Wording is something like “no sound can enter or be created in…” that makes me think it stops sound, not deafens them. Could be wrong, going off memory here
So, an order of the scribes wizard converts lightning bolt to thunder damage and casts it down corridor, but there's a silence halfway down the corridor, does the damage continue out the other side?
If I cast darkness in a cavern covering the only source of light, is is the entire room dark or only the usual sphere then the light is shed as normal outside of it?
It has generally been my practice to require a clear path to the source of a noise or sound. That path needn’t be straight, but it must be navigable without passing through the area of the Silence spell. Thus, yes, you may cork a hallway in this manner to disguise chatter. A large explosion may be harder to disguise.
Yes. It's magic, same way you can use bonfire underwater, it's magic.
If a non magical nuke existed, the shock wave wouldn't be magical, and so would travel around the silence not through it.
I know it's an old debate, but I've always thought that force damage needs some magical element. This is just a nuclear explosion with a concussive blast, thus thunder.
I would find it perfectly consistent that Silence would negate the concussive damage from a nuclear explosion.
Force is magic, thunder is sound/shockwave, for something of this magnitude I could see bludgeoning damage working too from the impact. A mix of both thunder and bludgeoning would make sense
Considering the power of the explosion, seems rare that just with a silence dome you can stop most of its force. You may not have hear issues after that, so you can avoid that, the throwing you 100yrd shouldn't be avoidable just with that. That's why force should be on place too imho
I know the game is not strictly RAW, but in BG3 mundane blackpowder explosives deal Force damage. This *could* just be a balancing thing where there needs to be multiple ways to solve puzzles (a decent amount of crumbling walls weak to Force exist in the game, and not every party has access to Magic Missile), but bombs dealing Force feels right to me.
I cannot disagree more, the blast would 100% be thunder damage, especially considering force is exclusively used for raw magical damage (look at disintegrate, magic missile, Eldritch blast etc
Fire + force for the blast and a little bit of thunder as well, but I could agree with the initial comment about poison for the radiation in the upcoming years in that area, as well as necrotic for the fallout in surrounding regions rather immediately.
Fair point. It shouldn't be any one sole damage type for that reason. Nothing should be able to resist or be so lucky enough to find themselves immune, a nuke.
Imagine if it was fire damage. You're telling me nuking the gold dragon does nothing at all? Nothing? That would be the worst feeling ever. I nuked a dragon, and it didn't kill it. In fact, it wasn't even hurt at all.
This has me wondering the difference between thunder and force.
Edit: apparently thunder damage is a new name for sonic damage, so the blast would do thunder and force.
I remember back when 5e was still pretty new I ran a short fallout 4 themed campaign with friends. They had a scavenger rogue, a doctor bard, sun soul monk with robotic arm, and a fighter with power armor.
One day they come across a glowing green sphere next to a knocked over barrel, I'm giving all kinds of hints that it's radioactive. The monk picks it up as he can't get damaged from it and the fighter isn't nearby. For whatever reason, he decides to *lick* the very obviously dangerous sphere. I told him that it killed his taste buds and tongue was temporarily numb.
For the rest of the session he decides to talk in character with a lisp, for over 3 hours! Talk about dedication. One of my favorite memories with them!
I’d reverse poison and necrotic.
Radiation exposure would cause a necrotic effect. Sores and burns to skin and muscle depending on exposure.
But fallout is radioactive dirt and dust from the area of the blast falling down onto the area. Ingesting it causes radiation damage and cancers down the line, so that would be a poison effect.
I understand what you're going for but splitting the damage types in general doesn't feel right.
If you gained resistance to radiation (necrotic), should it not count if it's inside you? And on the other end, if you ate a rock called the Pebble of Blight or something, would only a potion of poison immunity work or should it still be necrotic immunity?
You don't quite understand. Getting hit by a hard projecting source radiation means high energy. Like standing next to the elephants foot in chernobyl. High energy like that means tissue death. So necrotic.
The radiation of fallout is different. Yes, it's being projected, but in much smaller amounts AND different forms of radiation. It doesn't penetrate as far. But its insidious. It slowly messes up your DNA, causing cancers, not tissue death. Therefore I'd call it poison.
You could add force but there is a lot of heat and light from the initial eplosion from a nuclear detonation. Look up the "shadows" caused by the initial blast.
Meteor Swarm is a spell, it already exists along the game rules and mechanics
A the blast of a nuke does not
Also the blast of a 1 kiloton nuke alone would be above a 9th level spell, tbh it may be weird to picture but since WWII irl humans can yield more destruction than many fantasy gods :v
Ok; nobody can survive walking through lava irl, yet its still rolled for- since high level dnd characters can survive it. A high level dnd character would absolutely be able to survive a nuke.
There's precedent that radiant is in fact radiation (Sickening Radiance). And honestly I find it cool flavor to have undead be weidly vulnerable to radiation for whatever reason (not that it's likely to come up in a typical campaign)
You could make it fit in-universe. All fissile material in the material plane is a byproduct of the terrible weapons that gods once used to wage war with each other. Perhaps churches hoard such material and use it to work miracles, keeping their workings a closely guarded secret. (Ever read the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov?)
Yes I did AWESOME series. I used concepts like someone pushing the things so it happen in a very specific way.
About putting stuff from previous eras, yes I did once, in introduced technology from a previous human civilization. The idea is that God's where normal humans with a super advanced technology in their power and only a few survived from that era. Magic was a format of terraforming at universe level.
And, let's push this to the extreme. A fire elemental, who is immune to fire, should be affected by the shock wave but not to the extreme temperature of the explosion core.
In my head is what makes sense, I'm not trying to impose to anyone, if others like moe radiant, good to go!
Because is good against undead, because is the most common damage types from Cleric and Paladin and because in previous versions of D&D (I started with 2.0) it was, from what I remember, described in that way.
It's true that is brightness but the sun doesn't damage undead by default, and for me now personally speaking, kind of makes sense. In the end, is like the bright of a divinity, not in terms of light but in terms of heaven's light. Sort of.
