diff --git a/lib/httpx/adapters/datadog.rb b/lib/httpx/adapters/datadog.rb
index cfd2b700..0e5b28e4 100644
--- a/lib/httpx/adapters/datadog.rb
+++ b/lib/httpx/adapters/datadog.rb
@@ -64,7 +64,7 @@ module Datadog
           def finish(response)
             return unless @span
 
-            if response.respond_to?(:error)
+            if response.is_a?(::HTTPX::ErrorResponse)
               @span.set_error(response.error)
             else
               @span.set_tag(Datadog::Ext::HTTP::STATUS_CODE, response.status.to_s)
diff --git a/lib/httpx/response.rb b/lib/httpx/response.rb
index 4bbdc776..675b6372 100644
--- a/lib/httpx/response.rb
+++ b/lib/httpx/response.rb
@@ -64,10 +64,16 @@ module HTTPX
     end
     # :nocov:
 
-    def raise_for_status
+    def error
       return if @status < 400
 
-      raise HTTPError, self
+      HTTPError.new(self)
+    end
+
+    def raise_for_status
+      return self unless (err = error)
+
+      raise err
     end
 
     def json(options = nil)
@@ -311,6 +317,7 @@ module HTTPX
     end
 
     def status
+      warn ":#{__method__} is deprecated, use :error.message instead"
       @error.message
     end
 
diff --git a/sig/response.rbs b/sig/response.rbs
index eb7a0916..235e7bba 100644
--- a/sig/response.rbs
+++ b/sig/response.rbs
@@ -1,6 +1,8 @@
 module HTTPX
   interface _Response
-    def raise_for_status: () -> void
+    def raise_for_status: () -> self
+
+    def error: () -> StandardError?
   end
 
   class Response
@@ -89,7 +91,6 @@ module HTTPX
     @options: Options
 
     attr_reader request: Request
-    attr_reader error: Exception
 
     def status: () -> (Integer | _ToS)
 
diff --git a/test/error_response_test.rb b/test/error_response_test.rb
index f157d038..0c8fdbcd 100644
--- a/test/error_response_test.rb
+++ b/test/error_response_test.rb
@@ -10,6 +10,12 @@ class ErrorResponseTest < Minitest::Test
     assert r1.status == "wow"
   end
 
+  def test_error_response_error
+    error = RuntimeError.new("wow")
+    r1 = ErrorResponse.new(request_mock, error, {})
+    assert r1.error == error
+  end
+
   def test_error_response_raise_for_status
     some_error = Class.new(RuntimeError)
     r1 = ErrorResponse.new(request_mock, some_error.new("wow"), {})
diff --git a/test/response_test.rb b/test/response_test.rb
index 44ef97ab..e64c0e31 100644
--- a/test/response_test.rb
+++ b/test/response_test.rb
@@ -28,16 +28,24 @@ class ResponseTest < Minitest::Test
     assert resource.body == "data", "body should have been updated"
   end
 
-  def test_raise_for_status
+  def test_response_error
     r1 = Response.new(request, 200, "2.0", {})
-    r1.raise_for_status
+    assert r1.error.nil?
+    r2 = Response.new(request, 404, "2.0", {})
+    assert !r2.error.nil?
+    assert r2.error.is_a?(HTTPError)
+  end
+
+  def test_response_raise_for_status
+    r1 = Response.new(request, 200, "2.0", {})
+    assert r1.raise_for_status == r1
     r2 = Response.new(request, 302, "2.0", {})
-    r2.raise_for_status
+    assert r2.raise_for_status == r2
     r3 = Response.new(request, 404, "2.0", {})
-    error = assert_raises(HTTPX::HTTPError) { r3.raise_for_status }
+    error = assert_raises(HTTPError) { r3.raise_for_status }
     assert error.status == 404
     r4 = Response.new(request, 500, "2.0", {})
-    error = assert_raises(HTTPX::HTTPError) { r4.raise_for_status }
+    error = assert_raises(HTTPError) { r4.raise_for_status }
     assert error.status == 500
   end