PC's with DR / Epic and Unarmed / Natural Attacks

[Egeslean05]

In the Universal Monster Rules under Damage Reduction, I read a line that says, "A few very powerful monsters are vulnerable only to epic weapons—that is, magic weapons with at least a +6 enhancement bonus. Such creatures’ natural weapons are also treated as epic weapons for the purpose of overcoming damage reduction."

So I have a few questions because of this.
1) Does this mean that if a monster has DR/Magic, (Alignment), silver/cold-iron, that their natural attacks are considered to be those things as well? Or is DR/Epic a special case?

2) Does this apply to PC's as well? For instance if a PC has DR/Lawful would their natural attacks also count as Lawful for overcoming DR?
2b) If it does, would the same apply to DR/Epic?

3) Would a Monk's Unarmed Strike follow this as well (since they are considered natural and manufactured weapons)?

I'll be in a Mythic game for the first time soon, and I had never looked at those rules before.

[GM Rednal]

1) No. Not all forms of DR also grant attributes to attacks. DR/Epic is something of a special case, because it's treated as a +6 weapon, overcoming all types of DR a +5 weapon could, plus epic.

2) No. Only creatures with an alignment subtype (including most Outsiders) get the inherent benefit to treat their weapons as aligned. Most other creatures need enchanted weaponry or spells.
2b) DR/Epic is broader and, in general, more powerful than pretty much any other type. XD Creatures with DR/Epic get the bonus to overcome other types of DR. Be wary about allowing PCs to get it.

3) I suppose that depends on your definition of "improve". Some people think that only refers to things like accuracy and damage bonuses, additional powers (like weapon special abilities), and so on.

[Egeslean05]

Quote:

Impervious Body (Su): You gain DR 5/epic. This ability can be taken a second time at 6th tier or higher and a third time at 9th tier or higher. Each additional time it’s taken, the DR increases by 5.

If the monk had this, would they be able to bypass DR/Epic with their unarmed strikes?

Quote:

1) No. Not all forms of DR also grant attributes to attacks. DR/Epic is something of a special case, because it's treated as a +6 weapon, overcoming all types of DR a +5 weapon could, plus epic.

A weapon with +6-10 would bypass DR/Epic (that makes sense). Does a NPC or monster with DR/Epic bypass all other DR (including Epic)? I did try and find what's official about this but the best I saw was a post the said this:

Spoiler:

Quote:

So, again, a creature with DR/Epic is treated as if its natural weapons were also Epic. However, this does not make them magical.

Creature A has a Bite attack and DR/Epic.
Creature B has a Claw attack and DR/Epic and Magic.
Creature C has a Tail attack and DR/Magic.

If two Creature A's are fighting each other, they each ignore the other's damage reduction when using their Bite attack, as it is treated as Epic. The same is true with two Creature B's or two Creature C's.

If Creature A attacks Creature B, it is still subject to Creature B's damage reduction, because its Bite attack does not count as Magic, only Epic. If a Druid cast Magic Fang on Creature A, however, then it could bypass Creature B's damage reduction, as its Bite would count as both Epic and Magic.

If Creature B attacks Creature A, it will overcome the damage reduction, as its Claw counts as Epic (in addition to Magic). This is also the case if Creature B attacks Creature C, as the Claw counts as Magic (in addition to Epic).

If this is correct, is that because it doesn't have the actual equivalent to +6-10?

[GM Rednal]

Technically, yes, a monk with DR/Epic should also be able to bypass it. They're lucky that way. XD

A creature with DR/Epic does not, however, automatically bypass all forms of DR. It bypasses Magic, Cold Iron, Silver, Adamantine, Aligned (Good/Evil/Chaotic/Lawful), and Epic DR - and only those unless the user or the weapon has additional effects going. It won't automatically bypass DR/-, DR/Piercing, or DR/Gold, among others.

[Egeslean05]

YES! I'm totally going to beat mooks in the face with my EPIC fists XD
(To me Unarmed is the only true way to play a Monk, with weapons being used only in certain cases, 'That thing will melt my flesh away with acid, better hit it with a stick' >.< )

I had kind of forgotten about DR piercing/slashing/bludgeoning. Ever since 3.0 I've always considered DR/- to be the ultimate DR cuz you can't bypass it at all. It's also something I've always thought that Monks should have.
'1 Ki, gain DR/- equal to AC Bonus x2, for Wis mod rounds' or something like that.

Thanks for the responses Rendal!

[GM Rednal]

Mythic has a lot of DR-bypassing stuff, too. XD It gets less relevant as a defense in those games.

It sounds like you'll be a player, so I recommend linking this resource to your GM. Even if they use no other part of it, they should review the Mythic Solutions link at the bottom of the left column. It will make your game better.

If they're more open-minded, they may also let you take things like the Mythic Class Abilities for the Monk, which can let you really play up their abilities as a class in mythic games. ^^