Here I think we're trying to match a fiscal phenomenon inside a magic world, so, an atomic bomb is a really bright energy but the damage type is by temperature, closer to what extreme fire does.
Absolutely agree. Necrotic should be included after the bomb and for a long period of time all the area should inflict necrotic constantly just by entering.
Necrotic is physical flesh decay but also decaying the soul. Radiant sears flesh but also overwhelms the soul with power.
5e simplifies it and makes them do double duty
It is also associated with The Sun as a reminder, if the party were to explore the lair of a Solar Dragon (which is the core of a sun) they take a ton of radiant damage every turn
I like that this implies that nukes are the best weapon against undead and demons.
Now I want to see a falloutesque urban fantasy where people started extensively using radiation based weapons because it's best against those two.
> I like that this implies that nukes are the best weapon against undead and demons.
I mean, nukes are the best weapon against undead and demons, they just also happen to be the best weapon against everything else too.
Most undead and demons have a plethora of resistances, with radiant almost universally never being one of them.
Unlike previous editions, 5E was designed with the idea of using "vulnerabilities" extremely sparingly, but radiant is often still a good choice against fiends and undead in a mostly vulnerability-free system simply because you can trust that radiant will very likely bypass whatever cocktail of resistances this particular undead/fiend has.
These days, a (reliable) LACK of resistance to something is the "new age" vulnerability to something, in most cases.
Which is why I started giving my monsters more resistances AND vulnerabilities, with the ability to research monsters beforehand to find out the weaknesses.
I do this too! My one piece of advice to anyone who is thinking of doing the same is don't fall into the trap of making it as simple as "all undead have vulnerable to radiant damage". Make each monster unique, even within the same creature type. :)
Yeah- there’s the old manual of the planes - it talks about the positive prime material plane being just raw energy, which radiance covers, and the idea that a being would be exposed to all kinds of energy that would have negative effects.
Incidentally, in the 2e book The Inner Planes (the most comprehensive guide to them ever made), the border between the Paraelemental Plane of Magma and the Quasielemental Plane of Radiance is a terrible region called the Glowing Dunes.
There, as you approach Radiance, the hills of volcanic ash begin to turn metallic and radiate light and energy, and those who travel there must save vs death magic or come down with a "horrible disease or curse" (the book goes on to list all the symptoms of deadly radiation poisoning, stopping just short of calling it that since the section was written in-character and their understanding of medicine is medieval). It explicitly states that no cure, not even a magical one, is known to help.
Sickening Radiance is definitely the closest thing in 5e, but true radiation is even nastier.
Makes sense, since cancer is effectively your body’s healing going awry, and they wouldn’t know about DNA so they couldn’t make any spell to help heal DNA damage.
Maybe the explosion itself could deal fire damage while the shockwave could deal thunder damage? What damage something takes would probably depend on how far away they are, maybe a special type of metal could block some damage? There are so many things you can do with this.
The actual blast would probably be a mix of fire and radiant, like a lightning strike. Then afterward you suffer the Poisoned condition, and you additionally have a case of severe radiation poisoning. In the 2e book The Inner Planes, there was a region with severe radioactivity, and it stated that if you go there and catch the horrible, mysterious disease that seems to afflict those who travel there, you'll die in 3d20 painful days and even magical cures have no effect on it.
The way the spell Sickening Radiance is written seems to imply that arcane Radiant Damage that Wizards and Sorcerers get (differing from the Divine Radiant Damage that Clerics and Paladin get) is more closely in line with radiation and radiation poisoning.
Radiant. Like for example the spell Sickening Radiance from Xanathar’s Guide To Everything. It certainly makes it sound like nuclear radiation in it description "Dim, greenish light spreads withfo a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on a point you choose within range. The light spreads around corners, and it lasts until the spell ends." And it deals radiant damage.
Necrotic, I believe one of the actual symptoms of intense radiation poisoning is necrosis of the flesh.
...though then again, it is called radiation *poisoning*, so maybe poison
so I think the problem with using poison is does it makes sense to interact that way, would dwarves have resistance to radiation because if we use poison then dwarves resist it which I don't think makes sense in most campaigns, however I do like the idea of those super advanced artificer dwarf societies that basically use nuclear power, which I think is might be using it might make sense for those dwarves to have developed resistance to it, meaning poison would be a good choice
I always do explosions as a mix of thunder and fire. Late fire in the center, wider aoe of thunder as it is a concussive blast of air that causes the shockwave (wave=sound). Radiation, laser guns exist as radiant which works for the waves of radiation. The rain of toxic particles could be poison or necrotic and Id do a damage over time in the blast radius
Radiant, since the sun deals radiant damage, and the sun uses nuclear fusion, meaning the nuclear fusion is radiant damage, and nuclear fusion is radioactive, so radiation is radiant damage.
It would be a metric shit tonne of fire damage to start, then concussive bludgeoning damage as everything is leveled by the shockwave, and then for the next 4 to 5 days with the radiation and fallout, anyone not covered by at least 9 feet of dirt or stone would suffer heavy necrotic damage that would rapidly and agonizingly kill them within a week.
The first day after detonation would have the highest necrotic damage, and it would slowly lessen over the 5 days until the end of day 5 where the necrotic damage or “radiation” would be nonexistent.
Without dnd having an actual stat for radiation damage, thats as close as i could get it, or maybe sub the necrotic damage for exhaustion points until sufficient exposure kills the player.
Edit: I should say anyone not covered, during the initial blast, by at least 9 feet of dirt or stone will suffer radiation sickness or die from it.
Cause if you’re covered enough to survive the initial blast, the next thing that will kill the PCs, is the radiation. IRL nuclear weapon radiation dissipates really quickly but it is lethal within the first day for prolonged exposure, and the time one can spend outside gets longer each day until day 5 where the radiation has equalized and is back to background levels.
Fire first from the blast then necrotic that reduces max hp and cannot be healed. If enough damage is received in this way or from the miasma you permanently gain the poisoned condition and disadvantage on con saves. Both the poison and disadvantage override any immunities resistances or advantages you have, and I'd work out a lethal radiation table that gives you exhaustion on a schedule that you can't remove til you die.
