[Ignored Knowledge]

According to the wiki:

Protection is a term for how much incoming damage can be reduced. It is a number which is calculated like so:

Modifying Stat + Armor Factor + Other modifiers = Protection

Modifying Stat is Defense if the damage is physical, and Resistance if it is magical. Armor Factor is equal to your armor's Defense if the damage is physical, and its Magic Protection if magical.

Some weapons have colorful descriptions along with damage types that are not 'physical' such as water or fire for example, but they're counted as physical. Both in defense and from skills that react to physical damage. (Besides tomes. Maybe) What I mean by damage type -I mean the actual damage type of the weapon and not any additions.

Was this intentional?

[MegaBlues]

Damage type and the attack's element are completely separate. You can have a magical slash-element attack, or a physical water-element attack.

[Soapy]

Pretty sure damage is Physical by default, so things that don't specify usually are.

[Ranylyn]

While Soapy and Blues hit the nail on the head, my job seems to be overcomplicating and overexpaining everything, so I may as well delve further into a post that most will dismiss as pointless, but a select few may appreciate.

If you look at, for example, a generic longsword versus a Narcus or Ensui, you'll notice that the damage type is "Slash" on the longsword. It doesn't specify that the damage type is physical. It is implied that the damage is physical since the weapon is one you physically strike with, regardless of Slash, Fire, etc. On the flipside, the Manic Slasher tome still does Magical damage despite being one of very few tomes to deal slash damage instead of Fire/Ice/Wind/Earth/Lightning, as the source of the damage is magical in nature.

While select exceptions do exist, such as Power Gradation, which does magic slash damage scaling with Str, it's fairly safe to assume that if something scales with physical stats like Strength, it goes against Defense (Stat and armor), and if something scales with magical stats like Willpower, it goes against Resistance (and M.Def on armor.)

And, of course, damage is physical unless Dev flags it as magical, so when it's not very obviously clearly magical, it's probably physical. For example, poison. Unresistable damage of most types are also generally counted as physical for the sake of generic Physical/Magical resistance (For example, Kraboid Shells give MGs a rough time until removed, since "unresistable" just means it ignores Def/Res, but not the percentage physical damage reduction.)


I hope this explanation helps to satiate any curiosity about why things are the way they are.

[Neus]

Maybe the battle log should specify if the damage taken was physical or magical.