Use this full D&D 5E damage types list to compare every type of damage in the SRD, plus the core resistance, immunity, and vulnerability rules.
D&D 5e has 13 damage types: Acid, Bludgeoning, Cold, Fire, Force, Lightning, Necrotic, Piercing, Poison, Psychic, Radiant, Slashing, and Thunder. Every source of damage in D&D 5e — weapons, spells, traps, and monster abilities — deals one of these types. Creatures can have resistance (half damage), immunity (no damage), or vulnerability (double damage) to specific types.
The three physical damage types in D&D 5e are Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing. The other ten damage types are magical, elemental, or supernatural: Acid, Cold, Fire, Force, Lightning, Necrotic, Poison, Psychic, Radiant, and Thunder.
Open the Acid damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
The corrosive spray of a black dragon's breath and the dissolving enzymes secreted by a black pudding deal acid damage.
Open the Bludgeoning damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
Blunt force attacks, falling, constriction, and the like deal bludgeoning damage.
Open the Cold damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
The infernal chill radiating from an ice devil's spear and the frigid blast of a white dragon's breath deal cold damage.
Open the Fire damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
Red dragons breathe fire, and many spells conjure flames to deal fire damage.
Open the Force damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
Force is pure magical energy focused into a damaging form. Most effects that deal force damage are spells, including magic missile and spiritual weapon.
Open the Lightning damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
A lightning bolt spell and a blue dragon's breath deal lightning damage.
Open the Necrotic damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
Necrotic damage, dealt by certain undead and a spell such as chill touch, withers matter and even the soul.
Open the Piercing damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
Puncturing and impaling attacks, including spears and monsters' bites, deal piercing damage.
Open the Poison damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
Venomous stings and the toxic gas of a green dragon's breath deal poison damage.
Open the Psychic damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
Mental abilities such as a psionic blast deal psychic damage.
Open the Radiant damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
Radiant damage, dealt by a cleric's flame strike spell or an angel's smiting weapon, sears the flesh like fire and overloads the spirit with power.
Open the Slashing damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
Swords, axes, and monsters' claws deal slashing damage.
Open the Thunder damage hub to browse spells that deal it plus monsters that deal, resist, ignore, or are vulnerable to it.
A concussive burst of sound, such as the effect of the thunderwave spell, deals thunder damage.
When players ask about the different types of damage in D&D 5e, they usually also need the core modifiers that interact with them. Resistance halves damage from a type. Immunity reduces that damage to zero. Vulnerability doubles the damage taken from that type after other modifiers are applied.
Frequently Asked Questions
There are 13 damage types in D&D 5th Edition: Acid, Bludgeoning, Cold, Fire, Force, Lightning, Necrotic, Piercing, Poison, Psychic, Radiant, Slashing, and Thunder.
Resistance halves the damage dealt by that type. Immunity negates all damage of that type entirely. Vulnerability doubles the damage taken from that type. When multiple modifiers apply, resistances and vulnerabilities are applied after all other modifiers.
Poison is the most commonly resisted damage type — a large number of monsters have resistance or full immunity to it. Fire and cold are also widely resisted. Force damage is the rarest to resist, making it one of the most reliably effective damage types.
Force is pure magical energy formed into a damaging shape. Very few creatures have resistance or immunity to it, making spells like Magic Missile and Eldritch Blast especially reliable.
Many monsters resist Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing from non-magical weapons. Magical weapons bypass this. Spells dealing Fire, Radiant, Force, or other elemental damage types are unaffected by physical resistance entirely.
The physical damage types in D&D 5e are Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing. Many monsters resist these types when they come from non-magical weapons.