Can only be hit by magical weapons.....

[dcollins]

The trick is, in 2E days - it didn't matter WHAT you did, nor HOW well you rolled, if you didn't have the right weapon, you coudl NEVER do even a SINGLE hitpoint of damage in combat with that were-rat...

Think about it: in the absence of magic weapons, silvered weapons, and spellcasters ... ONE werewolf could destroy an army of TEN THOUSAND warriors - assuming they didn't all just up and RUN, of course. Just one werewolf!

Not so. Certain rulebooks of the era pointed out that alternatives like mundane fire would work in situations like that, and were incorporated that way in early D&D mass combat rules.

 

[Pax]

Horoku, that effect still exists. That wererat would have DR10/silver or DR 15/silver - so unless the fighter was wieldign a SILVER mace ... the description would hold just fine!

etc.

You make a good point. On the other hand, I figure a decent army in a fantasy world would have at least a couple of battlemages. You definitely make a good point, though. The army should, at the very least, be able to briefly incapacitate, if not outright kill, the werewolf.

Ever read any of MErcedes Lackey's novels - the ones set in Valdemar? That's a nation that, for centuries, existed wholly without the use of any true magic (a small amount of generally-low-power psionics, called "mind-magic" in the books - but no outright "true" magic).

Of course, there was a standing spell (in D&D terms, quite thoroughly Epic in nature) which went a long way to stopping anyone ELSE from waltzing in and using magic, either. But that wouldn't have stopped the sort of DR that a lycanthrope would have (DR X/silver is now clearly categorised as an (Ex)traordinary ability).

 

[the Jester]

But that wouldn't have stopped the sort of DR that a lycanthrope would have (DR X/silver is now clearly categorised as an (Ex)traordinary ability).

It is? Where?

 

[Hypersmurf]

It is? Where?

In the 3.5 Monster Manual Errata.

DR X/silver or cold iron should be (Su)

See? Clearly categorised as [Ex].

... wait...

Edit - okay, that's not really fair. The FAQ does suggest only /Magic and /Alignment should be [Su], but now that's contradicted by a Core book, so it's overruled...

-Hyp.

 

[Pax]

Meh, they contradicted themselves. AGAIN!

Still, IMC at least, if a given DR can be penetrated by a weapon which is in an antimagic field, then it is safe to call it (ex)traordinary. If not, then it should be (su)pernatural.

DR of type #/- is extraordinary, simply because antimagic fields don't change anyone's ability to penetrate them.

Specified exeptions, of course, may exist.

 

[Hypersmurf]

Meh, they contradicted themselves. AGAIN!

Well, the FAQ contradicting the Core Rules is not something new.

It just happened that this time, it contradicted them in advance

-Hyp.

 

[Caliban]

Well, the FAQ contradicting the Core Rules is not something new.

It just happened that this time, it contradicted them in advance

-Hyp.

In this instance I think the FAQ makes more sense.

 

[Hypersmurf]

In this instance I think the FAQ makes more sense.

Potentially. But it's not Core

-Hyp.

 

[Alzrius]

Well, the FAQ contradicting the Core Rules is not something new.

I wonder how much Skip is able to talk to the relevant people at WotC on subjects before he answers them. Now that he doesn't work for them anymore, Sage Advice is now basically him offering his personal opinions/advice a lot of the time...meaning that discrepancies between what he says and what errata says will continue to grow over time.

 

[Alzrius]

In regards to magic weapons overcoming damage resistance, that's the one place where I disliked what 3.5E changed.

In terms of DR, all magic weapons are now equal - overcoming DR is now more about needing multiple components at once than about escalating the power of a weapon. It seems to take something away when a +1 sword works as well as a +5 sword for overcoming DR. I think that this particular playing field should not have been leveled. As it stands now, +1 through +5 are equal, with the next step up being +6 (with everything above that being the same as +6, since they all overcome "epic").