How hard does this house rule break balance?

[SCPTropes]

So at my gaming table, we've been using a house rule for resistances:

Having multiple resistances to the same elemental (non B/S/P) damage from different sources gives immunity to the listed damage type.

How badly would this hurt game balance?

[Coffee_Dragon]

Well, it would very much seem to depend on the type of adventure or campaign being run, wouldn't it? If you're running a prepared adventure with lots of themed set pieces that players can prepare for, you might not like to have them trivialized. In another type of campaign it might just be a neat signature thing that Bob the Barbarian is impervious to cold damage and it's cool when it becomes relevant every now and then.

[Torpin]

bear totem warrior, stoneskin makes you immune to nonmagical bludgeoning piercing and slashing. then you cast protection from energy fire on it and a 5th level barbarian can now kill an ancient red dragon

wait i didnt notice the part about bps


that being said immunity is far superior to resistance like they arent even in the same league.

[Kane0]

Yeah it's probably fine. How often do you really expect it to come up at the table?

[JakOfAllTirades]

How easy is it to come by multiple sources of resistance? If it's relatively easy, you're going to see a lot of immunities.

The most common source right of the gate are racial features. This would make races with natural resistances much better picks, since they're halfway to being immune to those damage types.

I'd be cautious with a house rule like this.

[Galithar]

Bear totem Barbarian - Resistance to all non-psychic damage
Cleric casts warding bond - resistance to all damage.

Barbarian has resistance to B/S/P and Psychic and is functionally immune to everything else.

So without restrictions very very broken if anyone is attempting to abuse it. If your table can generally agree to not be asshats it could be okay. But I'd still recommend a restriction for things that give resistance to multiple damage types, like Rage if you're set on using this.

[Spellbreaker26]

It's not utterly borked but you are having the possibility of elemental immune Tieflings, Dragonborn and Genasi running around at level 4 thanks to elemental adept.

There's a reason immunity tends to be waaaay rarer than resistance and that's because resistance gives you an advantage against certain enemy types while immunity is practically a win button.

[Naanomi]

Really makes the Forge Cleric fire immunity capstone feel underwhelming

[Cap'm Bubbles]

Perhaps a stacking effect instead?
Double-fire resistance means 1/2 damage X 1/2 damage = 1/4 damage taken? 28 average damage fireball becomes 7 fire damage on failed save, ~4 on a success? 100 reduced to 25?

[Man_Over_Game]

Bear totem Barbarian - Resistance to all non-psychic damage
Cleric casts warding bond - resistance to all damage.

Barbarian has resistance to B/S/P and Psychic and is functionally immune to everything else.

So without restrictions very very broken if anyone is attempting to abuse it. If your table can generally agree to not be asshats it could be okay. But I'd still recommend a restriction for things that give resistance to multiple damage types, like Rage if you're set on using this.

Galither's spot on here.

Warding Bond is good, but it pays for it by having the caster take equal damage as the target. If the target is taking no damage, then there's practically no cost to Warding Bond. It effectively becomes a Concentration-less +1 to AC and Saves, reduce incoming damage by 50%. It'd be the go-to solution to have people gain resistance somehow (Protection from Energy, Absorb Elements, etc) and then Twin Warding Bond. Tack on Heavy Armor Master (for, say, a Life Cleric), and now even the weapon damage isn't a problem to the caster. 2-3 players, well coordinated, can get resistance to all physical damage and immunity to a single element.

[MaXenzie]

So at my gaming table, we've been using a house rule for resistances:

Having multiple resistances to the same elemental (non B/S/P) damage from different sources gives immunity to the listed damage type.

How badly would this hurt game balance?


A Bear Totem Barbarian becomes immune to slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning weapons.

Rage gives you resistance to those 3.

Bear Totem Rage gives you another instance of resistance against them.

[Man_Over_Game]

A Bear Totem Barbarian becomes immune to slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning weapons.

Rage gives you resistance to those 3.

Bear Totem Rage gives you another instance of resistance against them.

I think you might have missed this (in Bold):




Having multiple resistances to the same elemental (non B/S/P) damage from different sources gives immunity to the listed damage type.

He is not allowing the physical damage types to stack.

[Galithar]

A Bear Totem Barbarian becomes immune to slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning weapons.

Rage gives you resistance to those 3.

Bear Totem Rage gives you another instance of resistance against them.

Does it? I would understand it as the Bear totem resistance while raging replaces the standard rage resistance. Though either way it doesn't matter. Standard rules do nothing with multiple attacks of resistance and this houserule calls out B/P/S as exempt.

[JNAProductions]

Ancients Paladin 7 (resistance to magical damage) and Bear Totem Barbarian 3 (resistance to all damage except Pyschic when Raging) is the biggest issue I see.

[Naanomi]

Ancients Paladin 7 (resistance to magical damage) and Bear Totem Barbarian 3 (resistance to all damage except Pyschic when Raging) is the biggest issue I see.
Abjurer standing next to an Ancients Paladin... immune to spell damage

[poolio]

My table rules multiple sources of resistance just keeps cutting the damage of that type, i like full immunity to be much more special.

[Kane0]

My table rules multiple sources of resistance just keeps cutting the damage of that type, i like full immunity to be much more special.

That would make for a fun minigame of 'how high can you stack resistance?' for the party.

[Spellbreaker26]

Really makes the Forge Cleric fire immunity capstone feel underwhelming

Forge cleric is OP anyway, so I don't think that should be a major concern.

[Willie the Duck]

How badly would this hurt game balance?

