Resistant to spell damage - non-spell sources of different damage types?

[Greywander]

So the archmage NPC from the MM, as well as Ancients paladins of 7th level or higher both have resistance to damage from spells. This got me thinking, what types of damage resistances would still be useful with this trait? Keep in mind, this isn't resistance to magical damage, but specifically resistance to spell damage. (And please don't bring Rakshasas into this.)

Acid. Although not super common, non-magical acid does exist. In fact, more often than not, when you take acid damage it will probably be from a non-spell source (such as a monster's natural ability).

Cold. Common as an environmental effect, but easily counteracted by dressing warmly. Not sure how often this otherwise comes up as non-spell damage.

Fire. Mundane fire is very common. Like cold, this can also be an environmental effect, this time from extreme heat. Definitely still useful even with spell resistance.

Force. I don't actually understand what force damage really is, and why it's different from bludgeoning damage. It's worth noting that force seems to be the default damage type for any magical effect that doesn't fall into another category, so might still be useful.

Lightning. Natural lightning is a thing, but you'll rarely be struck. More common would be electrical shocks, but that will depend on how heavily technology is featured in your campaign.

Necrotic. Some undead deal necrotic damage without needing to cast a spell. Some diseases could deal necrotic damage.

Poison. I don't know which is more common, this or fire. Most of the time this comes up, it will be from a non-spell source, probably more than any other damage type.

Radiant. Actually, how often have you ever taken radiant damage at all, let alone from a non-spell source? Smiting and really bright lights would be sources of non-spell radiant damage.

Psychic. I'm not actually sure how many sources of psychic damage there are, spell or otherwise. Most likely sources are aberrations and internet trolls.

Thunder. Aside from the obvious, really loud noises can be created by explosions, collapsing buildings or caves, and small children. Circumstantial, but not useless.

Of these, it looks like poison, fire, and acid, in that order, would be the most useful resistances if you already had resistance to spell damage.

[Requilac]

Acid: for the most part this damage type does not even come from spells, it typically comes from unique weapons or monster attacks. Unless you are playing in an extremely low magic campaign, Non-magical acids are going to be everywhere and should be easy to find. Now It is going to require some DM fiat to harvest and use that, but finding a source of it should not be difficult at all. The easiest ways players can get a hold of this is by buying a vial of acid from the PHB, using other types of acids require houseruling.

Cold: cold damage occurs just as much outside of spells as it does inside of them, being able to actually harness sources of cold damage is the hard part. This damage type come from a variety of enviroronemtal effects, usually from freezing water. Depending on the area finding a source of cold damage would be quite simple, but out would have to be rather creative to actually weaponize that source.

Fire: do I even need to detail this one? Fire can be found everywhere, and it is relatively easy to weaponize even in medieval times

Force: according to the PHB, force is pure magical energy focused into a damaging form, so you would be hard pressed to find this damage type outside of spells. Perhaps a couple of magic weapons deal force damage, but outside of that I do not think there anything you could use. You should probably pay more attention to different damage types

Lightning: so sources of lightning damage are not necessarily super common in a medieval setting, but it’s existence is well recognized. To be completely honest, unless you somehow manage to trick an enemy into getting hit by lightning from a storm, than it would be nearly impossible to deal lightning damage to someone. Perhaps some magical items that control wheather could be of use? Or you could always throw electric eels or jellyfish at people I suppose, but that is likely to hurt the attacker too. In a modern setting you could find many different sources of electricity that can be weaponized, but in medieval times like most D&D settings are it is much harder. I would focus on other damage types.

Necrotic: I would imagine that some poisons or diseases would deal necrotic damage instead of poison damage. It would definitely be possible to effect someone with non-magical necrotic damage, but that would probably deal damage over time and not instantly dole out a massive amount at once. Not very useful in the midst of combat typically, but If you do not necessarily need to quickly kill the enemy than biological warfare is your best friend, assuming that you are willing to stoop to that level to harness it that is.

Poison: most of the time poison damage is not even from a magical source in the first place.

