Damage Types

Different *Attacks*, *Spells*, and other harmful effects deal different types of *Damage*. *Damage Types* have no rules of their own, but other rules, such as *Damage* *Resistance and Damage Vulnerabilities* rely on the type of *Damage (*see *Damage Resistance and* *Vulnerability).*

The below *Damage Types* are below. We present these in sub-categories which may be used to refer to a set of particular damage types.

#### Elemental Damage Types

Acid, Cold, Fire, Lighting, Poison and Thunder

#### Supernatural Damage Types

Force, Necrotic, Psychic and Radiant.

For full descriptions of these Damage Types, as well as applications and special rules which apply to them, see the Damage Types Section.

## Meta Knowledge regarding Damage Types

It is generally expected that *Characters* will intuitively understand that certain types of Damage may be useful in certain situations. This is partly due to Damage Vulnerabilities being a subject many people will intuitively understand (e.g. flammable materials are likely to be vulnerable to *Fire Damage*) as well as due to well known myths and stories shared within the the setting.

Characters having a intuitive understanding of the applicability of *Damage Types* also helps to account for the fact that many experienced *Players* of roleplaying games and video games will have prior "meta knowledge" of this. Consequently, we provide meta knowledge which Characters within the setting of 7e are likely to already know about the potential uses of *Damage Types*.

## Physical Damage Types

These are *Damage Types* typically dealt by *Weapons* and natural weapons, and are by far the most common damage types featured in 7e. Magical creatures and well-armoured Character's frequently feature Resistance, or even Immunity to these damage types.

Resistance to these damage types can be overcome with the *Bludgeoning, Piercing or Slashing Expert Feats.*

* **Bludgeoning**: Blunt force attacks—hammers, falling, constriction, and the like—deal cause this. (May be used to deal non-lethal damage)
* **Piercing**: Puncturing and impaling attacks, including spears, bites and gunshots deal piercing damage.
* **Slashing:** Swords, axes, and claws deal slashing damage.

## Elemental Damage Types

These are *Damage Types* which may be found in the natural environmental as well as many magical effects. Magical creatures or creatures which are adapted to these elements may often feature Resistance or Immunity to them. They are also damage types which occur reasonably often in 7e.

* **Acid**: Corrosive agents or an acid spitting Creature may cause this.
	+ It is well known that water mitigates acid damage and creatures with featuring water in their arsenal may have *Resistance* or *Immunity* to this damage type.
	+ At the *GMs* disretion, they may rule that being submerged in water grants a *Character* *Resistance* to this damage type.
* **Cold**: Cold environments frequently deal this.
	+ It is well known that many creatures adapated to cold climates may be *Resistance* or even *Immunity* to this damage type.
* **Fire**: Fire or sources of intense heat cause this. Explosions may often generate significant heat also.
	+ It is well known that Fire Damage can be used to prevent the regenerative abilities of many Magical Creatures, such as Trolls, due to it's cauterizing effects.
	+ Similarly it is generally well-known that *Character's* with flammable features, such as dry wood or oil, are likely to be vulnerable to *Fire Damage.*
	+ It is well known that water mitigates Fire Damage, so at the *GMs d*iscretion, they may rule that being submerged in water grants a *Character* *Resistance* to this damage type.
* **Lightning**: Electricity and Character's capable of generating Electricity may deal this. (May be used to deal non-lethal damage)
	+ It is well known that some creatures may thrive on electricity, having the ability to absorb it.
	+ It is well known that water and metal conducts Electricity, so at the *GMs d*iscretion, they may rule that a Target being submerged in water or wearing or being made of metal may grant a *Advantage* on an *Attack Roll* dealing *Lightning Damage*.
	+ A GM may also rule that *Characters* wearing metal or being submerged in water has Disadvantage on Saving Throws to mitigate Lighting based damage and effects.
* **Poison**: Venomous stings from some beasts, noxious gases poisonous liquids may cause this.
	+ It is well known that many creatures capable of dealing poisonous damage may be resistant or even immune to this damage type.
* **Thunder**: A Concussive Burst of sound. Some explosions may generate significant Thunder damage also.
	+ It is well known that many materials made of solid, crystalline substances like Glass, Crystal and Stone may have vulnerability to this damage type.
	+ It is also well known that magical effects which prevent sound from travelling prevent Thunder damage from being taken.

