Damage and Healing
******************

Injury and the risk of death are constant companions
of those who explore the worlds of D&D. The thrust of
a sword, a well—placed arrow, or a blast of flame from a
fireball spell all have the potential to damage, or even
kill, the hardiest of creatures.

Hit Points
----------

Hit points represent a combination of physical and
mental durability, the will to live, and luck. Creatures
with more hit points are more difficult to kill. Those
with fewer hit points are more fragile.

A creature’s current hit points (usually just called hit
points) can be any number from the creature’s hit point
maximum down to 0. This number changes frequently
as a creature takes damage or receives healing.

Whenever a creature takes damage, that damage is
subtracted from its hit points. The loss of hit points has
no effect on a creature’s capabilities until the creature
drops to 0 hit points.

Damage Rolls
------------

Each weapon, spell, and harmful monster ability
specifies the damage it deals. You roll the damage die
or dice, add any modifiers, and apply the damage to
your target. Magic weapons, special abilities, and other
factors can grant a bonus to damage.

When attacking with a weapon, you add your ability
modifier—the same modifier used for the attack roll*
to the damage. A spell tells you which dice to roll for
damage and Whether to add any modifiers.

If a spell or other effect deals damage to more than
one target at the same time, roll the damage once for
all of them. For example, When a wizard casts fireball or
a cleric casts flame strike, the spell’s damage is rolled
once for all creatures caught in the blast.

Critical Hits
^^^^^^^^^^^^^

When you score a critical hit, you get to roll extra dice
for the attacks damage against the target. Roll all of the
attacks damage dice twice and add them together. Then
add any relevant modifiers as normal. To speed up play,
you can roll all the damage dice at once.

For example, if you score a critical hit With a dagger,
roll 2d4 for the damage, rather than 1d4, and then add
your relevant ability modifier. If the attack involves other
damage dice, such as from the rogue’s Sneak Attack
feature, you roll those dice twice as well.

Damage Types
^^^^^^^^^^^^

Different attacks, damaging spells, and other harmful
effects deal different types of damage. Damage types
have no rules of their own, but other rules, such as
damage resistance, rely on the types.

The damage types follow, with examples to help a
DM assign a damage type to a new effect.

**Acid.** The corrosive spray of a black dragon’s breath
and the dissolving enzymes secreted by a black pudding
deal acid damage.

**Bludgeoning.** Blunt force attacks—hammers, falling,
constriction, and the like—deal bludgeoning damage.

**Cold.** The infernal chill radiating from an ice devil’s
spear and the frigid blast of a white dragon’s breath
deal cold damage.

**Fire.** Red dragons breathe fire, and many spells
conjure flames to deal fire damage.

**Force.** Force is pure magical energy focused into a
damaging form. Most effects that deal force damage are
spells, including magic missile and spiritual Weapon.

**Lightning.** A lightning bolt spell and a blue dragon’s
breath deal lightning damage.

**Necrotic.** Necrotic damage, dealt by certain undead
and a spell such as chill touch, Withers matter and
even the soul.

**Piercing.** Puncturing and impaling attacks, including
spears and monsters’ bites, deal piercing damage.

**Poison.** Venomous stings and the toxic gas of a green
dragon’s breath deal poison damage.

**Psychic.** Mental abilities such as a mind flayer’s
psionic blast deal psychic damage.

**Radiant.** Radiant damage, dealt by a cleric’s flame
strike spell or an angel’s smiting weapon, sears the flesh
like fire and overloads the spirit With power.

**Slashing.** Swords, axes, and monsters’ claws deal
slashing damage.

**Thunder.** A concussive burst of sound, such as the
effect of the thunderwave spell, deals thunder damage.

Damage Resistance and Vulnerability
-----------------------------------

Some creatures and objects are exceedingly difficult or
unusually easy to hurt with certain types of damage.

If a creature or an object has **resistance** to a damage
type, damage of that type is halved against it. If a
creature or an object has **vulnerability** to a damage
type, damage of that type is doubled against it.

Resistance and then vulnerability are applied after
all other modifiers to damage. For example, a creature
has resistance to bludgeoning damage and is hit by an
attack that deals 25 bludgeoning damage. The creature
is also within a magical aura that reduces all damage by
5. The 25 damage is first reduced by 5 and then halved,
so the creature takes 10 damage.

Multiple instances of resistance or vulnerability that
affect the same damage type count as only one instance.
For example, if a creature has resistance to fire damage
as well as resistance to all nonmagical damage, the
damage of a nonmagical fire is reduced by half against
the creature, not reduced by three-quarters.

Describing the Effects of Damage
--------------------------------

Dungeon Masters describe hit point loss in different ways.
When your current hit point total is half or more of your hit
point maximum, you typically show no signs of injury. When
you drop below half your hit point maximum, you show signs
of wear, such as cuts and bruises. An attack that reduces you
to 0 hit points strikes you directly, leaving a bleeding injury or
other trauma, or it simply knocks you unconscious.

