A bit more variety on weapons?

[etrpgb]

Weapons deal bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage. However, monsters that are resistant or vulnerable to one kind of those damage types are quite rare.


To spice up a bit my next (short) adventure I would like to change few creatures to they are resistant to one and vulnerable to another.

In this thread I ask you dear reader to list a monster and how it can be resistant and/or vulnerable to bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage. Possibly with a quick fluffly explanation.


Here is a classic example:

Skeletons, resistance to piercing, vulnerability to bludgeoning. It is difficult to damage bones with a pointy stick, but it is easier to crash them with a hammer.

[Jerrykhor]

In my experience, most players ignore resistances/vulnerabilities. One reason is that either they do so much damage or the monster dont have much hp anyway, so they still die fairly quickly. An extreme example is the Flump, which is vulnerable to psychic damage but only has 7hp.

Another reason is the BIS, aka Best In Slot. If i have a really powerful Slashing weapon, there's no point in switching to a mundane bludgeoning weapon if i lose many bonuses that come with the powerful magic weapon.

Another reason is lack of weapon damage variety. A ranger who specialises in archery would still be using his longbow even though the monster is resistant to piercing because... there arent any ranged bludgeoning weapons. He could throw some hammers, but that would be using his dump stat.

[Morty]

In my experience, most players ignore resistances/vulnerabilities. One reason is that either they do so much damage or the monster dont have much hp anyway, so they still die fairly quickly. An extreme example is the Flump, which is vulnerable to psychic damage but only has 7hp.

Another reason is the BIS, aka Best In Slot. If i have a really powerful Slashing weapon, there's no point in switching to a mundane bludgeoning weapon if i lose many bonuses that come with the powerful magic weapon.

Another reason is lack of weapon damage variety. A ranger who specialises in archery would still be using his longbow even though the monster is resistant to piercing because... there arent any ranged bludgeoning weapons. He could throw some hammers, but that would be using his dump stat.

And if players do decide to switch to another weapon, it just means declaring that they do so (I can't remember if it takes any kind of action) and then going back to what they would normally do. Damage types aren't very good for differentiating weapons.

[Randomthom]

Perhaps;
Gelatinous Cube: Resistant to Bludgeoning & Piercing.
Animated Armour: Resistant to Slashing.

[Hytheter]

A ranger who specialises in archery would still be using his longbow even though the monster is resistant to piercing because... there arent any ranged bludgeoning weapons.

What about slings?

[etrpgb]

Perhaps;
Gelatinous Cube: Resistant to Bludgeoning & Piercing.
Animated Armour: Resistant to Slashing.

Good ideas, exactly like that.

Earth elemental: Resistant to bludgeoning

[stoutstien]

I use resistance and vulnerability Almost constantly. It more for flavor and consistency than power. I also add a special weapon property to every weapon to give them some flare and reduce feat tax for martials.
Like Spears and quarter staves can make a bonus action 1d4 attack as a bonus action if they are wielding it in two hands and miss with an attack made with the attack action.
Heavy weapons get a mini power attack -prof/+ Prof x2 and so does the long bow.
Daggers get split up into a few different types with stuff ranging from no throw property but bonus on crit damage or sail/ring daggers that can add +1 AC but can only be used on reaction to attack.

[malachi]

@etrpgb
See the link in my sig for some homebrew I've done on weapons and armor (it started as a way to consolidate the weapon table, as there are a few outliers in the too-good department (hand axes) and in the not good enough department (greatclubs, tridents), but morphed into adding in new features and whatnot).

But more relevant to your question (rather than to what I assumed it would be from the title :P ):

-Things without internal organs / that don't need internal organs to live: resistant to piercing.
Examples: animated objects and plants, undead (perhaps with the exception of zombies), oozes, elementals (unless they have animating crystals inside of them that need to be damaged)

-Things without anything to break or deform / that aren't impacted by having things broken or deformed: resistant to bludgeoning.
Examples: oozes, spirits, elementals (including bludgeoning, if they are just a constantly re-shaping mass of earth rather than some kind of animated stone)

-Things without fleshy bits to cut / things not impacted by bleeding / things with very hard exteriors: resistant to slashing.
Examples: dragons, most undead (perhaps with the exception of zombies), people in heavy armor (potentially even the PCs, but that brings up balance concerns)



You can also add in other things that allow for some kind of balancing between pros and cons for attacking with different damage types, like:
* Trolls regenerate fast, so they resist piercing (a small hole to any organ is healed before it slows them down) and bludgeoning (any broken bones get healed before they slow it down), but are vulnerable to slashing damage. However, any slashing damage will cut something off of the troll, and there's a chance (CON save vs something) that the cut off part of the troll comes alive (with HP = slashing damage dealt) after 1 turn (unless it takes fire damage). [Tell your players ahead of time that either A) trolls now have this rule, or B) trolls don't work exactly the way you'd normally expect]

*Some kind of giant insect or maggot that can spew out acidic / fiery ichor might resist piercing damage (not particularly harmed by any organ being pierced) and be vulnerable to bludgeoning (all of its innards get squished out when its smacked). However, piercing weapons don't squirt out too much blood, so no retaliation damage, but slashing weapons cause the attacker to take retaliation damage, and bludgeoning weapons cause AOE damage around the disgusting monster (as the ichor squirts out of every hole).

*Some kind of robot. It resists slashing damage (nothing fleshy to cut), takes normal bludgeoning damage, and is vulnerable to piercing (because you hit the internal fuel tank). However, there's a chance of explosion when it takes piercing damage from a melee weapon (because of sparks formed when pulling the weapon out).


@Jerrykhor
If something is resistant to piercing but vulnerable to slashing, they can always drop the bow and pull out scimitars for melee combat - causing it to be a tradeoff that they actually need to consider (keep in my specialty but deal half damage, or swap to something that I'm not as good with that deals full or double damage). And, of course, slings exist.