D&D 3E/3.5 converting Damage Reduction from 3.0 to 3.5

[Bad Paper]

How do you handle the changed DR? I saw somewhere that someone changed, for example, DR20/+4 to DR15/magic and silver, but I can't tell if that's arbitrary or if there is a guideline for this sort of thing. Any help? TIA

 

[seans23]

Check the 3.5 Accessory update booklet. You can find it here:
http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/dnd/20030718a

I'll quote the relevant portions regarding Damage Reduction. (page 8 of the D&D 3.5 Accessory Update Booklet)

Make the damage reduction amount (the number before the
slash) 5, 10, or 15. As a general rule, use 5 for weaker monsters,
up to CR 4 or 5. Use 15 for strong monsters, CR 13 or higher.
Use 10 for everything in between.

...

As a rule of thumb, use “or” combinations
for monsters of CR 3 or lower, and use “and” combinations
for monsters of CR 16 or higher.

 

[the Jester]

It's very case by case, it seems. A lot of the time you can tell what type of DR to use based on similar creatures- e.g., most fey have DR x/cold iron. The amount of DR is sometimes the tricky part...

 

[Grazzt]

Its like Jester said...its pretty much on a case-by-case basis. There arent really hard and fast rules for converting DR from 3e to 3.5 (though as he mentioned, most all feys have DR xx/cold iron, lycanthropes have DR xx/silver, etc.)

If you have a monster...try to find something close to it (CR wise and type wise...like if its a demon or devil or whatever) and work from that. Or just post here or especially in the Creature Catalog area....I know there are peeps all over the place there that can more than help.

 

[the Jester]

Also, if you're feeling especially sassy, you can always make up new types of DR, but beware- if you make too many you'll really be contributing to the 'golf bag of weapons' syndrome.

(I have added one DR type to my campaign, though nobody has figured it out yet- DR x/salt, for certain types of creatures.)