Portcullis Weight

[Joseph Paul]

Yeah but 16 yo with a mallet to drive the pins is cheaper...

[Stripe]

This has been asked by me and others several times, but I don't have any notes. So, posting here to read later.

[Varyon]

Originally Posted by Anthony

Of course, there's also simply using a latch or bar to prevent it from rising regardless of weight, which might be the simpler option. At lighter weights, that would mean that a gate which had just been shut but not yet barred could be lifted (though if there's gate crew trying to bar the gate, you'll have to overcome them as well as the gate).

My assumption was that at the weight of a typical portcullis, a bolt is likely going to require less ST to break than the portcullis requires to lift. Looking at LT, I see this assumption relies heavily on the construction of the portcullis and bolt, and in general I was a bit off. An average porcullis is noted to be around 450 lb, which means you only need an ST of 17 to lift it, while an average bolt requires ST 19 to have a 50/50 shot at breaking it.

Looking at that, an Extra Heavy bolt/latch will, on average, stop your ST 33 ogre, although a Vault bolt/latch may be a better idea. An Average one is going to snap like a dry twig.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Varyon

My assumption was that at the weight of a typical portcullis, a bolt is likely going to require less ST to break than the portcullis requires to lift.

There is no good reason to make a bolt out of anything less thick than the bars of the portcullis, so if you can snap it like a dry twig, forget lifting the portcullis, just sweep the bars out of the way with your arm....

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Varyon

My assumption was that at the weight of a typical portcullis, a bolt is likely going to require less ST to break than the portcullis requires to lift.

That's very unlikely; you've got crappy leverage (much worse than trying to open a conventional door), and you can use a pretty heavy bolt. It's not hard to have a bolt strong enough that you'll destroy the portcullis before you break the bolt.