Stone & Metal Monsters and Weapon Breakage

[Malcadon]

I was trying to figure out a scenario where the Hero's would face monsters made of stone or metal (Gargoyles, animated statures, mechanical automatons), and how their weapons could break without them breaking automatically like with that notable Quest. I came up with a number of ideas on how to go about it, and here is what I came up with:

To break a non-Artifact weapon, a stone/metal monster needs to roll one Black Shield for each hit (Skull) it takes, than the Hero needs to roll one Combat Die for each Black Shield that was rolled and blocked. If the Hero fails to roll a While Shield, the Weapon is destroyed. Artifact weapons are not subject to this rule.

For example, the Barbarian attacks a Gargoyle with a Broadsword. The Barbarian rolls two Skulls and a White Shield: 2 hit! The Gargoyle rolls one Skull, one White Shield and three Black Shields: 2 hits blocked! As the Gargoyle blocked both hits, the Barbarian must roll at least one While Shield with two Combat Dice to avoid loosing the sword. The Barbarian rolls a Skull and a Black Shield: The sword shatters on the Gargoyle's sexy rock-hard abs!

Thoughts? Suggestions?

[Kurgan]

What about a hammer type weapon?

[Malcadon]

What about a hammer type weapon?

Yes. And I was giving it some more thought.

With most weapons (sharp, pointy, wooden types), the attacker needs to roll a White Shield for each Black Shield that blocked an attack to avoid Weapon Damage. Each point of damage inflicted upon a weapon lowers its attack score by 1 Attack Die, requiring 100 gold coins (while at The Armory) to repair. At 0, the Weapon is destroyed and beyond repair. Weapons like maces, hammers and pickaxes, that are more resilient to blunt force than blades and spearheads, only require a single White Shield to avoid any damage, and when damaged, only takes a single point of Weapon Damage.

Amendment to the example above:
The Barbarian's Broadsword above would have required White Shields to be rolled to avoid taking taking damage. Since the Barbarian failed to save, the sword takes 2 points of Weapon Damage, lowering it to 1 Attack Die. Had the Barbarian used someone's house-ruled two-handed Warhammer that is valued at 3 Combat Dice, the Warhammer would only need to roll a single White Shield to avoid any damage. As he failed to save, the Warhammer takes only 1 point of Weapon Damage, even though 2 hits were blocked in the attack.

Although, this is giving me some thoughts on applying this to Armor. That is, the way bludgeoning weapons (and stone/metal fists, and dragon claws, and so on) can cut away armor, weakening them, and requiring costly repairs. Along with that, the option to sacrifice one's Shield to absorb ALL hits on a single White Shield, while defending. Mind you, "Shields Shall be Splintered!" is a well-loved, well-established OSR (old-school D&D systems) houserule.