diff --git a/source/isaaclab/isaaclab/envs/mdp/events.py b/source/isaaclab/isaaclab/envs/mdp/events.py
index 18c9b5eff63a..48a1adcc2fe8 100644
--- a/source/isaaclab/isaaclab/envs/mdp/events.py
+++ b/source/isaaclab/isaaclab/envs/mdp/events.py
@@ -203,22 +203,36 @@ def __init__(self, cfg: EventTermCfg, env: ManagerBasedEnv):
                 f" with type: '{type(self.asset)}'."
             )
 
+        # check if the physics backend supports material property randomization
+        self._supported = hasattr(self.asset.root_view, "get_material_properties")
+        if not self._supported:
+
+            logging.getLogger(__name__).warning(
+                "randomize_rigid_body_material: skipping because the current physics backend"
+                " does not support material property randomization."
+            )
+            self.num_shapes_per_body = None
+            return
+
         # obtain number of shapes per body (needed for indexing the material properties correctly)
-        # note: this is a workaround since the Articulation does not provide a direct way to obtain the number of shapes
-        #  per body. We use the physics simulation view to obtain the number of shapes per body.
         if isinstance(self.asset, BaseArticulation) and self.asset_cfg.body_ids != slice(None):
-            self.num_shapes_per_body = []
-            for link_path in self.asset.root_view.link_paths[0]:
-                link_physx_view = self.asset._physics_sim_view.create_rigid_body_view(link_path)  # type: ignore
-                self.num_shapes_per_body.append(link_physx_view.max_shapes)
-            # ensure the parsing is correct
-            num_shapes = sum(self.num_shapes_per_body)
-            expected_shapes = self.asset.root_view.max_shapes
-            if num_shapes != expected_shapes:
-                raise ValueError(
-                    "Randomization term 'randomize_rigid_body_material' failed to parse the number of shapes per body."
-                    f" Expected total shapes: {expected_shapes}, but got: {num_shapes}."
-                )
+            # check if the asset directly provides num_shapes_per_body (e.g. future backends that expose it)
+            if hasattr(self.asset, "num_shapes_per_body"):
+                self.num_shapes_per_body = self.asset.num_shapes_per_body
+            else:
+                # PhysX workaround: use the simulation view to obtain the number of shapes per body
+                self.num_shapes_per_body = []
+                for link_path in self.asset.root_view.link_paths[0]:
+                    link_physx_view = self.asset._physics_sim_view.create_rigid_body_view(link_path)  # type: ignore
+                    self.num_shapes_per_body.append(link_physx_view.max_shapes)
+                # ensure the parsing is correct
+                num_shapes = sum(self.num_shapes_per_body)
+                expected_shapes = self.asset.root_view.max_shapes
+                if num_shapes != expected_shapes:
+                    raise ValueError(
+                        "Randomization term 'randomize_rigid_body_material' failed to parse the number of shapes"
+                        f" per body. Expected total shapes: {expected_shapes}, but got: {num_shapes}."
+                    )
         else:
             # in this case, we don't need to do special indexing
             self.num_shapes_per_body = None
@@ -252,6 +266,10 @@ def __call__(
         asset_cfg: SceneEntityCfg,
         make_consistent: bool = False,
     ):
+        # skip if backend doesn't support material randomization
+        if not self._supported:
+            return
+
         # resolve environment ids
         if env_ids is None:
             env_ids = torch.arange(env.scene.num_envs, device="cpu", dtype=torch.int32)