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Had a discussion about Force Evocation at the table today, and we stumbled across the spell Crushing Hand.
The spell deals damage, but the type is not specified in the spell description.

A crushing hand deals 2d6+12 points of damage on each successful grapple check against an opponent.

We reason that, being a force evocation spell, it is reasonable to presume that this deals Force damage, but as this is part of a grapple, there is the interpretation that this is also just normal weapon damage (and probably counts as Bludgeoning).

Does anyone have any further insight, or know of any rulings, that specify which type of damage this deals?

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If the damage isn't specified, it would be untyped damage. James Jacobs acknowledges that some spells and effects are intended to do untyped damage in this thread on paizo

Spells and effects that do untyped damage are pretty rare in Pathfinder, since these spells are quite powerful since their damage can't be stopped by any form of immunity, resistance, or damage reduction.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Oh wow, that's some entertaining shenanigans! (Although I suppose 2d6+12 for a 9th level spell, with only a chance of succeeding a grapple, is pretty limiting) \$\endgroup\$
    – royalmurder
    Aug 13, 2017 at 4:19
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    \$\begingroup\$ Yeah, a level 1 martial with +4 strength and a great sword with power attack can do 2d6 + 9 (4 * 1.5 strength + 2 * 1.5 power attack), so...woot level 9 spell bypassing everything \$\endgroup\$
    – user36958
    Aug 13, 2017 at 4:28

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