In Damage type, there is a dice roll and then in all cases is a + for Bludgeoning, Piercing or Slashing depending on the weapon. For Example: Short Sword 1d6 + 3 piercing. Are these always added to the damage unless specified by a monster that has a resistance to that type of attack? Or does a character have to specify their attack? "I'm going to do a piercing attack"?
In your example, you should read "1d6 + 3 piercing" as "(1d6 + 3) piercing", not "1d6 + (3 piercing)". Based on your question it seems you're reading it as the latter. Damage always has a type, and on the very rare occasions a game effect is meant to be typeless, it typically says you lose X hit points instead of taking X damage. The stirge's blood drain attack is an example of that.
A weapon tells you what type of damage it deals, and monsters rarely have resistance or immunity to only one of the 3 usual weapon damage types, so usually you don't need to be specific about how you're attacking with your weapon. The DM will understand that if you're attacking with a shortsword, you're dealing piercing damage, and if the damage type is important the DM will either look it up or ask you. If the monster is resistant to the damage, it'll be halved; if they're immune, you deal no damage.
If someone wants to use their weapon to deal a different type of damage, the DM can use the rules for improvised weapons to resolve the situation. But like I said, it's very rare for a monster to be weak or vulnerable to only one or two of bludgeoning, piercing or slashing. The only monster you're very likely to run into that behaves that way is the skeleton.
Your weapon determines your attack's damage type and damage dice, as well as which ability score you use for the attack. The ability score you use determines the attack's damage bonus. A shortsword is a melee weapon that does 1d6 piercing damage and has the finesse property, so it does piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice). If you have a Dexterity score of 16 or 17, you deal 1d6 + 3 damage with a shortsword. (If you have higher Strength than Dexterity, you're probably using a handaxe, not a shortsword.)
You use that same ability score modifier when you roll to hit with the attack, also adding your proficiency bonus if you're proficient with the weapon you're using. That would be a total of +5 for a 1st- to 4th-level character with 16 or 17 Dexterity.
One exception is two-weapon fighting: if you take the Attack action to attack with a light weapon (like a shortsword or handaxe) that you're wielding in one hand, you can use your bonus action to make one attack with a light weapon that you're wielding in the other hand, but you don't add your ability score modifier to that attack's damage roll unless that modifier is negative.
Magic is only a little different: you're proficient with any spell you can cast, but you don't add anything to the damage unless the spell specifically says to, and some spells make the target roll a saving throw instead of making you roll an attack. And a few spells, like magic missile, automatically work.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
If someone wants to use their weapon to deal a different type of damage, the DM can use the rules for improvised weapons to resolve the situation. But like I said, it's very rare for a monster to be weak or vulnerable to only one or two of bludgeoning, piercing or slashing. The only monster you're very likely to run into that behaves that way is the skeleton.
Also the awakened tree and a few other plants, but yeah, skeletons are much more common.
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"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Skeletons have taken half damage from edged weapons going way, way back, maybe all the way to the original edition. That was long before damage types and was called out as a special rule for them.
Damage types mostly come into play when something has a resistance, immunity, or vulnerability to certain types of damage. Lacking that you can use it for a little flavor, but otherwise it has no mechanical effect. I probably wouldn't allow bludgeoning damage to cut a rope though.
So are you saying you ignore the 1d6 + 3 piercing or whatever aspect it is and use the 1d6 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice) instead?
That extra damage is your modifier, Dexterity/Strength. As that increases, so will that score. That Piercing is the type of damage- For resistances and vulnerabilities.
The 1d6 is the weapon damage die, the +3 is your ability modifier added to the weapon damage, piercing is the damage type of the weapon. You will use STR for melee weapons, DEX for ranged weapons, if a weapon has the finesse property you can use whichever is greater (DEX or STR).
A Battleaxe and a Longsword both have the property called Versatile. This property means that you can use the weapon with either 1 hand or 2 hands.
When you wield it with 1 hand it deals 1d8 + modifier, and when you wield it with 2 hands it deals 1d10 + modifier. You choose how you want to wield it each time you use it.
we have starter character sheets and our weapons say like: shortsword 1d6 +3 piercing
why do none of the weapons that we can buy have the + and then a number? is it just that they dont have any extra attack to add to the die or do we have to work out that number.
sorry if that made no sense i’m not sure how to explain it
This is a question about how attack damage is calculated. See the section of the rules on it. Damage from weapons gets an ability modifier added to it (usually strength or dex, depending on the weapon type, though there are some class features that can change those). Spell damage usually does not get an ability modifier added.
That +3 means that you have a 16 or 17 of the relevant ability for that weapon (either strength or dexterity).
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Newbie question...I just bought the starter kit.
In Damage type, there is a dice roll and then in all cases is a + for Bludgeoning, Piercing or Slashing depending on the weapon. For Example: Short Sword 1d6 + 3 piercing. Are these always added to the damage unless specified by a monster that has a resistance to that type of attack? Or does a character have to specify their attack? "I'm going to do a piercing attack"?
