Damage represents harm dealt to a creature’s body, equipment, or supernatural form. This system separates **health damage**, **posture damage**, and **damage mitigation** to clearly distinguish lethality, pressure, and defense.

Unless explicitly stated otherwise, all creatures, including players, humanoids, monsters and bosses, follow the same damage rules.

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## Damage Types

Damage is always assigned a **type**, which determines how it interacts with armor, resistances, and effects.

### Physical Damage
- **Blunt** (hammers, fists, shockwaves)
- **Slash** (blades, claws)
- **Pierce** (thrusts, projectiles)
### Elemental Damage
- **Fire**
- **Ice**
- **Lightning**
- **Gale**
- **Shadow**
- **Iron**
Some attacks may deal **multiple damage types**. Each type is resolved separately.

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## Dealing Damage
When an attack successfully resolves (i.e., it is not parried or dodged):
1. **Determine Base Damage**
    - Roll the weapon’s or effect’s damage dice.
    - Apply relevant modifiers (ability modifier, proficiency bonuses, talents, mantras, etc.).
2. **Apply Critical or Conditional Modifiers**
    - Critical hits, posture-based bonuses, talents, or special effects apply here.
    - These always modify damage **before** mitigation.
3. **Apply Armor Reduction**
    - Damage is reduced by the target’s applicable Armor Class (see below).
4. **Apply Remaining Damage**
    - Any remaining damage is dealt to HP.
    - Additional effects (Bleed, Burning, Shock, etc.) are then applied.

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## Penetration

Some attacks or weapons have **Penetration**, allowing them to ignore armor.
- Penetration reduces the target’s relevant AC before damage reduction is calculated.
- Penetration cannot reduce AC below 0.
- Penetration does **not** affect posture damage.

Example:  
A weapon with **3 Penetration** ignores 3 points (3%) of all AC. 

**Total penetration from all effects cannot exceed 50%.**

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## Posture Damage

Some attacks deal **Posture damage** in addition to or instead of HP damage.
- Posture damage represents pressure, imbalance, and guard-breaking force.
- Posture damage is typically derived from:
    - Weapon **Weight**
    - Talents, mantras, or special effects
- Posture damage is **not reduced by armor** unless explicitly stated.
Blocking converts HP damage into posture damage, as described in the _Parrying & Posture_ rules.

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## Chip Damage

Some attacks and weapons deal **Chip Damage**, allowing a portion of their damage to bypass blocking defenses.

* Chip Damage represents force, heat, shock, or precision that cannot be fully negated even when bracing
* Chip Damage is expressed as a **percentage value**. This value determines how much of an attack’s HP damage passes through a block.
* Chip Damage is calculated **after Penetration**
* Armor reduction applies normally to Chip Damage
* Penetration affects Chip Damage the same way it affects normal damage

Example:  
A weapon with **15 Chip Damage** causes **15% of its final HP damage** to be dealt even if the attack is blocked.

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## Multiple Damage Instances

If an attack deals damage multiple times:
- Each instance is resolved separately
- Armor reduction applies to each instance individually
- Posture damage is applied per hit, not per attack

## Related notes
- [[Combat/Combat|Combat]]