Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide


Player Core / Chapter 8: Playing the Game

Immunity, Weakness, and Resistance

Source Player Core pg. 408 Spring 2026, 1st Printing
Damage and effects can be negated, deal less damage, or deal more damage due to the recipient’s immunity, weakness, or resistance.

Immunity

Source Player Core pg. 408 Spring 2026, 1st Printing
When you have immunity to a specific type of damage, you ignore all damage of that type. If you have immunity to a specific condition or type of effect, you can't be affected by that condition or any effect of that type. You can still be targeted by an ability that includes an effect or condition you are immune to; you just don't apply that particular effect or condition.

If you have immunity to effects with a certain trait (such as death effects, poison, or disease), you are unaffected by effects with that trait. An immunity might match both a trait and a damage type (such as electricity). The immunity applies to effects with the trait as well as damage of that type. Some complex effects might have parts that affect you even if you're immune to one of the effect's traits; for instance, a creature immune to death effects wouldn't ignore the poison damage or concealed condition from a toxic cloud spell.

Immunity to Critical Hits

Source Player Core pg. 408 Spring 2026, 1st Printing
Immunity to critical hits works a little differently. When a creature immune to critical hits is critically hit by a Strike or other attack that deals damage, it takes normal damage instead of double damage. This does not make it immune to any other critical success effects of the actions, such as a critical specialization effect or the extra damage of the deadly trait. However, in some cases the GM might determine the added effects don’t apply.

Immunity to Nonlethal

Source Player Core pg. 408 Spring 2026, 1st Printing
Another exception is immunity to the nonlethal trait. If you’re immune to nonlethal, you’re immune to all damage from attacks and effects with the nonlethal trait, no matter what other type the damage has. For instance, a typical construct has immunity to nonlethal attacks. No matter how hard you hit it with your fist, you’re not going to damage it. However, you can take a penalty to remove the nonlethal trait from your fist, and some abilities give you unarmed attacks without the nonlethal trait.

Temporary Immunity

Source Player Core pg. 408 Spring 2026, 1st Printing
Some effects grant you immunity to the same effect for a set amount of time. If an effect grants you temporary immunity, repeated applications of that effect don't affect you for as long as the temporary immunity lasts. Unless the effect says it applies only to a certain creature's ability, it doesn't matter who created the effect. For example, the blindness spell says, “The target is temporarily immune to blindness for 1 minute.” If anyone casts blindness on that creature again before 1 minute passes, the spell has no effect.

Temporary immunity doesn't prevent or end ongoing effects of the source of the temporary immunity. For instance, if an ability makes you frightened and you then gain temporary immunity to the ability, you don't immediately lose the frightened condition due to the immunity you just gained—you simply don't become frightened if you're targeted by the ability again before the immunity ends.

Weakness

Source Player Core pg. 408 Spring 2026, 1st Printing
If you have a weakness to a certain type of damage, that type of damage is extra effective against you. Whenever you would take that type of damage, increase the amount of damage by the value of the weakness. For instance, if you are dealt 2d6 fire damage and have weakness 5 to fire, you take 2d6+5 fire damage.

A single effect can activate more than one weakness at a time, but adds each of the subject's weaknesses only once. For example, if you made a Strike with a flaming cold iron battle axe benefiting from a spell that gives it additional fire damage, and you targeted a creature with weakness to cold iron, fire, and slashing, the Strike would benefit from all three weaknesses but wouldn't apply the fire weakness twice.

Some weaknesses can apply when a creature wouldn't normally take damage, as determined by the GM. In such cases, you take damage equal to the weakness value when touched or affected by something with that characteristic. For example, a creature with weakness to water would take extra damage if it were targeted by a spell with the water trait or splashed with water.

Resistance

Source Player Core pg. 408 Spring 2026, 1st Printing
After any weaknesses, apply resistances. If you have resistance to a type of damage, each time you would take damage of that type, reduce the amount of damage by the listed number (to a minimum of 0 damage).

Resistance can specify combinations of damage types and other characteristics. For instance, you might encounter a monster resistant to non-magical bludgeoning damage, meaning it would take less damage from bludgeoning attacks that aren't magical, but would take normal damage from a +1 mace (since it's magical) or a non-magical spear (since it deals piercing damage). A resistance also might have an exception. Resistance 10 to physical damage (except silver) would reduce any physical damage by 10 unless that damage was dealt by a silver weapon. A damage source can be changed by both a resistance and a weakness. For instance, a cold iron battle axe's damage could both increase due to cold iron weakness and decrease due to resistance to slashing damage.

A single effect can activate more than one resistance at a time, but subtracts each of the subject's resistances only once. If the subject has more than one resistance to the same damage type, they apply only one, usually the highest. For a resistance to a category including multiple damage types, like resistance to physical damage, to spells, or to all damage, if the subject is taking damage of multiple types included in the category, the subject can choose which damage type to use the resistance against.