Healing
-------

Unless it results in death, damage isn’t permanent. Even
death is reversible through powerful magic. Rest can
restore a creature's hit points (as explained in chapter
8), and magical methods such as a cure wounds spell or
a potion of healing can remove damage in an instant.

When a creature receives healing of any kind, hit
points regained are added to its current hit points. A
creature's hit points can’t exceed its hit point maximum,
so any hit points regained in excess of this number are
lost. For example, a druid grants a ranger 8 hit points of
healing. If the ranger has 14 current hit points and has a
hit point maximum of 20, the ranger regains 6 hit points
from the druid, not 8.

A creature that has died can’t regain hit points until
magic such as the revivify spell has restored it to life.

Dropping to 0 Hit Points
------------------------

When you drop to 0 hit points, you either die outright or
fall unconscious, as explained in the following sections.

Instant Death
^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Massive damage can kill you instantly. When damage
reduces you to 0 hit points and there is damage
remaining, you die if the remaining damage equals
or exceeds your hit point maximum.

For example, a cleric with a maximum of
12 hit points currently has 6 hit points. If she
takes 18 damage from an attack, she is reduced
to 0 hit points, but 12 damage remains. Because
the remaining damage equals her hit point
maximum, the cleric dies.

Falling Unconscious
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

If damage reduces you to 0 hit points and fails to kill
you, you fall unconscious (see appendix A). This
unconsciousness ends if you regain any hit points.

Death Saving Throws
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Whenever you start your turn with 0 hit points, you
must make a special saving throw, called a death saving
throw, to determine whether you creep closer to death
or hang onto life. Unlike other saving throws, this one
isn’t tied to any ability score. You are in the hands of fate
now, aided only by spells and features that improve your
chances of succeeding on a saving throw.

Roll a d20. If the roll is 10 or higher, you succeed.
Otherwise, you fail. A success or failure has no effect
by itself. On your third success, you become stable (see
below). On your third failure, you die. The successes
and failures don‘t need to be consecutive; keep track
of both until you collect three of a kind. The number of
both is reset to zero when you regain any hit points or
become stable.

**Rolling 1 or 20.** When you make a death saving throw
and roll a 1 on the d20, it counts as two failures. If you
roll a 20 on the d20, you regain 1 hit point.

**Damage at 0 Hit Points.** If you take any damage while
you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw
failure. If the damage is from a critical hit, you suffer
two failures instead. If the damage equals or exceeds
your hit point maximum, you suffer instant death.

Stabilizing a Creature
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

The best way to save a creature with 0 hit points is to
heal it. If healing is unavailable, the creature can at
least be stabilized so that it isn’t killed by a failed death
saving throw.

You can use your action to administer first aid to an
unconscious creature and attempt to stabilize it, which
requires a successful DC 10 Wisdom (Medicine) check.

A stable creature doesn't make death saving throws,
even though it has 0 hit points, but it does remain
unconscious. The creature stops being stable, and must
start making death saving throws again, if it takes any
damage. A stable creature that isn’t healed regains
1 hit point after 1d4 hours.

Monsters and Death
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Most DMs have a monster die the instant it drops to
0 hit points, rather than having it fall unconscious and
make death saving throws.
Mighty villains and special nonplayer Characters
are common exceptions; the DM might have them
fall unconscious and follow the same rules as
player characters.

Knocking a Creature Out
-----------------------

Sometimes an attacker wants to incapacitate a foe,
rather than deal a killing blow. When an attacker
reduces a creature to 0 hit points with a melee attack,
the attacker can knock the creature out. The attacker
can make this Choice the instant the damage is dealt.
The creature falls unconscious and is stable.

Temporary Hit Points
--------------------

Some spells and special abilities confer temporary hit
points to a creature. Temporary hit points aren’t actual
hit points; they are a buffer against damage, a pool of hi
points that protect you from injury.

When you have temporary hit points and take damage
the temporary hit points are lost first, and any leftover
damage carries over to your normal hit points. For
example, if you have 5 temporary hit points and take
7 damage, you lose the temporary hit points and then
take 2 damage.

Because temporary hit points are separate from
your actual hit points, they can exceed your hit point
maximum. A character can, therefore, be at full hit
points and receive temporary hit points.

Healing can’t restore temporary hit points, and they
can’t be added together. If you have temporary hit points
and receive more of them, you decide whether to keep
the ones you have or to gain the new ones. For example,
if a spell grants you 12 temporary hit points when you
already have 10, you can have 12 or 10, not 22.

If you have 0 hit points, receiving temporary hit points
doesn’t restore you to consciousness or stabilize you.
They can still absorb damage directed at you while
you’re in that state, but only true healing can save you.

Unless a feature that grants you temporary hit points
has a duration, they last until they’re depleted or you
finish a long rest.