Damage Reduction hierarchy?

[magnusmalkus]

Please forgive my brain fart...

But, Damage reduction... lycanthropes in particular...

10/silver... means you must have a silvered weapon in order to bypass the damage reduction. And here's the part where I'm brain-farting: will a magical weapon trump silver for the purposes of damage reduction?

I realize a weapon does not need to be magical to be silvered. Conversly, a silvered weapon is not necessarily a magic weapon.

If i'm right, nothing trumps anything when it comes to overcoming Damage Resistance... so a were-creature has more to fear from a silver knife than a magic weapon (meaning weapons with enhancment bonuses)?

But truly, *is* there even a trump system when it comes to DR? Does Magic trump silver DR or cold iron DR? I know in the conversion from 3.0 to 3.5 they dropped the specific enhancement bonuses you needed to overcome Damage Resistance and lumped it all in under 'magic' (ie: 5/magic as opposed to the old 5/+1 or 5/+3 where a higher enhancement bonus would 'trump' a lower enhancement bonus for the purposes of getting past damage resistance).

How about magic weapons that do not have an enhancement bonus but are magical nontheless? Such as weapons enchanted to deal elemental damage instead of flat physical damage? Whould that kind of weapon bypass Damage Reduction 'Magic'? Or do the rules say you cannot enchant a weapon with a special ability without it having an enhancement bonus first? I don't think I've ever read that. I know a weapon has to be masterwork to become magical in any capacity but I did not think that the weapon had to have an enhancement bonus on it in order for it to qualify to receive a magical function/ability. Would someone help me out with this?

 

[Jhaelen]

will a magical weapon trump silver for the purposes of damage reduction?

No.
You may want to reread the glossary entry on 'damage reduction' to get a complete description. It contains some useful information about what kinds of DR are considered supernatural and which are exceptional which is important for interaction with anti-magic zones and similar stuff.

If i'm right, nothing trumps anything when it comes to overcoming Damage Resistance... so a were-creature has more to fear from a silver knife than a magic weapon (meaning weapons with enhancment bonuses)?

Correct. Note, however, that a weapon with a high enhancement bonus can still be the better choice if the damage is consistently higher than the damage reduction. This is often the case for monsters with only DR 5/X.

But truly, *is* there even a trump system when it comes to DR? Does Magic trump silver DR or cold iron DR?

No and no.

How about magic weapons that do not have an enhancement bonus but are magical nontheless? Such as weapons enchanted to deal elemental damage instead of flat physical damage? Whould that kind of weapon bypass Damage Reduction 'Magic'? Or do the rules say you cannot enchant a weapon with a special ability without it having an enhancement bonus first?

A weapon has to have an enchantment bonus of +1 or higher to have any kind of special properties. Have a look at the section on magical arms & armor in the DMG or the item lists in MIC.

 

[irdeggman]

I think you are remembering how it was done in 3.0.

In 3.0 there was a heirarchy in 3.5 there is not, either a weapon has the properties or it does not.

3.0 DMG, table 3-13 (pg 74) had DR rankings based on what is more powerful.

3.5 completely redid DR and wiped this heirarchy out of existance.

Also 3.5 redid material properties.

You can't "silver" a weapon it must be made of alchemical silver (different than the precious metal), likewise cold iron is a specific material type and not a method of working the metal.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

Against creatures with DR 5/Silver, you need a Silvered weapon to avoid the DR. A +5 Longsword will still do damage since it will do at least 6 damage each hit but it doesn't overcome the DR. A non-magical Silvered Longsword will do normal damage (although Silvered weapons do have -1 to damage) so it may end up being more effective against creatures with DR X/Silver.

Olaf the Stout

 

[milo]

Transmuting or force weapon trumps all DR.

 

[Kylas]

Wait is there a difference in DnD to Damage Resistance and Damage Reduction? Can you have both.

 

[Olaf the Stout]

You can have energy resistance (i.e. Fire Resistance 5). That reduces all fire based damage by 5. That is different to damage reduction though. It won't stop normal weapon damage.

Olaf the Stout

 

[Nebten]

You can't "silver" a weapon it must be made of alchemical silver (different than the precious metal), likewise cold iron is a specific material type and not a method of working the metal.

You can with Silversheen or Quicksilver weapon capsule.

 

[irdeggman]

You can with Silversheen or Quicksilver weapon capsule.

I was going to mention those but they are alchemical items (I beleive).

So that is not the same as merely "silver plating an item" and for alchemical methods there is a time duration (as in limited number of uses before the candy coating comes off in your hands and not in your mouth).

"Silver plating" was what was in general done in earlier editions - it was a much cheaper method of making an item "silver" then to craft it out of alchemical silver is.

 

[billd91]

For those interested, the Pathfinder Beta is trying out some a DR hierarchy structure for higher + weapons as one of its changes from RAW 3.5.

DR Type Weapon enhancement bonus equivalent
-------- --------------------------------------
cold iron/silver +3
adamantine +4
alignment-based +5

That skews things a lot higher than in 1e/2e (a good thing, I believe) and gives higher + weapons some more value again.