I was planning on building a Barbarian and was wondering if the Dr from Invulnerable Rager stacks with Stalwart and Improved Stalwart
yes they do. the barbarian is general, improved stalwart is specific. Try adding in crane style in there somewhere and your golden ;)
ok thanks just double checking in case it was a misprint
Actually, the general rule for DR is that they do not stack, but the Stalwart feat specifically mentions that it will stack with DR from class features such as barbarian DR. So yes, they will stack in this case, but most of the time they will not.
The real question is whether the DR from Stalwart/Improved Stalwart gets doubled against non-lethal damage along with the barbarian's DR according to Invulnerable Rager or not.
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Is the limitation of DR 5/- for stalwart and 10/- for improved stalwart a limit on the character's max DR? Or the maximum bonus they can add to their DR?
So an invulnerable rager 10 with improved damage reduction taken twice, has a natural DR of 7/- , with improved stalwart , he can can fight defensively ( with three ranks in acrobatics). Would that just bring up his total DR to 10/- ? Or would he have DR 7/- plus DR 6/- for a new DR of 13/- while fighting defensively and raging?
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Is the limitation of DR 5/- for stalwart and 10/- for improved stalwart a limit on the character's max DR? Or the maximum bonus they can add to their DR?
So an invulnerable rager 10 with improved damage reduction taken twice, has a natural DR of 7/- , with improved stalwart , he can can fight defensively ( with three ranks in acrobatics). Would that just bring up his total DR to 10/- ? Or would he have DR 7/- plus DR 6/- for a new DR of 13/- while fighting defensively and raging?
As the wording states what the DR cap is for (Improved) Stalwart BEFORE mentioning that it able to be stacked with the Barbarian DR it would infer that you calculate what your are eligible to from (Improved) Stalwart BEFORE you add your Barbarian DR.
Therefore from your example you'd calculate the DR 6/- from the Improved Stalwart THEN add the DR 7/- from the Barbarian for a total of DR 13/-.
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Improved stalwart just says double the DR you gain from stalwart, to a maximum DR of 10/-, which implies the DR pre stacking, but could also mean for a total max DR of 10/-
Either way this Breaks DR for PCs.
A normal 11th level barbarian can have a max DR of 4/-
An invulnerable rager 11 can have 7/-
Gaining 6/- DR from fighting defensively, or 10/- from total defense is crazy at 11th level.
They've got four times the DR of a normal barbarian.
DR written as Dr gives me a totally different image on first read.
Paging Dr. Barbarian...
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Improved stalwart just says double the DR you gain from stalwart, to a maximum DR of 10/-, which implies the DR pre stacking, but could also mean for a total max DR of 10/-
Either way this Breaks DR for PCs.
A normal 11th level barbarian can have a max DR of 4/-
An invulnerable rager 11 can have 7/-Gaining 6/- DR from fighting defensively, or 10/- from total defense is crazy at 11th level.
They've got four times the DR of a normal barbarian.
Not to mention being able to perfectly argue that the DR double in its entirety for Non Lethal damage.
You are having to spend 4 Feats though.
Diehard, Endurance, Stalwart and Improved Stalwart.
For a non Human Barbarian that only gives you 1 Feat to play with before Level 11.
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but for a human barbarian, diehard and endurance give you good gains in staying on your feet ( and keeping raging ) while another barbarian would be unconscious. Since unconsciousness = death for barbarians above 6th level without Raging Vitality anyway, Diehard and Endurance are still great feats for a barbarian. I'd gladly sink two more feats into the tree in order to get DR above 10/-.
By 11th level with those feats, you have DR that's better than DR/epic, and a Tarasque only has DR 15/Epic. Elder elementals only get up to DR 10/-/. the best DR on a Golem from Bestiary I is an Iron Golem (CR13) that has DR 15/adamantine.
By the time a pc is facing off against a CR 13 or 23 creature, they're probably in posession of something that bypasses their named DR's. But a PC with DR 13/- can't be bypassed, making his DR more powerful than an Elder elemental, Iron golem, and almost as great as a Tarasque.
Since I've never seen an enemy archer with Cluster Shots, DR 13/- is about the best a PC can do in the game. With barbarian hp and great con to back it up, a PC like that has nothing physical to sweat in combats, he's not like most Barbarians knocking off 3 or 4 points with DR. He's negating any attack under 13 points.
I've seen two campaigns with DR 15+ characters (with this exact set-up) dropped into the negatives, and by physical attacks too boot. It is not immunity to physical attacks, but it does help. Problem is most characters like this ignore AC, and the damage adds up.
Lastly, actually getting the full +10 from Imp Stalwart can be very challenging.