D&D 3E/3.5 [3.5e] Damage Reduction

[Blood Jester]

Still a bad idea, the golf bag lives and logic and fantasy literature does not. I would like some examples of creatures in fantasy that are hurt by normal materials but are unharmed by magic...

Too easy, anyone remember their Norse Myths?

Baldur/Balder immune to everything thanks to mom. But soft mistletoe was so un-threatening that she overlooked it. Loki finds out, tricks the poor blind Hoder into shooting a mistletoe arrow at Baldur, thus killing him.

Not magic, mistletoe.

And that's a god.

 

[drnuncheon]

Too easy, anyone remember their Norse Myths?

Not magic, mistletoe.

From Moorcock's Eternal Champion series, the scythe-weilding creatures in the Vanishing Tower were unharmed by Stormbringer - an artifact-level sword - but were killed by their own scythes.

I can't recall where it was from, but I also remember a "swordpact demon" that could not be harmed by blades, no matter how magical - but an ordinary club could hurt them.

The old lava children from Fiend Folio were unharmed by metal of any kind, but wood would hurt them.

J

 

[MerakSpielman]

Achillies was invulnerable to all weapons, but was slain by a normal arrow that hit his heel, his only vulnerable spot. (Talk about rolling a few consecutive 20's! Good shot, Paris!)

 

[Petrosian]

On Angel last week they found out that the stoney demon thing they fought and had been unable to even dent was killable by a dagger made from part of its own self.

***************

An interesting aside... wont werewolf battles be really kinda pointless? I mean, unless a werewolf is armed with silver, and what werewolf would be, can it hurt another werewolf?

Or will "having DR/silver" make you count as silver for hurting other creatures vulnerable to silver?

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Werewolves do "aggravated" damage to each other

 

[Petrosian]

BTW a very general post based from a very specific source...

In the various threads, we have seen various claims made about what wasn't going to happen or be expected.

Example 1, 5 DR is not bad and will be a pushover.

Dragon 306 page 74... "you will see that the mean for the damage resistance number has become 10, but there are plenty of 5's and 15's still out there."

So far all those examples to show the new dr works because of the plethora of 5's, try 10s with as many 5's as 15's.

Example 2: Golf baggies, investing in extra weapons of special material to just carry around isn't a expected response or even a reasonable one to the new DR

Dragon 306 page 74 again "now that you dont have to worry about having a particular plus... you can invest in special material weapons..."

There is also talk of their expectation (hope) that the fans and third party producers will be creating newtypes of DR and categories... "i doubt the game will be out for a week before someone...comes up with one or more interesting indicators." They do say they hope to keep the list manageable.

Later in the article, next page, they gleefully gush over how you can use these various what, 9 so far, traits in combo... and even provide a syntax for the description. "Lawful, magic" means it has to be a lawfully aligned magic weapon while "lawful or magic" means either works. heck we have something like a couple hundred possibilities now, even before the floodgates open

I have to say, this article from the designers which is all about the new DR emphasizes and confirms practically every negative sentiment/analysis/expectation I have expressed on a point by point basis.

just my latest observations.

 

[drnuncheon]

Later in the article, next page, they gleefully gush over how you can use these various what, 9 so far, traits in combo... and even provide a syntax for the description. "Lawful, magic" means it has to be a lawfully aligned magic weapon while "lawful or magic" means either works. heck we have something like a couple hundred possibilities now, even before the floodgates open

Given that there are a couple of hundred possibilities, and the fact that no one or even two weapons could cover them all, I expect to see characters investing in the two or three possibilities that they expect to encounter most often, because it won't be worthwhile to dump that much money into the weird stuff.

Kind of like it is now, really.

Is it really a 'golf bag of weapons' to have a blade, a couple of daggers, and a bow? I don't think so. But with the right choices you will probably be able to handle 90% of the things you run into on a regular basis.

Those who don't will quickly realize the error of their ways, as their companions weild weapons three times as powerful as anything in their golfbag, and are more effective 90% of the time because of it.

J

 

[Merlion]

BTW a very general post based from a very specific source...

