Why you hittin' yo'self? (damage reduction questions)

[RangerWickett]

You're Thargor, the 20th level barbarian. You have something like DR 5/-. Now, according to the rules, usually a creature can bypass damage reduction as if its natural weapons were of the type needed to bypass its own DR. So werewolves' claws and teeth can bypass DR x/silver, fey can bypass DR x/cold iron, and so on.

1. Can Thargor hit another barbarian with an unarmed attack and ignore DR?

2. Can he hit himself and deal full damage?

3. Is an unarmed attack considered a natural weapon?

4. If Thargor became a werewolf, could he punch werewolves to get past DR, or would he have to bite and claw them?

5. A werewolf's DR can be overcome by silver, and its natural attacks can overcome DR/silver. A human has no DR, or perhaps DR 5/anything (since anything can bypass this hypothetical DR). Does that not mean that a human should be able to bypass any DR with his natural attacks?

6. If Thargor were grappling a demon, could he use the 'attack with opponent's weapon' option to make his opponent hit himself, bypassing his own DR?

 

[reveal]

1. Can Thargor hit another barbarian with an unarmed attack and ignore DR?

No.

2. Can he hit himself and deal full damage?

No.

3. Is an unarmed attack considered a natural weapon?

No. That's why the answers to 1 and 2 are no.

4. If Thargor became a werewolf, could he punch werewolves to get past DR, or would he have to bite and claw them?

Neither. Werewolves natural weapons are not made out of silver and, therefor, do not get past DR/silver.

5. A werewolf's DR can be overcome by silver, and its natural attacks can overcome DR/silver. A human has no DR, or perhaps DR 5/anything (since anything can bypass this hypothetical DR). Does that not mean that a human should be able to bypass any DR with his natural attacks?

No. Humans don't have natural attacks.

6. If Thargor were grappling a demon, could he use the 'attack with opponent's weapon' option to make his opponent hit himself, bypassing his own DR?

If the demon were holding a light weapon, yes. If you're talking about the demon's natural attack, no. Natural weapons are not considered light weapons.

 

[Caliban]

You're Thargor, the 20th level barbarian. You have something like DR 5/-. Now, according to the rules, usually a creature can bypass damage reduction as if its natural weapons were of the type needed to bypass its own DR. So werewolves' claws and teeth can bypass DR x/silver, fey can bypass DR x/cold iron, and so on.

In 3.0, not in 3.5. In 3.5 the creatures stat block should describe what DR it can bypass, and creatures normally cannot bypass material based DR with their natural attacks. Only alignment or magical based DR.

In either edition, DR of x/- did not allow you to bypass DR of any kind with your natural attack. It just represented you being very tough.

 

[reveal]

In 3.0, not in 3.5. In 3.5 the creatures stat block should describe what DR it can bypass, and creatures normally cannot bypass material based DR with their natural attacks. Only alignment or magical based DR.

In either edition, DR of x/- did not allow you to bypass DR of any kind with your natural attack. It just represented you being very tough.

I forgot about that. I'll update my answers above.

 

[GlassJaw]

1. Can Thargor hit another barbarian with an unarmed attack and ignore DR?

No, since his DR doesn't have a "type". It affects all damage.

2. Can he hit himself and deal full damage?

Why in Hades would be want to do that?! The answer is no though.

3. Is an unarmed attack considered a natural weapon?

Nope!

4. If Thargor became a werewolf, could he punch werewolves to get past DR, or would he have to bite and claw them?

Well he could do either but neither attack would overcome the werewolve's DR.

5. A werewolf's DR can be overcome by silver, and its natural attacks can overcome DR/silver. A human has no DR, or perhaps DR 5/anything (since anything can bypass this hypothetical DR). Does that not mean that a human should be able to bypass any DR with his natural attacks?

A werewolf can't overcome DR/silver. Only alignment-based creatures can overcome similar DR's.

6. If Thargor were grappling a demon, could he use the 'attack with opponent's weapon' option to make his opponent hit himself, bypassing his own DR?

Nope, a natural weapon isn't an unarmed attack or a manufactured weapon.

The SRD addresses most of these questions actually.

 

[GlassJaw]

I just realized I basically repeated what reveal said. Shame on me for not reading the other posts first.

 

[reveal]

Snippets from the SRD on DR.

Some monsters are vulnerable to magic weapons. Any weapon with at least a +1 magical enhancement bonus on attack and damage rolls overcomes the damage reduction of these monsters. Such creatures’ natural weapons (but not their attacks with weapons) are treated as magic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

A few very powerful monsters are vulnerable only to epic weapons; that is, magic weapons with at least a +6 enhancement bonus. Such creatures’ natural weapons are also treated as epic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.

Some monsters are vulnerable to chaotic-, evil-, good-, or lawful-aligned weapons. When a cleric casts align weapon, affected weapons might gain one or more of these properties, and certain magic weapons have these properties as well. A creature with an alignment subtype (chaotic, evil, good, or lawful) can overcome this type of damage reduction with its natural weapons and weapons it wields as if the weapons or natural weapons had an alignment (or alignments) that match the subtype(s) of the creature.

 

[devrimk]

Ok, if Thargor is shifter, and he has shifter defence, greater shifter defence feats. (DR 4/Silver)
When he is shifting, how can I calculate his DR ?

 

[Staffan]

Ryan, I thought you'd have a better grasp of the DR rules given that you're a published author, and having been here a long time. There are only __ instances where you inherently defeat DR:

1. Any creature with DR X/magic treats its natural weapons as magic for overcoming DR.
1a. Any creature with DR X/epic treats its natural weapons as epic for overcoming DR.
2. A creature with any of the four alignment subtypes treats both natural and wielded weapons as that alignment for overcoming DR.
3. Any creature with an ability that specifically says it overcomes DR (e.g. a monk's ki strike ability).

In 3.5 you do NOT automatically overcome your own DR. This kind of makes the rest of your questions pointless.

 

[reveal]

Ok, if Thargor is shifter, and he has shifter defence, greater shifter defence feats. (DR 4/Silver)
When he is shifting, how can I calculate his DR ?

Didn't you already do that? You posted (DR4/Silver). Is that not his DR? I don't understand the question.