Does force damage bypass all DR?

[AustontheGreat1]

My friends got it his head that all force damage bypasses all DR. I Don't think that sounds right but I decided to check. Anybody know anything about this?

[Zaydos]

Yes; technically unless specifically mentioned otherwise any spell damage bypasses all DR.

Force is the only type of damage that *might* be better than untyped damage because it also bypasses incorporeal creatures' 50% miss chance. I can actually only think of 2 or 3 creatures (1 is an epic dragon) that can resist force damage, and these have specific abilities (Immunity to Force effects usually).

[Duke of URL]

Yes, it bypasses DR. It is treated as energy damage, not physical damage.

[AustontheGreat1]

That's lame...

[Greenish]

Spells bypass all DR. Attacks with a Force (MIC) bow bypass DR. Normal attacks with [Force] descriptor do not, I think.

[Zaydos]

ehh, generally force effects deal less damage than energy effects (fire, acid, cold, electricity) other than sonic to compensate. Magic Missile deals 5d4+5 damage, Lesser Orb of X deals 5d8. Orb of Force is 10d6, Orb of X is 15d6 + secondary effect. So force effects do have a notable downside.

[panaikhan]

I would be inclined to agree with Greenish.
As a spell, Force overcomes DR because that's what spells do.
Purely as a weapon (and the only one I can think of offhand is the soulknife) I would say it doesn't.
Force isn't silver, or cold iron, or any other material.

[Greenish]

I
Purely as a weapon (and the only one I can think of offhand is the soulknife)Soulknife's Mind Blade isn't a force effect (so normal miss change against incorporeals).

[Tyndmyr]

That's lame...

Resistances basically act as DR for energy types.

Force is the hard to resist type, that compensates by being generally less powerful to begin with.

[panaikhan]

Soulknife's Mind Blade isn't a force effect (so normal miss change against incorporeals).

I was pretty sure it was, but I'm away from my books.
If it's not force, what is it? I'm sure the Soulknife in our party plays it that way.

[Snake-Aes]

There are actual spells that convert your weapon's base damage into force damage, too, with the express purpose of bypassing DR and ethereal/incorporeal/whatevereal miss chances.

[Zaydos]

I was pretty sure it was, but I'm away from my books.
If it's not force, what is it? I'm sure the Soulknife in our party plays it that way.

It's not force, I think it's just weapon damage as appropriate for whatever weapon it's emulating. Only way I can think of for weapons to deal Force damage is the force bow, or a psychokinetic weapon which does +1d4 force damage just like a flaming one does +1d6 fire damage.

Actually I can't think of a way to get the [Force] descriptor on a weapon, that would be like making it [Fire] descriptor.

[Greenish]

I was pretty sure it was, but I'm away from my books.
If it's not force, what is it? I'm sure the Soulknife in our party plays it that way.From SRD:

Mind Blade (Su)
As a move action, a soulknife can create a semisolid blade composed of psychic energy distilled from his own mind. The blade is identical in all ways (except visually) to a short sword of a size appropriate for its wielder.It's Piercing physical damage (or slashing if shaped to long or bastard swords).

[Edit]:
Actually I can't think of a way to get the [Force] descriptor on a weapon, that would be like making it [Fire] descriptor.Crystal Helm soulmeld, bound to head or brow, I forget which.

[Snake-Aes]

[Edit]:Crystal Helm soulmeld, bound to head or brow, I forget which.

Head. Weapon of Energy/Energy Claw powers scale that up and make your weapon deal force damage.

[Greenish]

Head. Weapon of Energy/Energy Claw powers scale that up and make your weapon deal force damage.Actually, they allow only choice between Fire, Cold and Electricity, and it doesn't grant the weapon/claws the subtype.

[Edit]: Well, according to SRD, but I don't recall them being changed in CPsi.

[Snake-Aes]

Actually, they allow only choice between Fire, Cold and Electricity, and it doesn't grant the weapon/claws the subtype.

Right, it's Power Weapon and Power Claws.

[dsmiles]

Force is the hard to resist type, that compensates by being generally less powerful to begin with.

Sonic resistance isn't all that common, either, IIRC.

[Furnok]

My dm allows force damage spells to go through all DR except in the case of #/epic, the only way to get through that is with a +6 or higher weapon or a 10th level spell.

[Tyndmyr]

My dm allows force damage spells to go through all DR except in the case of #/epic, the only way to get through that is with a +6 or higher weapon or a 10th level spell.

If your DM applies damage reduction to spells, does he also apply spell resistance to melee?

[Furnok]

If your DM applies damage reduction to spells, does he also apply spell resistance to melee?

No he doesn't and he is kind of a ****, but I can see his argument in this case. If you have DR/Epic you are pretty bad ass. At that high of level avoiding 15 hp per attack isn't a lot wealso play uncapped damage dice on spells. So a 20th level wiz casting a fireball does 20d6.

[RebelRogue]

If you have DR/Epic you are pretty bad ass.
Agreed, but usually monsters for which this is true will have SR as well.