Resistances, Immunities, and Vulnerabilities of Monsters in MM, Volo's, and MToF

[LudicSavant]

Damage Type Tiers
This list is based on the frequency of monster resistance and immunity throughout the MM, VGtM, and MToF. A total of 726 monsters were surveyed. If you’re wondering about vulnerabilities, these are actually quite rare (Fire has easily the most, at 13. Second place is Bludgeoning at 5. As I said, rare).

A+ (almost no resistance/immunity): Force, Radiant
A- (20-28 resistance/immunities): Psychic, Thunder, Magical BPS
B (51-55 resistance/immunities): Necrotic, Acid
C (111-150 resistance/immunities): Lightning, Cold, Fire
D (193-200 resistance/immunities): Nonmagical BPS
P (199 immunities, plus 15 resistances): Poison

Note: Monsters will not actually appear with equal frequency; this is to just try to get you a ballpark expectation.

Full Breakdown



Type
Res+Imm
Resistance
Immunity
Vulnerability

Random Notes


Acid: 55 creatures (31 Res, 24 imm)
Acid
Acid
55
31
24
0
~42% Fiends (mostly Yugoloths) and Slaad.



Cold
142
113
29
4
~58% of the Resistances and Immunities are Fiends.



Fire
150
85
65
13
~56% of the Resistances and Immunities are Fiends.



Force
1010The sole immunity is the Helmed Horror.



Lightning
11186250
~50% of the Resistances and Immunities are Fiends.
Necrotic
51
28
23
069% of res/imms are undead. Most non-resistant undead are some variety of zombie/skeleton.


Psychic
21
3
18
1
Objects are immune, too. Bypasses Bear Totem Resistance.



Poison
214214 creatures (15 res, 199 imm)
15
199
0
Resistance/Immunity is also common amongst objects and PC abilities (spells/races/classes).





Radiant: 6 creatures (5 res, 1 imm)
Radiant
6
5
1
2
The Aasimar PC race also gets Resistance.



Thunder
28
24
4
2
Earth Elementals are vulnerable.




Nonmagical Bludgeoning
193
155
38
5
Smashes skeletons and also ice mephits.


Nonmagical Slashing
194
154
40
0



Nonmagical Piercing
200
162
38
0



Magical Bludgeoning
20
20
0
5
5 of these are only resistant in dim/darkness. 3 trees. 1 demilich. All swarms but Rot Grub.


Magical Slashing
20
18
2
0
5 of these are only resistant in dim/darkness. 1 demilich. All swarms. 2 splitting oozes.



Magical Piercing
26
26
0
1
As Bludgeoning + a few more veggie creatures and exceptions. Rakshasas weak if Good.

[LudicSavant]

Bonus!

Spell list by damage type:

Acid
Acid Splash
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Dragon's Breath
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Glyph of Warding
Hunger of Hadar
Illusory Dragon
Melf's Acid Arrow
Primal Savagery
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Storm of Vengeance
Vitriolic Sphere

Bludgeoning
Alter Self
Animate Objects
Bigby's Hand
Bones of the Earth
Catapult
Control Water
Dust Devil
Earth Tremor
Earthquake
Erupting Earth
Evard's Black Tentacles
Ice Storm
Investiture of Wind
Maelstrom
Magic Stone
Maximilian's Earthen Grasp
Meld into Stone
Meteor Swarm
Storm of Vengeance
Storm Sphere
Tidal Wave
Transmute Rock
Tsunami
Whirlwind
Wind Wall
Wrath of Nature

Cold
Armor of Agathys
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Cone of Cold
Dragon's Breath
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Fire Shield
Frostbite
Glyph of Warding
Hunger of Hadar
Ice Knife
Ice Storm
Illusory Dragon
Investiture of Ice
Otiluke's Freezing Sphere
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Ray of Frost
Reality Break
Snilloc's Snowball Swarm
Storm of Vengeance
Wall of Ice

Fire
Aganazzar's Scorcher
Burning Hands
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Create Bonfire
Delayed Blast Fireball
Dragon's Breath
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Fire Bolt
Fire Shield
Fire Storm
Fireball
Flame Arrows
Flame Blade
Flame Strike
Flaming Sphere
Glyph of Warding
Green-Flame Blade
Heat Metal
Hellish Rebuke
Illusory Dragon
Immolation
Incendiary Cloud
Investiture of Flame
Melf's Minute Meteors
Meteor Swarm
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Produce Flame
Scorching Ray
Searing Smite
Wall of Fire
Web

Force
Banishing Smite
Bigby's Hand
Chaos Bolt
Dark Star
Dimension Door
Disintegrate
Eldritch Blast
Etherealness
Gravity Fissure
Gravity Sinkhole
Guardian of Nature
Jim's Magic Missile
Magic Missile
Magnify Gravity
Mordenkainen's Sword
Prismatic Wall
Pulse Wave
Ravenous Void
Reality Break
Spiritual Weapon
Steel Wind Strike
Sword Burst
Tenser's Transformation
Zephyr Strike

Lightning
Call Lightning
Chain Lightning
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Dragon's Breath
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Glyph of Warding
Illusory Dragon
Lightning Arrow
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Lure
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Shocking Grasp
Storm of Vengeance
Storm Sphere
Witch Bolt

