The Dungeons & Dragons Player's Handbook lists thirteen different damage types that players and their enemies use in battle, but there is a fourteenth damage type that only appears in a single book. The thirteen standard D&D damage types involve three weapon damage types and ten elemental damage types, all of which can be accessed by characters in various ways. The three weapon types are Bludgeoning, Piercing, and Slashing, while the ten elemental types are Acid, Cold, Fire, Force, Lightning, Necrotic, Poison, Psychic, Radiant, and Thunder.
All of the weapons in D&D use one of the three weapon damage types, with Bludgeoning used for weapons that bash enemies, like a hammer, Piercing for weapons that punch through an enemy, like an arrow, and Slashing for weapons that cut enemies to shreds, like a longsword. The ten elemental types are commonly used with D&D's offensive and defensive spells, though it's possible to use equipment to deliver additional damage types, such as throwing an acid vial at an enemy to deal Acid damage. The reason these damage types exist in D&D is to determine strengths and weaknesses, as it's possible to take half or be immune to damage of a certain type, or even take double damage.
The thirteen damage types come up a lot in D&D and some players will create specific elemental builds that specialize in maximizing their damage output. There is one D&D book that introduced a brand new damage type to the game, which is only used during a specific minigame. This damage type is so rare that it's unlikely that the players will be able to resist its might.
The Wild Beyond The Witchlight Introduced The Dreaded Custard Damage
The D&D campaign called The Wild Beyond the Witchlight introduced Custard damage to the game. The Wild Beyond the Witchlight starts with the players in the Witchlight Carnival, where they are free to compete in carnival games, as they gather information about stirrings in the Feywild. One of the locations in the Witchlight Carnival is the Feasting Orchard, where players can take part in a cake-eating contest. These cakes are filled with custard and the player must pass Constitution saving throws in order to keep going. If they fail the saving throws, then they take Custard damage.
Having their hit points reduced to zero by Custard damage causes the player to lose the contest, but it won't kill them, and they will regain their lost hit points once the contest is over. Custard damage was a joke damage type introduced in a single book, and it's unlikely that any player would seek to become a Crustāromancer, even for a fleeting combat advantage, as nothing in the Monster Manual resists Custard damage. Then again, the upcoming Spelljammer D&D campaign setting is introducing Space Clowns and they have massive pie launchers as weapons on their ships. The time might have come for Dungeons & Dragons parties to find a way to protect themselves from the horrors of dessert-based weaponry.