Best Type of Damage Reduction?

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

Damage reduction based on a certain +X feels metagame-y and the numbers were so extreme it made the monsters unbalanced. The older monsters you couldn't damage at all were even worse. The /magic (and /metal or /alignment) DR system was by far the most dynamic, intuitive, and balanced.

This.

The only bad part was some devils had ridiculous regeneration (they regenerated anything that didn't come from a holy silver weapon, which meant no amount of magic, not even alignment blasting spells, could kill them). But really, that was my only complaint.

I never saw the golf bag of weapons. -10 damage wasn't too much. -30 damage, on the other hand...

 

[wingsandsword]

I never saw the golf bag of weapons. -10 damage wasn't too much. -30 damage, on the other hand...

Same. The whole "Golf Bag of weapons" from 3.5 was something I never saw in actual play, only in theory.

In the games I played in and ran, players would get magic weapons around 4th or 5th level, and if they were buying them or making them they would usually have the Sure Striking special ability. Often these made/bought weapons would be silver or adamantine depending on whether they thought they'd need one or the other more depending on the campaign. Some would get one, some would get the other. Between the 4 to 6 members of a typical party there would be at least 1 weapon that could cut through any non-Epic DR they would find.

Frankly, the Epic DR on it's own I thought was a little silly, requiring a +6. I house ruled it that Artifact weapons (including lesser artifacts) were able to ignore /Epic DR even if their enhancement bonus was not +6 or greater.

 

[Stalker0]

Same. The whole "Golf Bag of weapons" from 3.5 was something I never saw in actual play, only in theory.

Agreed here, I never saw the problem, and this version was my favorite of the DR mechanics they tried.

However, I did like a few houserules out there that had that a you ignore 5 points of DR for every +1 magic bonus you had (or the multitude of variations on that), so even a +3 magic weapon could bypass 15/silver DR and the like.

 

[karlindel]

It depends on what you want in the game.

I personally am not a fan of the requirement for a weapon of a certain plus in order to harm the monster. This is particularly problematic if the party doesn't have such a weapon or if it only has one of them. Then the game becomes everyone else watching the one party member fight the enemy.

DR x/magic goes too far in the other direction, as it is worthless past the very low levels, as anyone that uses weapons will have a magical one by then.

DR x/+y is better, particularly if the values of x are fairly low. However, it encourages grabbing the enhancement bonuses instead of flavorful enhancements on the weapon. Also, if the value of x is high, then it is basically the same as requiring a weapon of that plus in order to hurt the monster.

I like resist X (type), as it allows for resistance to things other than weapon damage, and brings resistance to various things under the same system.

I do like the idea of flavorful Damage Reduction. Enemies that cannot be defeated by normal means, but require research into the monster's past can make for excellent adventures. However, DR that is based on the + of a weapon does not particularly model this type of monster well, as the way to defeat the DR is to get a higher + weapon, as opposed to research and finding the monster's weakness.

 

[the Jester]

Yeah, I like the idea of monsters awakened from an ages-long sleep that have high DR against weapons not made by their culture, thus requiring a quest to find the pcs appropriate weaponry with which to fight them.

 

[Glyfair]

The /magic (and /metal or /alignment) DR system was by far the most dynamic, intuitive, and balanced.

In theory, I like this the best. Reward the character with the "right" weapon, but don't make it impossible when they don't have it.

From a campaign flavor standpoint, it adds character to the lycanthrope hunter silver dagger, the aberration killer byeshk hammer, etc. Unfortunately, too often it turns into characters with caddies for their magic weapons. "I'll take the cold nine iron, please."

 

[Jhaelen]

From a campaign flavor standpoint, it adds character to the lycanthrope hunter silver dagger, the aberration killer byeshk hammer, etc. Unfortunately, too often it turns into characters with caddies for their magic weapons. "I'll take the cold nine iron, please."

Solution: Get yourself a caddie aka a knave. Actually, the Pendragon rpg gave me this idea.

NPC followers are ideal for helping you into and out of that suite of plate mail and hand you the weapon you happen to require at the moment. It even helps to inject a bit of realism into the game (presuming you like that in your games).

 

[Derulbaskul]

I think 3.5E got it just right. The flavour was excellent and the penalty for not having the correct weapon wasn't too punishing.

If I ever played 1E or 2E again one of the things I would remove would be the "+x or better to hit" mechanic. I really dislike it.

 

[Ahnehnois]

In theory, I like this the best. Reward the character with the "right" weapon, but don't make it impossible when they don't have it.

From a campaign flavor standpoint, it adds character to the lycanthrope hunter silver dagger, the aberration killer byeshk hammer, etc. Unfortunately, too often it turns into characters with caddies for their magic weapons. "I'll take the cold nine iron, please."

The whole "Golf Bag of weapons" from 3.5 was something I never saw in actual play, only in theory.

I hear the "golf bag problem" on the boards every now and then and I'm baffled by it. My characters frequently had one weapon and then maybe a backup cold iron dagger or something, but it just isn't cost-effective to enchant multiple special-material weapons, and there are only a few special materials, and there are other types of DR. And the 3.5 DR numbers are typically things that if you don't have the right weapon, you can still try to do something. I've never seen this as being remotely a problem. There seem to be people of both minds on the subject. YMMV I guess.