Multiple Forms of Regneration.

[Yogibear41]

Say for whatever reason I have multiple forms of regeneration overcome by different damage types.

Example:

I have Regeneration 1 overcome by Fire or Acid damage.

I have Regeneration 5 overcome by Good Aligned Weapons or Spells.

Would I essentially have Regeneration 6 against everything that isn't a good aligned fire or acid spell?

[Khedrac]

Say for whatever reason I have multiple forms of regeneration overcome by different damage types.

Example:

I have Regeneration 1 overcome by Fire or Acid damage.

I have Regeneration 5 overcome by Good Aligned Weapons or Spells.

Would I essentially have Regeneration 6 against everything that isn't a good aligned fire or acid spell?

I think this would be the same as DR stacking.

So you have regeneration 5, 4 points of which is overcome bu Good aligned.
The final point is only overcome by good aligned fire or acid weapons and spells.
Note, a holy flaming sword does it's good and fire damage separately and would not overcome the final point.

[Kayblis]

You have Regeneration 5 because it doesn't stack. But you heal damage at the rates of what blocks it, so a common Fire attack would heal at 5/round, a common Good attack would heal at 1/round, and both would deal nonlethal damage to you. Only a Good aligned Fire/Acid attack could deal lethal damage, which doesn't heal.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

The actual rate at which you regenerate is 5, because those don't stack. This is the rate at which you recover nonlethal damage.

Your Regeneration 1 converts all damage except fire and acid into nonlethal damage.

Your Regeneration 5 converts all damage except good aligned weapons or spells into nonlethal damage.

So the only thing that can do real damage to your character is a good aligned spell that deals fire or acid damage, or a good aligned weapon that somehow deals fire or acid damage instead of normal weapon damage.

[Necroticplague]

The actual rate at which you regenerate is 5, because those don't stack. This is the rate at which you recover nonlethal damage.

Your Regeneration 1 converts all damage except fire and acid into nonlethal damage.

Your Regeneration 5 converts all damage except good aligned weapons or spells into nonlethal damage.

So the only thing that can do real damage to your character is a good aligned spell that deals fire or acid damage, or a good aligned weapon that somehow deals fire or acid damage instead of normal weapon damage.

Wait, aren't these two readings contradictory? The second part of this would require that you do have both abilities, while the first would require you to ignore one of them. If both of them are applying, then you should heal 6. If only one is applying, then it shouldn't be able to cover each other's weaknesses like you state.

I'm also incredibly confused as to what some of the other people here seem to think regeneration does, given that they mention "against X", and say things like


You have Regeneration 5 because it doesn't stack. But you heal damage at the rates of what blocks it, so a common Fire attack would heal at 5/round, a common Good attack would heal at 1/round, and both would deal nonlethal damage to you. Only a Good aligned Fire/Acid attack could deal lethal damage, which doesn't heal.

which isn't remotely how regeneration works: you don't keep track of what inflicted the damage after its dealt. Nonlethal damage is nonlethal damage, and you empty that pool at a rate based on your regeneration.

It's most accurate to think of regeneration not as one ability, but as two:

1. At the start of your turn, heal X nonlethal damage.
2. All damage that is not Y is converted to nonlethal damage.

So, having Regeneration 1/Fire or acid and Regeneration 5/Good is having four abilities:
1. At the start of your turn, heal 1 nonlethal damage
2. At the start of your turn, heal 5 nonlethal damage
3. All non-fire or acid damage dealt to you is converted to nonlethal damage.
4. All non-good damage dealt to you is converted to nonlethal damage.

So, at the beginning of your turn, since you have both abilities, both of them would trigger. You would heal 1 NLD, then heal 5 NLD. Or 5 then 1, isn't particularly clear. Then, whenever an attack comes in, since you have both abilities, 3 and 4, the damage would check against both. If it fails either test, it becomes nonlethal. Some things might become nonlethal twice, which is a tad redundant.

Which is a lot of words to say that: it basically does stack in a straighforward way at the end of the day, even if there's quiet a bit more going on under the hood. Most the time, the distinction between just saying you have Regeneration 6/(acid || fire)&Good and saying you have both regeneration 1/acid||fire and regeneration 5/Good is nonexistent in terms of outcomes. That's not to say there's not some situation where I'm sure it's relevant, but I don't think it's a common one.

[Gruftzwerg]

Say for whatever reason I have multiple forms of regeneration overcome by different damage types.

Example:

I have Regeneration 1 overcome by Fire or Acid damage.

I have Regeneration 5 overcome by Good Aligned Weapons or Spells.

Would I essentially have Regeneration 6 against everything that isn't a good aligned fire or acid spell?

Stacking in 3.5 doesn't work normal, since it has special rules. You may only stack things that are allowed and it doesn't always work out how one might assume without the knowledge of that rule (e.g. multiplier stacking rules).
The Basics (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/theBasics.htm)

Since "Regeneration" in not a bonus to a roll, we have no base to stack the values. So only the strongest effect applies.
The oddity is that the downside of both regeneration types are different effects and thus both apply. Meaning you shorten the list of dmg types that you can convert to nonlethal dmg.

You would get Regeneration 5 and would take normal (lethal) dmg from anything that deals either Fire -, Acid - , Good Aligned Weapon -, or Spelldamage.


Conclusion:
Stacking Regeneration is a bad idea.

