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Oct 29, 2009 -- 11:31AM, GrungyFrills wrote:

Why is this thread so long?

The current debate seems to be:
If a power does typed damage, can we assume that it has that damage type's keyword, even if the power does not actually contain the keyword in the standard keyword area of the power description?

I'm personally ok with using PHB p55 "a power that deals acid damage is an acid effect and thus has the acid keyword" as an answer (it's at least intuitive and resolves the issue for now), but given it's context I wouldn't say with any certainty that this is actually what the writers were trying to say (i.e. by "and thus has the acid keyword", they could've possibly meant "and this is why the power has the acid keyword in the keyword section of it's power description")

What if you were using a Frost weapon or something with + elemental damage on a crit, but you were not using the weapons power that allowd you to convert all damage to the elemental type.  Would a power that crit with that weapon get the Cold keyword by virtue of adding some cold damage?

Oct 29, 2009 -- 1:36PM, tvar1 wrote:

What if you were using a Frost weapon or something with + elemental damage on a crit, but you were not using the weapons power that allowd you to convert all damage to the elemental type.  Would a power that crit with that weapon get the Cold keyword by virtue of adding some cold damage?

No, just the crit damage is certainly typed, because it's not contained under the power's "Hit:" paragraph.  The crit damage is separate, even if you use the AW to add the keyword.

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Using the AW of an item adds the keyword to the power.  How is this not clear?  It says "all."  I saw someone else quote the same thing, PHB 226, and I quoted it myself because I thought someone had missed it somewhere.

I don't know if the damage causes the keyword to be part of the power or the keyword causes the damage to be (additionally) typed, but I do know that the text says "all" keywords apply for that power, as if the power becomes an aggregation of powers.

Quoting the original poster:

Oct 28, 2009 -- 4:04PM, Damon_Tor wrote:

In some crit-fisher builds I've seen, they've talked about going for Student of Caiphon to get crits on 18-20 with radiant powers then using a Radiant Weapon to turn twin strike (or storm of blades or whatever) into a radiant attack.  As I see it, the radiant weapon makes the damage radiant, but does not give the power the radiant keyword, and so this would not work, correct?  And if this does work, doesn't the Brilliant Energy Weapon make more sense, as it has d10s for crit die?

My answer:

This would work, because the power is processed to include the keyword resulting from the use of the Radiant or Brilliant Energy Weapon's At-Will power.

mvincent:  I use "AW" as my code for "At-Will" when I'm writing it on power cards.  I did not know it wasn't in common use.  I hope it wasn't misunderstood to be "as-written."

If I sound snarky, I'm sorry.  I know some people are learning.  So am I, as a matter of fact.

Oct 29, 2009 -- 2:35PM, GrungyFrills wrote:

I think it's only when a power explicitly has the keyword that it has the keyword.  For instance, Flaming Weapon crit damage is typed, but unless you use the weapon's At-Will, the power does not have the Fire KW.  The magic item should be a boon, and in the case of a fire-resistant or -immune target, the player should not be penalized when critting, as a general rule, IMHO.

I was thinking about that, and adding the Fire keyword to the power on a crit doesn't penalize the player at all actually.  An immune target is immune to the bonus crit damage one way or the other, since that damage is fire damage no matter what, and the creature would be affected by the rest of the damage normally (assuming of course that the Flaming weapon's at-will is not being used).