GRIMHOWL DAMAGE TYPES & TRAITS
The world of Chondara is brutal, unforgiving, and dripping with ancient power. Damage in Grimhowl isn't just a number --- it's a story told in blood, smoke, and shattered sanity. The following types define how harm manifests in the Age of Beasts.
PHYSICAL DAMAGE TYPES
Mitigated by Armor and Shields unless noted otherwise.
Slicing
Wounds carved by keen edges --- blades, claws, razors, or anything meant to cut flesh and fabric alike.
Smashing
Blunt trauma delivered by heavy force: hammers, clubs, falling masonry, or a beast's bone-breaking strike.
Stabbing
Piercing injury caused by points and spikes --- arrows, spears, fangs, or magically-formed projectiles.
Bleed (Special Physical Damage)
Blood loss from an open wound that cannot be armored against.
Bleed damage bypasses Armor and Shields and is always treated as Gnawing.
Once you're leaking, that's on you to fix --- and if you can't stop moving, you're just going to leak faster.
ELEMENTAL DAMAGE TYPES
Energy that no armor was built to resist.
Fire
Flame, embers, heatwaves --- whether lit by torch, spell, or alchemical spark.
Cold
Frostbite, freezing winds, and the chilling bite of winter magic.
Electric
Arcing lightning, shocks, and conductive bursts of crackling power.
Sonic
Thunderclaps, concussive pressure, and sound so violent it carries force.
Acid
Corrosive fluids, dissolving sprays, and alchemical burns.
ELDRITCH DAMAGE TYPES
Magic that bends reality and crushes the world by its own rules.
Force
Concentrated impact, spatial compression, and arcane kinetic shock.
Force damage bypasses Armor and Shields --- you can't plate yourself against raw momentum.
ETERNAL DAMAGE TYPE
Power granted by gods --- benevolent, wrathful, or utterly indifferent.
Radiant
Divine brilliance, revelation, or focused celestial power.
Not inherently moral --- simply the touch of a god's hand, bright enough to scorch.
PRIMEVAL DAMAGE TYPE
The wildness of nature, beasts, toxins, and the corruption of the living world.
Toxic
Venoms, poisons, spores, fumes, and chemically or biologically harmful substances.
If it burns, sickens, paralyses, or melts you from the inside, it's Toxic.
PRIMORDIAL DAMAGE TYPE
Before gods. Before order. Before everything.
Decay
The unraveling of matter --- flesh withering, metal rusting, stone crumbling.
Entropy at its purest, drawn from the chaos before creation took shape.
Madness
Psychic intrusion, terror invoked, sanity ruptured, and nightmares weaponized.
Madness damage bypasses Armor and Shields because it's the mind that burns, not the flesh.
TRAITS
Gnawing (X Dice)
Whenever you take damage, you also take your Gnawing damage.
Gnawing damage does not trigger itself.
Represents harm that worsens because you cannot address it while fighting --- flames chewing on you, blood pouring, rot spreading, light searing deeper.
Drain
When this trait appears on an effect, the caster or user regains HP or MP equal to the amount defined by the ability.
Drain must be paired with a damage type --- it describes how the attacker feeds, not what form the harm takes.
⭐ QUICK REFERENCE
Physical:
Slicing, Smashing, Stabbing, Bleed
Elemental:
Fire, Cold, Electric, Sonic, Acid
Eldritch:
Force
Eternal:
Radiant
Primeval:
Toxic
Primordial:
Decay, Madness
Traits:
Gnawing, Drain
🩸 Delianna's Note
If anyone complains that this damage list is "too brutal," remind them they're playing Grimhowl --- not hugging puppies in the Shire. Damage should feel dangerous. It should bite. It should leave marks. And if the enemies in Chondara aren't making your players sweat, we'll just... adjust a few stat blocks until they do.
--- With love and fangs,
Deli 💋
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Special Materials of Grimhowl
Steel remembers. Wood remembers. Stone remembers.
In Grimhowl, special materials are not simply stronger---they are selective. Each is attuned to specific creature types, resonating violently against certain forms of existence while remaining unremarkable against others.
All special materials follow the same mechanical rules. The only thing that changes is which creature types they affect.
Learn the pattern once. Wield it forever.
Material List
Material Magic Tradition Damage Source Effective Against
Blackpine Primeval Toxic Demons, Undead
Deep Iron Eldritch Force Fey, Trolls, Constructs
Solarite Eternal Radiant Angels, Devils, Abominations
Infernium Elemental Acid, Cold, Fire, Electric, Sonic Dragons, Elementals, Giants
Dreadsteel Primordial Decay, Madness Beasts, Plants, Humanoids
Unified Special Material Effects
All items crafted from special materials use the following abilities.
Whenever these rules reference a specific creature type, they apply only to the creature types listed for that material.
Weapons Crafted from Special Materials
Static Trait --- Predatory Edge
When attacking a creature type the material is effective against:
- Gain +1 success on the attack roll.
This bonus is always active and does not require spending ★.
★ Success Activation --- Penetrating Strike (2★)
When you hit a creature type the material is effective against, you may spend 2★.
-
Reduce any Armor or Resistance to any damage dealt by this weapon by one die size
-
This reduction applies to this attack only
This represents the material momentarily destabilizing the target's physical, magical, or existential defenses.
Armor Crafted from Special Materials
Static Trait --- Warded Defense
When you are attacked by a creature type the material is effective against:
- Reduce the attacker's total successes by 1
This reduction is applied after the roll is resolved.
Shields Crafted from Special Materials
Shield Trait --- Reactive Backlash (1★)
When you successfully Parry an attack from a creature type the material is effective against, you may spend 1★ to trigger a backlash.
-
The attacker gains 1 stack of Disadvantage on Melee skill checks
-
This Disadvantage lasts until the end of their next turn
The exact manifestation of the backlash depends on the material's nature (rot, radiant feedback, structural recoil, elemental shock, psychic rupture, etc.).
Delianna's Note
"Don't ask what your blade does. Ask what it was made for. Everything else is just noise."