I have a question. I searched the forums and could not find any thread that answered this question.
If a Paladin Smites Evil on say, a barbarian with DR 3/--, does his smite evil bypass the DR, as it says in the description of Smite Evil? My gut says no, as I would rule that Smite Evil bypasses all TYPES of DR, like lawful, evil, cold iron etc...but DR 3/-- isn't a type of DR.
I ask this because my group is about to face off against Vordekai (Varnhold Vanishing module, Kingmaker) and the lich's DR is 15/Bludgeoning and Magic. The paladin in the group tends to Smite Evil on things and then lay waste, and with his insanely high saves at level 10 to avoid getting CC'd, I have a feeling my CR 12 Lich is going to get curb stomped. To negate this from happening, I planned on changing his DR from the above to DR 10/--, just to make it more of a challenge.
Any help would be appreciated.
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I would let him bypass it.
If a dash follows the slash, then the damage reduction is effective against any attack that does not ignore damage reduction.
Ignore is close enough to bypass for me. The Paladin's smite bypasses ALL DR, not just the ones I find convenient. That lich better make sure to keep away from the agent of justice, otherwise he's going down hard.
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According to the description under paladin, it says that "regardless of the target, smite evil attacks automatically bypass any DR the creature might possess." It doesn't say anything about TYPES. Note also that smite evil (including the DR bypass) is only effective against evil targets, so if the barbarian is neutral on the Good vs. Evil axis, then it won't bypass his DR.
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Don't nerf the paladin's mechanic, build the fight knowing what the paladin is capable of. Give the Lich some mind-controlled neutral allies, and make it their job to run interference on the paladin. Then it becomes a battle of getting rid of the paladin's obstacles so he can smite the lich's face off.