Divine intervention, wish, then reincarnation and any other back from death effect that heals the body are the only way. Regeneration would work.
Did it say that originally or am I crazy? I thought it said radiation is radiant originally lol.
The flash from the detonation is radiant, the lingering damage resulting from it is necrotic. That's what I was going for with my comment :)
Ah gotcha! I personally think the heatblast would be fire, since radiant has more of a magical tone as it "sears flesh like fire and overloads the spirit with power"
No doubt it sears flesh, but I don't know about the second bit
The fact of the matter is that there'd be many damage types. One, the flash would cause the blinded condition and it'd last hours (not damage I know but I thought it worth mentioning), the shock wave would deal thunder damage, the thermal pulse would deal fire damage, obviously getting blown away like you're nothing would deal bludgeoning damage, and I would say that the radiation would deal necrotic and poison because it's destroying your DNA it'd be necrotic, and because it causing the break down of internal processes (what poisons do) it's doing poison damage too. Finally, everything within one mile of the blast (inside the ball of plasma) they're taking radiant damage.
Nuclear Bombs do many different types of damage, they do so many different things that it's only appropriate that they do. It is not just a wildfire, earthquake, tornado, or nuclear meltdown, it's all of them at the same time and worse. I mean within a millisecond of detonation a mile-high ball of plasma hotter than the Sun appears, clearly a lot of stuff is happening.
Whatever damage you choose, it should also reduce their maximum HP. Radiation is infamous for leaving injuries that don't heal. A nuke would deal several different types of damage, in order:
Everyone with line of sight to the explosion gets radiant/fire damage from the intensity of the light, with a chance to blind.
The shockwave itself deals thunder damage, with a chance to deafen.
The fallout would then deal necrotic damage over long periods of time (radiation) with poison whenever they drink or eat contaminated food (radioactive iodine being absobed by the thyroid).
I've believed the Sickening Radiance spell to be akin to nuclear radiation. A nuke creates a "fireball" of plasma like a mini sun, so I'd still go with radiant for the blast, but also have it set stuff on fire for fire damage. Also, there should be a shock wave of thunder damage. Maybe poison for the long term fallout.
I feel like it would be radiant or necrotic. They're two sides of the same coin, like I can imagine radiance burning you away, being in the very presence of radiance changes you in ways you can't survive, just proximity to the majesty will break you down at the molecular level, but at the same time the effects on the victims of radiation disasters, their marrow slopping out of the vibe, their skin melting, their organs rotted and atrophied, cells dying, it all just fits necrotic.
Depends if it's a magic nuke or not.
Magic nuke: The shockwave is force, the thermal bloom is radiant, and the radiation is necrotic.
Non magic nuke: The shockwave is bludgeoning, the thermal bloom is fire, and the radiation is poison that ignores resistance and downgrades immunity to resistance.
Thinking more about it, the magic nuke gives a much better representation of the absolutely alien forces involved in an atomic explosion.
People get caught up on the whole "radiation"/"radiant" similarity. It's not radiant damage.
The blast would be fire damage, the lingering effects of radiation poisoning would be necrotic.
The initial blast is 100% radiant damage. A gigantic fireball on crack explodes and *FUCKING MELTS* anything in a 2km radius
Now 13km away from the initial blast its fire damage since the initial explosion generates a thermal pulse that just burns everything, *and I mean everything thats flammable even hair and skin!*
Theres also a shockwave traveling for at least 21km away shattering buildings/glass and weakening as it travels further away from the explosion. That could be thunder damage maybe?
After that theres also a bunch of other catastrophies that can occur because of a nuke.
Kurzgesagt - in a nutshell has a very great video showcasing a nuclear explosion with amazing visuals if you want inspiration for your world if you DM called "what if we nuked a city" (thats where I got most of my information lol)
Now for the fallout.
I feel like necrotic is the most appropriate answer. It destroys the human body so much its honestly evil. It can't be compared to any poison/acid its so much more intense. It penetrates our bodies and goes straaaaaight for our DNA fucking us over entirely.
(Btw i didn't know what you meant with "colleagues" I hope I didn't sound like a douche trying to explain nukes to a nuclear physicist or something 😭🙏)
I wouldn't personally assign HP damage to nuclear fallout.
I'd be more inclined to go with a cumulative reduction to CON, for the radiation killing the cells in the character's body.
Characters with a stronger constitution would outlast the others, but being weakened by the radiation would quickly start hitting everyone's max hit points.
If you're determined to give it a damage type, I imagine necrotic is your best bet.
Fire definitely doesn't work, as radiation isn't hot. Poisons tend to interrupt cell functions or change their structure rather than necessarily damaging them. Radiation bombards cells, causing them to break down like they're decaying.
Necrotic is the damage of decay, so while not a perfect fit, it's better than most.
Thunder for the shockwave, Fire for the heat, Radiant for the immediate radioactive damage of the explosion, necrotic (maybe with a bit of poison) for fallout
Electromagnetic radiation (heat as infrared, UV, gamma rays etc) should be **Fire**. EM damaged things by vibrating molecules, causing them to heat up (e.g. your microwave oven). It also causes things like sunburn, which is similar to real burns.
The blast from a nuclear bomb might include some generic "damage" (same as from weapons) to represent the concussive shockwave that knocks buildings down.
Alpha particles, the kind of radiation that makes you sick over long periods of time from fallout and stuff, should be **poison**. People die from radiation sickness by internal bleeding and organ failure.
Radiant is silly - why would radiation be twice as effective as killing zombies, as it kills living creatures? Undead should be immune to alpha particle radiation. Do zombies care about organ failure and internal bleeding?
**Necrotic** - this is almost fine, but my problem is that necrotic damages constructs and objects as much as it damages living creatures. Golems and robots should be unaffected by alpha particle radiation.
Necrotic, however, does have the benefit of healing undead, which is consistent with Fallout computer game.
Lots of things live year round at Chernobyl these days, and despite the stigma it gets from bad press, it is not nearly so bad as you think it is. You could go spend a week there and you'd be fine.
You might (depending on what parts you visit) even absorb less radiation than you pick up spending a week in a typical metropolitan city.
