12

Resist all:

When an effect deals damage of multiple types and you have resistance to all damage, apply the resistance to each type of damage separately

If a Brimorak tries to take down a simple door (Hardness 5), it deals 3 kinds of damage:

  • 2d8+4 slashing
  • 1d6 evil
  • 1d6 fire

Is the Hardness applied for both the fire and the slashing damage (wood is immune to evil damage)?

András
  • 64,090
  • 38
  • 198
  • 422

2 Answers2

11

Hardness is not like Resist All

Resistance to each damage source is specifically mentioned in the rules for resistances:

When an effect deals damage of multiple types and you have resistance to all damage, apply the resistance to each type of damage separately.

Hardness does not have that specific rule, and therefore only applies once to the total damage (after removing immunities; objects typically don't have an alignment, not in the moral sense at least)

Each time an item takes damage, reduce any damage the item takes by its Hardness. The rest of the damage reduces the item’s Hit Points.

WeirdFrog
  • 3,675
  • 15
  • 28
  • 6
    Is there a rules statement that the slashing and fire damage are combined for the purposes of hardness - that is, that the door takes "7 slashing + 2 fire" as a single instance of "takes damage" rather than "it takes 7 slashing" and then "it takes 2 fire" as two different "takes damage" instances? – minnmass Apr 04 '23 at 15:28
  • 2
    @minnmass There is not, but after the Immunity Weakness Resistance step of the Damage general rule (step 3), damage is applied all at once (step 4). Hardness is not included in step 3, nor does it have specific wording for multiple sources. In the absence of a specific rule, we use the general rule, which is to apply the damage all together. – WeirdFrog Apr 04 '23 at 21:00
  • 4
    That seems like a reasonable argument; I think that editing it into your answer would strengthen it. – minnmass Apr 04 '23 at 21:41
  • Is the Hardness not applied by instance? – András Apr 26 '23 at 21:19
3

Hardness behaves like Resist All

If we accept that Each Damage Type is an Instance (which most people do based on the votes), then the Shield takes these separately.

  • The Fire is unlikely to overcome the hardness (1d6 vs 5)
  • Evil damage does not exist any more, but doors are immune to its successor, Spirit damage too
  • The Slashing is reduced by the hardness

So even if it is not spelled out for Hardness like it is for Resist All, the separation of damage types has the same end result.

SpearCarrier.no2
  • 4,198
  • 17
  • 43