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So I've been out of 5e for years and I'm recently getting back into it and I had a question about one of my weapons. It's a sword that does 2d6 piercing and 1d6 force. Do just roll 3d6, or do I do separate rolls?

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Mostly 3d6

The large majority of monsters do not care about force damage either way, and the sword must be magical if it has this special power.

Few exceptions

Against monsters that have resistance or vulnerability to force, but not slashing1, (or the other way around), you have to roll separately.

Swarms for example resist slashing damage even from magical sources:

  • 1d6 is not halved
  • 2d6 (plus your Str or Dex modifier, and whatever else you add) is halved

Solution

Always roll the force 1d6 with a dice of a different color, but tell your DM the total result, and mention that X of it is force, while Y is magic slashing.
As stated above, most of the time he will not care, and you do not want to make his job unnecessarily harder. If he cares, he will let you know.

1) Or piercing, or whatever kind of damage the base sword does.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I'd argue you should always roll different colored dice, and report it separated out -- because only the DM should know if the creature has resistance or immunity. If the DM is nice He'll hint at it after the first attack of that type. \$\endgroup\$
    – J. A. Streich
    Jul 9, 2017 at 0:27
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    \$\begingroup\$ @J.A.Streich this is what I meant, I rephrased \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Jul 9, 2017 at 8:07
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    \$\begingroup\$ I always report the damage of my warlock with hex and a psychic-damage sword as “X psychic damage, Y necrotic damage, X + Y total.” I don’t see how that is making my DM’s job harder if the extra information is extraneous. I don’t know that I think it’s a good suggestion to add things up without saying. \$\endgroup\$
    – KRyan
    Dec 19, 2018 at 22:06
  • \$\begingroup\$ @KRyan I meant most of the time (99% in this case) he only needs the total, providing 3 number will make thing more confusing. He has to keep in mind enough things as it is. \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Dec 19, 2018 at 22:10

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