DR and immunities

[+5 Keyboard!]

I've described it every time it happens, sometimes with a generic "You feel like your blow should have done more damage than it did", and sometimes with fun descriptions like, "The senator raises his hand in a defensive move as your crossbow bolt flies at him. The bolt sinks halfway into his open palm and he grunts in pain. He relaxes his stance and slowly pulls the bolt from his hand. As it clatters loudly to the stone floor, you notice that the wound on his hand closed almost instantaneously after he removed the bolt. He looks up at you with malice in his eyes and says, 'That wasn't very smart'."

Senators are pretty damn scary! My brothter-in-law is a Nevada State Senator. Maybe I'll see if he'll try the crossbow bolt to the palm trick the next time I see him. You know, for entertainment purposes.

As far as describing the action...
If the blow does nothing and it's a pretty high DR, I usually say something like, "Your weapon appears to be doing nothing to it with even your mightiest swing."
If the blow is doing partial damage to moderate DR, I might say, "A blow that would have felled a lesser beast, appears to have only inflicted minor wounds."
If its a low DR and the majority of the blows are doing significantly more that what is being reduced, I'd say, "Your blows are wounding the creature significantly, but not quite as bad as they should be."

Spell immunities, I usually describe area of effects, "Your spell engulfs the creature for a moment, but when the effect clears you can see that it doesn't appear to have affected it whatsoever." A targeted effect, I might say, "The spell effect flies straight and true right into the creature... and simply dissipates harmlessly when it hits."

 

[Vraille Darkfang]

Do I tell the Raging, Greatax Power Attacking, Bull's Strengthed Barbarian that his 1d12+28 really does 5 points less damage....

Not really.

In most cases, if the DR is less than the Random Variables that the Players are rolling (IE 1d12 vs DR 5), I secretly roll a spot check (Positive Modify per Successful Attack) to eventually notice the DR.

In most cases (only really low DR, like DR1-2) doesn't get noticed by the end of the 1st rd.

 

[Thornir Alekeg]

DR is pretty clear, immunities less so. Did a creature not get effected because:

1) You didn't beat his SR?
2) He made his save?
3) He's immune?

This can be tricky depending upon the spell, but to generalize how I've tried to convey it:

1) The [spell effect] dances around your opponent for a moment and then seems to dissipate.
2) Your foe grimaces for a moment and seems to shrug off the [spell effect].
3) The [spell effect] strikes your opponent but seems to have no effect on him whatsoever.

I will then usually give a spellcraft check and with a successful check I will tell them for certain what happened.

 

[MonkeyDragon]

Generally, we term it as "most of that went through" "some gets through" "doesn't seem to do any damage." Usually after a couple of rounds of different people trying to damage the thing, the exact DR is extrapolated. If it's clear that we've figured it out, usually the mystery is dispensed with.

 

[hong]

Do I tell the Raging, Greatax Power Attacking, Bull's Strengthed Barbarian that his 1d12+28 really does 5 points less damage....

Not really.

You should. RAW, if DR reduces the damage taken, it's visible to the characters.

 

[Firedancer]

Protection from energy has scuppered me before; I was playing a fire specialist. I hit a foe with fire for 3 rounds thinking "he's got to go down soon...." and then I finally hit it with orb of force (a back up force spell for ethereal opponents) and felled it. The rest of the damage had all been taken by his protection from energy: fire!

I had a minor discourse with the DM; thankfully the rest of the party had dealt with the other monsters and no one was down, but I felt he was wrong in not giving us some clue during the previous 3 rounds that my spells were ineffective.

Hence this post on DR and immunities.

I've generally given hints about DR to those that have hit it (and then those meta-gamers auto shift to different attack form, grrr).

 

[shilsen]

Protection from energy has scuppered me before; I was playing a fire specialist. I hit a foe with fire for 3 rounds thinking "he's got to go down soon...." and then I finally hit it with orb of force (a back up force spell for ethereal opponents) and felled it. The rest of the damage had all been taken by his protection from energy: fire!

I had a minor discourse with the DM; thankfully the rest of the party had dealt with the other monsters and no one was down, but I felt he was wrong in not giving us some clue during the previous 3 rounds that my spells were ineffective.

That's definitely idiotic DMing in my book. If you're hitting something with a fire spell and it's completely unaffected, the PC should realize it.

I've generally given hints about DR to those that have hit it (and then those meta-gamers auto shift to different attack form, grrr).

How is that metagaming? Unless your PCs have no experience at all of adventuring, it makes perfect sense for them to know that certain creatures are affected normally by specific attack types and not others. Your comment seems especially strange in view of your preceding point about the fire damage. Would it be metagaming if the DM told you it takes much less damage than it should from your fire spell and you switched to sonic?

 

[Firedancer]

How is that metagaming? Unless your PCs have no experience at all of adventuring, it makes perfect sense for them to know that certain creatures are affected normally by specific attack types and not others. Your comment seems especially strange in view of your preceding point about the fire damage. Would it be metagaming if the DM told you it takes much less damage than it should from your fire spell and you switched to sonic?

It comes down to the flow of actions. Pc1 hits, notices not all damage going through. Fine with him next round shifting to something different (piercing, silvered, whatever). But for his compatriot who has yet to hit this foe to know this particular creature has DR, and to shift from his standard weapon to something different to attempt to overcome the DR...that's metagaming - applying out of game knowledge to a characters actions.

Switiching from fire spell to sonic spell after witnessing your fire spell absorbed is perfectly reasonable action in the next round. Likewise Pc1 switching to his piercing weapon next turn is fine*. Pc2 already trying this out a fraction of a moment after Pc1 has discovered some DR is the metagaming I was refering to; particularly as it stems from the description of a blow another Pc made. How does Pc2 recognise the difference between DR3 and Pc1 rolling a 1 on his d6? Apparently its automatic.

* this does illustrate an in-built expectance of a level of metagaming. A novice Pc is unlikely to have come across gaming-world DR personally, whilst his player knows all about it and can have his Pc act accordingly when he thinks he's encountering it. Really when a novice adventurer strikes a foe to see the wound close up or the iron hard skin show no blemish he should think about a sharp exit, not "its only DR, I'll try silver next, Pc2 can try piercing, etc".....Most people find it acceptable that various party members will switch to various weapons once they recognise a creature might have DR, no matter the Pc's experience. Not saying there's a problem with this, just that it is an accepted level of metagaming.

Please note the distinctions between Pc and player.

 

[hong]

It comes down to the flow of actions. Pc1 hits, notices not all damage going through. Fine with him next round shifting to something different (piercing, silvered, whatever). But for his compatriot who has yet to hit this foe to know this particular creature has DR, and to shift from his standard weapon to something different to attempt to overcome the DR...that's metagaming - applying out of game knowledge to a characters actions.

DR's effects are visible. It doesn't stretch the imagination too far that people other than that particular character might notice.

 

[Merkuri]

A lot of things can happen in the game world that isn't necessarily spelled out at the gaming table. PC1 may cast a fireball, and then gasp or look astounded when it does almost no damage to the creature. It's perfectly acceptable in my mind that other PCs can pick up on subtle clues that something didn't work as well as the wielder/caster wanted. They can also be talking to each other, too. I think that if a PC is in earshot/eyeshot of another PC they're allowed to share information like whether a monster has DR or resistances.