Damage Resistance

Damage Resistance

Damage Resistance (DR) is a defensive trait that is used to reduce incoming physical damage. DR is most commonly acquired by wearing armor made from special Dweomermetals, such as Adamantine or Paramount Alloy. However, several character classes, such as the barbarian, can gain DR as a class feature without the need to wear armor.

DR is usually gained in one of six categories:

• DR x/<single type> — provides protection only against attacks which inflict the specific type of physical damage listed.
• DR x/common — provides protection against attacks which inflict damage of the type "physical, common"
• DR x/uncommon — provides protection against attacks which inflict damage of the type "physical, uncommon"
• DR x/rare — provides protection against attacks which inflict damage of the type "physical, rare"
• DR x/<class>, bypassed by <type> — provides protection against attacks which inflict damage of a given class (common, uncommon or rare), but is bypassed by a specific type of damage within that class.

• For example, most skeletons have "DR x/common, bypassed by bludgeoning"

• DR x/- — provides protection against any attacks which inflict physical damage.

Damage resistance always has a numerical value (in place of the "x"), which is the amount of damage reduced from any single attack, if that attack is of a damage type the DR protects against. For example, A paladin with "DR 5/common" will reduce any "physical, common" damage by 5 points each time he would take damage of that type. If he is struck three different times by a dagger-wielding rogue, each of those three hits is reduced by 5 points (assuming the dagger is dealing "physical, common" damage).

It is possible for other variations of DR to exist. For example, some skeletons possess "DR x/common, penetrated by bludgeoning", which protects against all "physical, common" damage sources except for bludgeoning, even though bludgeoning is also a "physical, common" damage type.

It is also possible to gain a weak form of DR that only protects against a single damage type, such as "DR 10/slashing (physical, common)". Only slashing (physical, common) damage would be reduced by this DR. All other physical damage types would go through without reduction.

Finally, it is possible to possess more than one type of DR. If you are attacked with a damage type that could be resisted by more than one of your types of DR, you only apply the single best DR type you possess, not both. For example, if you have DR 10/common, and DR 5/-, and are struck by an attack which inflicts "physical, common", you would only use the "DR 10/common", since it provides more mitigation than the "DR 5/-". Of course, if you have DR x/- with a value higher than all your other DR types, it is the only one that matters.

Primal (undefined damage type) damage cannot be resisted with DR, even with DR x/-. Primal damage is irresistible, and can never be reduced by either DR or ER, unless an ability specifically states it can be used to mitigate or resist Primal damage.