Necrotic
Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
Arms of Hadar
Bestow Curse
Blight
Chill Touch
Circle of Death
Destructive Wave
Enervation
Finger of Death
Forbiddance
Harm
Hex
Illusory Dragon
Inflict Wounds
Life Transference
Negative Energy Flood
Sapping Sting
Shadow of Moil
Spirit Guardians
Symbol
Time Ravage
Toll the Dead
Vampiric Touch
Wish

Piercing
Alter Self
Animate Objects
Cordon of Arrows
Ensnaring Strike
Hail of Thorns
Ice Knife
Insect Plague
Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound
Spike Growth
Thorn Whip
Wall of Thorns

Poison
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Cloudkill
Dragon's Breath
Illusory Dragon
Infestation
Poison Spray
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Ray of Sickness

Psychic
Chaos Bolt
Contact Other Plane
Dissonant Whispers
Dream
Feeblemind
Geas
Maddening Darkness
Mental Prison
Mind Blank
Mind Spike
Phantasmal Force
Phantasmal Killer
Psychic Scream
Reality Break
Shadow Blade
Staggering Smite
Synaptic Static
Vicious Mockery
Weird
Wrathful Smite

Radiant
Blinding Smite
Branding Smite
Crown of Stars
Crusader's Mantle
Dawn
Destructive Wave
Divine Favor
Flame Strike
Forbiddance
Guardian of Faith
Guiding Bolt
Holy Weapon
Moonbeam
Sacred Flame
Sickening Radiance
Spirit Guardians
Sunbeam
Sunburst
Wall of Light
Word of Radiance

Slashing
Alter Self
Animate Objects
Blade Barrier
Cloud of Daggers
Wall of Thorns
Wrath of Nature

Thunder
Booming Blade
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Destructive Wave
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Glyph of Warding
Primordial Ward
Shatter
Storm of Vengeance
Thunder Step
Thunderclap
Thunderous Smite
Thunderwave



Bonus #2!

Someone asked me for a printable/pdf version of my breakdown of Resistances etc, so here it is!

Take this link, then pick File -> Download -> PDF Document. Then it should be good to print!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kns7CIHei2kwpLa3v85hIvIk3IxhD9d63kNm2eacE_4/edit?usp=sharing

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/423216976001892365/730487718819266690/unknown.png

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

So what you're saying is that a Hexblade/Paladin who combines Divine Smite and Eldritch Smite is going to deal full damage more consistently than anyone else?

What's the total number of monsters surveyed?

I don't see magical BPS on your damage types breakdown, is anything actually resistant/immune to those?

[elyktsorb]

I like how P is just for Poison jfc.

[LudicSavant]

I like how P is just for Poison jfc.

:biggrin:


So what you're saying is that a Hexblade/Paladin who combines Divine Smite and Eldritch Smite is going to deal full damage more consistently than anyone else? I suppose so.


What's the total number of monsters surveyed?

726 monsters were surveyed, I'll note that.


I don't see magical BPS on your damage types breakdown, is anything actually resistant/immune to those?

I should add that. Let's see...

Demilich is resistant to magic weapons.

Awakened Trees, Wood Woads, and Treants are resistant to all bludgeoning and piercing damage. Trees are very special, you see. Please save the trees or these uniquely powerful beings will stop using their superpowers to make our planet habitable.

Swarms are resistant to all BPS damage. I think there's 11 of them?

The Angry, The Hungry, The Lonely, The Lost, and The Wretched are resistant to all BPS damage when in dim light or darkness.

Edit: Added Magical BPS to the chart. Still need to double and triple-check the Magical BPS count to make extra sure I didn't miss any (it's slightly trickier since they tend to not be listed the same way).

[sandmote]

First, this is great.

It reminded me of the devil/demon distinction in 5e, where demons (generally) resist both fire and lightning while devils are immune to fire. Which fits the theme for both well; devils use lightning to hurt enemies faster while devils use fire because they care about keeping their allies standing.

I mention this because this got me to go compare yugoloths on this and find out they get the demon's resistances plus acid immunity on top. Very annoyed.


Awakened Trees, Wood Woads, and Treants are resistant to all bludgeoning and piercing damage. Trees are very special, you see.

I assumed this was "the weapon's material is too weak," resistances vs. "the weapon is improperly shaped," resistances.

I'm very curious; if you logged it, what are the other creatures that don't treat bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage equally?

Ice Mephits and Skeletons are vulnerable to bludgeoning.
Tree creatures are resistant to bludgeoning and piercing.
I know Xorns don't resist any form of bludgeoning but resist nonmagial/non adamantine attacks of the other two types.

What are some of the others?

[bendking]

Good stuff!

[LudicSavant]

First, this is great.

<3


I assumed this was "the weapon's material is too weak," resistances vs. "the weapon is improperly shaped," resistances. I think so as well, but I wanted to make a tree joke. :smalltongue:


I'm very curious; if you logged it, what are the other creatures that don't treat bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage equally?

Ice Mephits and Skeletons are vulnerable to bludgeoning.
Tree creatures are resistant to bludgeoning and piercing.
I know Xorns don't resist any form of bludgeoning but resist nonmagial/non adamantine attacks of the other two types.

