Making piercing/slashing/bludgeoning relevant

[LJSLarsson]

Skimming through the Monster Manual, you get the impression that the normal damage types are useless. Very few creatures have resistance or vulnerability against just one of the normal types, they mostly are resistant (or invulnerable) to all of them.

If I don't mind the extra work on my side, what sorts of creatures should logically be resistant and vulnerable to slashing, piercing and bludgeoning attacks?

[Kryx]

It doesn't exist because it encourages players to carry a bag of 20 weapons to deal with each enemy. Cold Iron is absent and Adamantine and Silver are rare.

You could try to expand on bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing, but you'll increase the number of melee weapons required.

[Cl0001]

I've seen things where upon critical hits different effects happen based on the damage type. Here are some that I remember.
Bludgeoning- broken bone: half speed or disadvantage in attacks
Slashing- bleed: d6 damage every turn over 1 minute
Piercing- same as slashing
Fire: burns target for d6 every turn over 1 minute
Lightning: disadvantage on next attack
I forget the others, but implementing this could spice up battlesand add more meaning to damage type

[Kryx]

I've seen things where upon critical hits different effects happen based on the damage type. Here are some that I remember.
Bludgeoning- broken bone: half speed or disadvantage in attacks
Slashing- bleed: d6 damage every turn over 1 minute
Piercing- same as slashing
This is probably the way to do it without making martials carry a grab-bag of weapons.

However you'd have to balance it pretty well. For example Bludgeoning above is by far stronger than slashing. Half speed or disadvantage on attacks is much better than 3.5 extra damage every round when the creature will likely die after 2-3 rounds.

[Tanarii]

It doesn't exist because it encourages players to carry a bag of 20 weapons to deal with each enemy. Cold Iron is absent and Adamantine and Silver are rare.

You could try to expand on bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing, but you'll increase the number of melee weapons required.I'd be happy if the rules encouraged even two, a commonly used primary and a rarely used backup.

[EvilAnagram]

My paladin player keeps asking if he can use his longsword in the way longswords were actually used to deal different kinds of damage, and I feel tempted to let him. The use of a half-sword or Mordhau technique seems perfectly acceptable to me so long as the damage is adjusted downwards, probably 1d6. I probably also wouldn't allow the magic damage dice from his sword if he hammers, but double damage to skeletons would be worth it.

[djreynolds]

Skimming through the Monster Manual, you get the impression that the normal damage types are useless. Very few creatures have resistance or vulnerability against just one of the normal types, they mostly are resistant (or invulnerable) to all of them.

If I don't mind the extra work on my side, what sorts of creatures should logically be resistant and vulnerable to slashing, piercing and bludgeoning attacks?

You know, its a messy fix, but you could just double their hit point

[soldersbushwack]

In my homebrew system I'm working on critical hits slashing and piercing weapons cause major bleeding or amputations and bludgeoning weapons break bones and skulls like with Cl0001 but I make the bleeding give levels of exhaustion and not deal damage (but I also have multiple levels of exhaustion for high CON characters.)

[Mandragola]

Logically, some kinds of armour would be more protective against some kinds of attack. In reality bludgeoning weapons aren't as effective as cutting weapons, but armour doesn't help as much against them. If an arrow hits you and you're wearing plate, you're ok. If a car hits you, it doesn't make a lot of difference what you're wearing.

Piercing is the most difficult, because it's useless against tough armour... except if it isn't. Weapons like halberds were designed to put enough force behind a spike that it would go through plate like a can opener.

Heavy axes and swords were another story still - even if they didn't cut you in half they'd tend to hit you so hard that you could get knocked over.

So I don't know really. Honestly I think it isn't all that bad right now. Most of the things that are resistant to any type of damage resist all damage. Exceptions, like skeletons for instance, make a bit of sense - though of course hitting a skeleton with an axe does at least as much harm as hitting it with a hammer.