Spells and Damage Reduction

[Feint's End]

Am I correct in assuming that spells don't allow damage reduction even if the damage of the spell is for example bludgeoning (Such as from Hail of Stones) and the enemy has dr 10/slashing?

I'm kinda confused since the DMG says DR never applies vs spells but there are spells which obviously deal "non-magical" damage like falling stones or needles. By RAW those spells still ignore DR.

[Eldan]

That is indeed the RAW. Personally, I ignore it.

[TuggyNE]

Am I correct in assuming that spells don't allow damage reduction even if the damage of the spell is for example bludgeoning (Such as from Hail of Stones) and the enemy has dr 10/slashing?

I'm kinda confused since the DMG says DR never applies vs spells but there are spells which obviously deal "non-magical" damage like falling stones or needles. By RAW those spells still ignore DR.

That is in fact correct by RAW.

Of course, since falling objects also ignore DR I'm not sure it matters for those cases.

[Feint's End]

Hmm I see. Pathfinder got it better here since some spells say that even though they are spells (or psionic powers for that matter) dr still applys. For some spells it does make indeed sense if they don't ignore dr.

[Fax Celestis]

I am fairly sure that got changed somewhere, but I can't recall where.

[Karnith]

I am fairly sure that got changed somewhere, but I can't recall where.
Complete Psionic changed the rules regarding powers and DR (so that DR applies to metacreativity powers that deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage), but to the best of my knowledge it was never changed generally in 3.5.

Spells (SLAs, Supernatural abilities, etc.) aren't subject to DR per Core rules and per the Rules Compendium, and neither Complete Arcane nor Complete Mage alter said rules, so I'm not sure where else the change would have been made.

[Psyren]

You should decide whether to apply it to both spells and powers, or neither. By RAW it only applies to powers, and that's not fair.

[XionUnborn01]

There are a few spells that allow DR on their damage, I don't recall one off the top of my head, but I'm fairly certain I've seen them before.

Of course, this isn't the norm and DR on spell effects can get weird if you dig too deep.

[turbo164]

Splinterbolt in Spell Compendium outright says that damage reduction applies to it; I don't remember any other spells with that text offhand, so I assume it was intended to be a rarity, for whatever reason.

[supermonkeyjoe]

Personally as a DM I rule that if it deals Slashing, Bludgeoning or Piercing damage then it's subject to DR, it hasn't caused any issues in games so far.

[Psyren]

I would however allow both spells and powers to bypass DR/magic.

[Devronq]

Personally I made any source of bludgeoning piercing or slashing damage apply to DR regardless of it source. (Spell power weapon etc) I don't think its a bad idea.