[RPG] What forms of damage affect an Unseen Servant

dnd-5espells

Related to this question, what forms of damage affect an Unseen Servant?

  1. Physical types: bludgeoning, piercing, slashing.
  2. Magical forms of the physical types.
  3. The other types, some of which are always magical, while others can be magical or mundane in nature:

Acid, Fire, Cold, Poison, Necrotic, Radiant, Lightning, Psychic, Thunder and Force.

  1. Falling damage (a special type of bludgeoning, related to this question).

My musings:

  • As a "mindless" entity, it makes sense a Servant cannot take psychic damage.
  • Acid, Fire, Cold, Lightning, and physical damage hinge on whether the Servant has a "body" or not (see the first link).
  • Poison seems like a no, as the Servant certainly doesn't breathe and has no means of absorbing the poison.
  • Necrotic and Radiant are harder to define, as those damage types are themselves open to interpretation.
  • Thunder seems like a no, as it has no hard body to damage with vibrations and doesn't appear capable of hearing anything.
  • Force seems like a yes.
  • Fall damage is highly dependent on the answer to the second link.
  • Since a Servant cannot move through objects like spectral creatures, it seems unlikely a magical weapon would be any different than a regular weapon.

Best Answer

The spell description does not indicate any resistances nor any immunities. It takes up some space and is made of force. All it needs to do is take one HP of damage and it drops to 0. How to target it would be situation dependent.

Therefore, all forms of damage cause damage to an Unseen Servant. The only form that is arguably not applicable is psychic damage, as the Unseen Servant is mindless, and no stat is offered for intelligence.

If it were within the blast radius of a fireball, game over.

Insofar as Cold damage is concerned, feeling cold isn't the issue. Cold damage being a damage type means that cold can damage it in terms of game mechanics. (Cold makes metal and glass more brittle ... and when we get to "does a mindless entity feel" we once again find that the rules are silent).

Bludgeoning, Piercing, Slashing. Acid, Fire, Cold, Poison, Necrotic, Radiant, Lightning, Psychic, Thunder and Force.

At least 12 of the 13 apply to it. Whether or not Psychic damage affects the Unseen Servant is a DM ruling.

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