i have found, that most certainly on non-player races, the higher the material number, the harder they hit and the less dmg they take. I spawned a laval dragon of level 60 w/material 0 and its max hit was 200, i then respawned the creature with a material of 999 and it hit me for 1500, then 5000. this may help
I havent tried it on player races, seeing as when im poping zones I would like them to look right, rather than just be hard.