DR, Su or Ex?

[d20Dwarf]

I've looked high and low for the answer to this one.

What makes Damage Reduction either Supernatural or Extraordinary?

In the MM listing it states that DR is either (Su) or (Ex).

The only listings in the MM that I can find that actually label it are under Lycanthrope (Ex) and Vampire (Su). But it doesn't say how the distinction is made.

 

[Zad]

This just came up the other night. The lich's DR is listed as being Su, and there was an anti-magic field in play so that would supress Su abilities. Of course that seemed silly to us.

In a quick scan, it seemed that for most monsters it was unassigned, and we figured that was for a reason and just generally thought that DR was DR and not really Su or Ex. If anything I would consider it Ex for most creatures since it would probably still work in an anti-magic field.

 

[hong]

This came up before. IIRC the consensus was to treat barbarian DR and weapon type DR (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing) as Ex, and everything else as Su.

 

[Ripper-nk]

True!

 

[Thaniel]

This came up before. IIRC the consensus was to treat barbarian DR and weapon type DR (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing) as Ex, and everything else as Su.

I like this. Works for me.

 

[the Jester]

This came up before. IIRC the consensus was to treat barbarian DR and weapon type DR (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing) as Ex, and everything else as Su.

If I'm thinking of the same thread, DR x/adamantine was seen as Ex as well, since it represents, essentially, the equivalent of hardness.

 

[gvbezoff]

This seems pretty staightforward, if we are talking 3.5 rules. Quoted from the Damage Reduction section of the AbilitiesandConditions chapter of the SRD:

"Some magic creatures have the supernatural ability to instantly heal damage from weapons or to ignore blows altogether as though they were invulnerable."

This makes it pretty clear that Damage Reduction, by default, is a supernatural (Su) ability.

However, some instances, such as the Barbarian class or Lycanthropes, refer to Damage Reduction as an exceptional (Ex) ability.

So, the resulting rule is that DR is (Su), unless the specific example states that it is (Ex). What is difficult about this?

As a game balance issue, I would rule that any DR that requires magic or epic weapons to penetrate is an (Su) ability, so that Anti-Magic Field does not create cheesy unkillable creatures. Which is pretty much the principle that the 3.5 rules follow, as far as I can see.

 

[Rath the Brown]

This came up before. IIRC the consensus was to treat barbarian DR and weapon type DR (bludgeoning, piercing, slashing) as Ex, and everything else as Su.

My group uses the following: Damage reduction that does not allow a creature to bypass damage reduction with its natural weapons is Ex (damage type [slashing, etc] or material type [silver, cold iron])

Damage reduction that allows a creature to bypass damage reduction of the same type (the rest of the damage reductions) is Su. Also, for creatures with multiple damage reductions, if any part of the damage reduction would be Su, that creature's damage reduction is treated as Su, otherwise it is Ex (A lich's 15/bludgeoning and magic would be Su; a creature with 5/silver and piercing would be Ex.

This system appears to work with the few creatures whose damage reduction is actualy listed as one or the other.

 

[pawsplay]

This system appears to work with the few creatures whose damage reduction is actualy listed as one or the other.

You appear to be correct. It seems what happened is that someone decided to delete Damage Reduction from the text of all the monsters to save space, failing to realize DR is a special quality, albeit a ubiquitous one, not a stat.

 

[(Psi)SeveredHead]

IMO there are two types of DR - super-fast healing and toughness.

The first set are supernatural DRs: all special material DR except adamantine, as well as alignment, magic, or epic.

The second set are Ex: nil (like a barbarian), adamantine, and weapon type (eg slashing).

When using a combo, such as a lich's DR 10/magic and bludgeoning, assume it is supernatural.