In the various threads, we have seen various claims made about what wasn't going to happen or be expected.

Example 1, 5 DR is not bad and will be a pushover.

Dragon 306 page 74... "you will see that the mean for the damage resistance number has become 10, but there are plenty of 5's and 15's still out there."

So far all those examples to show the new dr works because of the plethora of 5's, try 10s with as many 5's as 15's.

Example 2: Golf baggies, investing in extra weapons of special material to just carry around isn't a expected response or even a reasonable one to the new DR

Dragon 306 page 74 again "now that you dont have to worry about having a particular plus... you can invest in special material weapons..."

There is also talk of their expectation (hope) that the fans and third party producers will be creating newtypes of DR and categories... "i doubt the game will be out for a week before someone...comes up with one or more interesting indicators." They do say they hope to keep the list manageable.

Later in the article, next page, they gleefully gush over how you can use these various what, 9 so far, traits in combo... and even provide a syntax for the description. "Lawful, magic" means it has to be a lawfully aligned magic weapon while "lawful or magic" means either works. heck we have something like a couple hundred possibilities now, even before the floodgates open

I have to say, this article from the designers which is all about the new DR emphasizes and confirms practically every negative sentiment/analysis/expectation I have expressed on a point by point basis.

just my latest observations.

And it still basicaly comes down to, you dont like it. Which is fine. Lots of people dont like the way it is now. Now you've got many people(aparently just about everyone in the groups of everyone on this board) trying to have one extremely powerful weapon and making heavy heavy use of Greater Magic Weapon. When the new DR comes out we might well end up having large numbers of people running around with a variety of weapons of various different kinds...what you like to call the "golf bag". The size will doubtless vary...some will have only 4 or 5 things others many more. Then their will be groups like the few I have been in, where everyone just does...whatever. whatever they like...whatever the want...whatever they feel like.
Thats what I was getting at before...no system as a whole is ever gonna be perfect for everyone accept through custimzation. And certain specfic things within a system, such as DR, are going to be essentialy impossible to keep everyone happy with, even if the overall system is very consitent and makes for easy custimzation as needed. Is this the "right" fix for the DR problem? No, probably not. My thing is, I dont think there is one. Now admitedly, I personaly like the new DR on a personal taste level. and as I said in the types of groups I play in, most of the issues you guys talk about dont come up. But I would not be upset with the designers or accuse them of bad design very nearly no matter what they had decided to do...because whatever they did was likely to cause essentialy the same controversy as there is now, and as I have gotten the impression thier has been with the current DR system

 

[shilsen]

Thats what I was getting at before...no system as a whole is ever gonna be perfect for everyone accept through custimzation. And certain specfic things within a system, such as DR, are going to be essentialy impossible to keep everyone happy with, even if the overall system is very consitent and makes for easy custimzation as needed. Is this the "right" fix for the DR problem? No, probably not. My thing is, I dont think there is one. Now admitedly, I personaly like the new DR on a personal taste level. and as I said in the types of groups I play in, most of the issues you guys talk about dont come up. But I would not be upset with the designers or accuse them of bad design very nearly no matter what they had decided to do...because whatever they did was likely to cause essentialy the same controversy as there is now, and as I have gotten the impression thier has been with the current DR system

Opens golf bag.

Takes out "What Merlion said" flag.

Waves flag.

 

[Grog]

There is also talk of their expectation (hope) that the fans and third party producers will be creating newtypes of DR and categories... "i doubt the game will be out for a week before someone...comes up with one or more interesting indicators." They do say they hope to keep the list manageable.

Later in the article, next page, they gleefully gush over how you can use these various what, 9 so far, traits in combo... and even provide a syntax for the description. "Lawful, magic" means it has to be a lawfully aligned magic weapon while "lawful or magic" means either works. heck we have something like a couple hundred possibilities now, even before the floodgates open.

So, in addition to all the DR combinations that fighters will have to deal with in the core rules, every new supplement, splatbook, or module that comes out will probably add a few new types of DR to the list. How can fighters hope to keep up?

Answer: They can't. Fighters just got nerfed.

My kingdom for a sure striking weapon...