D&D 5E SR and DR; is there a place in Next for them?

[jadrax]

Given that Skeletons in the playtest have Resistance to Slashing and Piercing, I assume that this will replace DR (and possibly SR as well).

So werewolves will have Resistance to Non-Silvered Damage while Ghosts may even have Immunity to non-magic Damage.

 

[Stormonu]

Maybe.



SR should either work like 3e DR, or like 3e Evasion.

That is, maybe SR only applies to some spells (SR 5/necromancy, or whatever), and reduces the effectiveness of those spells without necessarily just negating them.

Or, alternately, SR works like evasion, in that whereas a normal character takes half damage on a successful save, the creature with SR instead takes no damage. Again, I'd be inclined to limit this to specific types of spells only.

What about for spells like hold, charm and the like, that don't deal damage?

 

[Harlock]

What about for spells like hold, charm and the like, that don't deal damage?

I'm not who you asked, but the advantage mechanic could cover that. Advantage to saves versus non-combat spells, for instance.

 

[Frostmarrow]

I think resistance in the game rules is a waste of space. Resistance and invulnerabilities is best described within the narrative and not in the mechanics. If this is a mechanic the mechanics get in the way when trying to add it to the narrative. If this is a mechanic it will soon become part of the useless white noise that redundant mechanics always merges into. Time wasting nonsense. If this is within the narrative it becomes noteworthy, a macguffin and something memorable.

 

[KidSnide]

As several folks have mentioned, DR has transformed into Resistance. IMO, its a much better mechanic.

As for spell resistance is concerned, monsters don't need a generalized mechanic to make all magic less effective at high levels. That said, there is a place in the world for certain monsters to be unusually difficult to defeat with direct magic (just as there are monsters that are unusually to defeat without the right weapon). I think it would be pretty easy to get this effect with a combination of energy Resistance and bonus to saving throws from magical effects.

This isn't the type of rule that really needs a module. You give those abilities to certain monsters and the DMs can decide whether to use them or not.

-KS

 

[Kobold Avenger]

DR can stay, but SR needs to die in my opinion.

 

[Stalker0]

So werewolves will have Resistance to Non-Silvered Damage while Ghosts may even have Immunity to non-magic Damage.

My money says ghosts will have resistance not immunity. Magic items will be much rarer in the new edition as a base and I they will likely keep the points of later editions with allowing everyone to participate. Outright immunities will probably be very rare.

 

[jadrax]

My money says ghosts will have resistance not immunity. Magic items will be much rarer in the new edition as a base and I they will likely keep the points of later editions with allowing everyone to participate. Outright immunities will probably be very rare.

True, but Ghosts have always been the poster child monster for 'you can only kill it on the second Tuesday of the month while chanting the world Eulalie'.

Spectres, Wraiths and Scaryhead Fadingdeads will probably all just have Resistence though.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

True, but Ghosts have always been the poster child monster for 'you can only kill it on the second Tuesday of the month while chanting the world Eulalie'.

Spectres, Wraiths and Scaryhead Fadingdeads will probably all just have Resistence though.

Well, but "you can only kill a ghost on the second Tuesday of the month while changint the world Eulalie OR with a +2 or better magic weapon" doesn't really sound like a decent mechanic.

It seems better to model the Ghost invulnerability by saying: "He'll reform x time units later at full hit points", unless it's 2nd Tuesday of the month and you chant Eulalie (while reducing it to 0 hit points or making a succesful Arcana/Religion/Intimidate check).

x and time unites can be set at "interesting" values. If you set x to 10 and time units to seconds, you'd have a ghost you have to run away from, if yo uset 1 and time unit to moon phases, you have a temporary banishment effect that may allow you to figure out more about the ghost to get rid of it -or just ignore its presence and loot the castle.

 

[Sadrik]

SR gone, I agree.

DR is resistance, I agree. My only hitch is immunity or better expressed near immunity. For instance, every sundering fighter is going to be quite happy if a sword only has resistance to damage. At the same time whenever the wizard blasts off a fireball it turns everything into slag heaps. Just giving bonus hp is not enough for gear IMHO. Making it simply immune to damage is not the right call too. I also don't like that immune would mean 0 damage always. Perhaps immunity could be expressed with a value and work like DR did. Fire elemental may have fire immunity 30, ghost might have non magical immunity 20, and metal equipment/door may have damage resistance and damage immunity 10. Pretty simple way of having immunity handle hardness and making immune not an absolute.