Psychic: Mind flayers and several similar aberrations can deal psychic damage as features instead of spells, but outside of that I have no idea how a player could come across non-magical psychic damage. Pretty much everyone who is not an Eldritch abomination has very little hope of dealing psychic damage outside of spells.

Radiant: the easiest way around this is by using the paladin’s smite feature. in modern/futuristic settings there are several devices that I would imagine do radiant damage, such as lasers or certain explosives, but in typical medieval settings I would say there is no hope of dealing radiant damage outside of spells or smites.

Thunder: there are clearly a lot of ways to make loud noises outside of magic, but the difficult part is making a noise loud enough to deal damage. I suppose this kind of depends on how much noise is enough to actual lasting damage to someone. I would personally say that unless someone got directly slammed by lightning there is no way to deal thunder damage, but this is dependent on DM fiat really. Some may say that a loud enough metal clanging could deal thunder damage, but in my opinion in D&D terms it would not technically deal any damage. The answer to this will change from game to game.

[Ninja_Prawn]

One place non-magical force damage can happen: if you end your turn inside an object that isn't meant to contain you, you usually take force damage (sometimes bludgeoning). Extremely niche, but there are several places in the rules that make a provision for that.

[Kuulvheysoon]

Don’t quote me on this, but aren’t breath weapons sources of non-spell damage? So dragons, begins, hell hounds, etc...

The catoplebas (spelling? That one swamp cow thing in Volos) has that death ray ability that deals necrotic damage.

[Greywander]

Yes, breath weapons would be non-spell damage sources. I assumed that was a given, but it didn't seem likely to me that one would go out of their way to pick up a damage resistance specifically to counter a breath weapon, especially when there are a plethora of breath weapons that deal different damage types. This is the sort of thing you prepare for by casting a spell or drinking a potion to get temporary resistance when you know you're going to be facing a creature with that breath weapon.

However, if you were fighting an enemy that had spell resistance, breath weapons would be a good way to get around that. Acquiring a breath weapon might be tricky, though...

[ShikomeKidoMi]

I'm not entirely sure what Force is, either, but it's worth noting that a number of Force effects turn you into dust if they kill you which is not what one would expect from bludgeoning. Best guess is that force is some kind of molecular tearing.

[Greywander]

As far as I can tell, force is basically the "default" damage type for magic. It also sometimes feels like it's the damage type for spells that should do any of the three weapon damage types, except that only physical attacks do weapon damage. There was already little distinction between slashing, piercing, and bludgeoning, so the magical versions of those damage types got rolled together into just "force". Sword Burst comes to mind as a spell that feels like it should do slashing or piercing damage but instead does force damage. But contrast Blade Barrier, which does do slashing damage.

In several places that force damage is used, it seems to be from "pushing" on things with magic, such as crushing the target or slamming into the target at high speeds (Bigby's Hand, Eldritch Blast, Magic Missile), which is where I got the conflation with bludgeoning from. But it does seem to also be used for arbitrary energy beams (such as Disintegrate).

[Talamare]

Force Damage is Pure Magical Energy

The fact that some casters literally just try to toss it really quickly at you, is less an expression of it being likened to Bludgeoning...
and more of a lack of creativity from those casters~

[Toofey]

So... I know it's probably spelled out differently in this ed. But back in the day (older eds) "force" as a damage type mostly referred to physical force in the literal sense. So literally anything which did damage to you by hitting you and imparting 'force', in the physics sense, was that.

It was tagged into magic items first, (I believe the ad&d, not 2nd ed, dmg) with the wand of force which had magic missiles (which in older eds specifically did not have a type to it's damage) could create a wall and could hit you with an effect similar to a ring of the ram... I don't have the book at hand but I'm pretty sure it was listed as "by force". (I think it could also make a sword of magic force, but I may be confusing it with a different version of the wand of force at that point)

This seems to be the genesis of "Force" as a damage type, and I would say creates an argument that any blunt impact is "Force" not just force in the physics sense.

[Tanarii]

Are we talking about NPCs, or PCs? Because the likely source of non-spell damage for various damage types other than BPS is going to vary considerably depending on which it is.