How do you or your DM handle DR and the PC's ability to detect it. My PC's are going to fight a Demon with DR/10 cold iron - good. They have neither but I will have a cold iron in another room they could grab ...
Anyway do you just tell them after the first hit that the demon is not taking all the damage? Should they make a check (maybe a DM Secret die roll) to note the DR? Just don't tell them at all (kind of evil but fun)?
If you do make a roll to check, what skill/ability?
What say you.
Usually in the description of their attack i indicate that the strike heals instantly or whatever.
If the PC's want to know what the strengths/weaknesses are have them roll a Knowledge check. Planes for Outsiders, Arcane for Magical Beasts, Religion for Undead, etc.
I also tend to indicate DR in my descriptions of the battles, especially when all damage is negated. (i.e. a zombie that takes a hail of arrows and keeps trudging towards regardless)
"You strike the Demon with your sword and it bounces off his hide, barely scratching it. He then laughs at you and takes a swipe with his claws. You take ~rolls for damage~ hps of damage. What do you do?"
Does that work?
The problem isn't just the DR, since enough damage can bypass it. It is the DR PLUS the regeneration.
You need to describe a difference though between missing, and a hit that normally bites deep but is somehow ineffective..
either through the attack just not working, or the otherwise deep would healing abnormally fast or however you choose to describe it.
As for discovering the type of item needed to over come it.. wouldn't that be covered in the knowledge check DC for the critter?
-S
Thanks for the feedback all. I think that after the PC's get one hit on the BBG I will tell them that their weapons are not doing as much damage/no damage. A knowledge check will be required to figure out what to use. I am sure the Pally will know that 'good' will work, however.
Thanks for the feedback all. I think that after the PC's get one hit on the BBG I will tell them that their weapons are not doing as much damage/no damage. A knowledge check will be required to figure out what to use. I am sure the Pally will know that 'good' will work, however.
That sounds like a good plan.
Me, I say things like "That was a solid hit, but it felt like hitting a tree trunk, and you barely scratched him at all." (or "and you didn't even leave a scratch" as the case may be).
Oh, and don't forget that if the paladin declares a Smite Evil on this demon, then all of his damage automatically bypasses the demon's DR.
At my table there's always a simultaneous groan whenever i say the words..."It doesn't seem to hurt him as much as you think it would".
always makes me chuckle :)
Are you having them fight a shadow demon?
I threw a summoned shadow demon (CR 7) at my PCs the other night (5 PCs at lvl 9) and the darn thing nearly killed three of them! The paladin player was gone that night, and they couldn't overcome the demon's DR otherwise. Add on top of that the fact that the shadow deomon is incorporeal, and the fighter was hitting for 4 or 5 pts a swing. Being incorporeal all the damage was automatically halved, and then the DR came into play, so a hit for 30 damage would be halved to 15 and then DR 10 dropped it to 5. The demon then had a 3 attack routine that basically did 2d6 damage with 3 touch attacks.
Oh that was so much fun to watch the frustration in my PCs! Especially the fighter who hits pretty hard and has a pretty high AC getting punked by this wimpy thing.
At my table there's always a simultaneous groan whenever i say the words..."It doesn't seem to hurt him as much as you think it would".
always makes me chuckle :)
Oh yes! "You strike the creature hard with your sword, but you barely manage to scratch it!" and then "you notice that his wounds appear to heal!"
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How do you or your DM handle DR and the PC's ability to detect it. My PC's are going to fight a Demon with DR/10 cold iron - good. They have neither but I will have a cold iron in another room they could grab ...
Anyway do you just tell them after the first hit that the demon is not taking all the damage? Should they make a check (maybe a DM Secret die roll) to note the DR? Just don't tell them at all (kind of evil but fun)?
If you do make a roll to check, what skill/ability?
What say you.
Is it "cold iron OR good" or "cold iron AND good?" If it is AND, having cold iron weapons in another room won't help a bit.
From the rules (bold by me):
Sometimes damage reduction represents instant healing. Sometimes it represents the creature's tough hide or body. In either case, other characters can see that conventional attacks won't work.
So yes, it should be apparent if it isn't working properly. How the PCs figure out what works, is a different fish entirely:
In many cases, you can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities. In general, the DC of such a check equals 10 + the monster’s CR. For common monsters, such as goblins, the DC of this check equals 5 + the monster’s CR. For particularly rare monsters, such as the tarrasque, the DC of this check equals 15 + the monster’s CR or more. A successful check allows you to remember a bit of useful information about that monster. For every 5 points by which your check result exceeds the DC, you recall another piece of useful information.
This isn't very precise, but I'd usually grant at least some useful information if the check is made, and usually answer a specific question if the check is made by +5. After +10 they can pretty much know everything.