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View Full Version : Pathfinder Small change to Grick DR - too good or appropriate?



kkplx
2014-05-21, 10:58 PM
Hey there!

tl:dr: Would changing the Grick DR from 10/Magic to 5/Magic 5/Piercing be a nerf or a buff to the monster from a purely mathematical standpoint, and do you possibly have a better suggestion to avoid excluding my already weak party members even further.


I'll run an encounter with Jungle Gricks (CR4) tomorrow, but I'm facing an issue - my party (game is a mix of pf and 3.5) consists of 5 members:

3 are monsters in combat - an erudite, a warblade/cleric (+1 warhammer) and a soulbolt (+2 bolts, usually bludgeoning). Each of them will bypass the DR/Magic automatically.
On the other hand the remaining 2 are rather unimpactful, a ranger that fights with double bastard swords and a bard that usually shoots his bow in rapid shot mode.


Due to that I decided that the DR that Gricks usually have would be extremely counterproductive, not slowing down the DPS guys at all but completely removing the weaker members of the team.
My conclusion right now is that I'll have to either change the DR to a completely different DR10/x (piercing or slashing, maybe both, "as a protection against the teeth and claws of the jungle") or invent a completely new replacement for it, lest the combat devolve into a snorefest for the other party members.

I'm posting this here in hope of getting an exterior judgement on a 2x DR5/x or new DR10/x change from a balance perspective, or to maybe hear a different solution that i didn't think of.

Tanuki Tales
2014-05-22, 12:15 AM
What's their average damage per round?

Loek
2014-05-22, 04:05 AM
DR10/x (piercing or slashing, maybe both, "as a protection against the teeth and claws of the jungle")
While the idea "DR 10/piercing or slashing" is a good one, the fluff reason "protection against teeth and claws" is a crummy one, as both teeth and claws overcome that type of DR.

kkplx
2014-05-22, 06:33 AM
Yeah, bite attacks technically will overcome anything due to the 3 types, that's why it's partly fluff even if i make it piercing.

The Warblade has ~12 damage each round but more importantly extremely good armor (23-27). The Soulbolt has ~22 damage each round. Those are before the bard sings (+2 to damamge/hit). The party is level 5.

Tanuki Tales
2014-05-22, 11:08 AM
Yeah, bite attacks technically will overcome anything due to the 3 types, that's why it's party fluff even if i make it piercing.

The Warblade has ~12 damage each round but more importantly extremely good armor (23-27). The Soulbolt has ~22 damage each round. Those are before the bard sings (+2 to damamge/hit). The party is level 5.

DR 5/Anything is complete garbage then. Go with DR 10/something.

kkplx
2014-05-22, 12:03 PM
I'll probably run an increase in Natural Armor of +3 or +5 and Spell Resistance 10 (no hd scaling, just flat 10).

Tanuki Tales
2014-05-22, 12:19 PM
I'll probably run an increase in Natural Armor of +3 or +5 and Spell Resistance 10 (no hd scaling, just flat 10).

What's their Attack Bonuses?

kkplx
2014-05-22, 02:59 PM
+9 - +13 on the soulbolt and the warblade

Tanuki Tales
2014-05-22, 04:26 PM
+9 - +13 on the soulbolt and the warblade

Then Natural Armor, by itself, means jack squat.

Soulbolt hits an AC of 19 on a 10 or better (50% of the time) and an AC of 21 on a 12 or better (45% of the time).

The Warblade hits an AC of 19 on a 6 or better (75% of the time) and an AC of 21 on an 8 or better (65% of the time).

So your Gricks are going to still get steamrolled without appropriate DR.