Amalgam DamageAmalgam damage is a form of damage that combines the strengths of multiple types of damage while eliminating their weaknesses. Amalgam damage is always a combination of two or more forms of damage. Usually, these are simply different types of damage, such as Frostfire damage which combines cold and fire damage. Sometimes one or more aspects of the amalgam damage may be defined by special rules, such as the slashing component of Pneumatic damage which is always affected by damage reduction but bypasses it as a magical weapon, or they may count as having specific descriptors, such as the untyped component of Mindfire damage which always counts as resulting from a mind-affecting effect.
Amalgam damage applies to vulnerability, to general damage reducing defenses, and to each other specific defensive ability independently as the most damaging or destructive of its component types.
- If a creature has a vulnerability to any of the component damage types, that vulnerability applies to the entire amalgam damage type. If it has a vulnerability against more than one of them, only the greatest vulnerability applies. Ignore vulnerability to damage types that the creature is also immune to.
- If a creature has damage reduction, energy resistance, immunities, the ability to heal from damage taken, or similar damage reducing abilities that would apply to one or more component damage types, the amalgam damage applies against them as the component damage type that would be the most damaging.
- All other effects, such as regeneration, apply as though the amalgam damage was the most damaging of its component damage types with respect to that individual effect.
For example, if a Half-Red Dragon Troll with 10 points of cold resistance from a
resist energy spell were struck for 15 points of Frostfire damage, it would suffer 5 points of damage, bypassing its regeneration. As an amalgam of cold and fire, Frostfire would bypass the troll's immunity to fire as cold damage, being reduced by 10 points due to energy resistance, and would bypass its regeneration as fire damage.
Common Amalgam Damage TypesAny combination of damage types can be considered amalgam damage. The sample amalgam damage types listed below are only shorthands for common combinations. Amalgam damage can even include more than two damage types (such as a fire, cold, electricity, sonic, magical bludgeoning, good-aligned slashing, negative energy, and mind-affecting language-dependent compulsion nonlethal amalgam damage).
| Name | Damage Types | Notes |
| Brainfreeze | Cold | Untyped | Cold component is never a mind-affecting effect, untyped component is always a mind-affecting effect |
| Brainstorm | Electricity | Untyped | Electricity component is never a mind-affecting effect, untyped component is always a mind-affecting effect |
| Concussive | Sonic | Magical Bludgeoning | Bludgeoning component is affected by DR |
| Endothermic | Acid | Cold | -- |
| Exothermic | Acid | Fire | -- |
| Firestorm | Electricity | Fire | -- |
| Frostfire | Cold | Fire | -- |
| Galvanic | Acid | Electricity | -- |
| Hailstorm | Cold | Magical Bludgeoning | Bludgeoning component is affected by DR |
| Icicle | Cold | Magical Piercing | Piercing component is affected by DR |
| Innervating | Electricity | Positive Energy | Positive energy component is a Healing subschool effect |
| Magma | Fire | Magical Bludgeoning | Bludgeoning component is affected by DR |
| Mindfire | Fire | Untyped | Fire component is never a mind-affecting effect, untyped component is always a mind-affecting effect |
| Mindmelt | Acid | Untyped | Acid component is never a mind-affecting effect, untyped component is always a mind-affecting effect |
| Necrotic | Acid | Negative Energy | Negative energy component is a Necromancy effect |
| Pneumatic | Sonic | Magical Slashing | Slashing component is affected by DR |
| Spirit | Negative Energy | Positive Energy | Negative energy component is a Necromancy effect, positive energy component is a Healing subschool effect |
| Radiant | Fire | Positive Energy | Positive energy component is a Healing subschool effect |
| Thunderstorm | Electricity | Sonic | -- |
| Uttercold | Cold | Negative Energy | Negative energy component is a Necromancy effect |
Brainfreeze: Brainfreeze damage is a combination of cold damage and untyped damage. The cold component is never considered to be from a mind-affecting effect and thus ignores immunity to mind-affecting effects, even if the effect that caused the brainfreeze damage is mind-affecting. The untyped component is considered to be from a mind-affecting effect and is thus prevented by immunity to mind-affecting effects, even if the effect that caused the brainfreeze damage is not mind-affecting.
Brainstorm: Brainstorm damage is a combination of electricity damage and untyped damage. The electricity component is never considered to be from a mind-affecting effect and thus ignores immunity to mind-affecting effects, even if the effect that caused the brainstorm damage is mind-affecting. The untyped component is considered to be from a mind-affecting effect and is thus prevented by immunity to mind-affecting effects, even if the effect that caused the brainstorm damage is not mind-affecting.
