This is probably a stupid question, but I'm asking it because I can't seem to find a definitive answer anywhere.
While fighting zombies in the temple to Hextor, the party rogue was attacking with a shortsword +1. I told him that he had to subtract 5 points of damage from the rolls due to damage reduction; he said he didn't because "magic" outranks "slashing" when it comes to damage reduction. I told him that I really didn't think that was the case. We actually spent a few minutes looking this up, and eventually settled on my decision. Afterwards though, I couldn't find an answer that seemed definite in either direction. Help??
|
Alright, fine, /magic outranks /slashing. But a zombie's damage reduction isn't overcome by magic weapons. Only slashing. It says so right in the Monster Manual. All of the sample zombies have DR 5/slashing. A zombie's body could care less whether you attack it with a short sword or a club. It doesn't have working internal organs to worry about and undeath prevents it from worrying about concussions or the like.
Or you could just say alright, and subtract the five points of damage after he gives the total, instead of having an argument about something silly like that.
-Malkari
This is probably a stupid question, but I'm asking it because I can't seem to find a definitive answer anywhere.
While fighting zombies in the temple to Hextor, the party rogue was attacking with a shortsword +1. I told him that he had to subtract 5 points of damage from the rolls due to damage reduction; he said he didn't because "magic" outranks "slashing" when it comes to damage reduction. I told him that I really didn't think that was the case. We actually spent a few minutes looking this up, and eventually settled on my decision. Afterwards though, I couldn't find an answer that seemed definite in either direction. Help??
Hi Patrick !
Sorry to contradict but a zombi with DR 5/slashing means that only slashing weapons deal normal damage to him. There is no "ranking" among the different DR categories in D&D 3.5e. However, as a short sword is a piercing weapon, you applied the rule correctly. Even with a shortsword +5 undead bane you would still apply the DR of 5 points. Please refer to MM I and DMG for more info on damage reduction.
Bran.
Your player is probably thinking of the 3.0 rules, where there was indeed a hierarchy. A +1 weapon could bypass all sorts of DR - including +1, Silver, and so on. This was removed (for the better, in my opinion) as part of the conversion to 3.5.
This may seem late but I would appreciate if someone could help me on this.
So for example in the case of the lycanthropes which states - lets say having a DR of 10/silver; that means even if you have a magic weapon (+1 at least) unless it is also made out of silver, the full damage reduction above comes into effect?
That's right, mate. The weapon would need to be silver as well or just silver would do it.
I told him that he had to subtract 5 points of damage from the rolls due to damage reduction; he said he didn't because "magic" outranks "slashing" when it comes to damage reduction.
It's also possible that the player has encountered Monte Cook's rules for damage reduction, where a high enough magic modifier eventually eliminates the need for a golf-bag of weapons (silvered, cold-iron, adamantine, etc).
http://www.montecook.com/cgi-bin/page.cgi?otherd20_damage_reduction
I use this in my game, and have found it quite reasonable.
Timely question for me, as I had a similar discussion with my resident player rules lawyer last week, although we're a bit further along in the campaign and were discussing a creature with a 10/holy DR. I read through both the 3.0 and 3.5 rules and eventually made a ruling (my campaign is not a democracy) very similar to Monte Cook's suggestion of letting more powerful magic weapons also overcome other DRs. For example, a +1 would overcome silver DR (a pretty common and cheap weapon modification), whereas a +2 would be necessary for something like adamantine or holy(which would be less common). Like the estimable Mr. Cook, I don't really want my PCs to carry around a golf bag full of weapons (although the thought of PCs with caddy NPCs toting their bags makes me smile).
The slashing DR for zombies is a bit different however, for reasons others have ably stated, and I would not be inclined to waive it for magic weapons regardless of their power.