Whether through sheer ferocity or deliberate application of will, breaking things can be an art. Here is a new skill to use in Pathfinder First Edition or D&D Third Edition that allows players to become masters of destruction.
Break (Str)
Break is a class skill for monks and barbarians.
You are skilled at breaking bonds, forcing doors, breaking items with sudden force, and getting through whatever is in your way.
Check: When you try to break or burst something with sudden force rather than by dealing damage, use a Break check (rather than an attack roll and damage roll, as with the sunder special attack) to determine whether you succeed. An object's hardness doesn't affect its Break DC. Typical Break DC values are listed below.
Table: DCs to Break or Burst Items
| Strength Check to: | DC |
|---|
| Burst through paper wall | 1 |
| Break down simple door | 13 |
| Unstick yourself from the floor after being hit with a tanglefoot bag | 17 |
| Break down good door | 18 |
| Burst through 6 in. thick wooden wall | >20 |
| Break down strong door | 23 |
| Burst rope bonds | 23 |
| Burst silk rope bonds | 24 |
| Bend iron bars | 24 |
| Burst out of a net | 25 |
| Break down barred door | 25 |
| Burst a chain or chain bonds or manacles | 26 |
| Break through a grate | 27 |
| Burst masterwork manacles | 28 |
| Break down iron door | 28 |
| Burst through 3 in. thick iron wall | 30 |
| Burst through 1 ft. thick masonry wall | 35 |
| Burst through 1 ft. thick reinforced masonry wall | 45 |
| Burst through 3 ft. thick hewn stone wall | 50 |
| Burst through 5 ft. thick unworked stone wall | 65 |
| Condition | DC Adjustment* |
|---|
| Hold portal | +5 |
| Arcane lock | +10 |
| Magically treated | +20 |
| * If multiple apply, use the larger number. |
If an item has lost half or more of its hit points, the item gains the broken condition (see Conditions) and the DC to break it drops by 2.
Larger and smaller creatures get size bonuses and size penalties on Break checks to force open doors or break through walls as follows: Fine -16, Diminutive -12, Tiny -8, Small -4, Large +4, Huge +8, Gargantuan +12, Colossal +16.
A crowbar grants a +2 circumstance bonus on Break checks made to force open a door or chest. A portable ram gives you a +2 circumstance bonus on Break checks made to break open a door or burst through a wall and allows a second person to help, automatically increasing your bonus by 2.
Action: Forcing or breaking through a door is a standard action. Bursting bonds or breaking through walls generally requires a full round action.
Photo credit, with thanks: Wikipedia.
20 Sept 2020 Update: Okay, color me forgetful. My bad brain neglected to remind me that I wrote about this exact topic back in 2006.
