DR 10/salt

[the Jester]

I've been considering adding a new special material for DR against certain exceptionally 'unnatural' creatures.

Are there any points against it I should consider other than the 'bundle of weapons' factor? Has anyone added a new material in their game? How did it work out?

Thanks for any feedback you have on this issue...

 

[kreynolds]

Are there any points against it I should consider other than the 'bundle of weapons' factor?

Just don't set the DR amount so high that the creature can't be beat without bypassing it. Few monsters are like that. In other words, be mindful of its CR. If you're aiming for CR 17 to 20, a good number for DR would be 15 to 20. If a truly obscure material, one that nobody would ever even think about, such as salt, is required to bypass its DR, then 15 would probably be a great number to go with. That amount would assume that the characters were not prepared.

Definately try it out first though.

 

[Spatzimaus]

Also, consider allowing multiple materials to bypass it. For example, maybe it's actually DR 10/crystal, and salt just happens to be a really cheap way to bypass it. Or maybe it really is DR 10/salt, but there are a few really expensive materials that also bypass it. Otherwise you WILL have the Golf Bag o' Doom, unless there's only one creature in the world with this sort of DR.

Incidentally, how exactly do you make a weapon out of salt? I mean, sure, it'd be great for stirring a margarita, but wouldn't your sword dissolve?

 

[Kemrain]

Collossal Death Slugs! Dr 15/Salt!

Hah! Awsome idea. Some creatures, like Death Slugs, would simply take damage from salt, like it was acid. No salt weapon required, just a barrel and a shovel.

- Kemrain the Salty

 

[the Jester]

Incidentally, how exactly do you make a weapon out of salt? I mean, sure, it'd be great for stirring a margarita, but wouldn't your sword dissolve?

Alchemically 'salted' weapons would have crystals of it alchemically added to the blade's matrix...

I'm thinking of using this type of DR for creatures from the planes of madness/insanity/Far Realms/whatever.

 

[DreamChaser]

Alchemically 'salted' weapons would have crystals of it alchemically added to the blade's matrix...

I'm thinking of using this type of DR for creatures from the planes of madness/insanity/Far Realms/whatever.

Not to mention giant slugs.

DC

 

[MarauderX]

I used to have Steel be a 'mystery' alloy that the PCs would strive to find and replicate, which only the dwarves knew... very Conan-esque but it was something for one of the fighter players to strive for. It worked on some evil critters that they ran into, like hags, and not on others, so the PCs began referring to the good guys as having "passed the steel test."

All I did was modify the weapons to do an extra point of damage vs. evil humanoid creatures without the players knowing specifically, but alluding to it with descriptions of shocked enemies when they were hit. It was fun for all; for the 2 players that had steel weapons and would test them on everything from frogs to dragons, while for me it was great being a RB(rat bastard) DM by having the weapons break occasionally, giving that player a new sub-quest to find a replacement steel weapon.

I am tempted to do the same thing with adamantite(SP?) or something similiar to keep the players interested in a mysterious substance that is inherently 'good.' Naturally there would be a similiar material that would be 'evil'... for symmetry, of course...

 

[Tywyll]

I am tempted to do the same thing with adamantite(SP?) or something similiar to keep the players interested in a mysterious substance that is inherently 'good.' Naturally there would be a similiar material that would be 'evil'... for symmetry, of course...

Actually, that is what I am doing for Adamantine and Mithril in my world. Mithril, or Star Metal, is the material most often used by the Scions, or Angelic style beings of my world. Hell-Forged Steel is 'pre-adamantine' from the torture realms that the Sourged (demons/devils) were banished into. Dwarves discovered ways of 'purifying' Hell-Forged steel to take the taint from it and produce Adamantine. Though there are 'veins' of Hell-Forged steel, these are more often merely the remains of ancient battles fought between Scions and Scourged in the distant past, where the dead now lay and their armor and weapons have been compressed into the earth by time and tectonic force. Which explains why Hell-Forged steel and Mithril veins are often found so close together.

 

[Crothian]

I really like this idea. It rewards cyharacter willing to put in some research to make an encounter a little easier.

 

[Crothian]

I really like this idea. It rewards cyharacter willing to put in some research to make an encounter a little easier.