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Spirit damage replaced alignment damage in Pathfinder 2e since the Remaster.

Unfortunately, no Bestiary came out together with the new Player Core, so it is a bit unclear how spirit damage works. The Player Core says:

Directly affecting the spiritual essence of a creature, spirit damage can damage a target projecting its consciousness or possessing another creature even if the target’s body is elsewhere. The possessed creature isn’t harmed by the blast. Spirit damage doesn’t harm creatures that have no spirit, such as constructs.

So it seems similar to mental, mindless creatures and constructs are immune. Then I found a Reddit, saying about Foundry (I know it is not official, but quite close to it):

Via discord, stwlam has said that they have received clarification and will be updating their rules to allow mindless undead to take spirit damage.

I am happy that mental and spirit do not have the exact same coverage, but it is still unclear for example if Oozes take spirit damage.

Do we have any official or close-to-official list of things immune to spirit damage?

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  • \$\begingroup\$ I really hope Monster Core provides a definite answer \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Commented Feb 4 at 10:23

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Only Constructs are immune

Based on the Monster Core, every construct is immune, and only constructs are immune.

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    \$\begingroup\$ I find it good, that the potential target set is bigger than for void damage. And divine casters have an option now that works against constructs; Needle Darts \$\endgroup\$
    – SpearCarrier.no2
    Commented Jun 29 at 20:49
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Anything Without a Spirit

Spirit is defined as one of the four essences of magic, described in the Player Core:

Spirit

Also called soul, ethereal essence, or spiritual essence, spirit is an otherworldly building block that makes up a being’s immaterial and immortal self. The spirit travels through the Ethereal Plane and into the Great Beyond after the death of the physical body. The spirit is most easily affected by divine and occult spells.

Spirits belong to living things, and normally travel into the Great Beyond upon death.

This is why even mindless undead would be affected by spirit damage, for possessing part of the soul corrupted to animate them. And while oozes typically have limited mental capabilities (though not always), as living beings they posses some spirit.

Constructs in particular exist outside of the cycle of souls, as animated objects with usually no connection to life or undeath. Exceptions such as the soulbound constructs, golems, and the various playable construct ancestries (androids, automatons, and poppets) which possess spirits would be affected by spirit damage.

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    \$\begingroup\$ This is just as vague as the Player Core itself \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Commented Dec 29, 2023 at 10:58
  • \$\begingroup\$ According to some belief systems, demons and the like have no soul. \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Commented Dec 29, 2023 at 11:04
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    \$\begingroup\$ @András It's really just constructs, plus/minus any explicit exceptions per-creature. If you're using a homebrew setting where demons aren't made from particularly sinful souls then they could be one of those exceptions, though that would really hurt holy champions so you might want to houserule them as affected anyways. \$\endgroup\$
    – brandon
    Commented Dec 29, 2023 at 18:00
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    \$\begingroup\$ You might want to note that golems might also be susceptible to spirit damage as they often have an animating spirit inside them. 2e.aonprd.com/MonsterFamilies.aspx?ID=57 \$\endgroup\$
    – Pyrotechnical
    Commented Dec 31, 2023 at 16:32
  • \$\begingroup\$ @Pyrotechnical, that would be very interesting \$\endgroup\$
    – András
    Commented Jan 4 at 14:09

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