Damage Types

In Pathfinder there are many different types of damage. This page is to help clarify and categorize damage types for ease of reference.

## Physical Damage

Physical Damage is generally separated into 3 categories. It is resisted by Damage Reduction, which is overcome in specific ways listed I the source granting it (such as DR 5/Silver).

#### Bludgeoning

Bludgeoning damage comes from thick, heavy weapons. Weapons that deal bludgeoning damage trend towards high normal damage dice, and are often effective on undead monsters whose lack of muscles and organs makes them resistant to other types of physical damage.

#### Piercing

Piercing damage comes from slender stabbing weapons. Weapons that deal piercing damage trend towards high critical damage (x3 or rarely, x4 multipliers). DR/Piercing is fairly rare, so it's not as useful for overcoming DR as the other two types of physical damage, but it does work on some aberrations, plants, vermin, and magical beasts.

#### Slashing

Slashing damage comes from longer cutting weapons. Weapons that deal slashing damage trend towards high critical threat ranges. DR/Slashing is most common on plants and fleshy undead, and a party facing lots of undead will probably want a good balance between bludgeoning and slashing gear.

### Physical Damage Qualities

The following are special qualities that can be applied to physical damage. While not damage types in-and-of themselves, they are important to know about for various reasons as they each modify or add to the way the damage is handled.

#### Non-lethal Damage

Nonlethal Damage represents harm to a character that is not life-threatening. Unlike normal Damage, nonlethal Damage is healed quickly with rest.

**Dealing Nonlethal Damage:** Certain attacks deal nonlethal Damage. Other effects, such as heat or being exhausted, also deal nonlethal Damage. When you take nonlethal Damage, keep a running total of how much you've accumulated. Do not deduct the nonlethal Damage number from your current Hit Points. It is not "real" Damage. Instead, when your nonlethal Damage equals your current hit points, you're staggered (see below), and when it exceeds your current Hit Points, you fall unconscious.

**Nonlethal Damage with a Weapon that Deals Lethal Damage:** You can use a melee weapon that deals lethal Damage to deal nonlethal Damage instead, but you take a –4 Penalty on your Attack Roll.

**Lethal Damage with a Weapon that Deals Nonlethal Damage:** You can use a weapon that deals nonlethal Damage, including an unarmed strike, to deal lethal Damage instead, but you take a –4 Penalty on your Attack Roll.

**Staggered and Unconscious:** When your nonlethal Damage equals your current Hit Points, you're staggered. You can only take a standard Action or a move Action in each round (in addition to free, immediate, and swift actions). You cease being staggered when your current Hit Points once again exceed your nonlethal Damage. When your nonlethal Damage exceeds your current Hit Points, you fall unconscious. While unconscious, you are helpless. Spellcasters who fall unconscious retain any Spellcasting ability they had before going unconscious. If a creature's nonlethal Damage is equal to his total maximum Hit Points (not his current hit points), all further nonlethal Damage is treated as lethal Damage. This does not apply to creatures with Regeneration. Such creatures simply accrue additional nonlethal Damage, increasing the amount of time they remain unconscious.

**Healing Nonlethal Damage:** You heal nonlethal Damage at the rate of 1 hit point per hour per character level. When a spell or ability cures hit point Damage, it also removes an equal amount of nonlethal Damage.

#### Bleed Damage

Bleed damage is caused by an effect that leaves an open wound that continues to cause damage. A creature that is taking bleed damage takes the listed amount of damage at the beginning of its turn. If the Bleed damage is expressed as a die roll, roll the damage each time the creature would take the bleed damage. Bleeding can be stopped by a DC 15 Heal check or through the application of any spell that cures hit point damage (even if the bleed is ability damage). Some bleed effects cause ability damage or even ability drain. Bleed effects do not stack with each other unless they deal different kinds of damage. When two or more bleed effects deal the same kind of damage, take the worse effect. In this case, ability drain is worse than ability damage.

#### Precision Damage

Precision damage is the result of targeting a specific part of the body. Creatures that are immune to critical hits (or who have fortification) are immune to precision damage (or might be, based on their fortification). The most common source of Precision damage is Sneak Attack. An ability will specify if it deals precision damage.

#### Magic Damage

Magic damage is damage that originates from a magical source, such as a spell or an enchanted weapon. DR/magic is common, but also easy to bypass since characters are expected to have magical gear early in a game.

#### Epic Damage

Epic Damage is used almost exclusively in reference to DR of creatures. DR/Epic can only be overcome by weapons with an Enchantment bonus of +6 or higher. Note that weapon special abilities with effective bonuses do not count towards this, but abilities that treat the bonus as being higher do. For example, a +2 brilliant energy weapon would not overcome DR/Epic, but a +4 Bane weapon would against the bane target.

#### Silver Damage

An edge-case for physical damage, Creatures that have their DR or Regeneration overcome by Silver cannot have that regeneration or DR bypassed by any other means, including highly enchanted magical weapons or effects that would allow an attacker to bypass all DR.

