Question about DR

[Kerilstrasz]

Assume creatureX with multiple (& different) kinds of DR..
DR 1/-
DR 1/magic
DR 1/Sonic
DR 1/fire

CreatureX is struck by a magic weapon that does:
1 point of dmg
+
2 points of sonic dmg
+
2 points of fire dmg

how much dmg it will get?
how you assign which kind of dmg is negated 1st & by which DR?

Assume creatureZ with DR 2/-

CreatureZ is struck by a magic weapon that does 2 dmg plus 2 fire dmg

will his DR negate both 2s of dmg because they are different types?
are both the 2s count as 1 attack?
how much dmg it will get?

[jindra34]

First case: 4. All energy damage (which fire and sonic are) bypass DR. So those last two DRs make no sense.
Second Case: 2. For pretty much the same reason. If for some weird reason you had a single attack that did multiple types of types of normal(ish) damage (I don't know of anyway that applies DR that you can) you would still end up with 2.

[Yogibear41]

What jindra said, DR only effects physical damage. resistance is the equivalent of damage reduction against non physical damage for example fire resistance 5 would reduce the damage something took from fire by 5 for every hit.

[Kerilstrasz]

hmm... seems i completely failed to type my answer..
i must have somehow confused in my head Resitance and DR..
ignore the post.. i ll try to place a more careful question in the future :)
thnx for the help anyway

[Hyde]

Hold on there, sonny Jim. You seem to have a misconception what needs clearin' up.

Damage Resistance reduces physical (that is to say, "non-elemental") damage by the represented amount, and is overcome by whatever's after the slash- you've seem to got this part mostly down.

DR 4/- means that Hrothbart the fighter deals 4 less damage with his greatsword, potentially (but not very likely) mitigating his entire attack.

DR 4/ magic means that a magical weapon (specifically one with enhancement bonuses, on the off chance something strange is going on) means that a magical weapon bypasses this DR.

Okay, so let's go back to that first Monster with DR 4/ -, but this time Hrothbart has a Flaming +2 Greatsword. The damage of the sword is still reduced by 4, but the extra d6 from the flaming property is elemental damage, and bypasses DR entirely. It would only be reduced if the creature also had resistance to fire.

All good?

[Hyde]

An important exception to all of this is "object hardness" which is a thing that doors and walls have in any significant amounts. Object hardness is like DR and resistance together, in that it reduces all damage, regardless of source by that amount (some sources will say they bypass hardness)

[The Trickster]

IIRC, even IF DR worked on fire, ice, etc, the first example would still be 4 damage, because multiple DR's do not stack.

For example, Terry the Tank has DR 5/silver and DR 5/good. If Paul the Paladin hits him with a silver sword for 6 damage, he only does 1 damage because of the good DR. Its the same thing if Paul has a good aligned weapon, but not a silver one. If Paul has a silver good sword, then he does the full 6 damage. However, if he has neither, the DR's do not stack, and he still does 1 damage.

Basically, after every attack, you pick the DR that is the best, not all of them at once.

[LadyLexi]

I like this thread, I'm going to show it to a new player who just isn't understanding DR.

Thanks!

[panaikhan]

It gets confusing, because some monsters have DR X OR Y and some have X AND Y.
Add to that, some spells do 'weapon' damage (piercing, bludgeoning etc), which I believe would be subject to DR.
And, of course, weapons that seemingly do 'spell' damage (such as Force) that are still subject to DR.

[TuggyNE]

Add to that, some spells do 'weapon' damage (piercing, bludgeoning etc), which I believe would be subject to DR.

Unless a spell says it's subject to DR, it isn't. There's a bit of clarification put in e.g. spiritual weapon that it "strikes as a spell, not a weapon", so is not subject to DR; however, absence of redundant clarification in other spells does not mean they are subject to DR.


And, of course, weapons that seemingly do 'spell' damage (such as Force) that are still subject to DR.

The Force weapon special bypasses DR; Hank's Energy Bow doesn't specify one way or another. (But it seems rather cheap if it does bypass DR.)