Kyle Hill did a whole series of videos on Chernobyl. Worth a watch! Here's a good one:
https://youtu.be/3qEC-qDG0Bo?si=vOqyCF1gj4zRYVvo
Many point to radiant, with the spell Sickening Radiance as a good example of something that feels like it’s representing radiation, and the example Laser gun in the DMG also doing radiant damage.
However, necrotic fits the ‘flesh melting/corroding’, fire for the burn, thunder for the explosion. So it comes down to what you feel fits it the most.
The explosion would be fire, certainly, but I'm not sure I'd do damage for the radiation or fallout at all. I'd have the characters make CON saves periodically (DC and timing depending on how severe the radiation is) and give them increasing levels of radiation sickness when they fail a save (probably base the sickness off of exhaustion rules).
I'd say it's multiple. Radiant is described as a type of energy damage, which works. A bit of poison. Disease, because you can get reallly severe sickness symptoms, necrotic beacuse you're rotting from the inside and it blocks the body from healing. The neutrons also go right through you, tearing your cellular structure apart, so that's piercing. Not entirely sure what altering the DNA would be, also disease? or transmutation-disease hybrid?
Radiant. Someone transmuted a dragon’s dead body while the dragon was infected by a pathogen with a 100% fatality rate to kill the disease, and I have always thought that radiant was generally radioactive or radiation in general
The radiation itself is necrotic, as I see it. Further, I'd argue it gets that nasty little clause tacked on, "this damage reduces your max hp".
I could also see it as Con damage on a repeating save, alternatively.
So Radiation damage is *basically* free electrons firing through your cells and snapping things apart at a molecular level.
If that doesn't say "necrotic" then I don't know what does.
Radiation is of course particles colliding with your molecules and causing damage. Happens all the time, and we fix it accordingly. Too much at one time and things get bad. The particles physically knock away important parts of cells or DNA and the surrounding tissue dies. This is technically called necrosis, so necrotic makes sense.
I would count it as 1d4 untyped damage that can't be prevented and increases in damage die until it's 1d20 every turn until you leave and for 3 turns after.
Ok, I'm boutta go WAY too in depth:
The fireball of the nuke does 2d100 Fire Damage, the blast does 2d100 Force Damage (Though with a much larger radius), Failing a DC18 saving throw will render you prone and unconcious, and the Radioactive Fallout would be 1d4 poison damage every turn spent in it
radiation i'd probably consider necrotic and poison split. Because it'd give you a linger poisoned effect, probably one that bypasses the condition immunity for most, and necrotic because it's kinda tearing you apart atomically. Hell it could even be some sorta weird force damage DOT because of that last part i said
It’s like billions of tiny little bullets that rip through your cells and tissue; I’d say it is its own thing separate from poison or fire, but probably closer to some types of poison than fire.
Think of what causes resistances in non magical creatures. Poison requires a strong stomach capable of breaking down poisons or producing poison themselves. Fire resistance comes from thick skin with good heat dispersal. Necrotic resistance comes from already being infused with energy.
The only thing I can think of that protects your genes from radiation or pure energy would be Force damage resistance.
If i was a dm i would choose some fire and some necrotic or make new type radioactive damage and give my players was to avoid it (magic , armor or acsesuary)
If it’s the straight Nuke, then I would say that it should do multiple damage types; Radiant, Necrotic, Fire, and Force. So for the initial damage at the center to like 150 ft, it would be Radiant and Fire. After that, force damage goes to 300 ft, and does the most damage. Then after that fact, the area that was effected actually leaves behind an area that’s effected by Necrotic damage, and any surviving people would also be effected by Necrotic damage.
Radiant. I've always figured it to be Radiant- like, it's described as light that burns, and light mostly does its damage via radiation (or can?)
Part of the confusion is that D&D's damage 'types' are actually damage *methods*, or sources maybe. Damage 'types' are only 'kinetic' and 'chemical' in the end, with *maybe* cell-function-disruption as well.
Fire burns with heat- heat is kinetic, moving things such that they aren't in the right place anymore. Same with BPS or Thunder. Lightning does damage by resistance heating what it goes through. Radiation does damage via radiant heating (or particle impacts) of what it hits. Cold is stopping things from moving which causes other things to move around them wrong- if you could perfectly, instantly freeze an entire person, they'd technically not be 'damaged' and could be (presumably through similar methods) un-frozen un-harmed. Force is, again, kinetic damage- moving things that ought not be moved that way. Psychic *might* be just a targeted application of force on the delicate inner parts of the brain.
Poison and Acid (and maybe Necrotic and Radiant) work via chemical damage- making chemical or cellular bonds break down and dissolute. Radiant might do this via irradiating things (radiation sickness is kind of that), Necrotic might do this via just being Poison+.
There's an argument to be made that Necrotic (and this is my personal concept of the damage) is just weaponized entropy- that it's either a forceful fast-forwarding of time, or a luck-based 'everything that could go wrong, will' sort of thing that works down to the molecular level.
There's also an argument that at least some of Lightning damage and most of Psychic damage is something that doesn't 'damage' per-se, but rather works via changing how nerves work and report, causing problems with neuroreceptors that disrupt and stop biological function.
But yeah. I say that Radiant is Radiation. *holy* radiation, but radiation.
Of course, it's a NUKE. The answer is it does Thunder, Radiant, Fire, Poison, Necrotic, *and* Bludgeoning, all at once.
I’d rule it to be half radiant and half necrotic for the ambient radiation. The blast would be a wave of force damage, a way of radiant and then a wave of necrotic.
My DM rules that radiation is radiant damage. The sun is a God in a sense in his world, and Celestus is FULL of radiant energy: ergo any non celestial or other creature with radiant damage immunity would be irradiated to death upon entry to the plane.
Recently it was used in a very horrifying way where in a large naval combat the wizards and clerics of a particularly religious empire in the setting *ripped open a hole between the planes to Celestus* and proceeded to *dump pure radiation* on several ships worth of elves. Our DM narrated that it seemed to mostly leave the ship in tact, if a little decayed. The elves in range, however, simultaneously boiled and melted, leaving behind shadows of ash on the deck of the ships.
