| 2 people marked this as FAQ candidate. |
Alright I have been looking through the SRD for different ideas and I came across some problems with damage reduction. I know that DR does not stack unless it specifically says so and thrus I have a few questions.
First one is DR from multiple abilities from the same class. the three that I can think of off the top of my head are the stonelord paladin and the deep earth (bedrock) sorcerer and the armour master fighter.
the paladin gains DR 1/2 her level/adamantine and DR/evil 5 from her aura of righteousness. by the rules she gains the first DR only, unless that gets bypassed then she gets the second one.
The sorcerer gains Dr 10/adamantine as a swift action and gains dr 10/adamantine as her capstone. Is the intent of this that her DR becomes permanent at that level, thrus replacing it or were they intended to stack?
The fighter gains up to DR 12/- that stacks with armour but not other DR. He also gains DR 5/- when he hits level 19 as his 'mini capstone.' Was this an oversight or was this intended to not stack together (and thrus make the mini capstone useless)?
Basically Im wondering if there has been any FAQ about this or if they are working as intended.
Second one is DR that does stack together. Certain abilities do stack together and I am wondering about ones that do stack and how they integrate when you have multiple ones.
as an example, a 10th level armour master with adamantine heavy armour and the stalwart feat. Stalwart gives you DR 5/- that stacks with abilities but not armour, armoured defence gives you DR 3/- that stacks with armour but not other types, and adamantine armour grants DR 3/- with no special caveats. So do you have DR 11/-? If not what parts work together and what parts do not?
Third one is what bypasses DR? I know that magic can, same with the special material associated with it, and I think bleed does as well, I also remember that as an item gains a high enough enhancement it bypasses specific types, but I was wondering what else can get past it.
Forth and final one is that barbarians can gain the rage power guarded life and the invulnerable barbarian doubles his DR against non-lethal damage. How does this work exactly? Do you first convert damage from lethal to non-lethal then reduce it separately for each as each has its own DR? Or do you just double your DR and take half of the damage as lethal and half as non-lethal? I am really curious about this one as I want to build an unkillable barbarian using this soon.
EDIT: Just realized that Armoured Defence replaces Armour master, so that one is resolved and you can ignore that part :P
I'm FAQing this, as I too am confused as to how DR all adds up against itself. I always see DR 5/Evil or DR 10/Bludgeoning, and I don't know if the DR applies to those types of weapons/alignments, or that only those types of weapons/alignments can affect the target.
First one is DR from multiple abilities from the same class. the three that I can think of off the top of my head are the stonelord paladin and the deep earth (bedrock) sorcerer and the armour master fighter.
All right, let's take these one by one:
the paladin gains DR 1/2 her level/adamantine and DR/evil 5 from her aura of righteousness. by the rules she gains the first DR only, unless that gets bypassed then she gets the second one.
That's right. For instance, if she's 20th level she'd have DR 10/adamantine and DR 5/evil. You would check against the DR/adamantine first, and if that's bypassed you check against the DR/evil.
Thus, an attack would need to be both adamantine and evil in order to fully bypass her DR, since any only-evil attack will be affected by the DR/adamantine, while any only-adamantine attack will be affected by the DR/evil.
The sorcerer gains Dr 10/adamantine as a swift action and gains dr 10/adamantine as her capstone. Is the intent of this that her DR becomes permanent at that level, thrus replacing it or were they intended to stack?
You haven't read this archetype correctly. The always-on ability grants DR to your summoned creatures. The swift action ability grants yourself DR. So unless you can summon yourself, these two abilities will never interact.
The fighter gains up to DR 12/- that stacks with armour but not other DR. He also gains DR 5/- when he hits level 19 as his 'mini capstone.' Was this an oversight or was this intended to not stack together (and thrus make the mini capstone useless)?
The archetype's "armored defense" ability (which grants DR up to 12) replaces the normal fighter's "armor mastery" (which grants DR 5). So there's no oversight; the normal 19th-level capstone is never gained when you are an armor master.
Second one is DR that does stack together. Certain abilities do stack together and I am wondering about ones that do stack and how they integrate when you have multiple ones.
as an example, a 10th level armour master with adamantine heavy armour and the stalwart feat. Stalwart gives you DR 5/- that stacks with abilities but not armour, armoured defence gives you DR 3/- that stacks with armour but not other types, and adamantine armour grants DR 3/- with no special caveats. So do you have DR 11/-? If not what parts work together and what parts do not?
That's a good question. I'm guessing the intent is that armored defense essentially functions as if it enhances the DR of the armor, and thus wouldn't stack with stalwart. I could go either way though.
Third one is what bypasses DR? I know that magic can, same with the special material associated with it, and I think bleed does as well, I also remember that as an item gains a high enough enhancement it bypasses specific types, but I was wondering what else can get past it.
