Magic damage reduction?

[Mrark]

Is it possible to reduce untyped magic damage? Does damage reduction work against it? As far as I’ve been searching I found nothing about it, not even a creature being “immune to magic damage” or something, so I was wondering if such feature exists

[sleepyphoenixx]

Look in the DMG under special qualities - damage reduction.

As a general rule damage reduction only works against damage from weapons and natural attacks.
There are some effects that reduce damage from spells or supernatural abilities no matter the damage type, but they're not damage reduction in a rules sense.

[Maat Mons]

You could try to acquire Hardness. But mostly that requires being an Animated Object.

[ciopo]

Planar touchstone Peak of continuation has the base ability "Subtract 1 from the damage you take from any source"

[Zarvistic]

There is the spell shield acf in dungeonscape for any damage source. I feel like there are more effects like this somewhere tho, but can't remember.

[MaxiDuRaritry]

You could try to acquire Hardness.This, mostly.

You can take a level in monk and cast hardening (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/spells/hardening.htm) or (greater (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicWeaponGreater.htm)) magic weapon (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicWeapon.htm), or manifest matter manipulation (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/matterManipulation.htm) or metaphysical weapon (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/metaphysicalWeapon.htm) on your unarmed strike (which is basically your entire body, given that there are very few parts of the body that can't be used to strike someone with).

If you're a warforged, you can use hardening or matter manipulation on your built-in body armor, instead.

Anything that grants an enhancement bonus also grants hardness (as well as bonus [not temp] hp).


Hardness and Hit Points
Each +1 of enhancement bonus adds 2 to a weapon’s or shield’s hardness and +10 to its hit points.

[sleepyphoenixx]

There is the spell shield acf in dungeonscape for any damage source. I feel like there are more effects like this somewhere tho, but can't remember.

Ring of Mystic Defiance (MIC, 7500gp) is one.
3/day you can reduce the damage of a spell or spell-like (but not a supernatural ability) by 10.
The only saving grace it has is that it also provides an insight bonus to fort against spells and spell-likes if you wear an Int- or Cha enhancement item together with it.
If you're a caster with a +6 item anyway that's an okay deal - insight isn't the most common bonus type for fort save boosts, and the price is alright for a +3.

But no one is going to buy this thing for the damage reduction. It's simply not worth it.
If you're worried about untyped no-save damage you get temporary HP, miss chances, concealment etc, but not this.



If you're a warforged, you can use hardening or matter manipulation on your built-in body armor, instead.

Armor hardness does not affect attacks made against the character and warforged plating is treated as armor.
Otherwise spells that affect only objects can't be used on warforged, it's right in their racial traits.

Matter Manipulation also specifies that it can only be cast on inanimate material, which warforged are obviously not.

If you do find a DM who allows it you should use also Augment Object though, it'll also double your hitpoints.

[ciopo]

Oh, third eye dampening?

[Beni-Kujaku]

This, mostly.

You can take a level in monk and cast hardening (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/spells/hardening.htm) or (greater (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicWeaponGreater.htm)) magic weapon (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/magicWeapon.htm), or manifest matter manipulation (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/matterManipulation.htm) or metaphysical weapon (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/metaphysicalWeapon.htm) on your unarmed strike (which is basically your entire body, given that there are very few parts of the body that can't be used to strike someone with).

If you're a warforged, you can use hardening or matter manipulation on your built-in body armor, instead.

Anything that grants an enhancement bonus also grants hardness (as well as bonus [not temp] hp).

As always, a monk's body is not a weapon. The part they hit you with is. "Unarmed Strike" is not a part of the body, it's the name of the strike. It can be "made" with "any part of your body", but it isn't "the monk's entire body". The hardness doesn't affect the monk. Even if it did, the monk's body isn't an object. Hardness only applies when you're attacking an object (or an animated object). The tentacles of a kraken with a Necklace of Natural Weapons aren't harder to Sunder. Even if they were, if you want to go by absolute RAW, someone attacking isn't attacking the monk's body, they are attacking the monk. The monk wouldn't have hardness, their body would.
Likewise, the composite plating of a warforged isn't armor. It can be enchanted "like" an armor, provides an armor bonus and prevents from wearing an armor, but isn't one itself. It isn't even an item, it's part of the warforged body. It cannot be attacked, cannot be sundered, isn't affected by detrimental effects affecting armor, why could it be improved by things that improve armor?

