Damage

For a comprehensive overview of the game's damage calculations, see Damage mechanics.

Damage is a number which represents how deadly a threat is. When a creature takes damage, their current hit point total is reduced by the amount specified.

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

Damage rolls

This section is an excerpt from Dice rolls § Damage rolls.[edit]

The base damage dealt by a weapon, spell, class action, or condition is usually determined by a damage roll. Damage rolls always have an associated damage type that is given in dice notation, e.g. 1d4⁠⁠Piercing or 2d6⁠⁠Fire.

Damage modifiers

Modifiers added to damage rolls are only added once per source, even if multiple dice are rolled.

Whether an ability score modifier is added to a damage roll depends on the attack:

• When making weapon attacks, the attacking creature usually adds the same ability score modifier to both the attack roll and damage roll.
• Ability score modifiers are not normally added to damage rolls dealt by spells or spell attacks, unless specifically enabled by a feature such as  Agonising Blast.

Proficiency bonuses are not added to damage rolls unless the attack being used (e.g.  Shadowsoaked Blow) states otherwise.

Example

A successful attack with a dagger does a base of 1d4⁠⁠Piercing damage. This means a single four-sided die is rolled to determine the damage, for a total of 1 to 4 Piercing damage. Most weapons use a single damage die, but some weapons use two: a successful attack with a greatsword does 2d6⁠⁠Slashing damage, rolling two six-sided dice for a total of 2 to 12 Slashing damage. Damaging spells typically roll more dice, for example, a creature caught in a  Fireball takes 8d6⁠⁠Fire damage, though a successful saving throw can reduce it to half.

Attacks

Generally, to damage a target when making an attack, attackers must first succeed on an attack roll. Attack rolls are rolled against the target's AC. If the roll is greater than or equal to the target's AC, the attack is a hit, and the attacker then rolls for damage. If the result is less than the target's AC, the attack is a miss, and no damage is rolled. However, in some instances, damage is dealt even on a miss (e.g  Tenacity) or damage is applied from other sources related to the attack (e.g. areas of effect, such as an  Arrow of Fire).

Attack roll modifiers

This section is an excerpt from Dice rolls § Attack roll modifiers.[edit]

Attack rolls are always made using an associated ability:

• Unarmed attacks, melee weapon attacks, and thrown weapon attacks generally add the attacking creature's Strength modifier.
• Attacks made with ranged weapons add the creature's Dexterity modifier.
• Attacks from weapons with the  Finesse property or monk weapons and unarmed attacks from creatures with  Martial Arts: Dextrous Attacks, add either the attacker's Strength or Dexterity modifier, whichever is higher.
• Spell attacks add the caster's spellcasting ability modifier, generally determined by their class.

Spell attacks, unarmed attacks, and attacks with weapons that the attacker is proficient with also add their proficiency bonus. Certain attacks add extra modifiers as well:

• If the attacker is using an enchanted weapon, the enchantment value is added, from +1 to +3.
• According to high ground rules, attacking from at least 2.5 m / 8 ft above applies a +2 bonus to the attack roll, while attacking from at least 2.5 m / 8 ft below applies a -2 penalty.

Attack rolls are also modified by:

• Class Features - e.g.  Archery
• Coatings - e.g.  Diluted Oil of Sharpness
• Conditions - e.g.  Lightning Charges
• Feats - e.g.  Sharpshooter
• Items - e.g.  Gloves of Dexterity
• Spells - e.g.  Bless

For a comprehensive list, see list of features and items that affect attack rolls.

Critical hits

This section is an excerpt from Dice rolls § Critical hits.[edit]

Example of a critical hit with a 1d6 shortsword.

Main article: Critical hit

When a creature rolls a natural 20 on an attack roll, the attack is a critical hit. Critical hits automatically land regardless of the target's AC, and the attacker also rolls twice the normal number of dice to determine damage dealt, including additional dice such as those from smites or manoeuvres. However, some items (e.g.  Adamantine Shield) grant immunity to critical hits, treating them as regular attack rolls.

Modifiers and flat bonuses (i.e. any bonus that does not involve dice) – including the creature's relevant ability score modifier – are not doubled.

Some feats, class features, and items reduce the critical hit threshold by 1, allowing attack rolls to land critical hits by rolling either 19 or 20. Multiple sources of this effect stack, allowing the critical hit threshold to go below 19.

Damage types

All damage has a damage type, of which there are 13:

• 
  Bludgeoning
• 
  Piercing
• 
  Slashing

• 
  Acid
• 
  Cold
• 
  Fire
• 
  Force
• 
  Lightning

• 
  Necrotic
• 
  Poison
• 
  Psychic
• 
  Radiant
• 
  Thunder

Bludgeoning, Piercing and Slashing damage are sometimes collectively referred to as Physical damage, while the remaining damage types are sometimes collectively referred to as Elemental damage.

This wiki sometimes uses the term Weapon damage when the type of damage is based on the primary damage type of the weapon being used. Almost all weapons, melee or ranged, deal one of the physical damage types, although there are exceptions, such as the  Ne'er Misser. For example, after casting  Hunter's Mark on an enemy, an attack with most longswords deals additional Slashing damage, and an attack with most hand crossbows deals additional Piercing damage. However, an attack with the Ne'er Misser deals additional Force damage, because the Ne'er Misser uses Force as its primary damage type. Another example is using  Sneak Attack with a  Flame Blade or  Shadow Blade, which makes the sneak attack deal Fire or Psychic damage, respectively.

If a source of damage mixes different sizes of dice or damage types, they are listed separately with a plus sign between them, e.g. 1d8⁠⁠Piercing + 1d4⁠⁠Fire. Each type is dealt separately, see damage mechanics for more details.

Resistance, Vulnerability and Immunity

Main article: Resistances

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 0.

Resistance and vulnerability to the same type cancel each other out, but do not affect immunity.

Damage roll mathematics

This section is an excerpt from Dice rolls § Damage roll mathematics.[edit]

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, one has 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, rather than a total value of 8. This is most easily explained with a table of all possible outcomes:

Possible results of a 2d4 roll, highlighting the number of possibilities resulting in a total value of 5

First roll	Second roll	Total value
1	1	2
1	2	3
1	3	4
1	4	5
2	1	3
2	2	4
2	3	5
2	4	6
3	1	4
3	2	5
3	3	6
3	4	7
4	1	5
4	2	6
4	3	7
4	4	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 6.25% 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. Therefore, 2d4 is generally more consistent in damage output and results in higher rolls in the long run.

See also

• Category:Sources of damage