D&D 3.5 Damage Reduction rules in d20 Modern

evildm

Explorer
I'm running an Urban Arcana game that has an awful lot to do with demons and devils from D&D, and I'm considering using the DR rules from D&D 3.5. Has anyone done this before, and if so, have they had any major issues with it that one should be aware of?

Also, there's a few advanced and prestige classes that grant enhancement bonuses for the express purpose of bypassing damage reduction. How would you go about making this compatible with the DR rules from D&D 3.5? Would you let someone pick the ability it's equivalent to (ie: +1 bonuses equal abilities that cost +1 in the DMG, etc)? In that case, would you allow them to "save up" for abilities that are equivalent to +2 or higher, or would you allow them to trade-in abilities or something?
 

log in or register to remove this ad

3.5 Dr

My biggest problem with 3.5 Damage Reduction is that it makes creatures from other games less portable out of D&D. A 3.0 Iron Golem with 50/+3 DR could shake off the effects of a tank shell (5d12 damage) and still be a threat to PCs with modern firepower, as well as it could be a threat to Dragonstar PCs. In a low-magic game where you don't have adamantine, holy, unholy, magic, lawful, and anarchic (why they used this term I will never understand, but that is another thread) just floating everywhere it also becomes a problem since nonD&D characters don't have access to a wide variety of such items.
 

The 3.5 DR makes the problem of not having the right kind of weapon much less of a problem. While they added in all those nifty materials, they also reduced the amount of damage reduced without those materials. In other words, that iron golum has gone from 50/+3 down to a mere 15/adamantine. With modern weaponry, 15 points is trivial.
 

Ditto p_p -- I'd much rather go into a low-magic game against something with DR 10/holy than something with DR 50/+3. 10/holy is a better weakness. It's got more flavor potential. You can find a knight's sword blessed by an ancient pope, you can dip a normal sword in holy water and hope for the best, or you can just lug out the really big guns and start shooting anyway.

3.5's DR gets rid of the main problem I had with 3.0 DR -- it was pretty straightforward whether you had the right equipment or not, and unless you were in over your head, that DR really didn't do much to slow you down. But if it DID, you were utterly out of luck, and there was no reason to even try. In 3.5, there are more possibilities, so there's a higher chance you'll be having to overcome DR rather than bypassing it -- but it's easier to bypass, so it's still worth it to attack even if you don't have the right kind of weapon.
 

I plan o using the 3.5 DR rules for as much as I can, since they are, as is said above, a bit more balanced for those without the abilities, since it don't matter to those with it.

I'm also gonna use the 3.5 rules for a few other things in my d20M game, like lycanthropes, heck, any beast that's not separate to d20M, i'm gonna use the 3.5 rules for.
 

Remove ads

Top