Quote:
Originally Posted by sjmdw45
Hmmm. That's an interesting interpretation which hadn't occurred to me, but again, I read Kromm as saying the opposite: the creamy monster center has only DR 3 total.
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Reading and re-reading, both are plausible.
For the record, I've played it as "free shots to the brain" (which is mentioned in skull; it's not a hit location per se, but the fact that it's listed as the source of the x4 multiplier is salient) as well, for nigh-on 30 years.
The repeated emphasis on EXTRA for the skull DR and the very specific "subtract DR from basic damage," with no exceptions makes me wonder if this was a deliberate change, or an oversight caused by over-familiarity.
I can say that the lack of DR through the eyes makes monster design more laborious, as you need to always think "how do I deal with the scout and constant eye shots?" This isn't a bad thing; thinking is good. But I could also see it as "look, it says DR 6. Blind it all you want, but it's got an interior skeleton the toughness of a breastplate. It's a MONSTER."
I'll wait to see what Kromm says, definitely. I can say that all the monsters in my Bestiary were designed with the DR 0 --> brain pathway in mind.
It came up in playtest with a few mighty creatures in the current Nightmare Fuel campaign, so it's a relevant clarification. My life would be somewhat easier if it were still DR 0-->brain x4, as it means I don't have 185 monsters worth of errata to consider.