Weapon Degradation and Durability

Everything breaks with time and use - weapons being an obvious candidate for wear: their express purpose being to clash against one another and against unwilling targets. Here accumulated below are several house rules I've been privy to online discussion of or seen implemented in my or my friends' home games.

Triggering Event

Weapon breakage, in reality, was fairly uncommon - as most were made with longevity and effectiveness in mind. As such, weapon breakage should only occur occasionally - when a triggering event occurs:

• Rolling a natural one on the attack roll (even probability)
• Rolling a natural one on the damage roll (favors larger weapons)
• Rolling to hit the enemy's AC on the nose (favors fighters or other characters with better THAC0)
• DM rolls in secret whenever a player rolls; if the rolls match, the trigger occurs (even, dramatically reduced probability - but move involved)

Note, list elements are exclusive; that is, you should not use all of them - only one or two, as you see fit - lest you introduce unnecessarily accelerated breakage. In addition, however - if a player does something dumb with the weapon, like trying to hack through a stone door with a blade, it should constitute a triggering event regardless of your normal trigger.

Arbitration of Weapon Damage

Save vs Damage: Simple and Elegant

Save vs Damage
When the trigger event occurs, the player must roll a save versus weapon damage. The target number of the save should be based on the make and quality of the weapon:

• Iron or steel weapons forged in a solid piece roll against an 8.
  Examples include swords, daggers, and etc.
• Weapons on a haft or constructed of wood roll against a 10.
  Examples include spears, axes, maces,  and etc.
• Weapons of simple make or constructed of flimsier stuff roll against a 12.
  Everything else - slings, clubs, etc.

If the save fails, the weapon is damaged. It suffers a -1 penalty to attack and damage until such time as the weapons is repaired. If the weapon is damaged a second time, it breaks.

Repairing a damaged weapon costs 1/3 as much as a new one.
Repairing a broken weapon costs 2/3 as much as a new one.

This rule is simple, straightforward, and easy to implement and track. Very little fiddle factor, no discrimination by weapon type. This is my house-rule of choice between the three here presented: as simplicity always beats simulation and play-ability always trumps plausibility when it comes to improving the quality of the game.

Penalty Ticks: An Accounting Solution

Penalty Ticks
When the triggering event occurs, the weapon acquires a point of breakage. For each point of breakage, the weapon's to-hit is reduced by 1 (or damage; or both!). A weapon is considered broken when the number of ticks equal the damage die - 8 ticks for a d8 weapon; 6 ticks for a d6; etc. A weapon which is not broken deals a minimum of 1 damage on hit.

Repairing a broken weapon costs as much as a new one.
Repairing a damaged weapon should incur cost fractionally by number of ticks.

When implementing this rule, you commit your player to remember the number of ones rolled - sometimes from session to session. It's simple and straightforward, no more difficult to track than spent ammunition, however a player is more likely to forget a penalty than they are to remember a bonus: in that sense, it's on you - the DM - to ensure the rule is followed.

Riding the Dice Chain

Dice Chain Durability
When the trigger event occurs, the size of the damage die of the weapon is reduced by one step - from d10 to d8, from d8 to d6, from d6 to d4, from d4 to d3, and from d3 to 1. If the weapon is reduced below 1, it is broken.

Repairing a broken weapon costs as much as a new one.
Repairing a damaged weapon should incur cost fractionally by number of steps.

I'm torn on this one, in terms of categorizing the fiddle. In the same sense that the player is required to keep tabs of a number of ticks, they are internally expected to translate that into a die roll - but from experience, players will tend to hold the dice they use most - or put them by the character sheet - meaning that they will simply swap them out when the damage occurs.

Magic Weapons

Generally speaking, magic weapons should be special. You may rule that magic weapons don't break - or that they require being used against magic of equal potency in order to experience breakage. Or they could improve their save value by 2 per point of bonus on the item. In terms of durability on magic items, though - they should feel special, and they are special: a player might be bummed to lose or to damage one. At the same time, though, going on a quest to forge Andúril from the shards of Narsil could be a fun wilderness adventure in and of itself.

Final Word

On that note, this implementation - with magic or mundane weapons - will depend on the tone of your game and what enhances the experience for your group.

Got better weapon durability rules? Share them!

And game on, everyone!