[RPG] How much damage is dealt/taken when that damage also reduces a creature to 0 hit points

damagednd-5ehit-points

The particular case where this question came up was when a Hobgoblin Warlord attacked my ally, who had 7 hit points remaining. The attack's damage was rolled for a total of 13, meaning they would fall unconscious. However, I am a Redemption Paladin which means I can Rebuke the Violent:

[…] Immediately after an attacker within 30 feet of you deals damage with an attack against a creature other than you, you can use your reaction to force the attacker to make a Wisdom saving throw. On a failed save, the attacker takes radiant damage equal to the damage it just dealt. […]

The question that arose was how to calculate "the damage it just dealt". Did the Hobgoblin Warlord deal 7 or 13 damage to my ally?


The only thing I found that somewhat answered this was the section on "Instant Death" which includes the following (emphasis mine):

[…] 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.

This seems to state that the Cleric still takes 18 damage, even if her points drop to 0, but then it also states that 12 damage "remains". It's not what I would call definitive and it doesn't explicitly state that that is how damage works so I'm wondering if there's anything that makes this even clearer.

Best Answer

Going to 0 hit points does not change the damage dealt

This isn't necessarily the most explicitly defined interaction (as far as I've found) but some parts of the rules don't make sense otherwise. First, from the rules on Hit Points:

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.

In other words, as you are aware, current hit points cannot be lower than 0. In addition to the example you found which states a creature with 6 current hit points can take 18 damage, there is another example nearby in the rules on Death Saving Throws:

If you take any damage while you have 0 hit points, you suffer a death saving throw failure.

If damage were reduced to the amount of hit points that were lost, then it would be impossible to take damage while you have 0 hit points.

This makes sense from another part of the rules

Also from the rules on Hit Points:

Whenever a creature takes damage, that damage is subtracted from its hit points.

This line sets up a clear argument that losing hit points is a result of damage, not the definition of damage. Thus changing the amount of hit points lost won't go back and change the damage taken.