Why do high level monsters hav DR x/magic?

[Sqwonk]

For example Liches and Vampires.

DR: 15/ bludge and magic - DR 10/silver and magic

In standard D&D what character does not have a magic weapon by level 3 or 4?

A skeleton has "better" DR than a Lich? straight 5/ bludge

I know this makes them super scary for the general populace - but the PCs are not butchers and bakers.

Does anyone have an issue with this? How did you fix it?
(Please no comments about how 4e will.)

 

[Li Shenron]

Well you know, not so long ago there was a DR based on +s, which didn't have this issue.

Just having "magic" becomes almost irrelevant after level 5, they could have probably eliminated it entirely.

A skeleton has "better" DR than a Lich? straight 5/ bludge

That is worse than 15/bludge & magic...

 

[kinem]

"and" means it has to be both. "or" means it could be either. So as Li wrote, DR x/bludgeoning and magic is better than just DR/bludgeoning.

Nothing wrong with making them scary to the commoners.

 

[Voadam]

DR magic is useful against summoned creatures, for example the druids animal summons all are big brutes but their natural attacks are not considered magical for the purposes of overcoming DR. Same with elementals, celestials, fiends, and fey. Fiendish and celestial template creatures do overcome DR X/magic if they have enough HD but many summoned creatures do not.

In addition monsters with DR X/magic are able to overcome the DR X/magic of summoned fiendish and celestial creatures.

So the two most relevant effects for at the game use are dealing with summoned creatures.

 

[Delta]

Does anyone have an issue with this? How did you fix it?

Well, my fix is to play any version prior to 3.5. Then you'd have monsters whose DR was bypassed only by +1 or +2 or +3 weapons, so not all PCs would have the higher bonus types.

 

[Sqwonk]

"and" means it has to be both. "or" means it could be either. So as Li wrote, DR x/bludgeoning and magic is better than just DR/bludge

Well that makes more sense. And it also makes the Lich and Vamp the scary things they are supposed to be. I can't believe I have been playing that wrong for years.

Are most monsters "And" or "Or" ? Or does the "And" usually apply when it is a higher level monster? Is there a list somewhere with monsters and their DR?

 

[Drowbane]

For example Liches and Vampires.

DR: 15/ bludge and magic - DR 10/silver and magic

In standard D&D what character does not have a magic weapon by level 3 or 4?

A skeleton has "better" DR than a Lich? straight 5/ bludge

I know this makes them super scary for the general populace - but the PCs are not butchers and bakers.

Does anyone have an issue with this? How did you fix it?

DR X / Bludgeon and Magic is better than DR X / Bludgeon since it requires BOTH types to be bypassed. You're thinking of DR X / Bludgeon OR Magic... which would indeed be weaker.

 

[Jolly Giant]

Are most monsters "And" or "Or" ? Or does the "And" usually apply when it is a higher level monster? Is there a list somewhere with monsters and their DR?

I havn't actually sar down and counted them or anything, but my impression is that higher CR creature have "and" much more often, while low CR creatures are more likely to have "or". -Which makes sense to me.

 

[billd91]

Well you know, not so long ago there was a DR based on +s, which didn't have this issue.

It didn't have the issue as much but it did mean that creatures that had DR x/silver ended up being pretty weak because magic always counted as better than silver. I prefer not having a hierarchy of DR-breaking materials, quite frankly, even if it means there's no difference between levels of magic needed to get through DR.

 

[EricNoah]

I think this kind of DR is more of a story feature -- it explains why ordinary people with ordinary weapons can't hurt them.

Hey, it's not a great explanation, but it's all I've got.