DR and movement

[Festivus]

Last night we had a question come up and I wasn't entirely certain how to rule on it. In the end it didn't really matter much but it could come up again.

A creature with DR2/-- (Biofeedback) moves through a large area of Briarweb (SC pp39) which causes 1pt of damage for every 5 feet moved. If the creature moves more than 10 feet should they begin to take damage from the briars or is it negated for each new square entered.

My thoughts on this was that they should begin to take damage after the initial 10 feet if it's within the same turn. The player argued that it resets every 5 feet they moved. I let him have his way but I still feel wrong, and that he should have incurred the damage.

Anyone have any thoughts? Let me know if there isn't enough detail there to make an informed decision.

 

[werk]

DR is per damage dealing instance, so I'd say it resets after every square.

The whole purpose of DR, IMO, is to protect more powerful creatures from taking mundane damage, so they only need to be concerned with like-powered foes. If walking through briars isn't mundane damage, I don't know what is.

 

[Infiniti2000]

Anyone have any thoughts?

Spell damage is not negated by DR. It doesn't apply at all.

 

[cincinnati reds]

Spell damage is not negated by DR. It doesn't apply at all.

Even from a Conjuration effect?

I have no idea and don't have my books with me, so it's an honest question.

 

[kjenks]

SRD
===
Damage Reduction (Ex or Su): A creature with this special quality ignores damage from most weapons and natural attacks. Wounds heal immediately, or the weapon bounces off harmlessly (in either case, the opponent knows the attack was ineffective). The creature takes normal damage from energy attacks (even nonmagical ones), spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. A certain kind of weapon can sometimes damage the creature normally, as noted below.
The entry indicates the amount of damage ignored (usually 5 to 15 points) and the type of weapon that negates the ability.
Some monsters are vulnerable to piercing, bludgeoning, or slashing damage.
Some monsters are vulnerable to certain materials, such as alchemical silver, adamantine, or cold-forged iron. Attacks from weapons that are not made of the correct material have their damage reduced, even if the weapon has an enhancement bonus.
Some monsters are vulnerable to magic weapons. Any weapon with at least a +1 magical enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls overcomes the damage reduction of these monsters. Such creatures’ natural weapons (but not their attacks with weapons) are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
A few very powerful monsters are vulnerable only to epic weapons; that is, magic weapons with at least a +6 enhancement bonus. Such creatures’ natural weapons are also treated as epic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Some monsters are vulnerable to chaotic-, evil-, good-, or lawful-aligned weapons. When a cleric casts align weapon, affected weapons might gain one or more of these properties, and certain magic weapons have these properties as well. A creature with an alignment subtype (chaotic, evil, good, or lawful) can overcome this type of damage reduction with its natural weapons and weapons it wields as if the weapons or natural weapons had an alignment (or alignments) that match the subtype(s) of the creature.
When a damage reduction entry has a dash (–) after the slash, no weapon negates the damage reduction.
A few creatures are harmed by more than one kind of weapon. A weapon of either type overcomes this damage reduction.
A few other creatures require combinations of different types of attacks to overcome their damage reduction. A weapon must be both types to overcome this damage reduction. A weapon that is only one type is still subject to damage reduction.
===

 

[Festivus]

The spell's area becomes difficult terrain, and creatures move at half speed within the affected area. Any creature moving through the area also takes 1 point of nonmagical piercing damage for each 5 feet moved.

To me, the brambles and spikes that grow are a alteration of what was already there, and not a direct magical attack (where DR wouldn't apply). I am ok with the way I ruled that (though some may choose to disagree). The crux of my question was this: does the damage accumulate as you move or is it on a 5 foot square by 5 foot square basis?

 

[quaidbrown]

I've seen this come up before... Like when a wizard tries to move away from an opponent after casting defensively, gets AOOd and knocked unconcious.

The question is this: Does taking a move action instantly move you 30 feet, or do you traverse the squares one at a time? Does she fall unconcious at the feet of the attackers where she got hit, or does she complete her move action?

What if your creature had fire resistance 10 and were moving through 6 walls of fire? Would you add up the damage from all 6, and then do DR, or apply it to each wall?

I think it's a matter of how you consider the move action to work. Do they take each step? What if somebody had a readied action to hold person when you step on a certain square... you would probably stop there and not finish your move.

I think that a move should be treated like a series of 5 foot steps, personally... you take damage for each step, not all at once. Realistically, everything is happening simultaneously. If you filmed your figurines moving around during the battle, it would look silly, because everybody but one person stands still and people teleport around as they move. We have to pretend that things are happening simultaneously, and that movement is realistic.

 

[Primitive Screwhead]

Technically, the SRD does state "The creature takes normal damage from..., spells,..."
Meaning this spell will deal 1 point of damage to the character for each 5' of movement.

Personally, I would rule this was as well since the spell effect is not 'normal' brambles.

If I was to allow DR against this effect, lets say the area is occupied by swarms of gnats that deal 1 point of damage to any creature that passes through instead of a spell... then I would treat each squares damage seperately and the DR character could essentially ignore them.

Remember, magic breaks the rules... thats why its fun

 

[Infiniti2000]

Even from a Conjuration effect?

It doesn't matter what school it comes from, but the debated point is defining "spell damage." Long and hard discussions can be had on it.

So, my advice is to define what you view as "spell damage" and if briarweb is spell damage, then DR doesn't apply. If it isn't spell damage, then apply it against DR.

Using the latter definition, I can't see how to rule it not resetting every 5ft. You take 1pt/5ft. If you have 1 hit point left and 30ft of movement, can you really move all 30ft and take 6 hit points of damage? Or, do you drop to -1 after 10ft?

 

[Cheiromancer]

Like I2K said.

If the damage is like that inflicted by a summoned monster, then DR should apply. If it is more like an Ice Storm, then DR shouldn't apply.

If DR applies, then it should reset every 5 feet.