[RPG] If a poisoned arrow’s piercing damage is reduced to 0, do you still get poisoned

damagedamage-reductiondnd-5efeatspoison

I have created a fighter, who is using heavy armor and has the Heavy Armor Master feat.

The Heavy Armor Master feat (PHB, p. 167) states that:

While you are wearing heavy armor, bludgeoning, piercing, and slashing damage that you take from nonmagical weapons is reduced by 3.

This character was shot and hit, by a longbow loaded with a poison arrow. The attack did 2 piercing and 5 poison damage. Because of the HAM feat, the piercing was reduced to 0.

Because the arrow did not pierce (presumably because the armor absorbed the hit), would the character still be affected by the poison damage?

The shooter was a yuan-ti pureblood; presumably neither the longbow, arrow, or poison was "magical".

Best Answer

You take the poison damage regardless

The Yuan-ti Pureblood's shortbow attack states:

Hit: 4 (1d6 + 1) piercing damage plus 7 (2d6) poison damage.

Which means that you take the poison damage on a hit, regardless of whether you take piercing damage.

Crawford answered a similar question on Twitter:

Q: If the Battlemaster maneuver parry, reduce the weapon Drow damage to zero, the poison damage still work?

A: Drow poison in the DMG is delivered by piercing/slashing damage (0 dmg = 0 poison). Poison in the MM's drow is delivered by hitting.

Many drow have an attack with the exact same wording as the Yuan-ti Pureblood's shortbow attack, for example the Drow Elite Warrior's shortsword attack:

Hit: 7 (1d6 + 4) piercing damage plus 10 (3d6) poison damage.

Injury poison does nothing if the piercing damage is 0

There are poisons that behave the way you expected. These are injury poisons and are explained on page 257 of the Dungeon Master's Guide:

Injury poison can be applied to weapons, ammunition, trap components, and other objects that deal piercing or slashing damage and remains potent until delivered through a wound or washed off. A creature that takes piercing or slashing damage from an object coated with the poison is exposed to its effects.

However, these rules are meant for players and don't seem to apply to monsters. For example, the "drow poison in the DMG" which Crawford mentioned is an injury poison, which means piercing or slashing damage must occur for the poison to take effect, yet many drow have a hand crossbow attack that delivers an effect identical to the drow poison on a hit, regardless of the piercing damage.

Related Topic