Hey everyone. I was playing around with character creation using the Pathfinder Monk with some older rules from the Book of Exalted Deeds, specifically the voluntary poverty character advancement path. Seems like it would be an interesting match, but I'm puzzled about how the DR works with the both of them.
At level 19, the Ascetic gains DR10/evil. At level 20, the Monk gains D10/Chaos (or D10/magic if you're using 3.5 rules). I consulted the pathfinder SRD to check the rules on this one and the rules state, verbatim, that the creature gets the benefit of the best DR in the given situation.
Does this mean I get to choose whether I'm vulnerable to chaos or evil based upon the enemy I face? Do I let the enemy get the upper hand to whichever I am vulnerable? Or do I combine them and get a double reduction (i.e., DR10/Chaos AND Evil, meaning they have to overcome both with chaotic evil attacks)?
" creature gets the benefit of the best DR in the given situation."
It sounds to me that you get to choose one of them depending on what is attacking you.
That's what I thought, at first, but then I wasn't sure what the best would be. The best DR is clearly the combined one, but getting to choose between them seems a little fishy, as though I'm saying I'm vulnerable to evil now, but not chaos. Tomorrow it will be the other way around.
You effectively have DR 10/Choas and Evil because you have the two abilities separately. If you had Choas or Evil then having either aligned weapon type would bypass your DR, but creatures actually need both to bypass yours. This is actually the most beneficial option their could be, because choosing any other options means they only need to bypass one.
The whole "the creature gets the benefit of the best DR" bit means that if you are attacked by a creature whos weapons are neither evil aligned or choas aligned that their attacks are only reduced by 10, and not 20 (10 for each). It's so people know not to stack the value of their DR.
Thanks, Claxon! This makes a lot more sense now. It was just confusing whether it was an And/Or situation. Much appreciated.