[ciopo]

Stacking in 3.5 doesn't work normal, since it has special rules. You may only stack things that are allowed and it doesn't always work out how one might assume without the knowledge of that rule (e.g. multiplier stacking rules).
The Basics (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/theBasics.htm)

Since "Regeneration" in not a bonus to a roll, we have no base to stack the values. So only the strongest effect applies.
The oddity is that the downside of both regeneration types are different effects and thus both apply. Meaning you shorten the list of dmg types that you can convert to nonlethal dmg.

You would get Regeneration 5 and would take normal (lethal) dmg from anything that deals either Fire -, Acid - , Good Aligned Weapon -, or Spelldamage.


Conclusion:
Stacking Regeneration is a bad idea.

While I agree conceptually that it probably doesn't stack and go with the good old "strongest effect". Per the basis different sources of regeneration would stack in my opinion, by the argument that it is not called out specifically to not stack, like damage reduction is, for example.

A more nitpicky argument would be that the sources that give regeneration that I have seen are untyped

I also disagree with your interpretation on what kind of damage is converted to nonlethal. I'd combine the weaknesses to "damage needs to be fire AND good". But I do see how it could be read as being weak to more things, as per your reading of "damage needs to be fire OR good"

[Gruftzwerg]

While I agree conceptually that it probably doesn't stack and go with the good old "strongest effect". Per the basis different sources of regeneration would stack in my opinion, by the argument that it is not called out specifically to not stack, like damage reduction is, for example.

A more nitpicky argument would be that the sources that give regeneration that I have seen are untyped

I also disagree with your interpretation on what kind of damage is converted to nonlethal. I'd combine the weaknesses to "damage needs to be fire AND good". But I do see how it could be read as being weak to more things, as per your reading of "damage needs to be fire OR good"

In 3.5 you need permission to stack things. Otherwise you have no basis. Common sense doesn't apply to stacking in 3.5. We have rules that suppress common sense...^^
And yeah, that is as crazy as it sounds.

regeneration +1
regeneration +5
_______________
= regeneration +5

overcome by Fire or Acid damage
+
overcome by Good Aligned Weapons or Spells.
=
overcome by Fire, Acid, Good Aligned Weapons or Spells.
Vulnerabilities to regeneration don't stack with an "and". It enough if one of your damage sources fits to bypass the non-lethal dmg conversion.

[Saint-Just]

In 3.5 you need permission to stack things. Otherwise you have no basis. Common sense doesn't apply to stacking in 3.5. We have rules that suppress common sense...^^
And yeah, that is as crazy as it sounds.

regeneration +1
regeneration +5
_______________
= regeneration +5

overcome by Fire or Acid damage
+
overcome by Good Aligned Weapons or Spells.
=
overcome by Fire, Acid, Good Aligned Weapons or Spells.
Vulnerabilities to regeneration don't stack with an "and". It enough if one of your damage sources fits to bypass the non-lethal dmg conversion.

Wait, wait, wait. That would mean that adding one more source of regeneration makes you more vullnerable. This definitely cannot be RAI and if you contend that it is RAW I would like to see some quotations.

I have no problem with 5+1=5, but letting things that overcome one source of regeneration overcome all regeneration does not seem sensible - multiple DRs does not work like that, for example.

[Troacctid]

Wait, wait, wait. That would mean that adding one more source of regeneration makes you more vullnerable. This definitely cannot be RAI and if you contend that it is RAW I would like to see some quotations.

I have no problem with 5+1=5, but letting things that overcome one source of regeneration overcome all regeneration does not seem sensible - multiple DRs does not work like that, for example.
No, it's true. Look at the wording again.

Damage dealt to the creature is treated as nonlethal damage, and the creature automatically cures itself of nonlethal damage at a fixed rate per round, as given in the creature’s entry.

Certain attack forms, typically fire and acid, deal damage to the creature normally; that sort of damage doesn’t convert to nonlethal damage and so doesn’t go away. The creature’s description includes the details.
The weaknesses will deal normal damage to the creature. Add more weaknesses and you add more ways to do lethal damage. It's not the same as DR.

They will stack by increasing the amount you heal each turn, though. You'll heal 1 from the regeneration 1 and 5 from the regeneration 5, total of 6. Fast healing stacks the same way.

[Gruftzwerg]

Wait, wait, wait. That would mean that adding one more source of regeneration makes you more vullnerable. This definitely cannot be RAI and if you contend that it is RAW I would like to see some quotations.

I have no problem with 5+1=5, but letting things that overcome one source of regeneration overcome all regeneration does not seem sensible - multiple DRs does not work like that, for example.

DR: Because we have "specific rules" for DR stacking (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/specialAbilities.htm#damageReduction) that trump the General Rules for stacking.

Regeneration: Unless you can point me to rules giving different regeneration sources/types similar stacking abilities, we have to fall back to the (even imho) oddity of RAW for regeneration. And that is what I already posted. The HP regenerated doesn't stack, but the different vulnerabilities of the regeneration stack...

Is it a waste of resource?
Yeah.

Is it intended?
Dunno but I guess so. Cause otherwise it would be to strong. DR only prevents some fixed value. The damage transformation to nonlethal has no fixed value only the heal part of regeneration. This is imho much stronger than some fixed tiny DR values (compared to the amount of possible burst).