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.
CRIT Dice bypass DT, but not DR
CRIT Dice damage is added after DT is subtracted, and is then reduced by DR along with everything else.
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