First question.
Uncanny Dodge at level two ..lv5 better dodge, lv 7 1/- DR and so onor
1/- damage reduction every two levels... lv6 = 3/- DR... lv10 = 5/- DR.
Second Question, does that stack with other forms of DR? adamantite armor.
I am leaning toward 1 pt of DR every 2 levels. if you are hit with 3 attacks at level 6 you prevent 9 of that damage which is equal to about one level of HP or so you get.
DR never stacks from different sources whichever is the highest applies
Imho DR is a poor way to avoid damage at mid to high level when monster damage from single ttacks won't even notice the DR
You can however laugh at low level swarms
But on the whole DR dosent help as much as you think, besides a mage can stoneskin you for DR10/adm soon enough if you want DR
I beg to differ - as usual, this is very dependant of your GMs style.
Is your GM "old school"? Then you will find yourself in combats against very few, very tough opponents constantly who deal a lot of damage with a few hits. In this case Invul. Rager is not worth it, especially if you've got an Arcane in your party to Stoneskin you (no, it does never stack).
But if your GM is like me where you very often meet a whole lot of opponents that hit you for low to medium damage, then Invul. Rager is golden, especially with no Arcane in your party.
DR never stacks from different sources whichever is the highest applies
Imho DR is a poor way to avoid damage at mid to high level when monster damage from single ttacks won't even notice the DR
You can however laugh at low level swarms
But on the whole DR dosent help as much as you think, besides a mage can stoneskin you for DR10/adm soon enough if you want DR
You'd be surprised. Monsters scale damage the same way PCs do, through multiple attacks. If the OP takes the additional DR rage powers as well he could have DR 7/- by level 10, which is hardcore. AC is moreso a losing proposition past about level 7, where you put more and more and more money into multiple items and get diminishing returns.
If you're a raging barbarian, hopefully going beast totem for the pounce at level 1 as well, you're going to have a crap AC already. Might as well spend your money on a cloak of displacement, tank your AC with reckless abandon, and crank your DR. Kill what you're attacking before it can touch you.
A mage can give you DR 10/adamantine, which constructs and monks can burst through, can be dispelled, only lasts one maybe 2 fights, and costs 250g an application. Or you can give up uncanny dodge, crank your perception so you're never surprised anyway (you do have a good Wis right?) and have that DR on all the time. Then you can also take Superstitious and rock some tasty saves as well!
@Morris Chan:
This thread might be interesting for you:
http://paizo.com/paizo/messageboards/paizoPublishing/pathfinder/pathfinderR PG/advice/humanInvulnerableRagerBuildLevel12&page=1#23
hmm, the link doesn't work.
Interesting question. I've been considering this myself, given that I've just started a PF campaign playing a Barbarian. The campaign is starting with the first module (or two?) of RotRL and is then moving into Expedition to Castle Ravenloft.
I'm personally leaning towards the DR over uncanny dodge. Partly this is because I like the flavor of the Extreme Endurance (as he's Ulfen, cold resistance seems fitting), but shrugging off attacks that would bring a lesser man to his knees also seems like an appropriate approach to battle.
You'd be surprised. Monsters scale damage the same way PCs do, through multiple attacks. If the OP takes the additional DR rage powers as well he could have DR 7/- by level 10, which is hardcore. AC is moreso a losing proposition past about level 7, where you put more and more and more money into multiple items and get diminishing returns.
I assume your talking about monster NPC with character levels ? because straight monsters with natural attacks don't get more attack they just get more powerful versions of the same natural attacks.
again its a GM thing, high number low dmg monsters vs low number high dmg monsters will make a huge difference to the argument.
You'd be surprised. Monsters scale damage the same way PCs do, through multiple attacks. If the OP takes the additional DR rage powers as well he could have DR 7/- by level 10, which is hardcore. AC is moreso a losing proposition past about level 7, where you put more and more and more money into multiple items and get diminishing returns.
I assume your talking about monster NPC with character levels ? because straight monsters with natural attacks don't get more attack they just get more powerful versions of the same natural attacks.
again its a GM thing, high number low dmg monsters vs low number high dmg monsters will make a huge difference to the argument.
