BREAKING THINGS
1—Stuck Dungeon Door or Chest: dungeon doors and treasure chests are often stuck, if you want to open them and still have a chance for surprise, one character can try to force it open. Roll 1d20 and get STR or less to succeed. If the first attempt fails, you may try more times, but there is no chance to surprise an enemy behind the door.
2—Open a Lock or Barred Door: if a door, chest, or other container is fastened by a lock. There are two non-magical methods of attempting to overcome the lock: lock picking and acid.
- Lock Picking: A thief can open a lock on a successful Open Locks skill check, provided he has thief’s tools (or a selection of wires can be improvised). Barred or Latched doors are easier Thieves get the better of 2 Open Locks checks to lift a bar or latch from the other side using thieves’ tools.
- Acid: To open a lock using acid, 1 dose of acid is used (see gear book). The character attempting the acid rolls 1d20 and must get his DEX score or less to burn the lock open. If he fails, the lock is jammed permanently and no further attempts to use acid or thief skills will ever open it. Acid is ineffective against barred or latched doors.
MAGICAL LOCKS some doors and chests are locked by a Magical Lock (using the spell or some other arcane means). A thief's open lock skill and acid are useless against such locks. They can be opened with a Knock Spell, or Dispel Magic, or by physical breaking of the chest or door (see below).
4—PHYSICAL BREAKING: if a thief isn’t there to get the job done, characters can attempt to PRY or BREAK a door or container. Each requires a certain number of successful attempts, as detailed in the chart below. Each attempt is a check against the character’s STRENGTH ability score on a d20. To pry a container, one must have a Crowbar or one cannot try it at all (with exception of a Clay urn, for which a dagger or knife is actually preferable). To break an item requires the use of an Axe, Pick or Sledge Hammer and if one is not to hand and some sort of makeshift instrument like a Sword or Shovel is used instead, apply a -4 to each STRENGTH check (only Weapons that avoid this -4 penalty are rated with the code CH “chopper”). Each attempt takes 1 exploration turn (10 minutes) and only 1 attempt per item can be made during the same turn.
| Container | a.k.a. | Pry successes | Break Successes |
| Clay Urn | amphora | 3 | automatic on first try |
| Wooden Crate | Chest 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Wooden Chest | Chest 2 | 1 | 2 |
| Iron Bound Chest | Chest 3 | 3 | 4 |
| Strong Box | Chest 4 | 5 | 5 |
| Stone Coffer or Trunk | Chest 5 | 2 | 5 |
| Iron Strong Chest | Chest 6 | 5 | 5 |
| Wooden Door | Door-1 | 1 | 2 |
| Reinforced Door | Door-2 | 2 | 3 |
| Metal Door | Door-3 | 4 | 6 |
| Stone Door | Door-4 | 6 | 4 |
Consequences: if a prying attempt fails, or if a breaking attempt succeeds, any fragile contents of a container, such as a potion bottle, or delicate jewelry will break. Each turn attempting to break or pry requires a Wandering Monster check, and the check involving breaking things is at a +2 on the die, due to the loud noises involved.
BUSTER SKILL: a character with the BUSTER skill will succeed in breaking or prying open an object in a single skill roll, rather than needing multiple attempts.