Damage Reduction

[LordBOB]

HOLY: A holy weapon is inbued with holy power. This makes the weapon good-aligned and thus bypasses the corresponding Damage Reduction. It deals an additional 2d6 points of damage against all of evil alligment. DMG v3.5 pg. 225

I Was reading this and I wasnt exactly sure what it meant. I know that most demons have damage reduction to holy damage and i was wondering if this would cancel out the DR and inflict the additional 2d6 of damage.

When it says holy weapon, does that mean that I have to be a LG character ( Paladin) or does it mean that I have to have the weapon blessed?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Cheiromancer]

"Holy" is an enhancement to a weapon. Like flaming or shocking or vorpal or keen or...

It is priced, I believe, as a +2 enhancement. So a +1 holy longsword costs the same as a +3 longsword. If a demon has, say, DR 10/good this weapon would bypass the DR and do an extra 2d6 damage. If the demon had DR 10/cold iron and good then the weapon would bypass the damage only if it was also made of cold iron. The 2d6 damage would still apply, however.

 

[Chorn]

I know that most demons have damage reduction to holy damage and i was wondering if this would cancel out the DR and inflict the additional 2d6 of damage.

Since a holy weapon is considered good-aligned, it will naturally bypass DR x/good. The extra holy damage gets tacked on as usual. Just think of the holy enhancement as having two effects. One of them is to imbue the weapon with holy power such that it becomes an exalted weapon that is the bane of all evil. This would mimic an align weapon spell or the ability of most celestials to treat any weapon they wield as good-aligned. The extra damage dice effect is like getting a more limited version of the energy enhancements. If the target is evil, it gets zapped for damage that doesn't check DR much like the fire damage of a flaming sword would.

When it says holy weapon, does that mean that I have to be a LG character ( Paladin) or does it mean that I have to have the weapon blessed?

Holy just means good. There's no restriction to the flavor of good you represent. In fact, you don't even need to be good to use a holy weapon. The foulest demon lord would have no problem using it other than the pesky temporary negative level bestowed on any evil wielders.

 

[LordBOB]

thanks alot guys