I think he means monsters in general as you go from CR1 to CRX, not specific monsters with classes. I read (I think it was on these boards) and was backed up by quite a bit of math, that 1 pt of DR is roughly equal to 2pts of AC over the long haul of a campaign/AP. Its value changes from fight to fight of course, but DR is DR and there's no real substitute for it. Combine it with fortification and you can be a real SoB to take down.
First question.
Uncanny Dodge at level two ..lv5 better dodge, lv 7 1/- DR and so onor
1/- damage reduction every two levels... lv6 = 3/- DR... lv10 = 5/- DR.
Second Question, does that stack with other forms of DR? adamantite armor.
I am leaning toward 1 pt of DR every 2 levels. if you are hit with 3 attacks at level 6 you prevent 9 of that damage which is equal to about one level of HP or so you get.
Speaking from experience running an Invulnerable Rager up to lvl 18 so far.
DR is better than uncanny dodge or trap sense. A barbarian's AC is often low anyway and with Heavy Fortification armor you can pretty much protect yourself from sneak attacks. The flanking bonus to hit is pointless when you're already sacrificing AC and giving bonuses to hit with the top Barbarian Abilities like Come and Get Me.
As an Invulnerable Rage you focus on hit points and DR. You get Come and Get Me. I recommend the animal totem line as well as Superstition to boost your saves.
And for feats you get the Step Up line to maximize Come and Get me and make sure reach creatures and feats like Lunge don't mess you up.
Invulnerable Rager with the right powers and magic items is the most vicous melee character in the game. Nothing yet save for a disarm specialist or an optimized Duelist can take him on too well. If he has support from the party casters, he is a virtually unstoppable combat beast that destroys everything in his path.
First question.
Uncanny Dodge at level two ..lv5 better dodge, lv 7 1/- DR and so onor
1/- damage reduction every two levels... lv6 = 3/- DR... lv10 = 5/- DR.
Second Question, does that stack with other forms of DR? adamantite armor.
I am leaning toward 1 pt of DR every 2 levels. if you are hit with 3 attacks at level 6 you prevent 9 of that damage which is equal to about one level of HP or so you get.
Speaking from experience running an Invulnerable Rager up to lvl 18 so far.
DR is better than uncanny dodge or trap sense. A barbarian's AC is often low anyway and with Heavy Fortification armor you can pretty much protect yourself from sneak attacks. The flanking bonus to hit is pointless when you're already sacrificing AC and giving bonuses to hit with the top Barbarian Abilities like Come and Get Me.
As an Invulnerable Rage you focus on hit points and DR. You get Come and Get Me. I recommend the animal totem line as well as Superstition to boost your saves.
And for feats you get the Step Up line to maximize Come and Get me and make sure reach creatures and feats like Lunge don't mess you up.
Invulnerable Rager with the right powers and magic items is the most vicous melee character in the game. Nothing yet save for a disarm specialist or an optimized Duelist can take him on too well. If he has support from the party casters, he is a virtually unstoppable combat beast that destroys everything in his path.
Superstition power makes support from the party casters pretty hard though, great rage power with a good bonus but I think many people 'forget' to read beyond the save bonuses.
First question.
Uncanny Dodge at level two ..lv5 better dodge, lv 7 1/- DR and so onor
1/- damage reduction every two levels... lv6 = 3/- DR... lv10 = 5/- DR.
Second Question, does that stack with other forms of DR? adamantite armor.
I am leaning toward 1 pt of DR every 2 levels. if you are hit with 3 attacks at level 6 you prevent 9 of that damage which is equal to about one level of HP or so you get.
Speaking from experience running an Invulnerable Rager up to lvl 18 so far.
DR is better than uncanny dodge or trap sense. A barbarian's AC is often low anyway and with Heavy Fortification armor you can pretty much protect yourself from sneak attacks. The flanking bonus to hit is pointless when you're already sacrificing AC and giving bonuses to hit with the top Barbarian Abilities like Come and Get Me.
As an Invulnerable Rage you focus on hit points and DR. You get Come and Get Me. I recommend the animal totem line as well as Superstition to boost your saves.
And for feats you get the Step Up line to maximize Come and Get me and make sure reach creatures and feats like Lunge don't mess you up.
