8.6 Breaking Objects
There are two main ways of breaking objects. You can deal damage to objects with attacks, similarly to how you can deal damage to creatures. Alternately, you can attempt to sunder the object with sheer strength.
8.6.1 Damaging Objects
Objects have hit points and damage resistance like creatures. However, non-creature objects treat all damage they take as environmental damage (see Environmental Damage). That means that all damage they take is reduced by their damage resistance without subtracting from the remaining value of their damage resistance.
An object becomes broken if its hit points are reduced to 0 (see Broken and Destroyed Objects). Objects cannot gain vital wounds. Objects are also not normally subject to critical hits.
8.6.2 Sundering Objects
As a standard action, you can attempt to break an object with raw strength instead of damage. This requires two hands. When you sunder an object, make a Strength check. The difficulty value of the check is equal to the object’s damage resistance, +5 for each weight category above Diminutive.
8.6.3 Broken and Destroyed Objects
An object that is reduced to 0 hit points becomes broken. You can destroy an object by causing it to lose additional hit points equal to ten times its maximum hit points, or by succeeding at a check to sunder the object by 10.
Broken Objects: Broken objects cannot be used for their intended purpose, but still retain enough of their original form to be repaired without too much work. For example, a broken wall lies in pieces on the ground and no longer blocks passage, but can be repaired with far less effort than would be required to create a wall from scratch. Magic items that are broken retain their magical properties once fixed. Broken (but not destroyed) objects can be repaired with the Craft skill (see Craft).
Destroyed Objects: Destroyed object have been damaged beyond hope of any sort of repair short of crafting the object again from raw materials. For example, a destroyed wall is reduced to dust or small, useless chunks of rubble. Magic items that are destroyed irrevocably lose their magical properties. The remains of a destroyed object generally occupy a space one size category smaller than the original object. Destroyed objects can be rebuilt with the Craft skill, but it requires significant time and investment.
8.6.4 Relative Damage Resistance
When an object would take damage from a strike, if the damage resistance of the attacking object or creature is lower than the damage resistance of the defender, the attacking object or creature takes the damage instead. For example, if you try to break a stone wall with a wooden club, the club will break instead of the wall.
8.6.5 Breaking Equipment
Normally, a character’s equipment cannot be damaged or otherwise affected by attacks. This includes worn items, anything held in your hands, and anything in a secure storage like a small backpack. Such items are considered attended. They are unaffected by damage caused by area effects, and cannot be targeted individually. Some abilities can specifically target attended objects, as indicated in their descriptions.
Loose Equipment
Some items are explicitly loose equipment. Loose equipment does not gain the protections listed above while worn as equipment. It can be individually targeted by attackers, and is affected by area effects just like any other object in the area.