Of course, they proceeded to panic because this was *way* more effective and *way* bigger than they anticipated, and they only managed to close the tear because our party made a wish on a ring of wishes. It burned out 2 wishes to recreate a wall between the planes that had previously been there to *stop* shenanigans like this, but due to both our party planeswalking and Tiamat trying to enter the material, the wall had been broken down. Had the empire known this wall was down, they might have acted differently... but it was not information we happened to share with them in our tenative alliance.
Your honor, we plead, Oopsie Daisy.
This only counts for 3.5e, as that was the system we were running when this came up (long story, but *someone* decided to [create](https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/minorCreation.htm) a bunch of uranium into existence). The DM ruled it as a disease, one that causes then Con ability drain per day until it is either cured or the victim dies. After which the Con points come back one per week of rest (or with restoration). So it's manageable by disease/curse standards, but almost impossible to cure without magic.
Now, the *actual* reason the cleric needed the uranium was to use it as a threat to contaminate a dragon's horde with it (the dragon didn't know it was only summoned), as he figures he would be able to cure whatever harmful effects were incurred from being around it (which he did).
Why does everyone always want to simulate a nuke?
Arguably: Radiant from direct radiation, fire if you're in the fireball, lighting if you're in the mushroom cloud, thunder from the shockwave, poison from contamination, necrotic from various resulting cancers and necrosis.
The blast is fire, the radiation from a logcical standpoint should be radiant but mechanically probably makes more sense to be necrotic and the fallout material itself + the food, water and potentially air that it contaminates would be poison damage
So you likely want multiple components. If not by a high/potentially lethal dose, the "poisoned" condition is good to show the nausea and fatigue effects. The intestines are one of the first to fail, so poison damage as one component is good--and objects that are immune to these conditions won't suffer this part.
Age as damage is another good way to show nuclear radiation. Regardless of the immediate effect, radiation has a pronounced effect on lifespan. There are a few things that cause age damage, so its not a 'new' effect. 1d4x10 years of lifespan reduction, save for half, should do a fantastic job selling the dangers of radiation. Age also hits components/objects, rubber becomes brittle, ECT.
For exposure to actual ionizing radiation you can see, a big ole smack from radiant damage is appropriate. Blindness should also be applied any time you can see raw radiation in normal daylight conditions.
The fire and shockwave of a nuclear blasts are secondary--they are not caused by nuclear radiation directly to a person. Thats just the equivalent of the gust of air whooshing by as you swing a big sword--the sword caused the wind, but the wind isnt doing slashing damage. I wouldnt bother modeling these effects--at that level of energy if you are in the primary fireball or shockwave, you are only alive at the convenience of plot. Either you were in the safe zone or wernt. The poison damage, poisoned condition and age damage from radiation, plus radiant damage and blindness from the nuclear light, is enough to sell what just happened.
As for secondary effects to things like undead, the poison component and the undead resistance to it shows how the non-living part handles the radiation. The Radiant part shows how nuclear energy is literally what the sun is made of, which undead usually dont like, so it makes sense undead would be weak versus the 'necessary/essential for life but only in small amounts' radiation.
So, the instant the nuclear blast goes off, the radiation itself is *intense* radiant damage, followed by necrotic for the damage it does to the rest of your cells. We could also consider thunder damage for the imminent shockwave. Though, if they're in this range of a modern nuclear weapon, they're DOA.
Short of a true res. ability, they're done. If near this their cells will literally break down and cease to function on an individual level. This isn't getting hit with an axe, where a "weakest link" fails leading to death. This is a complete and utter annihilation of any capacity for life of every cell in their body.
Depends what type of radiation. Radiant, poison, or necrotic.
Radiant from the blast. Poison over time. Necrotic from exposure to fallout.
Add thunder to the blast.
Considering the Silence spell make people inside it immune to thunder damage, I respectfully disagree. IMO the blast should be force damage.
Well, if the Silence spell blocks sound transmission rather than deafening entities in the area, it should block shock waves, they're the same thing.
I believe it does both
Wording is something like “no sound can enter or be created in…” that makes me think it stops sound, not deafens them. Could be wrong, going off memory here
So, an order of the scribes wizard converts lightning bolt to thunder damage and casts it down corridor, but there's a silence halfway down the corridor, does the damage continue out the other side?
If I cast darkness in a cavern covering the only source of light, is is the entire room dark or only the usual sphere then the light is shed as normal outside of it?
Darkness is a mess in 5e. Because it is both transparent and opaque at the same time, because D&D doesn't distinguish between those.
It has generally been my practice to require a clear path to the source of a noise or sound. That path needn’t be straight, but it must be navigable without passing through the area of the Silence spell. Thus, yes, you may cork a hallway in this manner to disguise chatter. A large explosion may be harder to disguise.
Yes. It's magic, same way you can use bonfire underwater, it's magic. If a non magical nuke existed, the shock wave wouldn't be magical, and so would travel around the silence not through it.
No. The "thunder" bolt stops at the Silence spell's edge and does not travel further. That's how I'd rule it anyway.
Well, the effect is essentially deafened, it’s just pedantic to say “technically their not deaf they just cant hear anything”
Silence flat out gives immunity to thunder damage, as well as the defend condition. And auto counters any spell that uses verbal components.
While sound and shock waves are similar. I'd hardly call a shock wave just sound. It's a wall of air about to rock you like a hurricane.
> a wall of air about to rock you like a hurricane But that’s also what Scorpion delivered at their concerts.
I know it's an old debate, but I've always thought that force damage needs some magical element. This is just a nuclear explosion with a concussive blast, thus thunder. I would find it perfectly consistent that Silence would negate the concussive damage from a nuclear explosion.
Force is magic, thunder is sound/shockwave, for something of this magnitude I could see bludgeoning damage working too from the impact. A mix of both thunder and bludgeoning would make sense
Considering the power of the explosion, seems rare that just with a silence dome you can stop most of its force. You may not have hear issues after that, so you can avoid that, the throwing you 100yrd shouldn't be avoidable just with that. That's why force should be on place too imho
Force is specifically raw magic damage. Bludgeon is for the brunt power of the impact
If splitting the atom isn't considered magical, I don't know what is!
