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Damage Reduction (view source)

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{{trope}}
[[File:Superman_8630Superman 8630.jpg|frame|[[Damage Reduction|'''DR]]''' [[Flying Brick|500]] / [[Magic Missile|Magic]] and/or [[Green Rocks|Kryptonite]]]] ▼
'''That tickles'''
▲[[File:Superman_8630.jpg|frame|[[Damage Reduction|DR]] [[Flying Brick|500]] / [[Magic Missile|Magic]] and/or [[Green Rocks|Kryptonite]]]
]
 
Put simply, [['''Damage Reduction]]''' (or DR, as it's abbreviated) is an indication of how much physical damage a character sucks up before it actually starts to subtract from their [[Hit Points]]. ▼
[[Exactly What It Says On the Tin]].
 
▲Put simply, [[Damage Reduction]] (or DR, as it's abbreviated) is an indication of how much physical damage a character sucks up before it actually starts to subtract from their [[Hit Points]].
 
Though used primarily in [[Role Playing Games]], DR can be found across many different media. In games, DR typically is the very first thing calculated, right after base damage is assigned, and before any multiplicative or additional damages are added into the equation.
 
In most paper-and-pencil [[RPG|RPGs]]s, this usually tops out at numbers less than 10, since even 30 damage in P&P games is enough to kill most low-to-mid-level, non-fighter characters. Electronic and [[Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game|MMORPGs]] on the other hand, can easily have DR hitting double, or even triple digits.
 
One very important to note is that, 99% of the time, DR reduces only '''physical''' damage - that means that, typically, there are one or more ways to get around a DR-based [[Damage Sponge]]: [[Elemental Damage]] almost always bypasses DR, and if Magic Damage is different than Physical Damage, suddenly [[Beam Spam|spamming the hell outta]] [[Magic Missile]] seems like a really, really good idea.
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{{examples}}
 
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* In ''[[GURPS (Tabletop Game)|GURPS]]'', the primary benefit of wearing/installing armor is reducing damage received. DR is also an advantage that can be purchased by characters, races, etc. One to three points of damage reduction seems to be the "realistic" limit for natural DR, possessed by real animals with thick hides/scales or purchasable by players without needing specific GM approval. Previous versions featured the Toughness advantage, a more expensive DR with a two point Cap specifically for human use, with the base advantage restricted to supers or races.
** Armor piercing attacks generally take the form of a divisor, reducing DR by half or more.
** The Damage Reduction advantage also has a host of options to modify it'sits function, in particular conjunction with Damage Typing. The advantage could be used to simulate anything from thick skin to magical resistance against a given element to an ablative force field that needs recharging.
* ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'' makes extensive use of this trope. Damage reduction is generally not provided by wearing armor, even magical, and is usually an ability granted to monsters. Said monsters oftentimes have a weakness that bypasses their DR, usually written as "DR ''Value'' / ''Weakness''",<ref> Read as: Damage Resistance: the first X points of damage are completely ignored. If the damage source is from the weakness, however, take full damage</ref>, such as the Superman image above. Some materials or enchantments do provide DR on equipment and some class features also grant it.
** Hardness is a variant used only by inanimate objects, for when players decide to smash down doors, sunder enemy gear, or otherwise wreck their environment. Most objects have little to no armor class and surprisingly little HP compared to a player character. Hardness makes them difficult to actually ''damage''. In theory, this should prevent anyone from just [[Dungeon Bypass|carving a new door through a wall]], because standard attacks won't overcome hardness and will never cause hit point damage; in practice, [[Min Max|most characters]] can easily overcome the hardness of stone and [[Gameplay and Story Segregation|players agree to not abuse those rules]] [[Rules Lawyer|most of the time]].
* ''[[Arkham Horror]]'' features a few options for DR. The mobster investigator has it as his special ability. A few items and spells allow for it, including a variation of [[Hyperactive Metabolism]] were food provides DR rather then healing.
* [[New Horizon]] has armor... and specific attacks penetrate the armor, as well as attacks that go overboard.
* ''[[DarkWarhammer Heresy]]40,000 [[Rogue TraderRoleplay]],'' and Deathwatch allseries have this in the form of both Armor and Toughness. Very few attacks ignore this, though many weapons have Armor Penetration, which ignores a certain amount of Armor., Theirand parenta game,few has Warhammer40,000Felling, useswhich aignores combinationsome ofor all Unnatural Toughness Values(which andis Armormostly Saves,there thoughfor it'sDamage aReduction, certainas chanceit toaffects ignoretests damage, ratherless than reducingjust itgreater value).
** In ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' itself Toughness Values and Armor Saves give a chance to ignore damage, rather than reduce it, however.
* Any game with damage soak rolls, such as ''[[Shadowrun (Tabletop Game)|Shadowrun]]'', [[Old World of Darkness (Tabletop Game)|either]] [[New World of Darkness (Tabletop Game)|version]] of the ''[[Tabletop Game]]/World of Darkness'', and West End Games' D6 system such as the ''[[Star Wars]]'' RPG. After establishing the damage of the attack, the thing being attacked rolls to reduce the amount of damage actually taken, in terms of their own innate difficulty to damage. Armour may either provide extra dice or reduce the target number of the roll to reduce the damage, depending on system.
* The ''[[Hero System]]''s version of defenses functions a touch differently. A character can have both Defenses and straight Damage Reduction; Defenses outright subtract damage from the roll and can reduce it to zero, while Damage Reduction applies ''after'' Defenses and cuts the damage received by a straight percentage. Damage Reduction is one of the "warning sign" powers in the book (it cancels greater damage proportionally more); characters are expected to have fairly limited Damage Reduction, such as having it only apply to certain types of damage, and across-the-board Damage Reduction is mostly the domain of supervillains expected to take on entire teams of heroes singlehandedly.
* The Invulnerability power in ''[[Villains and Vigilantes]]'' is a number of points of damage that its possessor can outright ignore every turn, only subtracting damage over that amount from their hit points.
 
== Video Games ==
* The ''[[Dragon Quest]]'' games have the spells Buff and Kabuff, which raises an teammate's (or in Kabuff's case the entire team's) physical defense by an certain percentage.
*''[[Fire Emblem]]''
** The Aegis and Pavise skills from the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series can halve the damage an character can take. But the catch is that each skill only works for roughly half the weaponry in a given game and the skills are randomly activated.
** Rally Defense and Rally Resistance reduces the physical and magical damage that nearby allies take by temporarily raising their Defense and Resistance stats, although the caster is unaffected by the buff.
** ''[[Fire Emblem Fates]]'' introduces the skills Armored Blow and Warding Blow, which reduces the damage the character takes whenever they initiate an attack.
**''Fates'' also include Personal Skills, some of which provides an small AoE bonus of reducing the damage the bearer's allies receives within an certain radius. And others reduces the amount of damage a character receives depending on who's near them (i.e. Silas' Personal Skill only works if he's next to Corrin).
* Several of the Badge combinations of ''[[Mario & Luigi: Dream Team]]'' can either reduce the damage the Mario Bros. take by lowering an opponent's stats or outright making them immune for a certain numbe of hits.
 
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tabletop GamesGame Tropes]]
[[Category:Video Game Tropes]]
[[Category:Combat Tropes]]
[[Category:Damage Reduction]]
[[Category:BrokenVideogame imageEffects markupand Spells]]
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