Bludgeoning Damage 5e
by Prince Phantom
There’s a certain charm to the idea of the biggest guy in the room wielding the most comically oversized hammer. Blunt force trauma is a heck of a thing, and there are plenty of ways to deliver it in 5e. When we talk about the physical damage types, we are mostly comparing them to each other. Let’s break down the numbers.
Resistance, Immunity, and Vulnerability in monsters (out of 2624 printed monsters)
These numbers represent monsters that are resistant, immune or vulnerable to all bludgeoning damage, even magical damage.
Resistance: 42
Immunity: 1
Vulnerable: 24
Compared to the other two physical damage types, we deal with the second most resistance, but also have the most stuff vulnerable, and by quite a lot. The differences between the physical damage types are very small, so having so many things be vulnerable to bludgeoning is quite a boon. Some of those 24 monsters are actually pretty common enemies too, primarily consisting of all types of skeletons. An undead campaign in particular might see bludgeoning damage really shine, so keep a mace in your back pocket or you can expect to have a bad time.
Spells that Deal Bludgeoning Damage
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| Cantrip | Magic Stone, Shillelagh |
| 1st | Catapult, Earth Tremor, Hunter's Mark |
| 2nd | Dust Devil, Magic Weapon, Maximilian’s Earthen Grasp |
| 3rd | Animate Dead, Erupting Earth, Tidal Wave, Wind Wall |
| 4th | Black Tentacles, Control Water, Ice Storm, Storm Sphere, Summon Construct, Summon Elemental |
| 5th | Arcane Hand, Conjure Elemental, Maelstrom, Transmute Rock, Wrath of Nature |
| 6th | Bones of the Earth, Investiture of Wind |
| 7th | Whirlwind |
| 8th | Earthquake, Tsunami |
| 9th | Meteor Swarm, Storm of Vengeance |
This is a very extensive list, and thanks to all damage dealt by spells being considered magical damage, you can expect these spells to almost always do the damage you expect them to do. It’s also a great idea for Scribe Wizards to put a spell that deals one of the physical damage types in their spellbook for each level, allowing them to change the damage type of a spell like Fireball to bludgeoning damage and not be effected by fire resistance. The best picks are definitely Earthen Grasp, Black Tentacles, Arcane Hand, Bones of the Earth, and Meteor Swarm.
What weapons deal Bludgeoning Damage?
Simple Weapons:
Club
Great Club
Light Hammer
Mace
Quarterstaff
Sling (only ranged weapon)
Martial Weapons:
Flail
Maul
Warhammer
We’ve got everything we need here to make any marital build work, so if you want your character to wield a bludgeoning weapon you shouldn’t have any problem finding one that fits your build. The sling being the only ranged option actually provides it a niche, allowing you to take advantage of the Crusher Feat at range.
Synergies with Bludgeoning Damage:
Crusher (feat): Crusher is an underrated little half-feat that gives a character an unlimited number of 5ft shoves, once per turn when we deal bludgeoning damage. Obviously this has a ton of potential uses for melee characters, keeping enemies inside AoE spells, pushing people into chasms, disengaging for free, and repositioning enemies for a variety of reasons. Ranged attacks that deal bludgeoning damage like from a sling or a Dao Genie Warlock’s Eldritch Blast can benefit as well, even more so in some cases as it helps keep enemies at a safe distance, knock them away from allies, and even push them into the air when combined with Repelling Blast.
How worried should we be about Bludgeoning Damage?
227/711 monsters in the Monster Manual and Mordenkainen’s Monsters of the Multiverse can deal bludgeoning damage.
This is the lowest of the three physical damage types, but still obviously represents a large number of monsters. You should expect to see some amount of bludgeoning damage at least every other encounter, meaning getting resistance to it is a really big deal.
How do we get resistance to bludgeoning damage?
Class Features:
Barbarian Rage (All)
Forge Cleric Saint of Forge and Fire (non-magical weapons only)
Stars Druid Full of Stars (All)
Rune Knight Fighter Hill Rune
Crown Paladin Exalted Champion (non-magical weapons only)
Dao Genie Warlock Elemental Gift
Spells:
Blade Ward (weapons only)
Investiture of Stone (non-magical weapons only)
Note that when I say weapons only, this applies to the vast majority of attacks. Unarmed strikes count as weapons, natural weapons like claws count as weapons, you get the picture. The only thing that it consistently doesn’t cover is spells.
This is a pretty small list, and when we take away the features that don’t come online until level 14+, it gets even smaller. Barbarian rage is obvious, but outside of that we are really only looking at the Rune Knight’s Hill Rune and the Dao Genie Warlock. Both of those options are stellar picks for their class, and you’ll be very happy to pick up this resistance from them.
To Summarize:
Bludgeoning damage is one of the best picks for your martial weapon user, especially if you are in an undead campaign, and while it will come up the least of the three physical damage types, you will definitely still encounter it very frequently and really appreciate resistance to it.
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