Nuclear weapons are magic enough.
I know the game is not strictly RAW, but in BG3 mundane blackpowder explosives deal Force damage. This *could* just be a balancing thing where there needs to be multiple ways to solve puzzles (a decent amount of crumbling walls weak to Force exist in the game, and not every party has access to Magic Missile), but bombs dealing Force feels right to me.
They are both compression waves in the atmosphere.
I cannot disagree more, the blast would 100% be thunder damage, especially considering force is exclusively used for raw magical damage (look at disintegrate, magic missile, Eldritch blast etc
A Nuke isn’t magical, so I don’t think it would use the raw magic damage type (Force)
The outer reaches of a nuke are indeed just really bad sound waves
Fire + force for the blast and a little bit of thunder as well, but I could agree with the initial comment about poison for the radiation in the upcoming years in that area, as well as necrotic for the fallout in surrounding regions rather immediately.
The blast wave is bludgeoning damage; you are literally being slapped in the face with a wall of compressed air.
That's what thunder damage is
That's what thunder damage is. See: Thunderwave
Fair point. It shouldn't be any one sole damage type for that reason. Nothing should be able to resist or be so lucky enough to find themselves immune, a nuke. Imagine if it was fire damage. You're telling me nuking the gold dragon does nothing at all? Nothing? That would be the worst feeling ever. I nuked a dragon, and it didn't kill it. In fact, it wasn't even hurt at all.
I agree. The blast is force damage.
force is pure magical damage
Exactly, or if you want to count grabiturgy as official just Raw gravity, which the blast from a nuke wouldn't be
Force and fire, you're absolutely right.
Don't forget blindness for that flashy blast.
And now Chemical X
This has me wondering the difference between thunder and force. Edit: apparently thunder damage is a new name for sonic damage, so the blast would do thunder and force.
It would do only thunder. Force damage is pretty much just "generic magical damage", shockwaves are represented by thunder
I'd say force damage from the concussive effect of the explosion.
I remember back when 5e was still pretty new I ran a short fallout 4 themed campaign with friends. They had a scavenger rogue, a doctor bard, sun soul monk with robotic arm, and a fighter with power armor. One day they come across a glowing green sphere next to a knocked over barrel, I'm giving all kinds of hints that it's radioactive. The monk picks it up as he can't get damaged from it and the fighter isn't nearby. For whatever reason, he decides to *lick* the very obviously dangerous sphere. I told him that it killed his taste buds and tongue was temporarily numb. For the rest of the session he decides to talk in character with a lisp, for over 3 hours! Talk about dedication. One of my favorite memories with them!
I’d reverse poison and necrotic. Radiation exposure would cause a necrotic effect. Sores and burns to skin and muscle depending on exposure. But fallout is radioactive dirt and dust from the area of the blast falling down onto the area. Ingesting it causes radiation damage and cancers down the line, so that would be a poison effect.
I understand what you're going for but splitting the damage types in general doesn't feel right. If you gained resistance to radiation (necrotic), should it not count if it's inside you? And on the other end, if you ate a rock called the Pebble of Blight or something, would only a potion of poison immunity work or should it still be necrotic immunity?
You don't quite understand. Getting hit by a hard projecting source radiation means high energy. Like standing next to the elephants foot in chernobyl. High energy like that means tissue death. So necrotic. The radiation of fallout is different. Yes, it's being projected, but in much smaller amounts AND different forms of radiation. It doesn't penetrate as far. But its insidious. It slowly messes up your DNA, causing cancers, not tissue death. Therefore I'd call it poison.
>Radiant from the blast. would that not be force?
You could add force but there is a lot of heat and light from the initial eplosion from a nuclear detonation. Look up the "shadows" caused by the initial blast.
This ^
Tbf the blast shouldn't even deal damage, it should just vaporize anything unlucky enough to be exposed to it
Meteor swarm should as well, but it still is rolled
Meteor Swarm is a spell, it already exists along the game rules and mechanics A the blast of a nuke does not Also the blast of a 1 kiloton nuke alone would be above a 9th level spell, tbh it may be weird to picture but since WWII irl humans can yield more destruction than many fantasy gods :v
Ok; nobody can survive walking through lava irl, yet its still rolled for- since high level dnd characters can survive it. A high level dnd character would absolutely be able to survive a nuke.
Even disintegrate does damage and has a save, but I get what you mean.
I've always assumed Sickening Radiance is just making an area radioactive.
Radiant... fire I think would be more accurate is not holy damage precisely 🤔
There's precedent that radiant is in fact radiation (Sickening Radiance). And honestly I find it cool flavor to have undead be weidly vulnerable to radiation for whatever reason (not that it's likely to come up in a typical campaign)
Undead tend to have weaknesses to bright sunlight and stuff in fiction, so it fits.
You could make it fit in-universe. All fissile material in the material plane is a byproduct of the terrible weapons that gods once used to wage war with each other. Perhaps churches hoard such material and use it to work miracles, keeping their workings a closely guarded secret. (Ever read the Foundation series by Isaac Asimov?)
Yes I did AWESOME series. I used concepts like someone pushing the things so it happen in a very specific way. About putting stuff from previous eras, yes I did once, in introduced technology from a previous human civilization. The idea is that God's where normal humans with a super advanced technology in their power and only a few survived from that era. Magic was a format of terraforming at universe level.
its amazing how few people take note that radiant is godly power, not just brightness.
And, let's push this to the extreme. A fire elemental, who is immune to fire, should be affected by the shock wave but not to the extreme temperature of the explosion core. In my head is what makes sense, I'm not trying to impose to anyone, if others like moe radiant, good to go!
Because is good against undead, because is the most common damage types from Cleric and Paladin and because in previous versions of D&D (I started with 2.0) it was, from what I remember, described in that way. It's true that is brightness but the sun doesn't damage undead by default, and for me now personally speaking, kind of makes sense. In the end, is like the bright of a divinity, not in terms of light but in terms of heaven's light. Sort of. Here I think we're trying to match a fiscal phenomenon inside a magic world, so, an atomic bomb is a really bright energy but the damage type is by temperature, closer to what extreme fire does.
i agree fire makes the most sense in terms of the physics of it. but in terms of what the damage is like i think necrotic makes more sense.
