Damage Reduction vs. Spells - a thought

[The Souljourner]

OK, so I think it's fairly clear from all the Blade Barrier vs. Damage Reduction threads I've been seeing in the Rules forum that damage reduction is quite vaguely worded. It "prevents damage from each attack". What defines an attack? Natural weapons and wielded weapons obviously qualify, but what about spells? Generally, most DMs rule that spells go right through damage reduction because they're not attacks in a strict sense of the word. However, certain spells seem like they should be affected by damage reduction, such as spells that use force or ones like Blade Barrier that say they do slashing or piercing damage.

What's the solution? As I was responding to one of these Blade Barrier threads, I had a thought. Why *not* have DR work against spells? Bear with me a minute.

Give each spell a number of "pluses" equal to its level. Thus, a level 5 spell would count as a +5 weapon for the purposes of bypassing damage reduction. Of course, for high level spells, only absolute DR (e.g. 4/-) would affect it, but that's ok because high level spells should be able to blast right through DR. After all, they're still affected by Spell Resistance, right? It would just mean that spells like Magic Missile would be less useful against monsters with DR x/+2 or better. Is this a good thing? I don't know.

Give me your thoughts on this. It seems like a good idea, since it really only affects lower level spells, which by all rights should be less effective against powerful monsters. But maybe it negatively affects spellcasters too much. I mean, when no one in the party has a +3 weapon, you rely on the spellcaster to get through enough damage to kill the stupid monster. Would this make those monsters too difficult to kill for parties that don't have access to spells of that high a level?

-The Souljourner

 

[ruleslawyer]

I disagree, because it conflates two mechanics that already are coexistent and often apply to the same creatures: DR and Spell Resistance. IMHO, DR should apply to weapons and SR to spells, and never the twain shall meet. Moreover, as you pointed out, spells often are meant to be the Achilles' heels of monsters with DR.

 

[Crothian]

This really hurts spellcasters. How many big guns do you have spell wise? Granted, few things have x/+4 or x/+5 but those that do will stick it too fireballs.

Also, what about energy resistance and DR? So Fire Restistance 10 and DR 20/+4 against a fireball that does 40 damage is reduce to 10? Ouch, that really hurts.

Against big creatures Spellcasters will use a few big level spells, but they reley on their numerous low level spells. This would take out the low level spells. It would provide 3 forms od defense against spells (SR, Energy Resistance, and DR). Plus most spells have saving throws.

 

[Dark Dragon]

Hmm, sounds easy, but...If I understood correctly, you're thinking about a DR for EACH spell, e. g. Fireball, Melf's Acid Arrow, Magic Missile, Burning Hands, Inflict Light Wounds...

As a proposal, I'd apply DR to spells that use Force or have a Force-descriptor and to spells that conjure / enchant / create magic / non-magic matter (Wall of Iron, Spike Stones, Briar Web,...).
For most other spells exist "counter"-spells, mentioning Endure / Resist Elements, Protection from Elements. They provide some "DR" to elemental damage.
The Inflict-Wound-spells and Vampiric Touch transfer energy via touch..hmm, I'm not sure how to handle this with DR. Negative Energy Protection may be an option to give DR (perhaps caster level / +3?).
In general, your idea of giving a spell a plus equal to its level sounds good.

 

[The Souljourner]

Dark Dragon, you make a good point. So perhaps its best if only spells with a [Force] descriptor or those that specifically mention physical damage are defended against by DR, as if they had a plus equal to their spell level.

That's pretty good I think. Looking at spells which have the force descriptor and actually do damage (forcecage and wall of force etc. don't really interact with DR)...

Explosive Runes
Abjuration [Force]
Level: Sor/Wiz 3

Magic Missile
Evocation [Force]
Level: Sor/Wiz 1

Mord’s Sword
Evocation [Force]
Level: Sor/Wiz 7

Spiritual Weapon
Evocation [Force]
Level: Clr 2, War 2

So yeah, that's it for spells that have the force descriptor and do damage. Mord's Sword (is this an SRD screwup or did they really chop off the ending "-enkainen"?) goes through any kind of damage reduction besides the "-" kind (a la high level barbarians). Pretty much the only commonly used spell here is Magic Missile - the epitome of common spells. So is it useful to have these few spells get affected by damage reduction? Not really.

I think it's probably best just to go with the judgement that DR never affects spells. That's what SR is for, after all.

-The Souljourner