[sleepyphoenixx]

Oh, third eye dampening?

Against the usual 10d6 kind of damage that'd be a reduction of ~25 damage. That's better, but since it doesn't work on supernatural abilities it's still crap.
And that's assuming a level 10 caster - at lower CL's it'll be much worse.
It'd be great if you could use it against a high-CR dragon's breath weapon, but you can't.

For reference, the Amulet of Tears (MIC, 2300gp) provides up to 36 temporary hp per day that function against everything that does hp damage.
It's not exactly considered a very powerful item.


It cannot be attacked, cannot be sundered, isn't affected by detrimental effects affecting armor, why could it be improved by things that improve armor?

Because the Composite Plating racial trait says so.
Not that it'd do anything - the hardness of a human fighters breastplate doesn't reduce damage to him either - but you can.

Same thing for a monk. Their body may count as a manufactured weapon for spells and effects improving those, but a weapon's hardness doesn't reduce damage you take either.

[Beni-Kujaku]

Because the Composite Plating racial trait says so.
Not that it'd do anything - the hardness of a human fighters breastplate doesn't reduce damage to him either - but you can.

Same thing for a monk. Their body may count as a manufactured weapon for spells and effects improving those, but a weapon's hardness doesn't reduce damage you take either.

I'd like a quote on if a composite plating counts as armor for any effect that improves it. The only things I have are ASF, body slots, and being enchanted.
Composite Plating: The plating used to build a warforged provides a +2 armor bonus. This plating is not natural armor and does not stack with other effects that give an armor bonus (other than natural armor). This composite plating occupies the same space on the body as a suit of armor or a robe, and thus a warforged cannot wear armor or magic robes. Warforged can be enchanted just as armor can be. The character must be present for the entire time it takes to enchant him. Composite plating also provides a warforged with a 5% arcane spell failure chance, similar to the penalty for wearing light armor. Any class ability that allows a warforged to ignore the arcane spell failure chance for light armor lets him ignore this penalty as well.

The composite plating is indeed the warforged's body ("plating used to build the warforged", "Warforged can be enchanted"), but I don't see it being subject to any effect improving the armor. Of course, I agree that the hardness of a human's breastplate does little to reduce damage dealt to them, and that even if the composite plating was really an armor, the warforged wouldn't get any advantage from it.

Same thing for a monk. Their body may count as a manufactured weapon for spells and effects improving those, but a weapon's hardness doesn't reduce damage you take either.

And no, not same thing for the monk.
A monk's attacks may be with either fist interchangeably or even from elbows, knees, and feet. [...]A monk's unarmed strike is treated both as a manufactured weapon and a natural weapon for the purpose of spells and effects that enhance or improve either manufactured weapons or natural weapons.
Their body doesn't count as any kind of weapon, only their unarmed strike. I agree however that even if it did, it would do them no good.

[sleepyphoenixx]

I'd like a quote on if a composite plating counts as armor for any effect that improves it. The only things I have are ASF, body slots, and being enchanted.
...
And no, not same thing for the monk.


You are correct. My own fault for going from memory instead of re-reading the rules in question.

[Jack_Simth]

Is it possible to reduce untyped magic damage? Does damage reduction work against it? As far as I’ve been searching I found nothing about it, not even a creature being “immune to magic damage” or something, so I was wondering if such feature exists

Most effects that deal untyped magic damage will permit sr. Does that qualify?

[Dimers]

Damp power psi power does admirably against spells and spell-likes. What's better, if it's augmented then it affects multiple targets of the damage. I don't think that's exactly what you're asking for (mostly because it isn't passive) but maybe it'll help.

[Darg]

Their body doesn't count as any kind of weapon, only their unarmed strike. I agree however that even if it did, it would do them no good.

Have to agree here. Weapon types are not the specific weapon used and never is an unarmed strike considered "the body." It's only ever described in terms of the type of attack made (kick, punch, head butt, etc) or parts of the limbs which make contact (knee, fist, elbow, etc). The rules tend to conflate the weapon type and specific weapon at times and still expects you to know that they are different (especially prevalent when dealing with natural weapons which can be extremely frustrating when people like to break the game by using the conflation to their advantage). So it is understandable why confusion exists.