Damage Resistance (DR) is a percentage reduction applied to damage that has already survived 💥 Damage Threshold.
Final Damage = Post-DT Damage × (100% − DR)
DT and DR are not the same thing and do not work the same way:
| 🛡️ Damage Threshold | Damage Resistance | |
|---|---|---|
| Applies as | A flat subtraction | A percentage reduction |
| Applies to | Each hit individually | Each hit individually |
| Full mitigation | Yes — DT ≥ damage deals 0 | No — a percentage always leaves something |
| Typed | Physical / Energy / Radiation | May be typed or untyped, depending on the source |
Fractions are rounded down, to a minimum of 1 — damage that survives DT is never reduced to 0 by DR.
Stacking
Multiple sources of DR multiply — they do not add. Each source reduces what is left after the one before it, so DR approaches 100% without ever reaching it.
Combined DR = 1 − (1 − DR₁) × (1 − DR₂) × …
| Sources | Added (not how it works) | Multiplied |
|---|---|---|
| 25% + 30% | 47.5% | |
| 25% + 30% + 50% | 73.75% |
The practical way to run it at the table: apply each source to the damage in turn, rather than totalling the percentages first.
Example: 40 damage survives DT. 💉 Med-X (25%) takes it to 30. Emergency Protocols (30%) takes that to 21. The 📖 U.S. Covert Operations Manual (50%) takes that to 10 — not 0.
Where DR sits in the order
DR is step 3 of the damage resolution order — after Cover and after DT, before damage reaches Hit Points. See 💥 Damage Types for the full sequence.
For multi-hit attacks, each shot is resolved on its own — subtract DT, then apply DR to what survives. Each shot’s final damage goes to the 💔 Cripple Threshold of the limb that shot hit, and the target’s HP are reduced by the sum of all shots. See Burst Fire.
Sources
DR does not come from armor — armor grants 🛡️ DT. DR comes from:
- Perks — several grant a percentage, sometimes typed or limited to one limb
- Chems — 💉 Med-X and the 💉 Med-X Syringe are the common sources
- Mods — Emergency Protocols grants DR at low health
- Books — the 📖 U.S. Covert Operations Manual grants a one-off 50% against a single attack
- Creature stat blocks — many creatures have natural DR
Related
- 💥 Damage Types — the full damage resolution order
- 🛡️ Physical DT · ♨️ Energy DT · ☢ Radiation DT — the flat, per-hit mitigation step
- 💎 Hardness · ♨️ Energy Resistance — the Cover Object equivalents
- Burst Fire — where the “per hit vs. per total” distinction bites