What are some of the others?

Flameskulls, Vegepygmies and Thornies are resistant to piercing.
Swarm of Rot Grubs are NOT resistant to Bludgeoning, unlike other swarms.
Ochre Jellies and Black Puddings are resistant to slashing.
Warlock of the Fiend is resistant to Slashing from nonmagical weapons (basically, they're having it do a specific use of the Fiendlock's class feature).

[sandmote]

I think so as well, but I wanted to make a tree joke. :smalltongue: That is entirely fair.


Flameskulls, Vegepygmies and Thornies are resistant to piercing.
Swarm of Rot Grubs are NOT resistant to Bludgeoning, unlike other swarms.
Ochre Jellies and Black Puddings are resistant to slashing. The oozes are immune (as part of their splitting up). Hadn't noticed the others; thanks. I'll try to remember the flameskull lets the barbarian shine over the wizard and rogue in particular.

[firelistener]

Excellent breakdown! This is great. I really like the random note for psychic how objects are immune. Makes complete sense, but I never considered the scenario in the first place. Now I can't shake the image of a bard attempting to bust down a door with Vicious Mockery :smalltongue:

Interestingly, this makes me realize that Shadow Blade probably can't be used to cut objects either.

[AgenderArcee]

Nice resource. Who's the one guy with radiant immunity?

[McSkrag]

That time my warlock hexed and then eldritch blasted the helmed horror carving up the party. :eek:

[LudicSavant]

Nice resource. Who's the one guy with radiant immunity?

The Skulk from MToF.

[MaxWilson]

That is entirely fair.

The oozes are immune (as part of their splitting up). Hadn't noticed the others; thanks. I'll try to remember the flameskull lets the barbarian shine over the wizard and rogue in particular.

Except that Flameskulls also fly, so the Barbarian can't melee them, and their piercing resistance is awful for javelins and arrows. You have to either carry a sling, rely on warlock damage, use leveled spells like Shatter/Erupting Earth, or just accept that Flameskulls take a surprisingly long time to kill (especially with Blur and Shield).


The Skulk from MToF.

I love Skulks. Not only are they surprisingly dangerous for a CR 1/2 critter, they also have some of the only cool monster fluff in 5E.

[Chronos]

There are other kinds of "vulnerability". Like, trolls might not take extra damage from fire or acid, but they're still the damage types you want to use against them. I think this might end up making radiant slightly better, overall, than force, because several monsters (undead especially) have extra effects from radiant. It also ends up helping fire and acid (because a lot of things have troll-style regeneration).

[LudicSavant]

There are other kinds of "vulnerability". Like, trolls might not take extra damage from fire or acid, but they're still the damage types you want to use against them. I think this might end up making radiant slightly better, overall, than force, because several monsters (undead especially) have extra effects from radiant. It also ends up helping fire and acid (because a lot of things have troll-style regeneration).

Could be another worthwhile category to add. Like, maybe I could have something like "creatures that get wrecked by sunlight" (and note the effects that actually create real sunlight, like Dawn. Despite its name, Daylight isn't one of these spells).

Anyone wanna help compile a list of all these "extra effect" vulnerabilities that aren't actually a Vulnerability?

[Joe the Rat]

That time my warlock hexed and then eldritch blasted the helmed horror carving up the party. :eek:

I tend to reserve Helmed Horrors as Warlock-Bane encounters - if a powerful entity (say, a disgruntled Patron) needs to hunt down a Warlock, these guys show up.

Or when the party attacks the boots of every suit of plate armor they find with acid "just in case"

[RedMage125]

This is great, Ludic!

I love charts and math calculations and statistics, too.

Keep up the good work.

[T.G. Oskar]

It'd be interesting to see the Top 5 monsters with most resistances and immunities in the game. Maybe separate those that are relatively unique (i.e., don't add the Tarrasque because it's meant to be pretty much invincible) from those that'd be more likely to appear (say, a Pit Fiend or Balor, because while they're boss-level fights, there's a large bunch of them). I figure it wouldn't hurt the overall meta of the game, as DMs would know what monsters to keep on reserve for pesky metagamers, but even pesky metagamers might find themselves challenged by having to resort to certain fighting styles and not exploit many vulnerabilities.

That said - the info here is great. For one, it shows that Poison should have an Elemental Adept effect, since it makes that damage type almost entirely useless. I figure it's because the Poison damage often has the Poisoned condition rider, which is pretty nasty. Force has always been reliable, but to see Radiant, of all damage types, be the king (because, while Force is hardly resisted, very few are vulnerable, whereas Radiant is hard to resist AND many enemies are vulnerable in one way or another to it), is surprising. This kind of data would be useful to the developers to create new monsters and enemies that switch things around - enemies that are resistant to Force or Radiant, but that aren't resistant to Poison, for example.

[TigerT20]

Who's the poor fellow vulnerable to psychic? He must not like bards.

[Crucius]

This is a blessed resource! Thank you LudicSavant for pouring over all these monsters! Your contributions to the community are plentiful!

[Amechra]

I know it's a lot to ask, but I'd love to see an extension to this that looks at how likely it is for monsters to be resistant to pairs of damage types. Like, if I focus on spells that deal Acid and Fire damage, how often am I going to run into enemies that are resistant to both?

