Killing a Nishruu is easy...right?

[Psyduck]

I have a question about a nishruu's damage reduction and its negating magic ability (in monsters of faerun)..

When you strike it with a magical +1 weapon, does the nishruu

1. Ignore damage reduction and receive damage, then the weapon's enchantment gets negated, or

2. Negate the weapon, effectively giving the Nishruu a 20/- damage reduction against anything using enchanted weapons to harm it?

 

[Gromm]

Given its CR is only 6, I'd say #1.
Otherwise the things nearly unkillable.
We don't need any more Remorhaz's (Remorhazi?).

 

[FANGO]

I would hav eto disagree....considering nishruus don't actually do anything, and only have a fly speed of 20, and have a terrible AC and everything, I would have to say that they definitely do negate magic swords that touch them. Otherwise, they would be easier to kill then goblins, just with more hit points and less danger to the adventurers. The only people with something to fear are the spellcasters, and maybe the rogues if they happen to carry around a lot of wands (which they probably won't be doing too much at level 6 anyway). Otherwise, just send the fighter in there and have him power attack away-he'll hit every time, do at least 20 points of damage if he knows what he's doing, and your nishruu ceases to be a threat (except for the fact that he wasn't one in the first place). Don't forget that an adamantine weapon will chew the hell out of one of these things, too, as will anything with natural damage reduction (I don't believe nishruus negate Su abilities...), and any forsaker above level 2 (which is easily doable by 6th level).

Oh, and if the challenge rating still seems low, just remember that most of the CRs in monsters of faerun are ultra-low anyway (Ibrandlin, anyone? that thing would cut through a 5th level party like a light saber through butter)

 

['o Skoteinos]

Fango, an Adamanine weapon is no good against a creature with DR. The natural enhancement bonus of Adamantine does not bypass DR.

 

[Forrester]

I have a question about a nishruu's damage reduction and its negating magic ability (in monsters of faerun)..

When you strike it with a magical +1 weapon, does the nishruu

1. Ignore damage reduction and receive damage, then the weapon's enchantment gets negated, or

2. Negate the weapon, effectively giving the Nishruu a 20/- damage reduction against anything using enchanted weapons to harm it?

I split the difference in a recent encounter in my campaign. The first round of swings hit the creature just fine -- after that, though, the weapon is drained & the character must wait the requisite period of time for its magic to return.

I also played it that if the Nishruu just ENTERS the square that the +1 weapon-wielder is in, regardless of whether the Nish stays in there an entire round, the weapon gets sucked.

They did manage to defeat it -- a Raged Orc Fighter that's Power-attacking with a greatsword averages more than 20pts of damage per round, even after the sword has had its magic sucked away -- but I did manage to suck the brains of a kobold wizard first . He spent most of the rest of the day saying "Ooh ooh" and "aah aah" and trying to poke his party members with sharp things. Luckily, they were able to sacrifice some elves to an altar of Maglubiyet soon afterwards, earning them a Heal for the Feeblemind effect . . . but that's a different story .

 

[FANGO]

Since when does adamantine not beat DR? In the SRD it just says that you need an enhancement bonus equal to the DR number in order to beat DR..so why won't adamantine? It's got an enhancement bonus, and that's all it needs.

And some other things that might suggest this....
1)lycanthropes have DR of 15/silver as an Ex ability...since it's Ex, so it's technically not magical, then does this mean they can't beat other /silver DRs? I don't believe so...
2)Forsakers have the same thing, only with more than /silver, and it's not magical but can still beat DR.

So there are at least some examples of things that can beat DR without using magic, so I would think that adamantine could do the same.

 

[Xarlen]

Since when does adamantine not beat DR? In the SRD it just says that you need an enhancement bonus equal to the DR number in order to beat DR..so why won't adamantine? It's got an enhancement bonus, and that's all it needs.

And some other things that might suggest this....
1)lycanthropes have DR of 15/silver as an Ex ability...since it's Ex, so it's technically not magical, then does this mean they can't beat other /silver DRs? I don't believe so...
2)Forsakers have the same thing, only with more than /silver, and it's not magical but can still beat DR.

So there are at least some examples of things that can beat DR without using magic, so I would think that adamantine could do the same.

Masterwork weapons recieve a +1 bonus, but does this mean they can bypass DR? No. Otherwise, any farmer with a fancy weapon could hit a vampire.

Adamantite is a natural enchantment bonus. This does not bypass DR. Otherwise, you could enchant an Adamantite weapon with special abilities, because Magical weapons need to be a +1 first, before additional abilities are added.

Damage reduction is bypassed by Magical effects. That's why spells go through it. Magical bonuses on weapons go through it. Natural bonuses for the quality of weapons Do Not.

And, Silver bypasses because that's what lycanthropes are weak against. It's part of the myth. Same reason why Vampires flench at holy symbols of good gods, and can't cross moving water. Why? Because it's part of the legend.

 

[FANGO]

A masterwork weapon does not get a +1 enhancement bonus to attack, it just gets a +1 bonus. It does not have an enhancement bonus because it does not also do an extra point of damage, and so therefore it will not bypass DR.

DR is bypassed by magical effects, but that does not mean it is bypassed exclusively by magic. DR states that a weapon hitting the creature with DR needs an enhacement bonus equal to the number on the right side of the slash, it doesn't say that this needs to be a result of magic (just that it is usually the result of magic). Since an adamantine weapon has an enhancement bonus, it can bypass DR.

 

[Xarlen]

DMG pg 74.

Any weapon more powerful than the type given after the slash also negates the ability, so a +1 longsword damages a werewolf,normallyh, but a longsword made of some other special material won't work.

Assuming that silver negates because the werewolf's entry does, this gives the impression that Adamantite Does Not Work.

 

[FANGO]

By "special material", that passage means something other than silver. There are other types of special material damage reduction, such as wooden (a monster in one of the modules) or mithral (example given in the part about DR). This is meant to be for a nonmagical special material that can harm a creature, it doesn't mean adamantine. Adamantine, since it has an enhancement bonus, overcomes DR, because DR requires an enhancement bonus to overcome. It's all on the table in the DMG (I don't know the page, but its also in the SRD in the "special abilities" section under the damage reduction heading). I really don't see how it could be simpler.