D&D 5E Magic Weapons and "DR"

[Remathilis]

So I noticed something skimming the Dragon Queen PDF.

Several monsters have weapon resistance. They are either resistant to weapons or even immune, but have some "bypass" mechanic.

Air Elementals, Perytons, Specters, Vampires, Vampire Spawns, and Will-o-Wisps resist weapon damage except from magical.

Gargoyles, and Helmed Horrors resist weapon damage except from magical or adamantine.

Stone Golems are immune to damage except from magical weapons and adamantine

Swarms of Insects and Swarms of Rats just resist weapon damage period.

What's nice is that you can still harm these creatures (sans the stone golem) with a non-magical weapon (or an adamantine weapon) but you are less effective. Which is good; a fighter should look for a good weapon and not worry about it being the proper +X or right combo of materials and magics. (No DR/Good and Silver for example).

I approve.

 

[Paraxis]

So I noticed something skimming the Dragon Queen PDF.

Several monsters have weapon resistance. They are either resistant to weapons or even immune, but have some "bypass" mechanic.

Air Elementals, Perytons, Specters, Vampires, Vampire Spawns, and Will-o-Wisps resist weapon damage except from magical.

Gargoyles, and Helmed Horrors resist weapon damage except from magical or adamantine.

Stone Golems are immune to damage except from magical weapons and adamantine

Swarms of Insects and Swarms of Rats just resist weapon damage period.

What's nice is that you can still harm these creatures (sans the stone golem) with a non-magical weapon (or an adamantine weapon) but you are less effective. Which is good; a fighter should look for a good weapon and not worry about it being the proper +X or right combo of materials and magics. (No DR/Good and Silver for example).

I approve.

Isn't Immunity/Magic and Adamantine the same or worse than DR/Good and Silver?

I mean the whole need a +2 weapon or higher for this and and +4 weapon for that, has been dead since 3.0 and good riddance, but with things like the Stone Golem you still HAVE to have certain weapons for certain monsters and that is an issue.

 

[Remathilis]

Isn't Immunity/Magic and Adamantine the same or worse than DR/Good and Silver?

I mean the whole need a +2 weapon or higher for this and and +4 weapon for that, has been dead since 3.0 and good riddance, but with things like the Stone Golem you still HAVE to have certain weapons for certain monsters and that is an issue.

Magic OR adamantine

A simple +1 weapon would defeat any of them. In 3.5, some need magic, aligned, material, or weapon type. So you needed an adamantine weapon for golems, a holy cold iron for fey and demons, a holy silver for devils, lycanthropes and vampires, magical bludgeoning for liches, and an epic weapon for the really powerful stuff. Having one weapon (and an alt in the form of adamantine) that looks to harm them all is an improvement.

 

[Andor]

The 5e design motif seems to be to find a few simple systems and apply them to cover as many possibilities as is reasonable.

So resistance instead of DR 5/10/15.

Advantage/Disadvantage instead of a plethora of floating modifiers.

I too approve.