DR the TWF, monk, and ranged attack option killer.

[nanan00]

It has come up in a few games now where after the players start to hit level 10 or so that a good number of the badguys have DR. This means little for Thog the greatsword wielding power attacker but totally bones the monk and ranger as they are now losing a good percentage of the damage they do per hit.

My proposal runs as this, either consider full attack actions an 'attack' per the DR rules or modify and merge the wording of Hammer the Gap and Clustered Shot to count any attack beyond the first as a single attack for DR as such.

Clustered Shots (Combat)

Prerequisites: Point-Blank Shot, Precise Shot, base attack bonus +6.

Benefit: When you use an attack action to make multiple ranged weapon attacks against the same opponent, each consecutive hit against the same opponent deals extra damage equal to the number of previous consecutive hits you have made against that opponent this turn, total the damage from all hits before applying that opponent’s damage reduction

Hammer the Gap (Combat)

Prerequisites: Two-weapon fighting or Flurry of Blows, base attack bonus +6.

Benefit: When you use an attack action to make multiple attacks against the same opponent, each consecutive hit against the same opponent deals extra damage equal to the number of previous consecutive hits you have made against that opponent this turn, total the damage from all hits before applying that opponent’s damage reduction

[Dabbler]

Yes, this is a big weakness for monks and TWFers.

A lot of damage delivered in small amounts doesn't work against targets with DR, or when you cannot full-attack. Personally I would change Hammer the Gap to have pretty much the same wording as Clustered Shots (save for melee attacks, obviously), and ignore the bonus damage instead (it never adds up to much anyway, as the more hits the less likelihood of subsequent hits).

Otherwise, the answers lie in weapon blanches, getting the enhancement bonus of your weapon as high as you can, etc. A +3 adamantine weapon will go through most DR save DR/alignment, and carry spare weapons. Of course if you are an unarmed monk you have a problem if your ki-strike doesn't include the DR in question...

[rainzax]

another idea is to leave Hammer the Gap as is

and instead modify Flurry of Blows to automatically "total the damage from all hits before applying that opponent’s damage reduction" - i mean it is a flurry of blows after all...

[Dabbler]

I am play-testing a couple of changes to the monk that include giving the monk a +1 magic fang-like enhancement bonus instead of the normal ki-strike (+1 at 4th, +2 at 7th, etc up to +5 at 16th), and give the monk's unarmed strike the ability to bypass 1 DR of any type per monk level. It's working pretty well, not overpowered but enabling the monk to perform well.

The thread is here if you are interested.

[Kazaan]

Dabbler wrote:

I am play-testing a couple of changes to the monk that include giving the monk a +1 magic fang-like enhancement bonus instead of the normal ki-strike (+1 at 4th, +2 at 7th, etc up to +5 at 16th), and give the monk's unarmed strike the ability to bypass 1 DR of any type per monk level. It's working pretty well, not overpowered but enabling the monk to perform well.

The thread is here if you are interested.

How about you can apply either +x enhancement to damage or take the Monk's normal weapon quality vs DR on each attack. So they won't stack together, but if the target has, say, cold iron DR, you could bypass it completely (likely a greater damage benefit than just taking the +1-5.

[Dabbler]

The way I'm working it the enhancement does not bypass DR (it's treated like magic weapon), it just increases attack & damage bonus, but the monk's unarmed strike reduces DR by 1 point per level, hence the monk at 6th level hitting a target with DR 10/anything is only encountering DR 4/anything. It's kind of more in line with the idea that the martial artist's hands are so deadly that he can drive through any protection than the various DR-bypasses the monk currently gets.