Yet Another Damage Reduction (Playing now please help)

[reveal]

Someone has damage reduction 10/cold iron. If they hit with their natural weapon, because they have DR/cold iron do they go through an enemies damage reduction of 10/cold iron automatically?

 

[Seeten]

Yes.

 

[reveal]

Yes.

We looked it up and couldn't find it. Can you please give a passage reference?

 

[moritheil]

We looked it up and couldn't find it. Can you please give a passage reference?

The answer is no. What the previous poster is thinking of is this:

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.

However, cold iron is a material DR, not an alignment DR. It does not state that it follows these rules, and the rules clearly state that they apply to alignment DR.

Some monsters are vulnerable to certain materials, such as alchemical silver, adamantine, or cold-forged iron. Attacks from weapons that are not made of the correct material have their damage reduced, even if the weapon has an enhancement bonus.

 

[Diirk]

The answer is no, its in the description of Damage Reduction under Types, Subtypes and Special Abilities in the MM I think, not 100% sure on that tho.

 

[Runesong42]

From what I understand, monsters who have Damage Reduction may bypass one another's DR provided they have the same type of DR or better.

In the above example, a monster with DR 10/cold iron could bypass the DR of a monster with 20/cold iron because they share the same DR type. Another example: a monster with DR 10/+2 can be attacked by a monster with DR 5/+2, but a monster with DR 20/+1 still couldn't scratch it.

If it's a PC that has the DR, I'd say no. If it was a monster, yes.

 

[Diirk]

Damage Reduction (Ex or Su): A creature with this special quality ignores damage from most weapons and natural attacks. Wounds heal immediately, or the weapon bounces off harmlessly (in either case, the opponent knows the attack was ineffective). The creature takes normal damage from energy attacks (even nonmagical ones), spells, spell-like abilities, and supernatural abilities. A certain kind of weapon can sometimes damage the creature normally, as noted below.
The entry indicates the amount of damage ignored (usually 5 to 15 points) and the type of weapon that negates the ability.
Some monsters are vulnerable to piercing, bludgeoning, or slashing damage.
Some monsters are vulnerable to certain materials, such as alchemical silver, adamantine, or cold-forged iron. Attacks from weapons that are not made of the correct material have their damage reduced, even if the weapon has an enhancement bonus.
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.
When a damage reduction entry has a dash (–) after the slash, no weapon negates the damage reduction.
A few creatures are harmed by more than one kind of weapon. A weapon of either type overcomes this damage reduction.
A few other creatures require combinations of different types of attacks to overcome their damage reduction. A weapon must be both types to overcome this damage reduction. A weapon that is only one type is still subject to damage reduction.

Thats pretty explicit. You can only penetrate the DR of a creature with the appropriate weapon, except in cases of the bolded bits above. None of which apply to material DRs, you need that specific material to bypass those.

 

[Diirk]

From what I understand, monsters who have Damage Reduction may bypass one another's DR provided they have the same type of DR or better.

In the above example, a monster with DR 10/cold iron could bypass the DR of a monster with 20/cold iron because they share the same DR type. Another example: a monster with DR 10/+2 can be attacked by a monster with DR 5/+2, but a monster with DR 20/+1 still couldn't scratch it.

If it's a PC that has the DR, I'd say no. If it was a monster, yes.

I think it might have been this way in 3.0 (I didn't play that), but not in 3.5

 

[Staffan]

From what I understand, monsters who have Damage Reduction may bypass one another's DR provided they have the same type of DR or better.

In 3.0, someone with DR/+X counted its natural weapons as +X weapons for the purpose of DR.

In 3.5, that's not a general rule anymore. Instead, there are two instances of natural DR penatration:
1: Creatures with DR/magic or /epic count their natural weapons as magic or epic for DR penetration.
2: Creatures with an alignment subtype count their natural and wielded weapons as that alignment for DR penetration. Note that this usually has nothing to do with their own DR, quite the opposite.

 

[Stormrunner]

This is a 3.0/3.5 rule change.

In 3.0, the natural attacks of a creature with DR bypass that DR, regardless of amount: a satyr (DR 5/cold iron) performing a headbutt could bypass DR 15/cold iron completely (not just 5 points of it).

In 3.5, this is only true of alignment DR, not material DR. The example satyr now has to use a cold iron weapon to bypass DR/cold iron.