narrow –4 Tiny (book) +2
side of a barn) Diminutive (scroll) +4
Huge (wagon) –2 Fine (potion) +8
Large (big door) –1
Table 9–11: Object Hardness and Hit Points
Object Hardness Hit Points Break DC
Rope (1 inch diam.) 0 2 23
Simple wooden door 5 10 13
Small chest 5 1 17
Good wooden door 5 15 18
Treasure chest 5 15 23
Strong wooden door 5 20 23
Masonry wall (1 ft. thick) 8 90 35
Hewn stone (3 ft. thick) 8 540 50
Chain 10 5 26
Manacles 10 10 26
Masterwork manacles 10 10 28
Iron door (2 in. thick) 10 60 28
Table 9–12: DCs to Break or Burst Items
Strength Check to: DC
Break down simple door 13
Break down good door 18
Break down strong door 23
Burst rope bonds 23
Bend iron bars 24
Break down barred door 25
Burst chain bonds 26
Break down iron door 28
Condition DC Adjustment1
Hold portal +5
Arcane lock +10
Magic items always get saving throws. A magic item’s Fortitude,
Reflex, and Will save bonuses are equal to 2 + one-half its caster
level. An attended magic item either makes saving throws as its
owner or uses its own saving throw bonus, whichever is better.
(Caster levels of magic items are covered in the Dungeon Master’s
Guide.)
Example of Breaking an Object: Lidda, a rogue, can’t pick the lock on
the big treasure chest that Mialee, the elf, just found behind a secret
door, so Krusk, the barbarian, volunteers to open it in a more
straightforward manner. The chest, made of wood, has hardness 5,
so the chest takes only 5 points of damage from his attack. The wood
is 1 inch thick, so it had 10 hit points. Now it has 5. Krusk has
gouged the wood but not yet broken the chest open. On his second
attack, he deals 4 points of damage. That’s lower than the chest’s
hardness, so the chest takes no damage at all—a glancing blow. His
third blow, however, deals 12 points of damage (which means the
chest takes 7), and the chest breaks open.
Animated Objects: Animated objects (see the Monster Manual)
count as creatures for purposes of determining their Armor Class
(do not treat them as inanimate objects).
Breaking Items
When a character tries to break something with sudden force rather
than by dealing damage, use a Strength check (rather than an attack
roll and damage roll, as with the sunder special attack) to see
whether he or she succeeds. The DC depends more on the
construction of the item than on the material. For instance, an iron
door with a weak lock can be forced open much more easily than it
can be hacked down.
If an item has lost half or more of its hit points, the DC to break it
drops by 2.
Larger and smaller creatures get size bonuses and size penalties
on Strength checks to break open doors as follows: Fine –16,
Diminutive –12, Tiny –8, Small –4, Large +4, Huge +8, Gargantuan
+12, Colossal +16.
A crowbar (page 126) or portable ram (page 127) improves a
character’s chance of breaking open a door.
MARCHING ORDER
The characters in a party need to decide what their matching order
is. Marching order is the relative position of the characters to each
other while they are moving (who is in front of or next to whom).
Arrange your miniature figures on the battle grid to represent the
PC’s relative locations. You can change the marching order as the
party enters different areas, as characters get wounded, or at other
times for any reason.
In a marching order, the sturdiest characters, such as barbarians,
fighters, and paladins, usually go in front. Wizards, sorcerers, and
bards often find a place in the middle or back of the party, where
they are protected from direct attack. Clerics and druids are good
choices for rear guard. They’re tough enough to withstand a rear
attack, and they’re important enough as healers that it’s risky to put
them in the front line. Rogues, rangers, and monks might serve as
stealthy scouts, though they have to be careful if they’re away from
the safety of the party.
If the characters are not far apart, they can protect each other, but
they’re more vulnerable to many spells when they cluster together,
so sometimes it pays to spread out a little.