Another "Armour as DR" Thread (sort of)

[Dour-n-Taciturn]

Hence the whole critical system; it's probably the fastest damage variation that adds a bit of variety to combat while remaining ostensibly streamlined. Maybe add DR with special feats; the Barbarian has a nice version of this, but again armor DR would intrude on that since most Barbs have limited armor and DR does not stack.

DR would have to be baked in with lower AC modifiers. Limited DR always has the problem that it does not scale well, and if not limited (above 4-5), characters become nigh invincible versus low level opponents/multiple low damage attacks. There may also be the conundrum of lower AC versus say Acid Bolt-type spells where DR may not apply at all.

 

[leinadvirgo]

subdual damage

I don't know if there are rules for subdual damage in 5th, but I have used DR into subdual damage in 3.5 & of with success. So the enemy would still take damage, but could easily be healed, and made killing things less likely adding a good guy factor to players and also making the players less likely to die. And in those editions healing cured both HP and subdual damage together, it made magic healing double useful and made players want to have at least some armor even with casters.