Author Topic: Making sense of Damage Reduction.  (Read 1666 times)

Offline Nicklance

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Making sense of Damage Reduction.
« on: September 30, 2012, 11:53:03 PM »
When I first played D&D till now, certain DR just doesn't seem to make sense to me.

Like example, I'd expect angels and demons/devils that fight against each other constantly to be resistant to each other's attacks. So for a good outsider to have DR/evil means that they're only more resistant to anything that is not evil.

In one of my early campaigns, we were facing really extremist good outsiders who wanted to decimate a nation Sodom-style because the king is a real demonic jackass. We tried to take down that outsider because we have an on-going evacuation that just isn't complete yet. We who are on the side of good to protect innocents, have a hard time dealing with an obviously good (but stupidly extreme) outsider. So in theory, good people never really had a reason to attack a good outsider, a DR that penalizes like that doesn't make sense. And we had to purposely summon an evil outsider just to help us stack more damage while ignoring that DR.

In another campaign, we were playing villains trying to hasten the apocalypse (because whoever survives is technically in-charge of the new World 2.0). We battled against fellow villains, and evil outsiders included. DR/good made sense as evil outsiders would probably have to contend with their own kind constantly. But we totally fucked a good outsider's shit, despite him being "the Angel of Justice and Valor" whose story was pretty much about him an asskicker of evil people, and we bypassed that DR like it doesn't exist.

So while we felt happy to have a slight mechanical advantage against an arch-foe that makes us legitimately scared, outside of the game we felt that the angel was facing a clear disadvantage DR-wise.

So guys, I'm wondering if you guys ever thought about whether the DR system makes flavor sense or not. Let's discuss about this.
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Offline FlaminCows

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Re: Making sense of Damage Reduction.
« Reply #1 on: October 01, 2012, 12:22:48 AM »
Nicklance, training and experience doesn't grant you DR. Training and experience would teach you how to avoid attacks, and that's represented by AC. DR, on the other hand, represents one's ability to take a hit.

An angels DR comes from its own supernatural nature: it is an outsider with the Good subtype. Good, in D&D, is a lot like a special substance. Things can be made of good. Angels have DR because of that very reason; they are made of supernatural goodness and so ordinary weapons aren't as much of a threat to them. Evil bypasses it because an evil-aligned magic item or creature with the Evil subtype literally contains Evil in it. Evil is the opposite of good, and so counters the properties of the Good inside an angel. In fact, it has nothing to do with evil people at all, just with that magical substance: an outsider with the Evil subtype (demons, etc) that is Good-aligned and was raised and trained by celestial beings would still bypass DR/evil, heck, a good-aligned mortal with an Evil-aligned magic item would bypass it too.

By the way, the angel has a +4 bonus on AC and a +4 bonus on saves against evil outsiders, so it's give-and-take. The one most advantaged by the Angel's rules is a normal person who has an Evil weapon, which makes sense: just like holy weapons work better against demons, unholy ones work better against angels.
« Last Edit: October 01, 2012, 12:39:15 AM by FlaminCows »

Offline Kethrian

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Re: Making sense of Damage Reduction.
« Reply #2 on: October 01, 2012, 12:35:12 AM »
I think it's mostly due to the concept of Holy Burns Evil, and then considering the opposite must also be true.  Basic fantasy tropes at work, shaping D&D, that's all.
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