Dumb Damage Reduction question

[RigaMortus]

I've never understood this, or the fact that they're vulnerable against their biggest enemies. I mean, angels have DR/evil, and devils/demons have DR/good. Their DR doesn't work against the person it needs to most!

Calypso

It's like fire and water... water can put out fire, so why doesn't fire have DR/water?

 

[Wormwood]

I mean, angels have DR/evil, and devils/demons have DR/good. Their DR doesn't work against the person it needs to most!

Look at it another way: a devil's infernal nature allows it to shrug off most damage. Unfortunately, it has no power to deflect blows infused with pure Good.

edit: never walk away from your keyboard before you hit "post".

 

[jgsugden]

I've never understood this, or the fact that they're vulnerable against their biggest enemies. I mean, angels have DR/evil, and devils/demons have DR/good. Their DR doesn't work against the person it needs to most!

Calypso

You're thinking about the DR and the alignment taint of the attack as separate entities. It makes more sense if you see them in conjunction. Here is a somewhat logical explanation ...

Angels, demons and devils developed damage resistance to allow them to shrug off common attacks. In response, their foes developed a counter to the damage resistance in the form of a good/evil taint to their attacks that cuts through the damage reduction.

Think of it in terms of body armor and armor piercing bullets. Nobody came up with armor piercing bullets until there was armor to be pierced ... Why doesn't the body armor protect against armor piercing bullets? Because those bullets were specifically designed to penetrate it.

 

[Ovinomancer]

They have protection against everything... except those things that are so antithetical to their nature that their protection is nullified by the oppositosity of the attack.

-Hyp.

What a fantastical, amazituous, humoriffic word!!!

 

[Hypersmurf]

What a fantastical, amazituous, humoriffic word!!!

Oppositosity is a perfectly cromulent word

-Hyp.

 

[Veril]

Draconic Damage Resistance such a joke. At Young Adult Dragons get DR5/Magic, the magnitude of the resistance increases as the dragon ages, but it's always /magic

They are CR8-11 creatures as Young Adult Dragons. By then everyone has magic weapons anyway, so the Damage Resistance is completly irrelevant.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Draconic Damage Resistance such a joke. At Young Adult Dragons get DR5/Magic, the magnitude of the resistance increases as the dragon ages, but it's always /magic

They are CR8-11 creatures as Young Adult Dragons. By then everyone has magic weapons anyway, so the Damage Resistance is completly irrelevant.

Though it explains why most common folk does fear dragons... Magic weapons are rare enough among them that they have no chance to hurt a dragon. But from the "challenge rating" point of view, it´s useless. But I tend to think Dragons have enough special abilities (+HP, +BAB, +Saves, +HD/CR ratio) to counter this "weakness"...

 

[calypso15]

You're thinking about the DR and the alignment taint of the attack as separate entities. It makes more sense if you see them in conjunction. Here is a somewhat logical explanation ...

Angels, demons and devils developed damage resistance to allow them to shrug off common attacks. In response, their foes developed a counter to the damage resistance in the form of a good/evil taint to their attacks that cuts through the damage reduction.

Think of it in terms of body armor and armor piercing bullets. Nobody came up with armor piercing bullets until there was armor to be pierced ... Why doesn't the body armor protect against armor piercing bullets? Because those bullets were specifically designed to penetrate it.

Ahh... that explanation works for me!

 

[Staffan]

Draconic Damage Resistance such a joke. At Young Adult Dragons get DR5/Magic, the magnitude of the resistance increases as the dragon ages, but it's always /magic

They are CR8-11 creatures as Young Adult Dragons. By then everyone has magic weapons anyway, so the Damage Resistance is completly irrelevant.

Looking at 3.0 dragons (taking the black dragon as an example), we see DR X/+1 at CR 8, X/+2 at CR 17, and X/+3 at CR 19. How many PCs at those levels did not have appropriate weaponry?

Just saying that that particular "problem" is not a matter of the 3.5e DR changes.