## Energy Damage

Energy damage is, broadly, broken down into a few separate categories. Four types of energy damage (fire, cold, acid, and electric), referred to as Common Energy types, are fairly easy for characters to obtain and swap between. The others are a little harder to get ahold of, or simply have fewer available options. Energy types are resisted by Energy Resistance specific to the type.

### Common Energy Damage

Common Energy types are the easiest to gain access to as well as the energy types creatures most commonly resist or are immune to.

#### Acid

Acid is one of the basic elements, though it's a little less common than fire and cold. It has the same anti-Regeneration properties as fire, and notably, daemons are immune to this element.

#### Cold

Cold, like fire, is a fairly common type of energy for enemies to resist. While none of the big three categories of evil outsiders (daemons, demons, and devils) are immune to it, all of them resist this type of damage. Furthermore, resistance to cold is fairly common among undead as well. A creature that is immune to cold and vulnerable to fire gains the Cold subtype.

#### Electricity

Arguably the rarest of the common energy damage types, electrical damage often has a different targeting scheme. While many of its attacks are direct ranged touch attacks or lines, some electric spells attack foes from above. This can provide helpful options in battle. Demons are immune to this type of damage, making it a poor choice for campaigns featuring this type of foe.

#### Fire

Fire is the most commonly-resisted type of energy in the game. Characters who want to use this type of damage should invest in ways of overcoming Energy Resistance and Immunity to Fire. Notably, devil-subtype outsiders are immune to this element. Aside from igniting things, fire is notable for being one of the two elements that often help turn Regeneration off.

### Secondary Energy Types

#### Sonic

Sonic energy is hard to come by, though it's more prevalent than force damage. It's resisted by few creatures, making it a reliable choice if you don't know what a foe resists. It is the energy type used by effects that generate loud noises and causes shockwaves, such as a sonic boom.

#### Positive and Negative Energy

These mostly feature in undead-heavy campaigns. Positive energy usually - but not always - heals creatures instead of hurting them, while negative energy does the opposite. Undead famously twist this around to heal from negative energy, and many of them resist positive energy. Negative energy is highly effective and rarely resisted, if not fighting undead. It's reliable, but not the strongest type of damage unless you're specialized in it.

#### Psychic

Psychic Damage is a strange damage type that targets a creature's mental faculties. A creature without an intelligence score (such as an ooze or golem) is immune to psychic damage, and creatures that are immune to Mind-effecting spells or abilities gain Resistance to psychic damage. This resistance is 5 at 1 HD, and increases by 5 every 5 HD (5, 10, 15, etc).

### Advanced Energy Types

Advanced energy types are rare and hard to come by, with only a few sources that reliably deal these energy types.

#### Alignment

Aligned energy, as the name suggests, deals damage based on the user's or target's alignment (Lawful, Good, Evil, or Chaotic). As this is not a weapon damage type, it generally bypasses DR, and it can also help shut down fast healing or regeneration on some creatures. Aligned energy damage may come from weapon enchantments, spells, or even the natural abilities of certain creatures. Note that the specific details often vary by source. Some sources of aligned energy may do more or less damage to certain targets, so check the source before you use it.

#### Disintegration

Energy that dismantles the target at an atomic level, disintegration damage is famously used by the spell Disintegrate. Disintegration damage automatically destroys any force effect it hits, no matter the actual damage dealt. Any additional damage is dispersed harmlessly (such as using Disintegrate to bypass a wall of force, you cannot still target a creature behind the wall).

#### Force

Force's defining feature is its reliability - almost no creatures in the game resist it, and it even deals normal damage to incorporeal creatures. This makes it ideal for hunting ghosts. However, to balance it out, it also does less damage than most other attacks.

#### Divine and Profane

Divine and Profane damage are two sides of the same coin, originating from a Deific source and almost always being half of a Hybrid damage type. Next to no creatures resist or are immune to Divine or Profane damage, except for some deities.

### Special Damage Types

#### Falling (or Crushing) Damage

Two names for the same type of damage, Crushing damage (or Fall damage) is the type of damage creatures take when they fall a great distance or are knocked backwards with great force into an object, or when a heavy object is dropped on them. Crushing damage, while physical, does not apply DR. A creature that possesses slow fall or another ability that negates or lessens fall damage does not receive that benefit when taking crushing damage from being knocked into things or from spells or effects that deal crushing damage, such as Clashing Rocks.

#### **Poison Damage**

Poison is not technically its own damage type, but like Magic Damage, is an additional descriptor applied to certain damage types (namely, those caused by poisons). If a creature is immune to poison, they are also immune to poison damage. A creature that has a bonus against poisons gains Resistance to poison damage. This resistance is 5 at 1 HD, and increases by 5 every 5 HD (5, 10, 15, etc).

#### Untyped Damage

Untyped damage almost always comes from magical sources, so it's been included in this section. As the name implies, though, it has no type. Damage Reduction and Energy Resistance do nothing to stop it, though Spell Resistance might. In effect, Untyped damage is a slightly superior version of Force damage, and much like its companion it tends to deal less damage than other attacks.

