Damage Reduction 5/magic [Archive] - Wizards Community

Damage Reduction 5/magic [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Paitlan
06-20-07, 03:05 AM I have a player who would like to enhance his armor with Damage reduction 5/magic.

But how does it affect monsters that is trying to hit him.

I am fully aware if the monster have a weapon. The weapon has to be magical to get around the damage reduction.

But what about a troll using it's claws. are they considerer magical like the monk or will the damage reduction be effective here?

Or a giant hiting with it's fist?

In second edition when a monster reached a certain hit dice it's hits where considerer magical. Is it the same in 3.5?
KurenaiYami
06-20-07, 03:07 AM If the monster had Damage Reduction bypassed by Magic, it's natural weapons are treated as magical for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Neutronium_Dragon
06-20-07, 03:37 AM More generally, a creature's natural weapons are simply normal weapons unless some specific ability dictates otherwise.

If you check the entry on Damage Reduction in the back of the Monster Manual, it states that a creature's natural weapons are counted as being magical if the creature has DR/Magic, and as epic weapons if the creature has DR/Epic. Other types of DR do not provide any bypass.

The alignment subtypes do allow a creature's natural and wielded weapons to be treated as aligned appropriately. A creature with the [evil] subtype treats its weapons as evil for bypassing DR. This is entirely independent of whether the creature actually has DR. (Although a creature with the [evil] subtype and DR/Magic would treat its natural weapons as both evil and magic, this is the synergy of two different sources.)

There are also some class abilities, feats, and so on which allow a creature to treat its natural weapons as some form of special thing for the purpose of bypassing DR. A monk's Ki Strike ability chain, a feat like Versatile Unarmed Strike or Silver Fang, and so on, can do this.

But a troll hitting with its claws or a giant hitting with its fist wouldn't bypass DR/Magic unless they actually made their claws or fist magical, such as by using a Magic Fang spell.

This is normal and expected, not something to be alarmed about. Adding DR 5/Magic to armor is absurdly expensive compared to the benefit you get, so it won't be harming your game when this happens.
runestar
06-20-07, 03:49 AM It depends on your campaign. Quite a number of monsters in the MM are unable to overcome dr/magic readily, unless you specially equip them or slap on fiendish/half fiend templates etc.
Paitlan
06-20-07, 03:54 AM Thanks guys for the quick answers.

This will help me a lot.
tarkin
06-20-07, 11:00 AM DR magic is the best DR for facing creatures using natural weapons

But it is near worthless when facing people using weapons.

This sort of balances things out, fairly well.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Paitlan 06-20-07, 03:05 AM	I have a player who would like to enhance his armor with Damage reduction 5/magic. But how does it affect monsters that is trying to hit him. I am fully aware if the monster have a weapon. The weapon has to be magical to get around the damage reduction. But what about a troll using it's claws. are they considerer magical like the monk or will the damage reduction be effective here? Or a giant hiting with it's fist? In second edition when a monster reached a certain hit dice it's hits where considerer magical. Is it the same in 3.5?
KurenaiYami 06-20-07, 03:07 AM	If the monster had Damage Reduction bypassed by Magic, it's natural weapons are treated as magical for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction.
Neutronium_Dragon 06-20-07, 03:37 AM	More generally, a creature's natural weapons are simply normal weapons unless some specific ability dictates otherwise. If you check the entry on Damage Reduction in the back of the Monster Manual, it states that a creature's natural weapons are counted as being magical if the creature has DR/Magic, and as epic weapons if the creature has DR/Epic. Other types of DR do not provide any bypass. The alignment subtypes do allow a creature's natural and wielded weapons to be treated as aligned appropriately. A creature with the [evil] subtype treats its weapons as evil for bypassing DR. This is entirely independent of whether the creature actually has DR. (Although a creature with the [evil] subtype and DR/Magic would treat its natural weapons as both evil and magic, this is the synergy of two different sources.) There are also some class abilities, feats, and so on which allow a creature to treat its natural weapons as some form of special thing for the purpose of bypassing DR. A monk's Ki Strike ability chain, a feat like Versatile Unarmed Strike or Silver Fang, and so on, can do this. But a troll hitting with its claws or a giant hitting with its fist wouldn't bypass DR/Magic unless they actually made their claws or fist magical, such as by using a Magic Fang spell. This is normal and expected, not something to be alarmed about. Adding DR 5/Magic to armor is absurdly expensive compared to the benefit you get, so it won't be harming your game when this happens.
runestar 06-20-07, 03:49 AM	It depends on your campaign. Quite a number of monsters in the MM are unable to overcome dr/magic readily, unless you specially equip them or slap on fiendish/half fiend templates etc.
Paitlan 06-20-07, 03:54 AM	Thanks guys for the quick answers. This will help me a lot.
tarkin 06-20-07, 11:00 AM	DR magic is the best DR for facing creatures using natural weapons But it is near worthless when facing people using weapons. This sort of balances things out, fairly well.