Invulnerable Rager with the right powers and magic items is the most vicous melee character in the game. Nothing yet save for a disarm specialist or an optimized Duelist can take him on too well. If he has support from the party casters, he is a virtually unstoppable combat beast that destroys everything in his path.
Superstition power makes support from the party casters pretty hard though, great rage power with a good bonus but I think many people 'forget' to read beyond the save bonuses.
What support? I mean generally there are either pre-combat buffs, like Heroism or Resist Energy or something and you don't have to resist those only when you're raging. And then there's combat buffs, and of those only a couple that really swing the fight. Haste is great, but a caster is a)casting that the first round of combat or not at all and b)going before you can go and rage anyway.
If the buff is THAT good, and is going to just utterly save your butt in the middle of combat, you can just drop out of rage.
You'd be surprised. Monsters scale damage the same way PCs do, through multiple attacks. If the OP takes the additional DR rage powers as well he could have DR 7/- by level 10, which is hardcore. AC is moreso a losing proposition past about level 7, where you put more and more and more money into multiple items and get diminishing returns.
I assume your talking about monster NPC with character levels ? because straight monsters with natural attacks don't get more attack they just get more powerful versions of the same natural attacks.
again its a GM thing, high number low dmg monsters vs low number high dmg monsters will make a huge difference to the argument.
No. What I mean is let's take a CR 10 creature. The Monster Creation magic chart says it should have "high damage" 45 and "low damage" 33. If it is a monster that gets one big wollop it will be 45 damage (of which you will soak 7 (15%, pretty good). Let's look at a couple CR 10 creatures.
Giant Flytrap-4 attacks for 1d8+7 (11.5 ave) barely scratches out guy.
Fire Giant-3 greatsword attacks for 3d6+15. Ooftah, If our invulnerable rager takes all 3 attacks in the face his DR will save him 21 damage out of an expected 73.5 or 28%.
What I'm saying is that MOST monsters do their damage with multiple attacks, and those attacks do less damage the more of them they are. Which means he gets more use out of DR the more attacks there are. Monsters, generally, have multiple attacks at the same bonus (claw claw bite, whatnot) rather than -5/-10 iterations that NPCs do. When something is attacking 5 times at ever decreasing attack bonuses, AC is good because it gets better (essentially) whereas DR is static and therefore is comparatively better against most monsters who have 3 attacks all at +10 or whatever for a smaller amount of damage.
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I like DR very much as it comes up very often in our games. I mean you can run through the trapped room that shoots tons of little darts without problem. You reduce falling damage. It's great help against swarm damage and all those little things that can add up with time.
If a high level monk full attacks you (and hits you) 10 times in one round and you have DR5/- that is like getting healed 50 points of damage (just better).
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Stacking DR with armor DR is mentioned in the stalwart defender's entry:
Damage Reduction (Ex): At 5th level, a stalwart defender gains DR 1/—. At 7th level, this DR increases to 3/—, and at 10th level it increases to 5/—. Damage reduction from different sources does not stack; however, a stalwart defender of 5th or higher level that gains DR from armor (but not from any other source) increases his class-based DR by the value of the armor's DR. Thus a 7th-level stalwart defender wearing adamantine full plate (DR 3/—) has DR 6/—.
Since the barbarian gets the same type of DR (the "-") it should apply as well with him. He even has a disadvantage cause he looses some of his abilities in heavy armor.
I see the different sources often quoted more as different types of DR. So if you get DR 5/magic and DR 10/admantine you reduce a normal weapons damage by 10, a magic weapons damage by 10, an adamantine weapons damage by 5 and only a magic, adamantine weapon breaks the DR completely.
Since both armor and barbarian give DR/- they stack (they are the same "source", meaning type in this case).
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'Source' and 'type' are different things - DR from different sources (such as your skin and your armour) does not stack. That much is clear in the section on Damage Reduction in the core book.
The Stalwart Defender's ability to stack his class feature and armour DR is a specific exception, and part of the class's special abilities (and appeal) - it's not a universal rule.
And for feats you get the Step Up line to maximize Come and Get me and make sure reach creatures and feats like Lunge don't mess you up....
I think this speaks to the point that Barbarians arm well with Reach weapons and Armor spikes, even with enlarge, this helps with large creatures reach abilities (and Lunge).