Question About Increasing DR for "Armor as Damage Reduction" Variant Rule

[Vrock_Summoner]

So, for a game I'm planning to run, I wanted to combine Armor as Damage Reduction (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/armorAsDamageReduction.htm) with the Defense Bonus (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/adventuring/defenseBonus.htm) variant to reduce people's dependence on armor for AC without making armor worthless. However, while looking at the Armor as Damage Reduction rules, I noticed the clause about magic armor only improving the AC bonus of armor rather than also getting split between AC and damage reduction. Since I'm using the Defense Bonus rules, the extra AC from magic armor seems like it'll almost certainly be outdone by the class bonus, making enchanting armor just about useless. So my thought was to revoke that clause and let magic armor keep scaling up the DR halfway, or even just let it apply directly to the DR half. What do you guys think about this? Which distribution of the enhancement bonus is most fair if I were to do this? Or would it be heavily unbalancing to the game in some way I don't see to change how the enhancement bonus works for these variants?

[Lalliman]

It's gonna further increase the problems that armour as DR already has, which is that:
- Swarmy enemies become useless
- Dual-wielding, weapon finesse and monks become even weaker than they already were
- Two-handed power attacking becomes even more master race than it already was

If you've taken those things into account, I don't think the extra bit of DR will be a huge additional problem.

Though, I gotta say, using armour as DR in combination with class defence bonus means you're giving everyone free DR at no penalty to their AC. It's gonna really elongate battles.

[Windrammer]

Though, I gotta say, using armour as DR in combination with class defence bonus means you're giving everyone free DR at no penalty to their AC. It's gonna really elongate battles.
That may not be a bad thing... People tend to drop pretty quick and almost all stages of the game. I have a level 3 character that does his own HP in damage every attack. There's no such thing as long, epic battles between evenly matched warriors of high level - it's over in a flash.

[Ellowryn]

As has been pointed out DR tends to swing from untouchable to be being laughably useless depending on the type of enemy that is hitting you. It would require more bookkeeping (and math) but you could do DR as a percentage. Having low DR (say DR5/Magic) reduces the damage you take by 25%, having medium give you 50%, and heavy give 75%. That way no types of attack routine gets lefgt in the dust and DR stays somewhat relevant throughout all levels.