A more reasonable request would be some kind of breakdown by tiers. Are there level bands where, say, Fire is going to be more useful than Necrotic? Similarly, a way to break this down by creature types would be lovely.

---

I mean, this resource is really cool, and I shouldn't be demanding.

[Ghost Nappa]

I know it's a lot to ask, but I'd love to see an extension to this that looks at how likely it is for monsters to be resistant to pairs of damage types. Like, if I focus on spells that deal Acid and Fire damage, how often am I going to run into enemies that are resistant to both?

A more reasonable request would be some kind of breakdown by tiers. Are there level bands where, say, Fire is going to be more useful than Necrotic? Similarly, a way to break this down by creature types would be lovely.

---

I mean, this resource is really cool, and I shouldn't be demanding.


One of the sad realities of data exploration is that it only raises more questions.

However, it is a fantastic source of carpentry.

[LudicSavant]

I know it's a lot to ask, but I'd love to see an extension to this that looks at how likely it is for monsters to be resistant to pairs of damage types. Like, if I focus on spells that deal Acid and Fire damage, how often am I going to run into enemies that are resistant to both?

A more reasonable request would be some kind of breakdown by tiers. Are there level bands where, say, Fire is going to be more useful than Necrotic? Similarly, a way to break this down by creature types would be lovely.

---

I mean, this resource is really cool, and I shouldn't be demanding.

I could actually make a spreadsheet calculator do something like that using similar techniques to how I made the DPR calculator. The biggest obstacle would be inputting aaaaaaaall the monster variables into a spreadsheet. But if I had that I could make it do all sorts of fun stuff.


This is great, Ludic!

I love charts and math calculations and statistics, too.

Keep up the good work.

I <3 statistics! :smallsmile:


One of the sad realities of data exploration is that it only raises more questions.

If you have only a candle dimly illuminating a 5' radius for light, for all you know you could be in a small room, just a few feet from the walls.

But when you cast Daylight and push back the borders of the darkness to a 60' radius, and you still can't see the walls, you realize that much more lies beyond the boundaries that you can see. There is no small closet to explore, but a vast cavern, or perhaps more, waiting to be explored, promising adventure.

As our circle of knowledge expands, so does the circumference of darkness surrounding it. The proliferation of those questions at the bounds of our understanding is how we know we're learning. :smallsmile:

/me runs and hides


This is a blessed resource! Thank you LudicSavant for pouring over all these monsters! Your contributions to the community are plentiful!

Thanks!


Who's the poor fellow vulnerable to psychic? He must not like bards.

Flumphs. Poor flumphs.

[MaxWilson]

Who's the poor fellow vulnerable to psychic? He must not like bards.

Does anyone?

[TigerT20]

Does anyone?

I can name at least one rogue who does :haley:

[Skylivedk]

Am I the only not understanding why Earth Elemental is vulnerable to Thunder?

I mean...
A) Earth seems to give two body-processed foods about thunder IRL (same for sonic waves)

And more importantly:
B) have these guys never played Pokémon?

[Greywander]

Am I the only not understanding why Earth Elemental is vulnerable to Thunder?

I mean...
A) Earth seems to give two body-processed foods about thunder IRL (same for sonic waves)

And more importantly:
B) have these guys never played Pokémon?
A while back, I created a template for a sort-of undead that was infused with elemental earth. I decided that they were blind and unable to speak, but they had excellent hearing. To the tune of tremorsense out to 120 feet. They're very sensitive to vibrations. I decided to give them thunder vulnerability, too, so maybe the logic was the same here. Imagine a sound so loud that it causes you physical pain, and now imagine that your sense of hearing is orders of magnitude above normal humans.

For the Pokemon analogy, that would probably be lightning damage, not thunder. Sonic-type attacks in Pokemon seem to be Normal type, which Ground is not resistant to (though Rock is). At least, it was the last time I played Pokemon, which hasn't been for a while.

[Dr. Cliché]

Kudos for taking the time to do this.

I think the one that surprised me was the number of monsters with resistance or immunity to Lightning damage. I'd thought it was one of the less-resisted elements (around the same as Acid).

[Chronos]

I was about to object that Haley likes a bard, not bards. But then I remembered that her best friend in the Thieves' Guild is also a bard, so OK.

And Earth Elementals are vulnerable to thunder because they're hard and partly crystalline. Much easier to Shatter a rock than to Shatter a lump of meat.

[MaxWilson]

Here's something I learned today that you may or may not already know: https://kobold.club is driven directly by Google docs. Here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I5W-x8QOcP2siGCPIhWWzKGWt4vyBivYLbmkv_G1B24/edit#gid=0) is the Google spreadsheet of all of the WotC monsters available on kobold.club. It already includes stuff like environment, HP, AC, CR, size, etc.

[LudicSavant]

Here's something I learned today that you may or may not already know: https://kobold.club is driven directly by Google docs. Here (https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1I5W-x8QOcP2siGCPIhWWzKGWt4vyBivYLbmkv_G1B24/edit#gid=0) is the Google spreadsheet of all of the WotC monsters available on kobold.club. It already includes stuff like environment, HP, AC, CR, size, etc.

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have stuff like saves, resistances, etc. Unless I'm missing it?

