D&D 5E Any mechanical difference between piercing and slashing damage?

[fjw70]

I don't recall seeing anything that makes one or the other more beneficial.

Did I miss anything?

 

[Cernor]

If you want to cut a rope then slashing damage is far better than piercing. Some undead (flameskulls and skeletons, iirc) resist piercing damage but not slashing, and some of the oozes split if you slash them as well... So the difference is there, but won't matter in most situations.

 

[Diamabel]

I don't recall seeing anything that makes one or the other more beneficial.

Did I miss anything?

Some enemies have resistance or vulnerability to certain damage types, or special effects when hit by a type of damage(troll's loathsome limbs variant)

 

[Paraxis]

Vorpal weapons can only be swords that do slashing damage.

How they interact with the environment, picks and hammers are great for getting through stone doors, swords not so much.

There are some critical hit charts for other games that you could adapt to 5e that use the damage types for extra effects.

 

[fjw70]

Ah, hadn't noticed the flame skull and vorpal weapon things. Thanks I knew I was missing something.

In my basic game I don't pay too much attention to weapon damage types except the classis edged/not edged.

 

[Nebulous]

I think we houseruled that skeletons are resistant to piercing; it just made sense to us.

 

[Sage Genesis]

Just to set the record straight:

Skeletons don't resist either piercing or slashing damage. Instead, they are vulnerable to bludgeoning damage. No, that's not the same because it means edged weapons are just as effective as fire or acid attacks. It's the blunt ones that stand out.

 

[Staffan]

Damage types have no inherent meaning, but are "hooks" that various special abilities interact with - in this case, mostly monster vulnerabilities, resistances, and immunities.

 

[fjw70]

Just to set the record straight:

Skeletons don't resist either piercing or slashing damage. Instead, they are vulnerable to bludgeoning damage. No, that's not the same because it means edged weapons are just as effective as fire or acid attacks. It's the blunt ones that stand out.

The funny thing is when running through Phandelver I screwed up and made skeletons resistant to bludgeoning instead of vulnerable. Then I realised what I was doing and made the appropriate adjustments. Oops.

 

[fjw70]

I think we houseruled that skeletons are resistant to piercing; it just made sense to us.

I may do that too.