A paladin's smite evil bypasses all DR of the creature thus smitten. There are also other class abilities that grant the ability to overcome DR of such-and-such type.
Forth and final one is that barbarians can gain the rage power guarded life and the invulnerable barbarian doubles his DR against non-lethal damage. How does this work exactly? Do you first convert damage from lethal to non-lethal then reduce it separately for each as each has its own DR? Or do you just double your DR and take half of the damage as lethal and half as non-lethal? I am really curious about this one as I want to build an unkillable barbarian using this soon.
Hmm. I think I would first reduce the physical damage (since if the physical damage ends up not being enough to reduce to below 0, then there's no nonlethal damage to reduce).
If that still puts the barbarian at less than 0, I would then convert the remaining damage and reduce it by double, but subtract the amount of damage that has already been reduced by the barbarian's DR (as otherwise you get more DR against one attack than you should).
I'm FAQing this, as I too am confused as to how DR all adds up against itself. I always see DR 5/Evil or DR 10/Bludgeoning, and I don't know if the DR applies to those types of weapons/alignments, or that only those types of weapons/alignments can affect the target.
The type listed is the type needed to overcome the DR (apart from certain abilities and powerful magic weapons).
If someone has DR 5/evil, then only evil weapons will bypass the DR.
Similarly, if someone has DR 10/bludgeoning, then only bludgeoning weapons will bypass the DR.
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Forth and final
Forth and final one is that barbarians can gain the rage power guarded life and the invulnerable barbarian doubles his DR against non-lethal damage. How does this work exactly? Do you first convert damage from lethal to non-lethal then reduce it separately for each as each has its own DR? Or do you just double your DR and take half of the damage as lethal and half as non-lethal? I am really curious about this one as I want to build an unkillable barbarian using this soon.
Hmm. I think I would first reduce the physical damage (since if the physical damage ends up not being enough to reduce to below 0, then there's no nonlethal damage to reduce).
If that still puts the barbarian at less than 0, I would then convert the remaining damage and reduce it by double, but subtract the amount of damage that has already been reduced by the barbarian's DR (as otherwise you get more DR against one attack than you should).
I think you can't not use damage reduction twice on the same attack.
So if you are above 0 hp you get to use your "normal" damage reduction for lethal damage. Then, after you are pushed under 0 hp you apply the Guarded life power
While raging, if the barbarian is reduced below 0 hit points, 1 hit point of lethal damage per barbarian level is converted to nonlethal damage. If the barbarian is at negative hit points due to lethal damage, she immediately stabilizes.
and convert part of the damage to nonlethal damage but don't get to apply the DR again as it is the same DR.
Note that the ability don't say that you convert damage from the attack that has brought you under 0 hp. It say that you convert lethal damage to non lethal.
As written you get to convert 1 hp level of the total damage you have taken so far to non lethal damage even if you are level 20, the attack as delivered 2 points of lethal damage and you have been brought at a grand total of -1 hp.
Right, I agree. That's how I've answered questions on guarded life before, but somehow I managed to confuse myself this time.
Guarded life doesn't reduce the damage of the attack itself, but once the attack has been resolved (and before you die), it converts some of the lethal damage you have sustained to non-lethal (not necessarily only from the final attack).
So, to recap: guarded life and invulnerable rager don't really interact, although they're certainly both useful for a barbarian who doesn't want to end up dead :)
hey thanks guys for the reply! That pretty much answers the fourth one (and not in a way that I was hoping :( To recap a 10th level invulnerable rager with DR 5 and 20 hps left takes a hit for 30 damage, you would first reduce the damage by 5 to 25 then convert 10 points to non-lethal taking 15 lethal and 10 non-lethal. you would still be at -5 and unconscious (instead of dying) as lethal and non-lethal are added together to determine if you get knocked out?
My second question is still up in the air and wondering if anyone has more concrete info on how that all works.
Also with regards to the sorcerer, you gain 3 types of DR. The first one is your arcana witch grants your summons DR = to half your level, the second grants you DR 10 as a swift as your 9th level power and the third grants you a permanent 10 DR as your 20th level sorcerer power. At this point Im assuming that it in effect replaces your 9th level power and makes it permanent. I was also wrong about the fighter and the paladin makes sense so this one is essentially answered.
Thanks for the help!
Also with regards to the sorcerer, you gain 3 types of DR. The first one is your arcana witch grants your summons DR = to half your level, the second grants you DR 10 as a swift as your 9th level power and the third grants you a permanent 10 DR as your 20th level sorcerer power. At this point Im assuming that it in effect replaces your 9th level power and makes it permanent.
Ah, right. I forgot to check the original Deep Earth bloodline when I answered. Yes, the 20th-level capstone does simply replace the 9th-level ability in terms of DR, making the 9th-level ability useless at that point.