[MaxWilson]

Unfortunately it doesn't seem to have stuff like saves, resistances, etc. Unless I'm missing it?

Correct, because Kobold.club doesn't have data for saves, resistances, etc. But if you wanted to cross-correlate sheets to ensure e.g. that you're not missing any monsters, that's an interesting data source, because Kobold.club is pretty authoritative IME. (However, Rising From the Last War is not on that spreadsheet, it turns out to be on a different one.)

For me, I'll probably refer to that sheet at some point to make sure I've actually got data for all of the WotC-published monsters. For you, that sheet might be useful to fill in the right sources for monsters that are missing a source (Volo's, Mordenkainen's, etc.).

For the actual data I think it's still best to pull it out of https://github.com/CptBackpack/bestiary, although that is also missing Rising From the Last War monsters like the Dusk Hag.

[AugustNights]

This is fantastic work, thank you!

At the risk of derailing, has anyone done this with Monster primary damage output type? As if to indicate what resistances/immunities (in theory) would be the most valuable for players to obtain?

[LudicSavant]

This is fantastic work, thank you!

At the risk of derailing, has anyone done this with Monster primary damage output type? As if to indicate what resistances/immunities (in theory) would be the most valuable for players to obtain?

I don't know of any really comprehensive sources for it, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was out there somewhere.

[LudicSavant]

Spell list by damage type:

Acid
Acid Splash
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Dragon's Breath
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Glyph of Warding
Hunger of Hadar
Illusory Dragon
Melf's Acid Arrow
Primal Savagery
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Storm of Vengeance
Vitriolic Sphere

Bludgeoning
Alter Self
Animate Objects
Bigby's Hand
Bones of the Earth
Catapult
Control Water
Dust Devil
Earth Tremor
Earthquake
Erupting Earth
Evard's Black Tentacles
Ice Storm
Investiture of Wind
Maelstrom
Magic Stone
Maximilian's Earthen Grasp
Meld into Stone
Meteor Swarm
Storm of Vengeance
Storm Sphere
Tidal Wave
Transmute Rock
Tsunami
Whirlwind
Wind Wall
Wrath of Nature

Cold
Armor of Agathys
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Cone of Cold
Dragon's Breath
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Fire Shield
Frostbite
Glyph of Warding
Hunger of Hadar
Ice Knife
Ice Storm
Illusory Dragon
Investiture of Ice
Otiluke's Freezing Sphere
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Ray of Frost
Reality Break
Snilloc's Snowball Swarm
Storm of Vengeance
Wall of Ice

Fire
Aganazzar's Scorcher
Burning Hands
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Create Bonfire
Delayed Blast Fireball
Dragon's Breath
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Fire Bolt
Fire Shield
Fire Storm
Fireball
Flame Arrows
Flame Blade
Flame Strike
Flaming Sphere
Glyph of Warding
Green-Flame Blade
Heat Metal
Hellish Rebuke
Illusory Dragon
Immolation
Incendiary Cloud
Investiture of Flame
Melf's Minute Meteors
Meteor Swarm
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Produce Flame
Scorching Ray
Searing Smite
Wall of Fire
Web

Force
Banishing Smite
Bigby's Hand
Chaos Bolt
Dark Star
Dimension Door
Disintegrate
Eldritch Blast
Etherealness
Gravity Fissure
Gravity Sinkhole
Guardian of Nature
Jim's Magic Missile
Magic Missile
Magnify Gravity
Mordenkainen's Sword
Prismatic Wall
Pulse Wave
Ravenous Void
Reality Break
Spiritual Weapon
Steel Wind Strike
Sword Burst
Tenser's Transformation
Zephyr Strike

Lightning
Call Lightning
Chain Lightning
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Dragon's Breath
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Glyph of Warding
Illusory Dragon
Lightning Arrow
Lightning Bolt
Lightning Lure
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Shocking Grasp
Storm of Vengeance
Storm Sphere
Witch Bolt

Necrotic
Abi-Dalzim's Horrid Wilting
Arms of Hadar
Bestow Curse
Blight
Chill Touch
Circle of Death
Destructive Wave
Enervation
Finger of Death
Forbiddance
Harm
Hex
Illusory Dragon
Inflict Wounds
Life Transference
Negative Energy Flood
Sapping Sting
Shadow of Moil
Spirit Guardians
Symbol
Time Ravage
Toll the Dead
Vampiric Touch
Wish

Piercing
Alter Self
Animate Objects
Cordon of Arrows
Ensnaring Strike
Hail of Thorns
Ice Knife
Insect Plague
Mordenkainen's Faithful Hound
Spike Growth
Thorn Whip
Wall of Thorns

Poison
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Cloudkill
Dragon's Breath
Illusory Dragon
Infestation
Poison Spray
Prismatic Spray
Prismatic Wall
Ray of Sickness

Psychic
Chaos Bolt
Contact Other Plane
Dissonant Whispers
Dream
Feeblemind
Geas
Maddening Darkness
Mental Prison
Mind Blank
Mind Spike
Phantasmal Force
Phantasmal Killer
Psychic Scream
Reality Break
Shadow Blade
Staggering Smite
Synaptic Static
Vicious Mockery
Weird
Wrathful Smite

