DR and nonlethal damage..

[Three_Haligonians]

The situation:

A character with DR 5/adamantine intentionally jumps down 50ft in order to get the.. uh.. drop on some enemies.

According to the rules, he would take 5d6 damage for falling 50ft. However:
A Tumble check DC 15 lets him treat the fall as 10ft shorter - thus 4d6.
A Jump check DC 15 lets him treat the fall as 10ft shorter as well because the "fall" is intentional, bringing it to 3d6.

The DMG, under the falling rules, states that with the success of either aforementioned checks, the second d6 of damage is nonlethal.

So that makes it 2d6 lethal and 1d6 nonlethal.

Now the actual question: Assuming the character succeeds on those checks and assuming he is not landing on adamantine, does the DR subtract 5 points from both the lethal and the nonlethal? just one? or some mix of both?

J from Three Haligonians

 

[Mouseferatu]

The official ruling is that, as falling damage is not weapon damage, DR doesn't apply.

This is one of those instances where I completely, utterly, and wholly disagree with the official ruling. AFAIAC, there's no real difference between the damage from a fall and the damage from being whacked with a big club--they're both nonmagical blunt damage--so in my campaigns, the DR would apply.

But by the RAW, DR doesn't come into play at all.

 

[mvincent]

AFAIAC, there's no real difference between the damage from a fall and the damage from being whacked with a big club

I understand your point, but I'm not sure that is a truism. Being encased in thick metal is unlikely to help you avoid deceleration trauma (i.e. your body is now merely hitting the inside of your armor rather than the ground).

Sure, it might make sense with other forms of DR... but we're talking about D&D here (where DR doesn't even help against bludgeoning spell damage, like from Black tentacles and ice storm).

 

[Mouseferatu]

I understand your point, but I'm not sure that is a truism. Being encased in thick metal is unlikely to help you avoid deceleration trauma (i.e. your body is now merely hitting the inside of your armor rather than the ground).

And to me, that's why falling damage (from at least a substantial height) does more damage than weapons. The DR, therefore, won't absorb as much a proportion of the damage.

But if a critter requires magic (or adamantine, or whatever) to penetrate the DR, I see no reason why the earth can do so when a wood or metal weapon cannot.

But again, we're verging into house rules now.

 

[Thurbane]

The Earth is obviously an epic weapon.

 

[HeavenShallBurn]

The Earth is obviously an epic weapon.

Yeah but have you seen the guy wielding it, he's more than a million kilometers across

 

[Einolf]

Yeah but have you seen the guy wielding it, he's more than a million kilometers across

Anyone got the size modifiers for that?

 

[Arkhandus]

Now all we need is a mass cannon or whatever it's called, to launch the Earth at a target of our pleasing.... Oh, uh, and some kind of mass teleportation spell to send everyone on Earth to an uninhabited, alternate Material Plane first.

 

[kreynolds]

Anyone got the size modifiers for that?

I'm sure Upper Krust does.

 

[The Blow Leprechaun]

I would make a situational ruling based on the source of the damage reduction:

Some magic creatures have the supernatural ability to instantly heal damage from weapons or to ignore blows altogether as though they were invulnerable. ... Sometimes damage reduction is instant healing. Sometimes damage reduction represents the creature’s tough hide or body.

If the conceptual source of the DR is akin to fast healing, falling damage would be negated. DR from, say, wearing adamantine armor - maybe not.