D&D 3E/3.5 DR conversions 3.0 to 3.5

[cats_claw]

I'm about to send my players off into a high-level module written in 3.0 and we are playing 3.5 rules.

I'm OK with most of the conversions except DR. How can a 3.0 DR like 20/+5 translate into just 20/magic? It just seems lame.

What house rules are you all using and how have they translated in a way that makes sense?

cats_claw

 

[AuraSeer]

This has been argued quite a lot on the boards, since before 3.5 was released. The search function will help you find some of the old threads.

DR used to be a minimum limitation, like "You must be at least this tall to ride." You were assumed to have the appropriate weapon, and without it you were screwed.

Now it's the other way around. You're assumed not to have the appropriate weapon, but you can beat the monster anyway. If you do manage to bypass DR though, it gets a lot easier.

For instance, the old pit fiend had DR 30/+3. That was basically meaningless, since anyone strong enough to face a pit fiend would almost surely have a +3 weapon. If you were uncommonly poor and didn't have one, the monster might as well have been immune to your attacks.

The new pit fiend has DR 15/good and silver. It's possible to get through that with your standard weapon; Power Attack helps a lot, but the point is you can beat the monster down by brute force. However, if you happen to have a silver weapon and a magical effect that gives it the Good property, you can kill it much faster. Visualize it as gaining a bonus, not removing a penalty.

If you really want house rules for DR, you probably want to go here.

 

[Camarath]

I would suggest that you start with D&D v.3.5 Accessory Update Booklet.

edit: if you haven't already seen it that is

 

[cats_claw]

I would suggest that you start with D&D v.3.5 Accessory Update Booklet.

edit: if you haven't already seen it that is

I have read it and that is why I posted. I was thinking that revising an evil extraplanar creature that was 20/+5 to something like 15/silver and good, since 10/good by itself isn't powerful enough and 15/epic may be over the top.

 

[Camarath]

I have read it and that is why I posted. I was thinking that revising an evil extraplanar creature that was 20/+5 to something like 15/silver and good, since 10/good by itself isn't powerful enough and 15/epic may be over the top.

That sounds consistent and reasonable to me.

 

[the Jester]

I'd look for the closest approximation that's already converted to 3.5... big demon? Compare it to a balor or something of roughly its CR. Big construct? Compare it to a golem. Etcetera.

As a side note, last night the nigh-epic party in my game fought a balor, and even though almost nobody could bypass its DR, they still eventually beat it down, but it was a much harder fight than I expected. DR 15/cold iron and good... yikes! Even with a solar on their side, it was rough as hell.