Many more questions to come. ; )
In your example, you should read "1d6 + 3 piercing" as "(1d6 + 3) piercing", not "1d6 + (3 piercing)". Based on your question it seems you're reading it as the latter. Damage always has a type, and on the very rare occasions a game effect is meant to be typeless, it typically says you lose X hit points instead of taking X damage. The stirge's blood drain attack is an example of that.
A weapon tells you what type of damage it deals, and monsters rarely have resistance or immunity to only one of the 3 usual weapon damage types, so usually you don't need to be specific about how you're attacking with your weapon. The DM will understand that if you're attacking with a shortsword, you're dealing piercing damage, and if the damage type is important the DM will either look it up or ask you. If the monster is resistant to the damage, it'll be halved; if they're immune, you deal no damage.
If someone wants to use their weapon to deal a different type of damage, the DM can use the rules for improvised weapons to resolve the situation. But like I said, it's very rare for a monster to be weak or vulnerable to only one or two of bludgeoning, piercing or slashing. The only monster you're very likely to run into that behaves that way is the skeleton.
Your weapon determines your attack's damage type and damage dice, as well as which ability score you use for the attack. The ability score you use determines the attack's damage bonus. A shortsword is a melee weapon that does 1d6 piercing damage and has the finesse property, so it does piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice). If you have a Dexterity score of 16 or 17, you deal 1d6 + 3 damage with a shortsword. (If you have higher Strength than Dexterity, you're probably using a handaxe, not a shortsword.)
You use that same ability score modifier when you roll to hit with the attack, also adding your proficiency bonus if you're proficient with the weapon you're using. That would be a total of +5 for a 1st- to 4th-level character with 16 or 17 Dexterity.
One exception is two-weapon fighting: if you take the Attack action to attack with a light weapon (like a shortsword or handaxe) that you're wielding in one hand, you can use your bonus action to make one attack with a light weapon that you're wielding in the other hand, but you don't add your ability score modifier to that attack's damage roll unless that modifier is negative.
Magic is only a little different: you're proficient with any spell you can cast, but you don't add anything to the damage unless the spell specifically says to, and some spells make the target roll a saving throw instead of making you roll an attack. And a few spells, like magic missile, automatically work.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Also the awakened tree and a few other plants, but yeah, skeletons are much more common.
"Any society that would give up a little liberty to gain a little security will deserve neither and lose both" -- allegedly Benjamin Franklin
Tooltips (Help/aid)
Skeletons have taken half damage from edged weapons going way, way back, maybe all the way to the original edition. That was long before damage types and was called out as a special rule for them.
Damage types mostly come into play when something has a resistance, immunity, or vulnerability to certain types of damage. Lacking that you can use it for a little flavor, but otherwise it has no mechanical effect. I probably wouldn't allow bludgeoning damage to cut a rope though.
Wow, thank you for the quick detailed responses!
Looking forward to being part of the community.
Matthias_von_Schwarzwald,
So are you saying you ignore the 1d6 + 3 piercing or whatever aspect it is and use the 1d6 + your Strength or Dexterity modifier (your choice) instead?
I'm not Matthias_von_Schwarzwald, but maybe this explains it a bit.
Example: the weapon damage is 1d6 + 3 piercing damage.
You roll 1d6 and get a 4, then you add the +3 = 7
You have now 7 points of piercing damage.
Hope that helps =)
So. Here’s your problem.
That extra damage is your modifier, Dexterity/Strength. As that increases, so will that score. That Piercing is the type of damage- For resistances and vulnerabilities.
Extended Signature! Yay! https://www.dndbeyond.com/forums/off-topic/adohands-kitchen/3153-extended-signature-thread?page=2#c21
Haven’t used this account in forever. Still a big fan of crawling claws.
The 1d6 is the weapon damage die, the +3 is your ability modifier added to the weapon damage, piercing is the damage type of the weapon. You will use STR for melee weapons, DEX for ranged weapons, if a weapon has the finesse property you can use whichever is greater (DEX or STR).
Here is the weapon rules for further reading: https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/equipment#Weapons
Which roll should i be using:
Battleaxe 1D8+3 with a sword or 1d10+3
A Battleaxe and a Longsword both have the property called Versatile. This property means that you can use the weapon with either 1 hand or 2 hands.
When you wield it with 1 hand it deals 1d8 + modifier, and when you wield it with 2 hands it deals 1d10 + modifier. You choose how you want to wield it each time you use it.
i’m a starter as well and i have a question
we have starter character sheets and our weapons say like: shortsword 1d6 +3 piercing
why do none of the weapons that we can buy have the + and then a number? is it just that they dont have any extra attack to add to the die or do we have to work out that number.
sorry if that made no sense i’m not sure how to explain it
This is a question about how attack damage is calculated. See the section of the rules on it. Damage from weapons gets an ability modifier added to it (usually strength or dex, depending on the weapon type, though there are some class features that can change those). Spell damage usually does not get an ability modifier added.
That +3 means that you have a 16 or 17 of the relevant ability for that weapon (either strength or dexterity).