Radiant
Blinding Smite
Branding Smite
Crown of Stars
Crusader's Mantle
Dawn
Destructive Wave
Divine Favor
Flame Strike
Forbiddance
Guardian of Faith
Guiding Bolt
Holy Weapon
Moonbeam
Sacred Flame
Sickening Radiance
Spirit Guardians
Sunbeam
Sunburst
Wall of Light
Word of Radiance

Slashing
Alter Self
Animate Objects
Blade Barrier
Cloud of Daggers
Wall of Thorns
Wrath of Nature

Thunder
Booming Blade
Chaos Bolt
Chromatic Orb
Destructive Wave
Elemental Bane
Elemental Weapon
Glyph of Warding
Primordial Ward
Shatter
Storm of Vengeance
Thunder Step
Thunderclap
Thunderous Smite
Thunderwave

[Ghost Nappa]

Why not put that in the reserved post? :smallconfused:

That seems like something that would be nice to have at the top of the thread.

[MaxWilson]

I made something that might be of interest. A monster saving throw analyzer: https://maxwilson.github.io/Simple-SavingThrowGraphsFor5E/

For example, if you're a bard trying to decide between Magical Secrets: Evard's Black Tentacles and Magical Secrets: Telekinesis, you might want to look at monster Strength checks and Dex saves and which monsters are weak to each, as well as which are monsters are weak to your inherent bardy spells like Hold Monster (Wisdom).

Remember to set filters to MM/Volo's/Mordy's if you're only interested in those books.

[Luccan]

What I find interesting about this list is that Poison is actually on the lower end of being resisted by enemy types. White-room, it's basically useless since any potential monster has a non-insignificant chance to be flat out immune, but in the right campaign it might prove to be one of the more effective damage types, especially since it's so often paired with the Poisoned condition. Of course, you're not likely to stumble onto that by accident, but still it's interesting to see in stark numbers

[Hael]

I made something that might be of interest. A monster saving throw analyzer: https://maxwilson.github.io/Simple-SavingThrowGraphsFor5E/

For example, if you're a bard trying to decide between Magical Secrets: Evard's Black Tentacles and Magical Secrets: Telekinesis, you might want to look at monster Strength checks and Dex saves and which monsters are weak to each, as well as which are monsters are weak to your inherent bardy spells like Hold Monster (Wisdom).

Remember to set filters to MM/Volo's/Mordy's if you're only interested in those books.

What a fantastic tool!!! Thank you for this, I was contemplating coding something like this a few days ago (I was trying to estimate how much avg hp I would save over an average encounter by adding +1 to con/wis/dex/int... within a certain CR interval) .

Of course the correct way is to montecarlo the whole thing in an iterated combat simulation given a certain distribution of monsters.

But this is still useful. The next step with your method is to estimate how many hitpoints you would lose given a failed save (so its easy for estimating hp loss when you deal with full vs halfdamage saves, but against holds or things like that you would have to either set the apriori damage to your full hp bar or make a subjective guesstimate for how much average damage being CC'd leads too).

[MrStabby]

Huh. This is interesting. I have been (very) slowly over the past few years creating a table of all of these things (and more) from monster stats. It seems you have beaten me to it.

Any chance we can see the data tables behind this? I think the raw data are probably more interesting than the charts.

[Chronos]

Quoth Luccan:

What I find interesting about this list is that Poison is actually on the lower end of being resisted by enemy types. White-room, it's basically useless since any potential monster has a non-insignificant chance to be flat out immune, but in the right campaign it might prove to be one of the more effective damage types, especially since it's so often paired with the Poisoned condition. Of course, you're not likely to stumble onto that by accident, but still it's interesting to see in stark numbers
My first thought on reading that was that humanoids are a fairly common creature type to encounter, and most humanoids are in the category of not being immune to poison.

But my second thought was that, while few humanoids are immune to poison, two of the PCs in my current group are resistant to it. Though that may just be a fluke.

[Luccan]

My first thought on reading that was that humanoids are a fairly common creature type to encounter, and most humanoids are in the category of not being immune to poison.

But my second thought was that, while few humanoids are immune to poison, two of the PCs in my current group are resistant to it. Though that may just be a fluke.

It depends where you stand on NPCs using PC rules. There are a few ways for PCs to get immunities and resistances to poison, generally through class features. OTOH, even with DMs using classed NPCs, I don't feel like I see a lot of NPC monks. I don't think it really matters if PCs can get a resistance or immunity unless you're throwing a lot of PC tier enemies at them. Sure, an Aasimar gets resistance to Radiant damage, but I've literally never run into an Aasimar NPC, so that's not even relevant to my considerations on Radiant damage. YMMV, basically.

[Chronos]

In both of the cases in my party, it's racial: One dwarf and one green dragonborn. Now, dragonborn of any color are fairly rare, but dwarves are one of the more common races.

[MaxWilson]

What a fantastic tool!!! Thank you for this, I was contemplating coding something like this a few days ago (I was trying to estimate how much avg hp I would save over an average encounter by adding +1 to con/wis/dex/int... within a certain CR interval) .

Of course the correct way is to montecarlo the whole thing in an iterated combat simulation given a certain distribution of monsters.

