Editing Damage

{{PageSeo
| title = Damage
| description = Damage is a number that represents how deadly a threat is. When a creature takes damage, they subtract that amount of damage from their current amount of hit points.
| image = File:1d4 + 1d6 Poison.png
| type = article
}}
{{hatnote|For a comprehensive overview of the game's damage calculations, see [[Damage mechanics]].}}
[[File:1d4 + 1d6 Poison.png|right]]
'''Damage''' is a number that represents how deadly a threat is. When a [[creatures|creature]] ''takes damage'', they subtract that amount of damage from their current amount of [[hit points]].

Damage is ''dealt'' with [[attacks]] and other harmful [[actions]], as well as by a variety of [[conditions]].

== Damage rolls ==
{{Excerpt|Dice rolls|Damage rolls|subsections=yes|templates=SAI, InfoBlob, note}}

==== Example ====
A successful attack with a {{WeaponIcon|Daggers}} [[Daggers|Dagger]] does a base of {{DamageText|1d4|Piercing}} damage (1~4). This means a single four-sided die [[File:D4_Piercing.png|20px|link=]] is rolled to determine the damage, for a total of 1 to 4 piercing damage. Most weapons use a single damage die, but some two-handed weapons use two: a successful attack with a {{WeaponIcon|Greatswords}} [[Greatswords|Greatsword]] does {{DamageText|2d6|Slashing}} damage (2~12), rolling two six-sided dice [[File:D6_Slashing.png|20px|link=]] for a total of 2 to 12 slashing damage. Damaging spells typically roll more dice: for example, being caught in a {{SAI|Fireball}} will cause {{DamageText|8d6|Fire}} damage (8~48), though a successful [[Saving Throw]] can reduce it to half.

=== Attacks ===
In order to damage a target when making an attack, creatures must first make an attack roll. Attack rolls are rolled against the target's AC. If the attempt is successful, the attack ''hit'', and the attacker rolls for damage. If the result was less than the target AC, the attack was a ''miss''. 

==== Attack roll modifiers ====
{{Excerpt|Dice rolls|Attack roll modifiers|templates=SAI, InfoBlob, note}}

==== Critical hits ====
{{Excerpt|Dice rolls|Critical hits|templates=SAI, InfoBlob, note}}

== Damage types ==
All damage has a ''damage type'', of which there are 13:

<gallery mode="nolines" heights="40px">
Bludgeoning Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Bludgeoning|Bludgeoning}}
Piercing Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Piercing|Piercing}}
Slashing Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Slashing|Slashing}}
Cold Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Cold|Cold}}
Fire Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Fire|Fire}}
Lightning Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Lightning|Lightning}}
Thunder Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Thunder|Thunder}}
Acid Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Acid|Acid}}
Poison Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Poison|Poison}}
Radiant Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Radiant|Radiant}}
Necrotic Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Necrotic|Necrotic}}
Force Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Force|Force}}
Psychic Damage Icon.png|{{DamageColor|Psychic|Psychic}}
</gallery>

Bludgeoning, piercing and slashing damage are sometimes collectively referred to as {{DamageColor|Physical|'''Physical damage'''}}. Almost all weapons, melee or ranged, deal one of the physical damage types, although there are exceptions such as the [[Ne'er Misser]].

The wiki sometimes uses the term {{DamageColor|Physical|'''Weapon damage'''}} when the type of damage is based on the ''primary'' damage type of the weapon being used. This is almost always one of the physical damage types, but can be something else in rare cases. For example, after casting [[Hunter's Mark]] on an enemy, an attack with most longswords would deal additional slashing damage, and an attack with most hand crossbows would deal additional piercing damage. However, an attack with the [[Ne'er Misser]] would deal additional force damage, because the Ne'er Misser uses force as its primary damage type. Another example would be using [[Sneak Attack (Melee)|Sneak Attack]] with a [[Flame Blade (weapon)|Flame Blade]] or [[Shadow Blade (weapon)|Shadow Blade]], which would make the sneak attack deal fire or psychic damage, respectively.

A creature's [[resistances]] determine which damage types they are immune, resistant or vulnerable to:
* Damage dealt to a creature with '''resistance''' to that damage type is ''halved''.
* Damage dealt to a creature with '''vulnerability''' to that damage type is ''doubled''.
* Damage dealt to a creature with '''immunity''' to that damage type is ''reduced to zero''.

If a character has both resistance and vulnerability to the same damage type, they cancel each other out and the creature takes normal damage. Immunity always reduces damage to zero, even if a creature also has resistance and/or vulnerability to the same damage type.

If a source of damage mixes different sizes of dice or damage types, they will be listed separately with a plus sign between them, e.g. {{DamageText|1d8|piercing}} + {{DamageText|1d4|fire}}. Each type is considered separately for the purposes of resistance, vulnerability and immunity, so a creature immune to fire would take only 1d8 piercing damage in the previous example.

== A bit of mathematics ==
Note that due to the mathematics of dice rolls, the difference between, say, 1d8 and 2d4 is more than just the higher minimum value of 2 on the 2d4 roll. With the d8, you have an equal chance of getting, say, a 5 and an 8.  On the other hand, the 2d4 roll is statistically more likely to lead to a total value of 5, than a total value of 8. This is most easily explained with a table of all possible outcomes:

{| class="wikitable" style="text-align: center; width: 15em;"
|+ Possible results of a 2d4 roll, highlighting the outcomes resulting in a total value of 5
|-
! rowspan="2" colspan="2" | + 
! colspan="4" scope="col" | 2<sup>nd</sup> roll 
|-
! scope="col" | '''1'''
! scope="col" | '''2'''
! scope="col" | '''3'''
! scope="col" | '''4'''
|-
! rowspan="4" scope="row" | '''1<sup>st</sup> roll'''
! scope="row" | '''1''' 
| 2 || 3 || 4 || {{colour|red|'''5'''}}
|-    
! scope="row" | '''2'''
| 3 || 4 || {{colour|red|'''5'''}} || 6
|-    
! scope="row" | '''3'''
| 4 || {{colour|red|'''5'''}} || 6 || 7
|-    
! scope="row" | '''4'''
| {{colour|red|'''5'''}}|| 6 || 7 || 8
|}

Notice how often the 5 appears in the possibilities for the '''total value''' (4 out of 16 possibilities) vs. how often the 8 appears (1 out of 16).  This means a 2d4 roll has a 25% chance of resulting in 5 points of damage, but only a 6.125% chance of resulting in 8 points of damage.  Meanwhile, the 1d8 roll actually has a higher chance of resulting in the maximum damage value of 8, since 1 out of 8 possibilities (12.5%) result in an 8. However, the average roll of 2d4 is 5 damage, while the average roll of 1d8 is only 4.5, because 2d4 can never roll a 1. Therefore, 2d4 is generally more consistent in damage output and will result in higher rolls in the long run.

== See also ==
* [[:Category:Sources of damage]]

== Footnotes ==
{{notelist}}

{{NavGameplay}}

[[Category:Gameplay mechanics]]