Latest revision as of 11:20, 16 May 2021

Main > Combat > Combat Terminology > Damage

Many spells and other magical effects deal energy damage. Energy damage is also dealt from effects in the world, such as the biting cold of a blizzard to a raging forest fire. The main types of energy damage are acid, cold, electricity, fire, and sonic. Acid damage can be delivered by gases, liquids, and certain solids that dissolve flesh, and sometimes harder materials. Cold damage freezes material by way of contact with chilling gases and ice. Electricity damage comes from the discharge of powerful lightning and sparks. Fire damage burns through heat and combustion. Sonic damage assaults matter with high-frequency vibration and sound waves. Many times, you deal energy damage by casting magic spells, and doing so is often useful against creatures that have immunities or resistances to physical damage.

Two special types of energy damage specifically target the living and the undead. Positive energy often manifests as healing energy to living creatures but can create positive damage that withers undead bodies and disrupts and injures incorporeal undead. Negative energy often revivifies the unnatural, unliving power of undead, while manifesting as negative damage that gnaws at the living.

Powerful and pure magical energy can manifest itself as force damage. Few things can resist this type of damage—not even incorporeal creatures such as ghosts and wraiths.

Mental

Sometimes an effect can target the mind with enough psychic force to actually deal damage to the creature. When it does, it deals mental damage. Mindless creatures and those with only programmed or rudimentary intelligence are often immune to mental damage and effects.

Morale

Things which affects a creature’s morale can reduce its hit points. This is listed as morale damage. However, morale damage can never reduce your hit points below 1.

Physical

Damage dealt by weapons, many physical hazards, and a handful of spells is collectively called physical damage. The main types of physical damage are bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing. Bludgeoning damage comes from weapons and hazards that deal blunt-force trauma, like a hit from a club or being dashed against rocks. Piercing damage is dealt from stabs and punctures, whether from a dragon’s fangs or the thrust of a spear. Slashing damage is delivered by a cut, be it the swing of the sword or the blow from a scythe blades trap.

Poison

Venoms, toxins and the like can deal poison damage, which affects creatures by way of contact, ingestion, inhalation, or injury.

Poison damage bypasses any damage reduction the creature might possess.

Special Damage Types

Ability Damage

Ability damage is a special type of damage that applies to a creatures ability scores, not to its hit points as most other damage types do. When a creature takes ability damage it applies a penalty to all skills and other checks which are normally affected or modified by that ability score. Diseases, poisons, spells, and other abilities can all deal ability damage. This damage does not actually reduce an ability, but it does apply a penalty to the skills and statistics that are based on that ability.

Nonlethal

Nonlethal damage is typically dealt by blunt natural attacks such as fists. Unlike weapon or natural attacks, nonlethal damage does not reduce a creatures current hit points (hp) but instead is tracked separately. When the amount of nonlethal damage a creature has taken equals its current hit points it gains the unconscious condition.

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.

Precision Damage

Precision damage is a special type of damage, which might more appropriately be called a “category” of damage because any of the other damage types listed here might also be considered “precision” damage under the right circumstances. Precision damage is usually dealt with special abilities which only work when the attacker is able to catch an opponent unable to fully protect itself.

Precision damage assumes that the target has a somewhat normal anatomy or at least has a physical form which might have weak spots which could be detected or taken advantage of. Attacks which affect areas (such as splash weapons) usually do not deal precision damage.

Damage Resistance

A creature with resistance to damage has the ability to ignore some damage of a certain type per attack, but it does not have total immunity.

Each resistance ability is defined by what damage type it resists and how many points of damage are resisted. It doesn’t matter whether the damage has a mundane or magical source. When resistance completely negates the damage from an energy attack, the attack does not disrupt concentration.

Sometimes, a certain type of attack can overcome this reduction. This information is separated from the damage reduction number by a slash. For example, DR 5/magic means that a creature takes 5 less points of damage from all weapons that are not magic.

Resistance from multiple sources generally does not stack.

Resistance(fire) 5 reduces fire damage by 5 points.

Resistance(slashing) 10 reduces damage from attacks that causes slashing damage by 10 points.

Resistance(physical) 10/slashing reduces damage from attacks that causes physical damage by 10 points, unless the attacker is using a slashing weapon in which case the damage is not reduced.

Temporary Hit Points

When a character gains temporary hit points, note his current hit point total. When the temporary hit points go away the character’s hit points drop to his current hit point total. If the character’s hit points are below his current hit point total at that time, the character’s hit point total does not change. Temporary hit points do not stack.

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

@@ Line 25: / Line 25: @@
 Poison damage bypasses any damage reduction the creature might possess.
+=== Special Damage Types ===
+==== Ability Damage ====
+Ability damage is a special type of damage that applies to a creatures ability scores, not to its hit points as most other damage types do. When a creature takes ability damage it applies a penalty to all skills and other checks which are normally affected or modified by that ability score. Diseases, poisons, spells, and other abilities can all deal ability damage. This damage does not actually reduce an ability, but it does apply a penalty to the skills and statistics that are based on that ability.
+==== Nonlethal ====
+Nonlethal damage is typically dealt by blunt natural attacks such as fists. Unlike weapon or natural attacks, nonlethal damage does not reduce a creatures current hit points (hp) but instead is tracked separately. When the amount of nonlethal damage a creature has taken equals its current hit points it gains the [[unconscious]] condition.
+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.
+==== Precision Damage ====
+Precision damage is a special type of damage, which might more appropriately be called a “category” of damage because any of the other damage types listed here might also be considered “precision” damage under the right circumstances. Precision damage is usually dealt with special abilities which only work when the attacker is able to catch an opponent unable to fully protect itself.
+Precision damage assumes that the target has a somewhat normal anatomy or at least has a physical form which might have weak spots which could be detected or taken advantage of. Attacks which affect areas (such as splash weapons) usually do not deal precision damage.
 === Damage Resistance ===
@@ Line 39: / Line 53: @@
 ''Resistance(slashing) 10'' reduces damage from attacks that causes slashing damage by 10 points.
-''Resistance(physical) 10/slashing'' reduces damage from attacks that causes physical damage by 10 points, unless the attacker is using a slashing weapon.}}
+''Resistance(physical) 10/slashing'' reduces damage from attacks that causes physical damage by 10 points, unless the attacker is using a slashing weapon in which case the damage is not reduced.}}
+=== Temporary Hit Points ===
+When a character gains temporary hit points, note his current hit point total. When the temporary hit points go away the character’s hit points drop to his current hit point total. If the character’s hit points are below his current hit point total at that time, the character’s hit point total does not change. Temporary hit points do not stack.
 {{OGL|PF2}}
 [[Category:Combat]][[Category:Combat_Terminology]]

Difference between revisions of "Damage"

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