D&D 5E What does immunity look like?

[Tony Vargas]

With shapechangers I like to describe immunity or resistance as instant healing and/or 'ignoring' or 'not geelimg' a mortal wound. I see nothing wrong with clarifying that the attack in question was useless vs merely reduced.

If you use the 'signs of wear start showing around 1/2 hps, but we don't dare call it bloodied' side-bar you could be mean and not give any hint that attacks are actually working or not until 1/2 hps. If you want to go into detail you could do so only if the monster feigned the usual effort in avoiding blows, even though it knows them to be harmless, a little Deception v Passive Insight.

Then, of course there are knowledge checks..

 

[BookBarbarian]

I'm always tempted to shout "Ugh. My weapon is ineffective" like my characters in Neverwinter Nights did. Actually that's pretty much what I do "Your weapon appears to have no effect on the creature."

 

[Quickleaf]

Dear ENworlders:

When my players go up against creatures which have resistance to certain damage, I usually tell them something like "It seems that the blow didn't do as much damage as it probably should have."

But I'm not sure how to describe blows against a creature who is immune to a type of damage. Let's take for example, a jackelwere. They are immune to damage from nonmagical weapons which are not silvered. So when the fighter attacks with a common longsword and scores a hit, what happens? Does the blow bounce off of the jackelwere? Does the blow land but the jackelwere goes all Wolverine and the wounds heal? (Sorry to mix jackels and wolverines there). Is there some forcefield around the jackelwere which glows when struck, deflecting the blow away?

So how do I describe the effect of immunity without coming right out and saying "Your mundane weapons are of no use here!"?

Thanks for any suggestions.

--Scott

Here's one I have used with a werewolf (not a jackalwere, but close):

Your longsword sinks deep into the man's side and... (pause) The wince of pain on his face changes into a snarling smile as his eyes flash yellow. When you withdraw your blade, there is not a drop of blood on it.

EDIT: My approach is to vary the description according to what makes sense (aka what my imagination comes up with) for the specific monster being confronted by the players.

 

[GX.Sigma]

I'll usually say "The monster resists/is immune to that attack. Half/no damage." I might give a visual description, but I won't mince words with game mechanics.

 

[Triumph_Fork]

I think if it blew off him that's decent. If the players don't get it right away, I'd even say: "He didn't even flinch" or "Your swing was mighty yet it did not leave a single scratch".

 

[steeldragons]

This is simply a matter for your imagination and internal consistency within the game world.

Not every description of a creature with immunity needs to work the same, descriptively.

Fore the record, I see nothign wrong with, after a round or two of melee strikes, which the players clearly know should have been successful, you just flat out say, "Yeah. Doesn't look like you've made a scratch. Doesn't seem wounded at all." That is something, clearly, in front of their eyes, in combat, the characters would be able to notice.

For your example of the jackalwere, I'd say just that. Let them make their attacks. "Your weapons simply don't seem to pierce the hide. It odesn't seem to have been damaged at all." If you want to make it "weapons bouncing off," then do that. Or, "the creature's fur seems/feels like iron when you hit it and it's not taking any damage." If you want to go "supers" descriptive, have one clearly powerful blow (say someone rolled an 18 or something, so the whole table is, like, 'YAY!" and waiting for the damage) have the jackalwere catch the blade in its hand/grip to stop the attack. Look down upon the character and sneer/snarl.

That oughta get the message across.

But for things, like, immune to cold or whatever, just say something like, "<the monster immune to cold> is slammed by your Cone of Cold. The magical blast of ice, snow and wind howls out and slams into the monster with the crashing sound of a thousand panes of glass breaking at once. The creature's movement is unaltered. When the spell blast is finished, it continues its uninterrupted approach unphased [and undamaged]."

Maybe if you want to make things seem MORE powerful than they are, like, say for a dragon...have it be a "forcefield." Why not? "The great red wyrm casually raises a clawed hand. Your fireball bounces, harmlessly off of some unseen barrier and bursts into effect upon the cavern ceiling." What happened?! The characters have no way of knowing. A few more fire attacks might [should probably] tell them "fire" is not going to be any help to them in this situation. But maybe not. All they or the players need to know is the fire attack did no damage, i.e. in meta-game terms, it is immune.

Bottom line, the descriptions of things can be as simple, "It's undamaged," or elaborate (see above) as you feel in the moment.