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So as I was perusing the bestiaries and just began to notice how much pf retreads the silver, cold iron, adamantine, and magic DR time and time again and how after a while they just don't feel as unique or thematic. I've always felt like this is especially true on creatures like aberrations which seem to combine cthulhu, space aliens, and modern science gone wrong into one type and makes most of the aforementioned options feel off or dated. Why would a starspawn of Cthulhu be weak to magic in a world suffused with magic? When I see stuff like that it always feels wrong to me mechanically. What's worse is when I see things like silver and cold iron which to me are something that only works because of their symbolic connection to that creatures mythology like silvers connection to the moon or cold irons historical connections to fey.
But moving on from my gripes I want to see about using some other options to fill that space on the DR line and I want to see what you guys think and what you use as well so without further ado here are mine.
Currently I'm fluxtuating between DR/viridium or DR/ blightburn. They both feel good as dr options as they both seem to deal with modern concepts like radioactive elements and in my mind feel connected to aberrations and their alien anatomies and pseudo atomic age concepts. I also love the idea that the weapons you would use to combat aberrations are just as risky for humanoids as they are for their intended victims since in game and by most story terms these creatures are often creatures of the material plane, crafted of flesh and blood with needs for food, water, and shelter just like us but very different from our own. Top that off with the viridium option being fragile and blightburn being able to literally kill you if you touch it and it has all the makings of a great adventure arch with PC just having to find a way to weaponize the material without killing themselves. Finally since Viridium was released in Ultimate equipment it works as a perfect setting neutral option for players and GM's and doesn't require a lot of digging through obscure source books to find.
So what about you guys? Does Viridium or Blightstone sound like a good replacement for those uninteresting DR's, do you have homebrew choices of your own, or do you guys have a problem with my selection and if so why?
I remember that Eberron gave aberrations a unique DR. It was a fun idea. I prefer Viridium, as it has an otherworldly taint to it. Maybe consider lessening the cost of reinforcing it to make it a more viable material for weapons (I don't know how much your players are going to be fighting aberrations, but if its a lot they may feel like they're being penalized)
What's worse is when I see things like silver and cold iron which to me are something that only works because of their symbolic connection to that creatures mythology like silvers connection to the moon or cold irons historical connections to fey.
This. I don't really like material based DR at all. I hate "golf-bag of weapons" syndrome (although it was amended with that "high enhancement bonus to weapons penetrate types of DR"). I was thinking about using double alignments for outsiders (so you have to have a weapon that is BOTH good and lawful for penetrating balor's DR). I use higher +x for certain monsters (a throwback to 3.0 and earlier editions), especially for DRAGONS. It really bugs me that you can penetrate Great Wyrm's DR with a +1 weapon.
About your choices for abberations, i don't have UE, but from what you posted both seem good choices. I'd go for viridium if standard, heroic campaign where PC should be victorious, and Blightstone for more Call of Cthulhu type game.
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What's worse is when I see things like silver and cold iron which to me are something that only works because of their symbolic connection to that creatures mythology like silvers connection to the moon or cold irons historical connections to fey.This. I don't really like material based DR at all. I hate "golf-bag of weapons" syndrome (although it was amended with that "high enhancement bonus to weapons penetrate types of DR"). I was thinking about using double alignments for outsiders (so you have to have a weapon that is BOTH good and lawful for penetrating balor's DR). I use higher +x for certain monsters (a throwback to 3.0 and earlier editions), especially for DRAGONS. It really bugs me that you can penetrate Great Wyrm's DR with a +1 weapon.
About your choices for abberations, i don't have UE, but from what you posted both seem good choices. I'd go for viridium if standard, heroic campaign where PC should be victorious, and Blightstone for more Call of Cthulhu type game.
I don't know, I kind of like the golf bag my problem is when literally 3 materials beat everything the multiverse has to offer. I feel like the real point of multiple weapon types is to make a player specialize in a certain set of creatures. In my mind I can see a lot of normal hero groups specializing in hunting werewolves, undead, or demons but most outfits don't hunt everything in general. In that way it makes groups who prep for everything still look weird and are most likely an oddity in even very harsh regions since even areas beset by grave threats like the worldwound usually only have to deal with one type of nightmarish horror.
A friend did a 'FF' game where every 'abomination' had it's own special weakness, but still was over come by raw enchantment, By the 5th session, my ranger had a few arrows to cover the more common weaknesses (silver, cold iron, holy water) in special bundles. Of course, I still had to make the skill roll...
Why not go a little more hard science and have Polonium 210 in PF? Make it a 'star metal' and give it additional properties against living creatures w/o DR/polonium, such as a poison effect.
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Why not go a little more hard science and have Polonium 210 in PF? Make it a 'star metal' and give it additional properties against living creatures w/o DR/polonium, such as a poison effect.
Ehh... I'm not as big a fan of this since what you're doing is basically just adding another special material for the sake of adding a material. I always feel like it's better to use the ones that already exist before we start adding new ones and with stuff like viridium, blightstone, and horicalcum floating around we still have plenty of preexisting that are already really cool.
I want to see some creatures with DR that nothing bypasses. Ever.
"Guys, we should probably just stop attacking the Juggernaut."
Lots of things have that. It's called DR (Number)/--.