Forgive me, I've done a bit of searching but I just cannot find a specific answer to this.
So, I realise that magic weapons of sufficient power can be used to bypass material and alignment restrictions:
http://www.d20pfsrd.com/gamemastering/special-abilities#TOC-Damage-Reductio n
What I can't find out is how this applies to things like DR slashing/blunt/piercing etc. It isn't mentioned on the table at all in fact, but I don't like to just assume that means that DR based on these kinds of DR types cannot ever be overcome any other means, given that something as potent as, say DR/admantine can be overcome with a simple +3 sword.
+3 =cold iron or silver. +4= adamantine. + 5= alignment based. Other than that you still need bludgeoning or slashing or piercing as appropriate.
DR based on weapon type cannot be overcome by enchantment level. The idea being that no matter how fancy your sword is, a skeleton simply doesn't have anything to slice; you have to smash up the bones. And arrows or rapiers are just going to go right through it or glance off a rib instead of actually damaging it all that much.
With the exclusion of DR/adamantine, the others are magical in nature. Either it is a mystical quality to the metal (silver, cold iron), the fact that it is not mundane (magic), the holy/unholy divine power (good/evil/etc), or even the sheer inherent power (epic). From this we can say that a +X magical item has enough energy behind to to overcome such-and-such DR.
Adamantine is just, you know, special. It allows for a generic DR that can be tossed out to cover low level situations. Don't think too hard about it.
Don't think too hard about it.
I'm told that is generally the root of my problems, yeah :)
Thanks for the replies
And arrows or rapiers are just going to go right through it or glance off a rib instead of actually damaging it all that much.
Not if you have blunt arrows!
Sorry, I know this is off topic, but I just find that so silly that the tip being flat changes the damage type enough to hurt a skeleton. I have no choice but imagine blunt arrows as carrying huge boxing gloves over the tip.
Note that blunt arrows are more than just "arrows with a flat tip." Blunt arrows (also called fowling arrows or fowling blunts, since they were developed primarily to hunt birds; they were more likely to break wing bones and/or kill/stun the birds while also keeping the birds' flesh intact) are sort of like arrows with a golf ball (or a sling bullet) in place of the normal arrowhead.