Oh, I totally agree. I'm about 100x more interested in Monte Carlo sims than simple graphs. :) I've been working on my 5E combat engine for months, whereas I only spent a few days on this graph. :)

Graphs are just low-hanging fruit but a real Monte Carlo-capable 5E-compatible combat engine that supports lazy data entry and pluggable house rules is the Holy Grail.


Huh. This is interesting. I have been (very) slowly over the past few years creating a table of all of these things (and more) from monster stats. It seems you have beaten me to it.

Any chance we can see the data tables behind this? I think the raw data are probably more interesting than the charts.

Sure. It's in JSON format in the "public" folder of the git repo: (https://github.com/MaxWilson/Simple-SavingThrowGraphsFor5E/blob/master/public/creatures.json)

The script I used to generate the files is also there in my repo (https://github.com/MaxWilson/Simple-SavingThrowGraphsFor5E/blob/master/src/DataExtraction.fsx), but most of the non-Eberron data ultimately comes from this other git repo: (https://github.com/CptBackpack/bestiary/tree/master/_creatures)

Basically I just parsed the data from CptBackpack and filled in the gaps for missing monsters, mostly from Eberron.

I found and fixed a couple of data errors (missing legendary resistance on Iymrith and Ancient Blue Dragons in general), and I filtered out unique monsters CR 8 and under, and also took out the Tortle Package, and that's all captured in creatures.json. You just need to deserialize it and run your own queries on it.

It's structured data so it's not easily converted into spreadsheets--rather, if someone knows exactly what they want in their spreadsheet it's easy to project out the columns they need, but spreadsheets are not a good form for the master data.

[Luccan]

In both of the cases in my party, it's racial: One dwarf and one green dragonborn. Now, dragonborn of any color are fairly rare, but dwarves are one of the more common races.

AH, you're right! I see so few dwarven PCs.... Still, I also don't fight a lot of dwarves, so I think it's fair to say that whether or not you'll fight humanoid PCs with resistances really is on a case by case basis, but for the majority of games I think it's fair to say it's uncommon.

[elyktsorb]

In both of the cases in my party, it's racial: One dwarf and one green dragonborn. Now, dragonborn of any color are fairly rare, but dwarves are one of the more common races.

i dunno, 4 out of the 13 options (not counting variant elf or variant human) of the PHB races have or can have poison resistance.

[MaxWilson]

[Sorry to toot my own horn but people in this thread were asking for this data, thought you might want to know. -Max]

I made a couple of small enhancements to the saving throw analyzer: https://maxwilson.github.io/Simple-SavingThrowGraphsFor5E/

(1) You can now analyze randomly-generated encounters as well as just monsters.

(2) You can now set tags like "Fire Damage, Save for Half" or "Charmed" on your attacks to see how that changes overall effectiveness, since some monsters are vulnerable, resistant or immune to certain attacks.

For example, if I tell it to generate a bunch of undead-only encounters using Xanathar's rules, a typical Wisdom save graph will look something like this:

https://i.postimg.cc/nrQNmKrw/Undead-Wis-Saves.png (https://postimg.cc/hQcCWd99)
But if I'm really interested in casting Hypnotic Pattern, then I want to make sure undead that are immune to charm are counted as immune, so I hit the Effect tags button and tag it as "charmed". You will see the purple line drop substantially.

https://i.postimg.cc/1RnzBLNb/Undead-Wis-Charm-Saves.png (https://postimg.cc/Jt8m4YxQ)
If I want to compare it to Fireball instead I can switch to looking at Dex with effect tags "fire" and "save for half".

Limitations: the UI is still kind of ugly. Sorry. I'm not a design expert, and I'm focused more on functionality than on getting all of the text to line up prettily on each line.

Furthermore, for technical reasons, effect tags are not available on the overview screen--you have to drill down on a specific attribute (Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Cha) in order to apply specific effects. I don't intend to fix this because this app has grown to a point where it's unwieldy and difficult to extend further, and because you should normally know what attribute you're interested in if you're applying a specific effect like "fire, save for half" (probably Dex).

[Skylivedk]

AH, you're right! I see so few dwarven PCs.... Still, I also don't fight a lot of dwarves, so I think it's fair to say that whether or not you'll fight humanoid PCs with resistances really is on a case by case basis, but for the majority of games I think it's fair to say it's uncommon.

Either you don't swim in the deep end of the alignment pool or you don't know where the gold is ;)


[Sorry to toot my own horn but people in this thread were asking for this data, thought you might want to know. -Max]

I made a couple of small enhancements to the saving throw analyzer: https://maxwilson.github.io/Simple-SavingThrowGraphsFor5E/

(1) You can now analyze randomly-generated encounters as well as just monsters.

(2) You can now set tags like "Fire Damage, Save for Half" or "Charmed" on your attacks to see how that changes overall effectiveness, since some monsters are vulnerable, resistant or immune to certain attacks.

For example, if I tell it to generate a bunch of undead-only encounters using Xanathar's rules, a typical Wisdom save graph will look something like this:

https://i.postimg.cc/nrQNmKrw/Undead-Wis-Saves.png (https://postimg.cc/hQcCWd99)
But if I'm really interested in casting Hypnotic Pattern, then I want to make sure undead that are immune to charm are counted as immune, so I hit the Effect tags button and tag it as "charmed". You will see the purple line drop substantially.

https://i.postimg.cc/1RnzBLNb/Undead-Wis-Charm-Saves.png (https://postimg.cc/Jt8m4YxQ)
If I want to compare it to Fireball instead I can switch to looking at Dex with effect tags "fire" and "save for half".

