In this post, DnD Elemental Damage Explained, we’re going to just make a brief statement on what could be considered elemental damage in DnD 5e.
What is Elemental Damage?
I’ve been asked a couple of times specifically about elemental damage in 5e. Now I’ll admit, it may be a more important remnant of older editions of the game, most of my knowledge comes from 5e, so keep that in mind.
In 5e, elemental damage isn’t really a thing, it’s more of a category. What it’s referring to is naturally occurring elements. These being, Acid, Cold, Fire, Lightning, Poison, and Thunder. Basically the way I look at it as, if the damage type can occur naturally, without the use of magic, then it’s a type of “Elemental Damage”
What damage types are Elemental Damage?
Acid, this damage type comes from many sources, there are quite a lot of creatures that secrete acid and upon using their natural weapons can inflict it. To learn more please check out our post on Acid Damage
Cold, this damage type is very common. At least when we’re talking magical sources. Although I’d say it can also show up in areas of extremely low temperature, and other situations like ice storms. Please check out our post which goes into more details on Cold Damage
Fire, another one of the most common types of damage in the game, other than the mundane damage types, please check out our previous post which delves into Fire Damage
Lightning, this damage type can show up in a number of places, there are more than a few spells and definitely a few creatures with the ability to inflict it. So please check out our post on Lightning Damage
Poison, this damage type can be pretty common, I’d generally say you’d run into it most commonly from extracted poisons used to imbue weapons with extra damage. However, there are a number of spells and creatures which can inflict it. To learn more please check out our post on Poison Damage
Thunder, this is a bit of a strange damage type, but think of it like shockwaves. There aren’t many sources of it, so please check out our post on Thunder Damage to learn more
Wrap Up
Hopefully, this has been informative as to “Elemental Damage” in DnD 5e. It should give some insight into this meta-category of damage.
Thanks for taking the time to have a read through this post and until next time, may your day be a critical success!
TheGM