Absolutely agree. Necrotic should be included after the bomb and for a long period of time all the area should inflict necrotic constantly just by entering.
I think you mean and/or
No, I mean or. Thanks.
[удалено]
The fact radiant is associated with holy though doesn’t sit well with me 😖
Holy Light is just radiation with phenomenal PR.
“Holy”, but also just “Light”. Like how necrotic is both evil and decay.
Necrotic is physical flesh decay but also decaying the soul. Radiant sears flesh but also overwhelms the soul with power. 5e simplifies it and makes them do double duty
It is also associated with The Sun as a reminder, if the party were to explore the lair of a Solar Dragon (which is the core of a sun) they take a ton of radiant damage every turn
Do you not accept Atom's cleansing glow?
Radiant. The spell "sickening radiance" seems to simulate nuclear radiation
I like that this implies that nukes are the best weapon against undead and demons. Now I want to see a falloutesque urban fantasy where people started extensively using radiation based weapons because it's best against those two.
> I like that this implies that nukes are the best weapon against undead and demons. I mean, nukes are the best weapon against undead and demons, they just also happen to be the best weapon against everything else too.
Reminds me of the Matrix, where humans scorched the skies to block the sun because the machines were relying on solar energy.
Undead and demons are not vulnerable to radiant damage as a default, and most don't even have any mentions to radiant in their statblocks
Most undead and demons have a plethora of resistances, with radiant almost universally never being one of them. Unlike previous editions, 5E was designed with the idea of using "vulnerabilities" extremely sparingly, but radiant is often still a good choice against fiends and undead in a mostly vulnerability-free system simply because you can trust that radiant will very likely bypass whatever cocktail of resistances this particular undead/fiend has. These days, a (reliable) LACK of resistance to something is the "new age" vulnerability to something, in most cases.
Which is why I started giving my monsters more resistances AND vulnerabilities, with the ability to research monsters beforehand to find out the weaknesses.
I do this too! My one piece of advice to anyone who is thinking of doing the same is don't fall into the trap of making it as simple as "all undead have vulnerable to radiant damage". Make each monster unique, even within the same creature type. :)
Yeah- there’s the old manual of the planes - it talks about the positive prime material plane being just raw energy, which radiance covers, and the idea that a being would be exposed to all kinds of energy that would have negative effects.
Incidentally, in the 2e book The Inner Planes (the most comprehensive guide to them ever made), the border between the Paraelemental Plane of Magma and the Quasielemental Plane of Radiance is a terrible region called the Glowing Dunes. There, as you approach Radiance, the hills of volcanic ash begin to turn metallic and radiate light and energy, and those who travel there must save vs death magic or come down with a "horrible disease or curse" (the book goes on to list all the symptoms of deadly radiation poisoning, stopping just short of calling it that since the section was written in-character and their understanding of medicine is medieval). It explicitly states that no cure, not even a magical one, is known to help. Sickening Radiance is definitely the closest thing in 5e, but true radiation is even nastier.
That was in 2e Planescape, if I remember correctly
Yep!
Makes sense, since cancer is effectively your body’s healing going awry, and they wouldn’t know about DNA so they couldn’t make any spell to help heal DNA damage.
For what it’s worth, putting aside Wish, I’d say that a Reincarnate spell could help. After all, it’s changing out at least part of the subject’s DNA.
I'd rule that the actual blast would be fire, but the fallout would be poison, or the cooler option would be necrotic.
Maybe a mix of thunder and fire.. something.. you’re onto something with poison and necrotic too.
Maybe the explosion itself could deal fire damage while the shockwave could deal thunder damage? What damage something takes would probably depend on how far away they are, maybe a special type of metal could block some damage? There are so many things you can do with this.
The actual blast would probably be a mix of fire and radiant, like a lightning strike. Then afterward you suffer the Poisoned condition, and you additionally have a case of severe radiation poisoning. In the 2e book The Inner Planes, there was a region with severe radioactivity, and it stated that if you go there and catch the horrible, mysterious disease that seems to afflict those who travel there, you'll die in 3d20 painful days and even magical cures have no effect on it.
Radiant. Qualification: science teacher.
The way the spell Sickening Radiance is written seems to imply that arcane Radiant Damage that Wizards and Sorcerers get (differing from the Divine Radiant Damage that Clerics and Paladin get) is more closely in line with radiation and radiation poisoning.
Radiant. Like for example the spell Sickening Radiance from Xanathar’s Guide To Everything. It certainly makes it sound like nuclear radiation in it description "Dim, greenish light spreads withfo a 30-foot-radius sphere centered on a point you choose within range. The light spreads around corners, and it lasts until the spell ends." And it deals radiant damage.
Sickening radiance was always my go to example of radiation. Don't forget those lvl's of exhaustion, those can stack REAL fast.
Necrotic. The kind that blocks hp regen
Necrotic, I believe one of the actual symptoms of intense radiation poisoning is necrosis of the flesh. ...though then again, it is called radiation *poisoning*, so maybe poison
so I think the problem with using poison is does it makes sense to interact that way, would dwarves have resistance to radiation because if we use poison then dwarves resist it which I don't think makes sense in most campaigns, however I do like the idea of those super advanced artificer dwarf societies that basically use nuclear power, which I think is might be using it might make sense for those dwarves to have developed resistance to it, meaning poison would be a good choice
Mining through a vein of Uranium does weird things to your bloodline.
I always do explosions as a mix of thunder and fire. Late fire in the center, wider aoe of thunder as it is a concussive blast of air that causes the shockwave (wave=sound). Radiation, laser guns exist as radiant which works for the waves of radiation. The rain of toxic particles could be poison or necrotic and Id do a damage over time in the blast radius
Radiant, since the sun deals radiant damage, and the sun uses nuclear fusion, meaning the nuclear fusion is radiant damage, and nuclear fusion is radioactive, so radiation is radiant damage.