Concussive: Concussive damage is a combination of sonic damage and magical bludgeoning damage. The bludgeoning component is affected by damage reduction even if it comes from a non-extraordinary source (but the sonic component still isn't as it is energy damage; see above about damage reduction and amalgam damage).
Endothermic: Endothermic damage is a combination of acid and cold damage.
Exothermic: Exothermic damage is a combination of acid and fire damage.
Firestorm: Firestorm damage is a combination of electricity and fire damage.
Frostfire: Frostfire damage is a combination of cold and fire damage.
Galvanic: Galvanic damage is a combination of acid and electricity damage.
Hailstorm: Hailstorm damage is a combination of cold damage and magical bludgeoning damage. The bludgeoning component is affected by damage reduction even if it comes from a non-extraordinary source (but the cold component still isn't as it is energy damage; see above about damage reduction and amalgam damage).
Icicle: Icicle damage is a combination of cold damage and magical piercing damage. The piercing component is affected by damage reduction even if it comes from a non-extraordinary source (but the cold component still isn't as it is energy damage; see above about damage reduction and amalgam damage).
Innervating: Innervating damage is a combination of electricity damage and positive energy damage. The positive energy component is similar to that of a
cure spell in that it heals living creatures as an effect from the healing subschool and damages undead (but the electricity component will still usually cause it to deal damage instead of healing).
Magma: Magma damage is a combination of fire damage and magical bludgeoning damage. The bludgeoning component is affected by damage reduction even if it comes from a non-extraordinary source (but the fire component still isn't as it is energy damage; see above about damage reduction and amalgam damage).
Mindfire: Mindfire damage is a combination of fire damage and untyped damage. The fire component is never considered to be from a mind-affecting effect and thus ignores immunity to mind-affecting effects, even if the effect that caused the mindfire damage is mind-affecting. The untyped component is considered to be from a mind-affecting effect and is thus prevented by immunity to mind-affecting effects, even if the effect that caused the mindfire damage is not mind-affecting.
Mindmelt: Mindmelt damage is a combination of acid damage and untyped damage. The acid component is never considered to be from a mind-affecting effect and thus ignores immunity to mind-affecting effects, even if the effect that caused the mindmelt damage is mind-affecting. The untyped component is considered to be from a mind-affecting effect and is thus prevented by immunity to mind-affecting effects, even if the effect that caused the mindmelt damage is not mind-affecting.
Necrotic: Necrotic damage is a combination of acid damage and negative energy damage. The negative energy component is similar to that of an
inflict spell in that it is considered an effect from the Necromancy school and heals undead (but the acid component will still usually cause it to deal damage instead of healing).
Pneumatic: Pneumatic damage is a combination of sonic damage and magical slashing damage. The slashing component is affected by damage reduction even if it comes from a non-extraordinary source (but the sonic component still isn't as it is energy damage; see above about damage reduction and amalgam damage).
Spirit: Spirit damage is a combination of both negative energy damage and positive energy damage. The negative energy component is similar to that of an
inflict spell in that it is considered an effect from the Necromancy school and heals undead. The positive energy component is similar to that of a
cure spell in that it heals living creatures as an effect from the healing subschool and damages undead. Usually, the negative energy component will cause this to damage living creatures, and the positive energy component will cause this to damage undead creatures. Only nonliving, non-undead creatures, such as most constructs, are not harmed by either component are thus unaffected. A few rare creatures that are healed by both positive and negative energy are actually healed by spirit damage.
Radiant: Radiant damage is a combination of fire damage and positive energy damage. The positive energy component is similar to that of a
cure spell in that it heals living creatures as an effect from the healing subschool and damages undead (but the fire component will still usually cause it to deal damage instead of healing).
Thunderstorm: Thunderstorm damage is a combination of electricity and sonic damage.
Uttercold: Uttercold damage is a combination of cold damage and negative energy damage. The negative energy component is similar to that of an
inflict spell in that it is considered an effect from the Necromancy school and heals undead (but the cold component will still usually cause it to deal damage instead of healing).
Change Log
Note: Amalgam damage is shared material that is used in multiple independent projects. The version posted here may or may not be the latest version.
21/6/2017: Reposted to
Min Max Forum storm shelter.
26/2/2016: First posted independently. Added brainfreeze, brainstorm, mindmelt, and innervating amalgam damages to the list.
25/2/2016: Made definitions and example clearer. Updated and clarified descriptions. Amalgam damage now ignores vulnerabilities to damage types the creature is also immune to (such as the case of a skeleton red dragon's vulnerability and immunity to cold).
29/7/2014: First posted in Tomb of Battle: The Book of Dead Warriors.
25/5/2013: First posted in Power of Cybernetics.
