Some damage reduction represents instant healing. Sometimes it represents the creature's tough hide or body. In their case, other characters can see that conventional attacks won't work.
The rules state that players/characters have some knowledge of whether there is DR.
My question is: do they know the amount of DR? If they sit there and attack a creature long enough, they will eventually be able to reverse calculate the DR total.
As GMs, do you actively keep this secret? If there were a visual implementation of combat similar to computer RPGs where the damage appears over the enemy character ("9", "Miss!", "Crit!", etc.) would you consider it disclosing too much to print the result after DR? Would you print just the damage roll result, before any modifications from creature defenses?
I personally think it is more accurate to let the players see the force being taken out of their hits. I'm looking to hear explanations of possible abuse, or just personal preferences. What do you think?
I just say "The creature seems to shrug off some of the damage of your otherwise mighty blows..." or "your sword glances off of its bony hide and you quickly realize that a bashing weapon might be more effective against its thick skin..." or something along those lines.
I dont give out any numbers however, I do tell my players descriptively when things like fast healing or DR are in effect. And if an attack is completely negated, I will tell them so (your attack though having struck true appeared to have no effect). With this if there is someone doing damage in the range of the DR, it is possible after time for the players to realize exactly how much DR the creature has. I do however require a knowledge check to know what kind of dr it is (slashing, cold iron, magic etc) though this can be found by trial and error as well.
Yes, I keep it a secret, just like I keep everything else about the monster secret. I don't disclose its AC, its HP, its STR/DEX/CON/INT/WIS/CHA, its BAB, its feats, its skills, its saves, etc.
Sure, the players can reverse engineer some of these numbers if they want to. That's up to them. Heck, some of them are also DMs who spend as much time reading the Bestiary as I do, and they probably just know some of this stuff from reading the monster entries when they prepared their own encounters.
But, to me there are two ways to go:
DM: It's your turn to attack, Bryan. You need to hit a 21 AC.
Bryan: I swing my sword. Great, I got a 24. That hits. My damage is 15 points.
DM: No, it has DR 5/cold iron, so you only do 10 points. It had 40 HP so now it has 30 HP left.
Or:
DM: It's your turn to attack, Chance Ironbeard.
Bryan: I swing my sword. I got a 24, does that hit?
DM: Yes, that's a good solid hit.
Bryan: OK, then my damage is 15 points.
DM: Your sword scrapes across its thick hide, somehow not cutting as deeply as you thought it would; that hide must be extra thick. Still, you opened a gash in its thigh and it's bleeding now, even if not as much as you thought it would.
The first way is perfectly fine. That's how many computer games do it, more or less. And we all know that Pathfinder combat is just a bunch of abstract numbers and die rolls - nobody at the gaming table is fooled into thinking it is anything else.
But for me, I prefer the second way. It is more immersive, and leaves an element of mystery for the players.
DM: It's your turn to attack, Chance Ironbeard.
This amuses me, because there's a PC named Chance in my campaign.
DM: Your sword scrapes across its thick hide, somehow not cutting as deeply as you thought it would; that hide must be extra thick. Still, you opened a gash in its thigh and it's bleeding now, even if not as much as you thought it would.
The first way is perfectly fine. That's how many computer games do it, more or less. And we all know that Pathfinder combat is just a bunch of abstract numbers and die rolls - nobody at the gaming table is fooled into thinking it is anything else.
But for me, I prefer the second way. It is more immersive, and leaves an element of mystery for the players.
I always use that "not cutting as deeply" schtick, and the players invariably figure out what the DR is (by low damage failing to do any, or by knowing the monster's approximate CR and how DR is usually scaled). We still mostly prefer the latter way.
Some damage reduction represents instant healing. Sometimes it represents the creature's tough hide or body. In their case, other character can see that conventional attacks won't work.
The rules state that players/characters have some knowledge of whether there is DR.
My question is: do they know the amount of DR? If they sit there and attack a creature long enough, they will eventually be able to reverse calculate the DR total.
As GMs, do you actively keep this secret? If there were a visual implementation of combat similar to computer RPGs where the damage appears over the enemy character ("9", "Miss!", "Crit!", etc.) would you consider it disclosing to much to print the result after DR? Would you print just the damage roll result, before any modifications from creature defenses?
I personally think it is more accurate to let the players see the force being taken out of their hits. I'm looking to hear explanations of possible abuse, or just personal preferences. What do you think?
Personal preference for me is that I tell them if the attack is entirely negated by DR (since that actually negates secondary effects), or a qualitative description of about how much damage they actually took. Players pretty much figure it out soon enough.