"Half Damage from x," and DR Question [Archive] - Wizards Community

"Half Damage from x," and DR Question [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Zunishahd
12-09-04, 07:07 AM I hope this hasn't been answered before, but a search was fruitless...

I was wondering how the DR special quality interacted with the "half damage from x" special quality. Specifically, I was looking at the Bone Rat Swarm from Libris Mortis. As a swarm of Tiny-sized creatures, it takes half damage from slashing and piercing weapons, but as skeletal undead, it also has DR 5/bludgeoning.

So, if a PC was wailing on this wall o' boney rats with a sword, which SQ kicks in first? Is the damage;
(A) halved and then dropped by five? (Basically amounting to almost no chance of damage from low-level PCs) or,
(B) dropped by 5 and then halved? (allowing a couple points in on a decent damage roll)

I can see this isn't too much of an issue with the swarm in question (or even swarms in general) as weapons are of little-to-no-use to begin with. But for future reference, in case this dual DR setup is ever encountered on a different creature, how would y'all rule this scenario?

Thanks in advance!
Shatteredtower
12-09-04, 08:27 AM There is no clear guideline I can find in 3.5 -- all I can refer you to is the precedent offered by the 3.0 mummy, which is not proof of which way of handling this is correct in 3.5.

The 3.0 mummy halved the damage before applying damage reduction.

Funny that they removed the half damage mechanic for skeletons, claiming it brought silly results (the example I recall was the titan doing only half damage to a skeleton), but left it in place for swarms of tiny creatures, where it seems even sillier that great strength or the size of your weapon would have any effect on your ability to wipe them out. How does the ability to overkill any rat you hit translate into decimating a swarm with a single swing?

Getting back to your question, I'd be inclined to go with halving damage first and then applying damage reduction, but that's mainly because of the issue I mentioned above with killing up to a few hundred rats with one swing, not because that's necessarily how the rules are now supposed to play out.
cwslyclgh
12-09-04, 02:57 PM since DR reduces the amount of damage that a successful attack deal, you would half the damage first, then apply the DR.
Zunishahd
12-09-04, 04:20 PM Cool, thanks for the replies.

I really had no idea which way it could go, but both answers are logical enough that I can see why it'd be calculated in such a fashion.
Edymnion
12-09-04, 05:47 PM Agreed, DR takes damage off the net, not the gross.
Half damage, then DR whittles more off on top of that. Means you could quite easily get successful attacks that do no damage what-so-ever.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Zunishahd 12-09-04, 07:07 AM	I hope this hasn't been answered before, but a search was fruitless... I was wondering how the DR special quality interacted with the "half damage from x" special quality. Specifically, I was looking at the Bone Rat Swarm from Libris Mortis. As a swarm of Tiny-sized creatures, it takes half damage from slashing and piercing weapons, but as skeletal undead, it also has DR 5/bludgeoning. So, if a PC was wailing on this wall o' boney rats with a sword, which SQ kicks in first? Is the damage; (A) halved and then dropped by five? (Basically amounting to almost no chance of damage from low-level PCs) or, (B) dropped by 5 and then halved? (allowing a couple points in on a decent damage roll) I can see this isn't too much of an issue with the swarm in question (or even swarms in general) as weapons are of little-to-no-use to begin with. But for future reference, in case this dual DR setup is ever encountered on a different creature, how would y'all rule this scenario? Thanks in advance!
Shatteredtower 12-09-04, 08:27 AM	There is no clear guideline I can find in 3.5 -- all I can refer you to is the precedent offered by the 3.0 mummy, which is not proof of which way of handling this is correct in 3.5. The 3.0 mummy halved the damage before applying damage reduction. Funny that they removed the half damage mechanic for skeletons, claiming it brought silly results (the example I recall was the titan doing only half damage to a skeleton), but left it in place for swarms of tiny creatures, where it seems even sillier that great strength or the size of your weapon would have any effect on your ability to wipe them out. How does the ability to overkill any rat you hit translate into decimating a swarm with a single swing? Getting back to your question, I'd be inclined to go with halving damage first and then applying damage reduction, but that's mainly because of the issue I mentioned above with killing up to a few hundred rats with one swing, not because that's necessarily how the rules are now supposed to play out.
cwslyclgh 12-09-04, 02:57 PM	since DR reduces the amount of damage that a successful attack deal, you would half the damage first, then apply the DR.
Zunishahd 12-09-04, 04:20 PM	Cool, thanks for the replies. I really had no idea which way it could go, but both answers are logical enough that I can see why it'd be calculated in such a fashion.
Edymnion 12-09-04, 05:47 PM	Agreed, DR takes damage off the net, not the gross. Half damage, then DR whittles more off on top of that. Means you could quite easily get successful attacks that do no damage what-so-ever.