On page 561 and 562 of the Core Rule book are rules for Damage Reduction and Overcoming Damage Reduction. Included on page 562 is a chart that shows how some magical weapons allow you to overcome damage reduction even if your weapon is not made of the material normally needed to overcome that damage reduction type. I show the paragraph before the chart and the chart itself below for reference.
"Weapons with an enhancement bonus of +3 or greater
can ignore some types of damage reduction, regardless
of their actual material or alignment. The following
table shows what type of enhancement bonus is needed to
overcome some common types of damage reduction."
DR Type Weapon Enhancement Bonus Equivalent
Cold iron/silver +3
Adamantine* +4
Alignment-based +5
* Note that this does not give the ability to ignore hardness,
like an actual adamantine weapon does
While the text before this chart refers to the need for the "enhancement bonus" to be +3 or better, the chart uses the column heading of Weapon Enhancement Bonus Equivalent".
I've checked the magical weapon section and no where does it use the same term "Enhancement Bonus Equivalent" but my interpretation is that a "+1 Icy Burst" weapon has a Weapon Enhancement Bonus Equivalent of +3 (+1 for the enhancement bonus and +2 for the icy burst.) This has been debated among our group and another theory is that only if the enhancement bonus itself meets or exceeds the values above will the weapon overcome the corresponding damage resistance.
Any thoughts?
As an example:
The party encounters an iron golem with DR 15/Adamantine.
1. Fighter A has a masterwork adamantine sword.
2. Fighter B had a +4 sword.
3. Cleric C has a +2 Flame Burst mace.
4. Wizard D buffs up his AC and then casts Greater Magic Weapon on his staff. He's 16th level so his bonus is +4.
Which one of these characters will be able to overcome the damage resistance of the iron golem?
Theory A (Equivalent Bonus) Theory B (Enhancement only)
1. Fighter A's adamantine Sword overcomes in both cases. It's adamantine. He might survive but if not at least he damaged the golem.
2. Fighter B's +4 sword overcomes damage resistance under both Theory A and Theory B.
3. Cleric C's +2 Flame Burst weapon overcomes damage resistance under Theory A but is inneffective under Theory B. So if Theory B is the correct answer, the Cleric probably dies a painful death when he realizes his weapon is inneffective.
4. The wizard dies a horrible death. This was somewhat a trick question but the spell itself states that the bonus "does not allow a
weapon to bypass damage reduction aside from magic."
So which is right? Theory A or Theory B? I'd appreciate informed responses as this situation comes up in a Pathfinder AP mode I'm running and no one has a +4 weapon.
Yep. Weapon Enhancement Bonus Equivalent on that table means "This (and greater) Weapon Enhancement Bonus is Equivalent to the previous column's DR requirement". It's not the best worded column heading in the world.
Yep. Weapon Enhancement Bonus Equivalent on that table means "This (and greater) Weapon Enhancement Bonus is Equivalent to the previous column's DR requirement". It's not the best worded column heading in the world.
Appreciate the replies everyone. I think that clears it up for me.
Can I also assume that a +1 Fey Bane weapon against Fey would be a +3 equivalent weapon since it's enhancement bonus does increase by +2 vs. Fey, but wouldn't overcome the DR of a werewolf that has a DR/Silver?
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Yep. Weapon Enhancement Bonus Equivalent on that table means "This (and greater) Weapon Enhancement Bonus is Equivalent to the previous column's DR requirement". It's not the best worded column heading in the world.Appreciate the replies everyone. I think that clears it up for me.
Can I also assume that a +1 Fey Bane weapon against Fey would be a +3 equivalent weapon since it's enhancement bonus does increase by +2 vs. Fey, but wouldn't overcome the DR of a werewolf that has a DR/Silver?
A +1 fey bane weapon is a +3 weapon against fey and therefore overcomes their DR/cold iron (if only I had realised this for a certain scenario). However, against other creatures, it's a +1 weapon and defeats DR/magic only.