As others have mentioned, it is quite a bit more powerful than the investment one normally would have to make to get said resistance twice. So in that regard, it might be a little troubling. On the other hand... exactly how is the PC going to exploit this to make his fellow PCs feel like they underperform? And/or exactly how is the group going to exploit this ability to make the DM's life miserable? They could... have the frontliner be immune to fire, tie up all the enemies, and then fireball the lot of 'em. Well, you can already do that with either evokers or careful sorcerers.

That's where I stand. I think, from a simple fairness perspective, it is quite a thing to give out for the price suggested. However I can't foresee a huge amount of actual game days that will go up in (fire retardant) flames because of it.

[N810]

Instead of outright immunity you could do damage reduction instead.
resistance = half damage
double resistance = half damage & reduced damage equal to your base proficiency
this would give you immunity to small amounts but you would still be effected by stronger spells, and it would scale with the player level.

[Mordaedil]

To tone it down a bit, I'd suggest the following: (succeeding on a saving throw gives you equivalent to an increased resistance)

1st instance of resistance: 50% damage reduced.
2nd instance of resistance: 75% damage reduced. (half of half)
3rd instance of resistance: 90% damage reduced. (divide by 10, round down)
4th instance of resistance: 100% immunity.

Note that same sources should not stack for these purposes. Multiple casters casting a spell to grant you resistance should not stack. Wearing two items granting resistance to same item do not stack. Two class-abilities granting resistance do not stack.

The way to stack is from racial/feat ability, class ability, magic item, spell cast. This makes pure immunity difficult to achieve and probably temporary. Not to mention I reckon race resistance is faairly rare. Drinking a potion counts as a spell or magic item, depending on whichever is more favorable. These rules would also mean you could allow bsp stacking, since rage and bear totem would not stack, as they are both class abilities.

[opaopajr]

There's a reason stacking was removed from this edition. It gets ugly when you take your eye off of it. Already there's several examples listed that would worry me. Easier bookkeeping to leave stacking turned off and find other fun house rules to try out.

But hey, it's your table, so go have fun! :smallcool:

[Mordaedil]

Technically stacking was out with 3.5.

3.0 was the last one I recall that actually supported and encouraged stacking.

[The_Ditto]

Perhaps a stacking effect instead?
Double-fire resistance means 1/2 damage X 1/2 damage = 1/4 damage taken? 28 average damage fireball becomes 7 fire damage on failed save, ~4 on a success? 100 reduced to 25?

I'd suggest additive, not multiplicative ..

so:
1/2
1/3 (instead of 1/4)
1/4 (instead of 1/8)
1/5 (instead of 1/16) ...
... etc.

it would give you "something" for stacking, but it'd be diminishing returns ... *shrug*

that said, I'd probably not muck with it, to be honest :)

[Naanomi]

Does it work the other way as well? If I can stack Vulnerability does it turn into instant death or something?

[Galithar]

Does it work the other way as well? If I can stack Vulnerability does it turn into instant death or something?

You asked in a silly manner (in my opinion, just because it would be absurd to allow insta death) but it is a valid question. There are ways to impose vulnerability so what happens if I use one on someone with a vulnerability? Just keep multiplying my damage? So 5 damage becomes 20 against double vulnerability?

[PhantomSoul]

I'd suggest additive, not multiplicative ..

so:
1/2
1/3 (instead of 1/4)
1/4 (instead of 1/8)
1/5 (instead of 1/16) ...
... etc.

it would give you "something" for stacking, but it'd be diminishing returns ... *shrug*

that said, I'd probably not muck with it, to be honest :)


Generally less easy to do in your head overall, but seems like a better way to have it stack yeah


EDIT: To elaborate on what's so nice, it's a fairly simple revision that then works like Difficult Terrain in phrasing: (e.g. for vulnerability) instead of "you take double damage", it's essentially "you take one extra point of damage for each point of damage dealt", and then you let it stack

[SCPTropes]

Thank you all for the feedback!

For the record, I don't use that many elemental damage types, and my players don't really use the rule too much. It doesn't come up that often. I think it's come up... twice?

I'll probably replace it with something like the energy resistance rules from 3.0/3.5/PF, where it gives DR against that damage type. (applied AFTER damage is halved)

1 source of resistance: 1/2 damage
2 sources of resistance: 1/2 damage + reduction= prof. bonus
3 sources of resistance: 1/2 damage + reduction= prof. bonus*2
4 sources of resistance: 1/2 damage + reduction+ prof. bonus*3
...etc.

[Galithar]

Thank you all for the feedback!

For the record, I don't use that many elemental damage types, and my players don't really use the rule too much. It doesn't come up that often. I think it's come up... twice?

I'll probably replace it with something like the energy resistance rules from 3.0/3.5/PF, where it gives DR against that damage type. (applied AFTER damage is halved)

1 source of resistance: 1/2 damage
2 sources of resistance: 1/2 damage + reduction= prof. bonus
3 sources of resistance: 1/2 damage + reduction= prof. bonus*2
4 sources of resistance: 1/2 damage + reduction+ prof. bonus*3
...etc.

That's actually a pretty good way to deal with that to give someone a benefit without making to absurdly powerful. Stacking resistance twice is pretty easy, but starting to get 3 or 4 sources can become difficult, so it wouldn't break much because you'd only become immune to the smaller damage sources. I might even start with 2 instances of resistance only giving 1/2 proficiency. It becomes easy for damage that's already cut in half to get reduced to zero. Although maybe that's just because I'm thinking of high level proficiency (+6) that most people don't even play at anyways :)