Force Damage 5e
by Prince Phantom
What even is force damage? The best answer I can come up with is “generic magical damage”, but that isn’t a perfect answer, as some examples seem to be damaging the soul of the target, or even gravity damage. Whatever it is or whatever you flavor it as, mechanically it’s one of the best types of damage in all of D&D. Let’s go over exactly why.
Spells that Deal Force Damage
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| Cantrip | Eldritch Blast, Sword Burst |
| 1st | Chaos Bolt, Jim’s Magic Missile, Magic Missile, Magnify Gravity, Zephyr Strike |
| 2nd | Spiritual Weapon |
| 3rd | Pulse Wave |
| 4th | Gravity Sinkhole |
| 5th | Arcane Hand, Banishing Smite, Steel Wind Strike |
| 6th | Disintegrate, Gravity Fissure |
| 7th | Draconic Transformation |
| 8th | Dark Star |
| 9th | Blade of Disaster, Ravenous Void |
There are some real banger spells in there, specifically Eldritch Blast. That spell being force damage means that Warlocks basically never have to worry about being able to deal effective damage.
See Also: Complete Guide to Force Damage Spells
Should we deal force damage?
9 monsters resist (4 are the different ages of Amethyst Dragons)
5 monsters are immune
It should be noted that quite a number of the creatures resistant or immune to force damage are named entities from adventure paths, meaning you are basically guaranteed to never encounter them unless you are on their adventure path. The main things to worry about that you might actually encounter are Helmed Horrors and Amethyst Dragons.
This means that Force damage is incredibly reliable. There’s a good chance that you will never encounter an enemy in your campaign that even resists it.
2 are vulnerable, and both are from Ghosts of Saltmarsh, so don’t expect to ever gain extra damage.
Other notable means of dealing force damage include:
Amethyst Dragonborn Breath Weapon
Arcane Jolt (Battle Smith Artificer feature)
Eldritch Cannon Force Ballista (Artillerist Artificer feature)
Planar Warrior (Horizon Walker Ranger feature)
Gift of the Gem Dragon (feat)
This list isn’t exhaustive, but these are the most common sources of force damage that most player characters will have access to over the course of your adventure.
Synergies
There are no major synergies with force damage. Warlocks will deal a lot of force damage by nature of Eldritch Blast, but no abilities really key off of doing force damage.
Should we be worried about force damage?
Before the release of Monsters of the Multiverse, I would have soundly said no. Very few monsters had the ability to deal force damage in any meaningful way. However, the aforementioned book added changed a ton of features to now deal force damage in some capacity.
Of the 711 monsters printed in the Monster Manual and Monsters of the Multiverse;
65 can deal force damage in some capacity, with 57 of those including force damage in their standard attacks.
These 65 monsters are concentrated mostly in the upper tiers of CR, with literally half of CR 21+ monsters dealing force damage in some capacity. This means resisting force damage becomes more useful the later in the campaign you are.
How do we gain resistance to force damage?
Amethyst Dragonborn
Bear Totem Barbarian
These are really the only low level options to gain resistance, and there are no real options for immunity outside of polymorph abilities. There are higher level abilities than can give us resistance to any or all damage. I will give special mention to the Brooch of Shielding, an uncommon magic item that requires attunement and gives us resistance to force damage plus immunity to Magic Missile.
In summary, force damage is one of the most consistent damage types in all of 5e, and you can expect it to be fully effective for your entire campaign. It is a pretty good damage type to have resistance to, especially in higher tiers of play. I would like to make one final note; most of the monsters that deal force damage deal it on top of another type of damage like bludgeoning. This means force damage resistance may not do quite as much for you as then numbers suggest, but any resistance is a welcome one nonetheless. If you have the chance to chose force damage over other damage types like a Scribe Wizard can, I highly recommend it.
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