How much does physical damage type matter?

[MOK]

Slashing, bludgeoning, piercing.

The variety of weapons significantly exists to differentiate by these types. For example, you could huck a throwing axe, or a javelin. They have identical stats, except that axe is slashing, while javelin is piercing.

But what I'm still not sure about is how relevant this differentiation ends up being. I know that there's a few creatures that have DR versus a particular type or vulnerability versus a type, but it doesn't take long until you begin to bypass DR's anyways. And to the extent that they don't get ignored, it's not clear to me how often this factors in, and to what extent.

I've never noticed a moment where I thought, "uh oh, all my party has got slashing weapons, so now I'm in trouble." But that could just be me failing to pay attention.

Was wondering if anyone else has a good read on how impactful these damage types are? Or are they basically ignorable by, for example, level 10?

[Anri of Astora]

for a martial classes like fighter with high BAB you can learn feats which lets you bypass target resistance with proficient weapons, and casters with low BAB usually have spells/pets/summon anyway. So its mostly an rpg flair, as tribute to different weapon type and doesn't really matter in a long run.

[forkofspite]

Originally posted by MOK:

but it doesn't take long until you begin to bypass DR's anyways. And to the extent that they don't get ignored, it's not clear to me how often this factors in, and to what extent.

If you're a the point where you're dealing enough damage to not care about DR, then it's only relevant when/if you come across enemies that are immune to certain types. There's one type of creature in Through the Ashes that is immune to piercing and slashing. Potentially, there's one enemy in the main story that is immune to piercing and slashing (but only while at full health).

Those are the only examples I've noticed, but there might be more.

[hilburnashua]

It's mostly from tabletop. There are some creatures there that have DR X/slashing as an example. Skeletons and zombies are the most common examples of this.

[grognardgary]

Originally posted by hilburnashua:

It's mostly from tabletop. There are some creatures there that have DR X/slashing as an example. Skeletons and zombies are the most common examples of this.

Those same have it here as well but it is relatively low enough so as to be inconsequential.

[Gracey Face]

Originally posted by MOK:

Was wondering if anyone else has a good read on how impactful these damage types are? Or are they basically ignorable by, for example, level 10?

They're ignorable by level 10, though really even earlier than that. Additionally the DRs which are based on weapon damage type are always so minor that you're able to power through them before you gain the ability to ignore them.

It's mainly an artefact of the way the tabletop plays out (people normally spend more time in the lower levels than the higher levels so mechanics like this mean more).