### Hybrid Damages

Hybrid Damage is a general term for spells or abilities whose damage is two different types, such as Half Fire/Half Divine for Flame Strike. A creature must be immune to both of a Hybrid Damage's types to be immune to the damage (otherwise it only applies to the half the creature is immune to), and resistance is applied separately to each type. Since this is often a mix of a very common and very rare damage type, it is useful for testing what types an enemy might resist while still dealing damage, even when a foe is immune to part of it.

#### Radiation

Radiation is a special type of Hybrid damage that functions as negative energy damage that does not heal undead. It is also counted as poison damage. Creatures that are immune to both negative energy and poison (such as undead) are immune to radiation. Radiation can also give creatures Rads. Whenever a creature casts a spell or uses a class feature that causes radiation damage it inflicts “rads” on both the target of the ability and the caster, although typically the caster receives a lower dose. The amount is specified in the spell or ability. Rads do not decrease naturally, though magic may be employed to reduce a creature’s rad count. The total number of rads a target has is called a “rad count”. If the rad count of a creature reaches a certain level it is inflicted with some negative conditions (see Table: Radiation Effects).

**Table: Radiation Effects**

 200-499
 500-999
 1000-1999
 2000-2999
 3000+

\*Negative levels caused by this are temporary rather than permanent negative levels.

**Reducing Rads** The following spells have the following impact on the rad count of a creature.

* Cure Disease: Removes 100 x caster level of rads per casting.
* Neutralize Poison: Removes 500 x caster level of rads per casting.
* Delay Poison: Removes all ill effects of rads for the duration of the spell but does not reduce the rad count.
* Poison Immunity: A creature that is immune to poison cannot gain rads.
* Detect Poison and Deathwatch : This spell tells the caster how many rads the target has.
* Rest: You drop a number of rads per day equal to the amount healed from bed rest.

**Resisting Rads** A creature with a combined armor and shield bonus to their AC of 3 or greater or a natural armor bonus of 4 or greater takes half the normal dose of rads from an attack. This reduction can also reduce rads normally imparted to the caster.

#### Hellfire, Holyfire, Hellrime, etc.

Hellfire Damage (and, by extension, Holyfire damage or other damage types that state they function as Hellfire damage but with different damage types) is a special type of Hybrid Damage dealt almost exclusively by Dukes of Hell or higher ranking devils, Archdevils, and Archdemons. Hellfire damage is a single damage source that is counted as both Fire and Profane, and as such fire immunity does not lessen the damage. A creature must be immune to both fire and profane damage to be immune to hellfire damage. A creature that resists only one of these damage types does not resist hellfire damage, and a creature that resists both uses the lower of their two resistances, applied once. Hellfire does not count as fire damage for the purposes of creatures that heal from fire damage. If a creature is vulnerable or severely vulnerable to one or both, these vulnerabilities stack (meaning a creature vulnerable to fire and profane takes 100% more damage from hellfire, etc.). Holyfire deals Fire and Divine, Hellrime deals Cold and Profane, and other types exist.

#### Plasma damage

Probably the most common hybrid damage, Plasma damage is half fire and half electric damage.

## Resistance, Immunity, Vulnerability, Severe Vulnerability, and Healing

A creature that is immune to an energy type takes no damage from that type. A creature that has resistance to an energy type reduces the amount of damage taken from that energy type by the listed amount (most often a multiple of 5); typically energy resistances cannot be bypassed except through specific abilities. A creature with Damage Reduction (DR) reduces all physical damage by that amount, unless it is bypassed. A creature with Vulnerability to a damage type takes 50% more damage from that energy type, and a creature with Severe Vulnerability takes 100% more (double) damage from that energy type. Any creature that has regeneration will have it overcome by one or more energy types, most often fire and/or acid.

### Stacking Vulnerabilities and Immunities

A creature that gains vulnerability to an energy type it is already vulnerable to gains a Severe Vulnerability to that energy type. Each additional vulnerability it would gain stacks, based on severity (meaning a creature that has a severe vulnerability that gains vulnerability would take 150% more, but a creature with a severe vulnerability that would gain severe vulnerability would take 200% more). A creature that has a vulnerability to an energy type can never gain resistance to that energy type. A creature with Severe Vulnerability to an energy type that gains an immunity to that energy type instead takes 50% less damage from that energy type. For example, if a creature with Severe Fire Vulnerability were to gain immunity to fire, they would lessen that to vulnerability, and a a creature with vulnerability that gains immunity instead takes normal damage.

### Healing from Energy

Many abilities allow a creature to heal the damage that would normally be dealt to it if it is of an energy type the creature is immune to. If this is the case, the creature may choose to take the full amount of damage from a source (instead of half if a saving throw, or none if a reflex save with evasion). They heal an amount equal to the damage they would have taken. Other creatures instead gain a listed amount of fast healing for a set amount of time when affected by that energy type.