Improvised Damage

Generic Hazard

The Improvising Damage table gives guidelines for determining damage on the fly.

Improvising Damage

Improvising Damage

Source: Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024) p. 30

Improvising Damage

Damage	Examples
1d10	Burned by coals, hit by a falling bookcase, pricked by a poison needle
2d10	Struck by lightning, stumbling into a firepit
4d10	Hit by falling rubble in a collapsing tunnel, tumbling into a vat of acid
10d10	Crushed by compacting walls, hit by whirling steel blades, wading through lava
18d10	Submerged in lava, hit by a crashing flying fortress
24d10	Tumbling into a vortex of fire on the “Elemental Plane of Fire”, crushed in the jaws of a godlike creature or a moon-size monster
^improvising-damage

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The Damage Severity and Level table is a guide to how deadly these damage amounts are for characters of different levels. Cross-reference a character’s level with the damage being dealt to gauge the severity of the damage.

Improvising Damage; Damage Severity and Level

Improvising Damage; Damage Severity and Level

Source: Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024) p. 30

Damage Severity and Level

Character Levels	Nuisance	Deadly
1–4	5 (1d10)	11 (2d10)
5–10	11 (2d10)	22 (4d10)
11–16	22 (4d10)	55 (10d10)
17–20	55 (10d10)	99 (18d10)
^damage-severity-and-level

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Nuisance damage rarely poses a risk of death to characters of the levels shown, but a severely weakened character might be laid low by this damage.

Deadly damage poses a significant threat to characters of the levels shown and could potentially kill such a character that’s missing many Hit Points.

Source: Dungeon Master’s Guide (2024) p. 30