| 45 people marked this as FAQ candidate. Answered in the FAQ. 2 people marked this as a favorite. |
I will lay the question out first.
In the Rage Power "Dragon Totem Resilience" is the line "this DR increases by 2 for each dragon totem rage power she possesses, including this one." supposed to read as "this resistance increases by 2 for each dragon totem rage power she possesses, including this one."?
The power.
Prerequisite: Barbarian 8, dragon totem rage power
Benefit: While raging, the barbarian gains resistance to the energy type that is associated with her dragon totem—acid (black, copper, green), cold (silver, white), electricity (blue, bronze), or fire (brass, gold, red). This resistance equals double her current DR/— from her barbarian damage reduction class feature; this DR increases by 2 for each dragon totem rage power she possesses, including this one.
The issue here is the line "this DR increases". From what I can tell from multiple threads, people play this (and I can see why) as the barbarians base DR going up by 2 for each of these feats.
Example: Joe the barbarian is level 8 and just picks up this rage power. his base DR is 1/-. After applying the feat text it is now 7/- (1 base, 2 from dragon totem, 2 from dragon totem resilience). Joe is pretty pleased, that's good DR. He also has energy resist 14.
However, I think this is a simple mistake made by the writer and not caught by the editor. I think "this DR" is supposed to be "this energy resistance". First I believe this so because DR 6/- and energy resist 12 from three rage powers, plus the other things they give, seems high. Secondly, Reign of Winter volume 4 The Frozen Stars contains NPC barbarians with Dragon Totem(white) and Dragon Totem Resilience. They have Damage Reduction 1/- and energy resistance cold 6, which is line with the "energy resistance increases by 2" interpretation.
"It seems high" is not really reason for an errata, especially considering how rarely martials get to keep nice things lately.
As for the AP NPC, that doesn't prove anything. APs aren't written by the dev team, and NPCs often break rules, whether through design or simply being a corner case.
If the writers of AP's do not understand how a power works, then that power might need a FAQ? Remember the flurry of blows blow up from wielding one weapon was started by a an NPC in the Ruby Tournament I believe.
This is no "martial versus caster" thread, just something that has been missed in the Ultimate Combat errata that was released. The topic doesn't seem very popular as the last thread I saw about this garnered but one FAQ click.
I don't see why one guy making a mistake in six books is cause for a FAQ. It is, after all, Frequently Asked, not One Guy Made A Mistake And Another Guy Dislikes It.
Well, from what I can tell, it has only been statted up once in a paizo book. That writing of it is really the only clue that it was botched originally, so an a lot of people might not realize there is a question surrounding it at all. Paizo seems to be avoiding a lot of hard FAQ subjects (I assume this has to revolve around SKR leaving and now they have to see whom gets to deal with this) and the last one they answered wasn't a hard one, or one that got a lot of press. This is a simple one to either mark as "no response necessary" indicating that the rage power is correct as written, which makes it twice as good as the increased DR rage power (with extra energy resistance), and the NPC's in The Frozen Stars are incorrect; or they change one word. It is such an unloved rage power though it doesn't bring in huge crowds of support to get that answer.
SKR was not the only person behind the FAQs. There is an entire team of people working on them, he was just the one posting them before they got the account the entire team could use.
Still, can't help the FAQ process him leaving. RPGSuperstar is also a drag on the process. And the ACG playtest, and so on.
I accept that as a possibility, which means RoW 4 needs an errata, considering the NPC barbarian, which are the most frequently encountered foe in the module, would see a big boost in their ability.
AM NOT "AM BARBARIAN," BUT AM OTHER BARBARIAN, AND AM AGREE WITH FIRST TALKY-MAN. AM LIKE MORE "BARBARIAN SKIN," BUT AM NOT CHEATER. AM BARBARIAN, AND AM SMASH ALL CASTIES.
Design Manager
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I'd like this one answered as well, because it does come up fairly often and is fairly ambiguous.
It's also good to know for 3pp designers when they're evaluating the total sum of what's out there and keeping an eye on the various abilities they put in place. Does Paizo really think that going from a potential DR 5/- to a potential DR 11/- and Energy Resist 22 plus flight, draconic resistances, and a bonus to Perception checks is what 3 Rage Powers should be worth? Or is that about DR 6/- too much in the equation? While a decision here could be fairly simple for Paizo to put in to place, someone designing a class that maybe is a purely draconic warrior and eye-balling this chain as a point of comparison could find their whole scale put off by a later change or decision.
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I don't see why one guy making a mistake in six books is cause for a FAQ. It is, after all, Frequently Asked, not One Guy Made A Mistake And Another Guy Dislikes It.
That is just an example he used.
This is one of the more frequently asked questions about Barbarians. It's a good FAQ candidate.
Just came across this. Shows how much I pay attention. That's a really poor use of a semi-colon.
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casts Raise Thread
So sue me.
I was working on an invulnerable rager and wanted something other than beast totem. I was trying to go for the whole "I'm the jugernaught" feel with high DR and smashing through walls and the dragon totem seemed nice. But...
I was curious if anything ever came of this question?
It seems to me it is a typo and intent was for resistance to increase. Why would they say "while raging barb get resistance that calculated so and so. ow, and also you get plus godzillion DR/-."
And if it is the case then does "while raging" applies to DR gain too?
Since an FAQs is coming out almost every week now, I believe this deserves a bump.
*de bump*
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Official Rules Response
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Dragon Totem Resilience: Dragon totem resilience says that I get energy resistance equal to twice my barbarian DR, but then it says “This DR increases by 2 for each dragon totem rage power she possesses”. From the context, it seems like it meant that the energy resistance increases. Which one is right?
It should say that the energy resistance increases by 2 for each dragon totem rage power. This will be reflected in the next errata
Vindication! (Thanks PDT)
Behold! Answers! Many thanks!