Limitations: the UI is still kind of ugly. Sorry. I'm not a design expert, and I'm focused more on functionality than on getting all of the text to line up prettily on each line.

Furthermore, for technical reasons, effect tags are not available on the overview screen--you have to drill down on a specific attribute (Str/Dex/Con/Int/Wis/Cha) in order to apply specific effects. I don't intend to fix this because this app has grown to a point where it's unwieldy and difficult to extend further, and because you should normally know what attribute you're interested in if you're applying a specific effect like "fire, save for half" (probably Dex).

Great work, thanks a ton!!!

[Snownine]

Thank you for all the time and work that went into this, it is an amazing resource. I have come across some older ones that just covered the MM and it is really nice to see a more current guide. Does this happen to exist as a pdf that can be downloaded?

[LudicSavant]

Thank you for all the time and work that went into this, it is an amazing resource. I have come across some older ones that just covered the MM and it is really nice to see a more current guide. Does this happen to exist as a pdf that can be downloaded?

I do not have a pdf version. Would you like there to be one?

[Snownine]

I do not have a pdf version. Would you like there to be one?

I think it would be really cool. I like to keep a folder of useful game related tools like this for anytime I might need them. I am not the most tech savvy person in the world so I can't claim to know how much time and effort it would be to make one, if it is a hassle I totally get it not being worth it. The reason I like having these tables and guides saved as files is I don't have to worry about them going away someday. There were a lot of good 3.5 resources that went the way of the dodo when the sites they were hosted on closed down, or heck just the temporary loss of these forums earlier this year.

[LudicSavant]

I think it would be really cool. I like to keep a folder of useful game related tools like this for anytime I might need them. I am not the most tech savvy person in the world so I can't claim to know how much time and effort it would be to make one, if it is a hassle I totally get it not being worth it. The reason I like having these tables and guides saved as files is I don't have to worry about them going away someday. There were a lot of good 3.5 resources that went the way of the dodo when the sites they were hosted on closed down, or heck just the temporary loss of these forums earlier this year.

Let's see if this works.

Take this link, then pick File -> Download -> PDF Document. Then it should be good to print!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kns7CIHei2kwpLa3v85hIvIk3IxhD9d63kNm2eacE_4/edit?usp=sharing

How's that look?
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/423216976001892365/730487718819266690/unknown.png

[Snownine]

Let's see if this works.

Take this link, then pick File -> Download -> PDF Document. Then it should be good to print!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Kns7CIHei2kwpLa3v85hIvIk3IxhD9d63kNm2eacE_4/edit?usp=sharing

How's that look?
https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/423216976001892365/730487718819266690/unknown.png

That's fantastic, thank you! I really appreciate the effort you put into this.

[LudicSavant]

That's fantastic, thank you! I really appreciate the effort you put into this.

Glad to hear you like it! I'll add it to the first page.

[Jon talks a lot]

Ludic, you are so awesome!

[Kessel]

Your lists are awesome, thank you once again for all your work!

[LibraryOgre]

The Mod Ogre: Just a bump to the left
Then the post is alriiiiIiight
At your fingertips
It's about damage tyyypes
Then the mod's bump posts
Really get in your brain-ain-ain

LET'S BUMP THIS POST AGAIN
LET"S BUMP THIS POST AGAIN

[Luccan]

Something that might be interesting based on this list is a similar list looking at magic immunities and resistances (charm immunities, adv. on save vs magic)

[LudicSavant]

Something that might be interesting based on this list is a similar list looking at magic immunities and resistances (charm immunities, adv. on save vs magic)

I also could add how common it is for damage to be *inflicted*

e.g, Poison, Fire, Necrotic, and Psychic are the most inflicted damage types by monsters (not counting their spells, which I still gotta count)

[Evaar]

Just popping in to say thanks for all this work. I have a concept I like for a Green Dragon, Draconic Origin Sorcerer and wanted to see just how badly the deck would be stacked against it.

Pretty badly, as it turns out!

So this was a good source to work out a list of houserules I might suggest if I ever actually do try to play it. The first reaction I got bringing it up to others was "Why not just let them ignore poison resistance" and this clearly demonstrates that would solve precisely nothing.

[kingcheesepants]

I also could add how common it is for damage to be *inflicted*

e.g, Poison, Fire, Necrotic, and Psychic are the most inflicted damage types by monsters (not counting their spells, which I still gotta count)

I think that might be even more useful than the original post of how many things resist the damage. After all it's a lot easier to pick up a few spells on the fly than it is to pick up a new resistance and knowing beforehand which resistances would be useful against the largest array of monsters would help one to manage their build much more effectively. For example how worthwhile is it to play a tiefling for the fire resistance? Is the extra resistance to cold/poison worth the feat? If you have one choice for magic armor to resist an element which element is most useful to pick up?

Factoring in which spells and abilities allow players to gain resistances/immunities would also be helpful in this regard.