Spells overcoming DR?

[Steve Danials]

I have a spellcaster who was squaring off against some zombies, which have DR. I was curious - would magic spells in and of themselves (lightning, fire, etc) bypass DR?

Thanks!

[Elicoor]

In a general way, everything that's not physical bypasses DR.

Energy spells (Fire, Cold, Lightning, Acid, Force, Divine, Sonic) do bypass DR. To avoid this damage, you must have a specific resistance or immunity.

The only spells that don't bypass DRs are those who specifically deal Bludgeoning, Slashing or Piercing damage.

[Lifat]

What Elicoor says.
A spell that specifically says that it does physical damage like bludgeoning/piercing/slashing will pierce damage reductions if it matches the exception, So a spell that does slashing damage will also go through a zombies damage reduction.
But if a creature has DR/magic or DR/slashing & magic then the spell that does slashing damage will need to specifically state that it also counts as magic to pierce the damage reduction types.

Most spells do damage in a non-physical way and is thus not subject to any type of damage reduction (unless specified otherwise under the spell or the damage reduction type... Don't think such exceptions exists) but they are subject to resistances and immunities against the type of damage that the spell does. For an example a fireball is subject to fire resistance or immunity.

[Steve Danials]

Elicoor wrote:

In a general way, everything that's not physical bypasses DR.

Energy spells (Fire, Cold, Lightning, Acid, Force, Divine, Sonic) do bypass DR. To avoid this damage, you must have a specific resistance or immunity.

The only spells that don't bypass DRs are those who specifically deal Bludgeoning, Slashing or Piercing damage.

Ah excellent! Thank you!