## Supernatural Damage Types

These are *Damage Types* which are nearly exclusively caused by supernatural or unnatural (i.e. high-science) means. Resistance and Immunity to these damage types occurs seldomly and they are less likely sources of damage for Characters to encounter.

* **Force**: Force is pure Magical energy focused into a damaging form.
	+ It is also the appropriate damage type for describing damage dealt by gravitational effects such as singularities, teleportation related accidents, hydrostatic pressure and black holes in Science Fiction settings
* **Necrotic**: Necrotic damage, dealt by certain undead and a *Spell* such as *chill touch*, withers matter and even the soul.
	+ It is also the appropriate damage type for describing damage dealt by highly ionising radiation such as X-Rays, Gamma Rays, Alpha and Beta Particles etc in Science Fiction settings.
* **Psychic**: Mental Abilities such as a Psychic's ability to damage a *Character's* mind, or the effects of looking upon an unexplainable eldritch abomination may cause this damage. Mental trauma may also cause this. (May be used to deal non-lethal damage)
	+ This is notably a rarely resisted form of damage
* **Radiant**: Radiant damage, often dealt by a *divine magics,* Ki based damage and in the case of scientific settings intense forms of energy such as plasmas or lasers may cause this damage.
	+ It is well known that this Damage Type is sometimes able to harm undead more, and may also prevent undead creatures from using certain features.
	+ It is well known that Invisible Creatures have resistance to this damage type and are revealed by it.

## Damage Resistance and Vulnerability

Some *Characters* and Objects are exceedingly difficult or unusually easy to hurt with certain types of damage.

If a *Character* or an object has *Resistance* to a damage type, damage of that type is halved against it. If a *Character* or an object has *Vulnerability* to a damage type, damage of that type is doubled against it.

*Resistance* and then *Vulnerability* are applied after all other modifiers to damage. For example, a *Character* has *Resistance* to *Bludgeoning* *Damage* and is hit by an attack that deals 25 *Bludgeoning* *Damage*. The *Character* is also within a Magical aura that reduces all damage by 5. The 25 damage is first reduced by 5 and then halved, so the *Character* takes 10 damage.

Multiple instances of *Resistance* or *Vulnerability* that affect the same damage type count as only one instance. For example, if a *Character* has *Resistance* to *Fire* damage as well as *Resistance* to all nonmagical damage, the damage of a nonmagical fire is reduced by half against the *Character*, not reduced by three-quarters.

### Revealing Damage Resistances, Vulnerabilities, Mitigations and Regeneration

When a *Character* deals *Damage* and that *Damage* is either reduced or increased, such as due to a *Damage Resistance*, *Vulnerabilty* or a form of *Damage Mitigation,* the *GM* may at their *discretion* inform the *Players* of that effect if it is reasonable to assume the Character would realise the Target of the Damage appears more or less affected by it than they would have expected.

Informing *Players* of the consequences of identifying a poor or strong choice of Damage type allows them to adapt to the new information.

Similarly, a Character with the ability to Regenerate or Heal it's wounds should be relatively clear to Character's observing it, and *Characters* informed of this may adapt their tactics to account for it.

## Copyright Notice

This work includes material taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC and available at https://dnd.wizards.com/resources/systems-reference-document. The SRD 5.1 is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode

## Credit this Work

To Credit material presented here which is unique from that contained in the System Reference Document 5.1 (see Copyright Notice), copy the following to your Credits Section:

This work includes material taken from "7e” by Peter Rees and materials taken from the System Reference Document 5.1 (“SRD 5.1”) by Wizards of the Coast LLC. Both "7e" and the "SRD5.1" are Licensed under the Creative Commons: By Attribution 4.0 International License, available at https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/legalcode