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Dungeons & Dra.. 4e Rules Q&A Can someone please explain radiant damage?
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Switch to Forum Live View Can someone please explain radiant damage?
4 years ago  ::  Apr 29, 2009 - 9:56AM #21
narack
Date Joined: Jul 28, 2007
Posts: 536

MarcoB wrote:

Page 92 of the PHB shows a Holy Strike to have a Hit of 1[w] + Strength Modifier radiant damage. How do I find radiant damage?


Radiant is a damage type like fire element is.

4th edition : Radiant
3rd edition : Positive Energy

4th edition : Necrotic
3rd edition : Negative Energy

4th edition : Fire
3rd edition : Fire

4th edition : Cold
3rd edition : Cold

4th edition : Lightning
3rd edition : Lightning

4th edition : Thunder
3rd edition : Sonic

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4 years ago  ::  Apr 29, 2009 - 5:35PM #22
PheonixIV
Date Joined: Sep 29, 2008
Posts: 4,389
Those of you who fear the Darkness have never seen what the Light can do!

Honostly, i think it's probably safe to say that "Radiant" is a mixture of holy and light energies. Normal Radiant damage would probably usually show up as blinding beams of warm holy light that sears the flesh and impure souls.

It's not always holy though; Star Pact Warlocks tend to use Cold and Radiant powers, which i imagine would generally show up as a cold blue light that sears with cold rather than holy power.


Basically; at it's core it's magical lasers.
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4 years ago  ::  Apr 30, 2009 - 7:30AM #23
AbdulAlhazred
Date Joined: Jan 9, 2009
Posts: 10,250

Dark Lambo wrote:

Naw, man.
There's plenty of radiation that can burn without you seeing light...

Heck, that's what happens in your microwave. :P


And again, if you were putting out enough energy in ANY wavelength, be it microwave, x-rays, etc. to damage your enemies it would be lethal to everyone around. You could fluff it that way, it isn't any less realistic than most of the rest of the game, but it certainly wouldn't work like it does in the game IRL. So it is pretty safe to say it is magic.

That is not dead which may eternal lie
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4 years ago  ::  Apr 30, 2009 - 2:46PM #24
Bedeverekm
Date Joined: Feb 25, 2008
Posts: 636

narack wrote:

4th edition : Thunder
3.5 edition : Thunder
3.0 edition: Thunder
2nd edition: Thundercats
1st edition: Ho!


Fixed your typo.

Reality is a reference point, not a limitation.
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4 years ago  ::  Apr 30, 2009 - 3:01PM #25
Nived
Date Joined: Apr 12, 2003
Posts: 1,732
Ever seen the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark?


That's radiant damage.

Nothing better for melting the faces off Nazis.
Aesop had it right 2,500 years ago, "By endeavoring to please everyone, he had pleased no one, and lost his ass in the bargain".
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4 years ago  ::  May 01, 2009 - 5:36PM #26
DSCrankshaw
Date Joined: Oct 28, 2003
Posts: 1,008
And I feel I ought to point out that the advantage of radiant damage is that it's among the least common resistances and the most common vulnerabilities found in the monster manual.
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4 years ago  ::  May 02, 2009 - 12:22AM #27
Dark_Lambo
Date Joined: Aug 22, 2005
Posts: 3,757

Nived wrote:

Ever seen the end of Raiders of the Lost Ark?


That's radiant damage.

Nothing better for melting the faces off Nazis.


True, Nazis have Vulnerable 10 to Radiant Damage.

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4 years ago  ::  May 02, 2009 - 12:37AM #28
JLaurHughes
Date Joined: Mar 12, 2005
Posts: 769
To the OP: The actual definition of radiant is page 55 of the PHB.

PHB]Radiant:Searing white light or shimmering colors.


Which is pretty much along the lines of what most everyone has sai wrote:

Radiant:Searing white light or shimmering colors.[/quote]
Which is pretty much along the lines of what most everyone has said here.

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4 years ago  ::  May 02, 2009 - 10:24AM #29
Someone
Date Joined: Dec 18, 2003
Posts: 557
And remember, a wizard casting one of the prismatic spells has to use a disco ball for their orb implement.

Ahem. More on topic, another good example of a radiant keyword attack would be cyclops' eye beams- its not fire nor lighting, but it blows big holes in things with just a glowing red line.
That's Someone, with a capital S.

"Cat's out of the bag on that one, isn't it? Who puts cats in bags, anyway? Cats hate bags." -Sheogorath, Oblivion
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4 years ago  ::  May 04, 2009 - 7:50AM #30
Omni-Wyvernil
Date Joined: Apr 1, 2005
Posts: 520

JLaurHughes wrote:

To the OP: The actual definition of radiant is page 55 of the PHB.

Radiant: Searing white light or shimmering colors.

Which is pretty much along the lines of what most everyone has said here.


This seems to work with the majority of radiant powers, but tends to fall apart when you're talking about "darker" classes like star-pact warlocks and evil clerics. It just seems a bit weird for a Cleric of Lloth to be shooting rainbows at people.

In these cases, it's a good idea to reflavor the form of the powers to fit the deity. For instance, the prayers of a cleric of Pelor would emit golden light, while a cleric of Sehanine would shoot silvery moonlight at foes. For dark gods like Vecna or Lloth, the "light" might take the form of a sickly green glow which horrifically melts their enemies.

Other solutions may include:
1. Evil clerics use necrotic in place of radiant damage. I seem to recall this was suggested somewhere in one of the DM guides.
2. "Priests" of evil gods aren't actually clerics, but members of other classes (warlocks or wizards) trained in Religion and using ritual casting.

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Dungeons & Dra.. 4e Rules Q&A Can someone please explain radiant damage?
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