Pathfinder: Invulnerable Rager + Dragon Totem Resilience Rage Power Question

[Varok Frenzyhea]

Hi. By selecting the Invulnerable Rager archetype the barbarian, at second level gains Invulnerability (Ex): "At 2nd level, gains DR/— equal to half her barbarian level. This damage reduction is doubled against nonlethal damage" (d20). Meaning, that at 10th lvl, I will have 5 DR/-. Now, this is where it gets complicated.

I'm stacking /DR-, and so a friend suggested the Dragon Totem Resilience, which according to him gives +2 DR/- for every Dragon Totem Rager Power I posses. Meaning that if I have all three, I gain +6 DR/-.
Dragon Totem Resilience: "While raging, the barbarian gains resistance to the energy type that is associated with her dragon totem—acid (black, copper, green), cold (silver, white), electricity (blue, bronze), or fire (brass, gold, red). This resistance equals double her current DR/— from her barbarian damage reduction class feature; this DR increases by 2 for each dragon totem rage power she possesses, including this one" (d20).

If the past premise is in fact correct, then here is the concluding question, please verify the following example. Assuming I am level 10, and I have obtained the Ragerpowers Dragon Totem, Dragon Totem Resilience and Dragon Totem Wings, I will have a total of 11/DR- (5/DR- from Invulnerability (Ex) at level 10, and 6DR/- from the three Dragon Totem Rage Powers).

There are two present dilemmas here. #1 Does Dragon totem Resilience actually give 2/DR-(against any weapon damage) for every Dragon Totem I have. And #2, Does the Dragon Totem Resilience DR/- stack with Invulnerability (Ex)? ; This resistance equals double her current DR/— from her barbarian damage reduction class feature;. I ask because, the names of the DR/- class feature change, due to the archetype.

I greatly appreciate and await your replies. Thank you.

[Elinvar]

my understanding of resilience is that it does exactly that, and that it is balanced with the normal resistance because it locks you into beast totem and you can't change your resistance.

If I'm doing my math right you should actually get 16 DR/- because your resistance is you're level (halved and then doubled) + the additional 6 from your dragon totems.
This is kind of nuts, these powers obviously weren't designed to work together.
The wording says "This resistance equals double her current DR/— from her barbarian damage reduction class feature", which is replaced by Invulnerability so technically they might not work together at all.
A normal barbarian would have DR 8/- in this case, so I think 16 might be hard to swallow, but I'd say 11 is acceptable.

[Red Fel]

Hi. By selecting the Invulnerable Rager archetype the barbarian, at second level gains Invulnerability (Ex): "At 2nd level, gains DR/— equal to half her barbarian level. This damage reduction is doubled against nonlethal damage" (d20). Meaning, that at 10th lvl, I will have 10 DR/-. Now, this is where it gets complicated.

I think it's already gotten complicated. At 10th level, you have DR 5/--, not 10. The 10 is only effective against nonlethal damage. For everything else, it's DR 5.


I'm stacking /DR-, and so a friend suggested the Dragon Totem Resilience, which according to him gives +2 DR/- for every Dragon Totem Rager Power I posses. Meaning that if I have all three, I gain +6 DR/-.

With you so far.


Dragon Totem Resilience: "While raging, the barbarian gains resistance to the energy type that is associated with her dragon totem—acid (black, copper, green), cold (silver, white), electricity (blue, bronze), or fire (brass, gold, red). This resistance equals double her current DR/— from her barbarian damage reduction class feature; this DR increases by 2 for each dragon totem rage power she possesses, including this one" (d20).

If the past premise is in fact correct, then here is the concluding question, please verify the following example. Assuming I am level 10, and I have obtained the Ragerpowers Dragon Totem, Dragon Totem Resilience and Dragon Totem Wings, I will have a total of 11/DR- (5/DR- from Invulnerability (Ex) at level 10, and 6DR/- from the three Dragon Totem Rage Powers).

There are two present dilemmas here. #1 Does Dragon totem Resilience actually give 2/DR-(against any type of damage) for every Dragon Totem I have. And #2, Does the Dragon Totem Resilience DR/- stack with Invulnerability (Ex)? ; This resistance equals double her current DR/— from her barbarian damage reduction class feature;. I ask because, the names of the DR/- class feature change, due to the archetype.

1. Now, hold up. DR isn't "against any type of damage," it's against weapon attacks. It does not hinder spells, SLAs, energy attacks, or energy effects that tag along with an attack (such as bonus fire damage). That said, yes, Dragon Totem Resilience increases your Damage Reduction class feature by 2 for every Dragon Totem rage power you have.

2. It depends. On the one hand, Invulnerability explicitly replaces the Barbarian's Damage Reduction class feature. Dragon Totem Resilience explicitly stacks with the Damage Reduction class feature, not with damage reduction generally. So by RAW, no. On the other, it seems a silly distinction. But on the other, it means the difference between having DR 8/-- and 16 energy resistance at level 10 (as a normal Barbarian with Dragon Totem), or DR 11/-- and 22 energy resistance (as an Invulnerable Rager with Dragon Totem, assuming stacking). On the other, the difference between DR 8 and 11 is not massive. So, it depends.

[Varok Frenzyhea]

I think it's already gotten complicated. At 10th level, you have DR 5/--, not 10. The 10 is only effective against nonlethal damage. For everything else, it's DR 5.



With you so far.



1. Now, hold up. DR isn't "against any type of damage," it's against weapon attacks. It does not hinder spells, SLAs, energy attacks, or energy effects that tag along with an attack (such as bonus fire damage). That said, yes, Dragon Totem Resilience increases your Damage Reduction class feature by 2 for every Dragon Totem rage power you have.

2. It depends. On the one hand, Invulnerability explicitly replaces the Barbarian's Damage Reduction class feature. Dragon Totem Resilience explicitly stacks with the Damage Reduction class feature, not with damage reduction generally. So by RAW, no. On the other, it seems a silly distinction. But on the other, it means the difference between having DR 8/-- and 16 energy resistance at level 10 (as a normal Barbarian with Dragon Totem), or DR 11/-- and 22 energy resistance (as an Invulnerable Rager with Dragon Totem, assuming stacking). On the other, the difference between DR 8 and 11 is not massive. So, it depends.

Thank you very much for these answers, as they helped me a lot. Also thank you to the previous poster.