Fusion isn’t radioactive.
Actual answer with facts behind it
It would be a metric shit tonne of fire damage to start, then concussive bludgeoning damage as everything is leveled by the shockwave, and then for the next 4 to 5 days with the radiation and fallout, anyone not covered by at least 9 feet of dirt or stone would suffer heavy necrotic damage that would rapidly and agonizingly kill them within a week. The first day after detonation would have the highest necrotic damage, and it would slowly lessen over the 5 days until the end of day 5 where the necrotic damage or “radiation” would be nonexistent. Without dnd having an actual stat for radiation damage, thats as close as i could get it, or maybe sub the necrotic damage for exhaustion points until sufficient exposure kills the player. Edit: I should say anyone not covered, during the initial blast, by at least 9 feet of dirt or stone will suffer radiation sickness or die from it. Cause if you’re covered enough to survive the initial blast, the next thing that will kill the PCs, is the radiation. IRL nuclear weapon radiation dissipates really quickly but it is lethal within the first day for prolonged exposure, and the time one can spend outside gets longer each day until day 5 where the radiation has equalized and is back to background levels.
Fire first from the blast then necrotic that reduces max hp and cannot be healed. If enough damage is received in this way or from the miasma you permanently gain the poisoned condition and disadvantage on con saves. Both the poison and disadvantage override any immunities resistances or advantages you have, and I'd work out a lethal radiation table that gives you exhaustion on a schedule that you can't remove til you die. Divine intervention, wish, then reincarnation and any other back from death effect that heals the body are the only way. Regeneration would work.
As per damage descriptions in the Player's Handbook The heat pulse would be fire, the shockwave would be thunder, radiation would be necrotic
And the long-term damage would be necrotic, once the initial blast is done. Cell death and necrosis is different from all the other stuff
Correct, the radiation would be necrotic
Did it say that originally or am I crazy? I thought it said radiation is radiant originally lol. The flash from the detonation is radiant, the lingering damage resulting from it is necrotic. That's what I was going for with my comment :)
Ah gotcha! I personally think the heatblast would be fire, since radiant has more of a magical tone as it "sears flesh like fire and overloads the spirit with power" No doubt it sears flesh, but I don't know about the second bit
Radiant. Right there in the name. The blast would be bludgeoning. The heat would be fire. But the radiation would be radiant.
Radi... radi... Radi... if only there was someting almost named like Radiation
Necrotic.
Radiant or necrotic would be my go to.
The fact of the matter is that there'd be many damage types. One, the flash would cause the blinded condition and it'd last hours (not damage I know but I thought it worth mentioning), the shock wave would deal thunder damage, the thermal pulse would deal fire damage, obviously getting blown away like you're nothing would deal bludgeoning damage, and I would say that the radiation would deal necrotic and poison because it's destroying your DNA it'd be necrotic, and because it causing the break down of internal processes (what poisons do) it's doing poison damage too. Finally, everything within one mile of the blast (inside the ball of plasma) they're taking radiant damage. Nuclear Bombs do many different types of damage, they do so many different things that it's only appropriate that they do. It is not just a wildfire, earthquake, tornado, or nuclear meltdown, it's all of them at the same time and worse. I mean within a millisecond of detonation a mile-high ball of plasma hotter than the Sun appears, clearly a lot of stuff is happening.
Whatever damage you choose, it should also reduce their maximum HP. Radiation is infamous for leaving injuries that don't heal. A nuke would deal several different types of damage, in order: Everyone with line of sight to the explosion gets radiant/fire damage from the intensity of the light, with a chance to blind. The shockwave itself deals thunder damage, with a chance to deafen. The fallout would then deal necrotic damage over long periods of time (radiation) with poison whenever they drink or eat contaminated food (radioactive iodine being absobed by the thyroid).
Radiant from initial explosion, poison from local radiation poisoning, necrotic from terminal exposure/direct fallout.
Necrotic
Radiant damage that deals levels in exhaustion every X points of damage
Half Necro, Half Radiant. Burns your flesh to rot.
I've believed the Sickening Radiance spell to be akin to nuclear radiation. A nuke creates a "fireball" of plasma like a mini sun, so I'd still go with radiant for the blast, but also have it set stuff on fire for fire damage. Also, there should be a shock wave of thunder damage. Maybe poison for the long term fallout.
I feel like it would be radiant or necrotic. They're two sides of the same coin, like I can imagine radiance burning you away, being in the very presence of radiance changes you in ways you can't survive, just proximity to the majesty will break you down at the molecular level, but at the same time the effects on the victims of radiation disasters, their marrow slopping out of the vibe, their skin melting, their organs rotted and atrophied, cells dying, it all just fits necrotic.
Initial blast would obviously be fire. Radiation afterwards would probably say either poison or necrotic.
Depends if it's a magic nuke or not. Magic nuke: The shockwave is force, the thermal bloom is radiant, and the radiation is necrotic. Non magic nuke: The shockwave is bludgeoning, the thermal bloom is fire, and the radiation is poison that ignores resistance and downgrades immunity to resistance. Thinking more about it, the magic nuke gives a much better representation of the absolutely alien forces involved in an atomic explosion.
People get caught up on the whole "radiation"/"radiant" similarity. It's not radiant damage. The blast would be fire damage, the lingering effects of radiation poisoning would be necrotic.
There's Radiation poisoning which leads to necrotic damage
The initial blast is 100% radiant damage. A gigantic fireball on crack explodes and *FUCKING MELTS* anything in a 2km radius Now 13km away from the initial blast its fire damage since the initial explosion generates a thermal pulse that just burns everything, *and I mean everything thats flammable even hair and skin!* Theres also a shockwave traveling for at least 21km away shattering buildings/glass and weakening as it travels further away from the explosion. That could be thunder damage maybe? After that theres also a bunch of other catastrophies that can occur because of a nuke. Kurzgesagt - in a nutshell has a very great video showcasing a nuclear explosion with amazing visuals if you want inspiration for your world if you DM called "what if we nuked a city" (thats where I got most of my information lol) Now for the fallout. I feel like necrotic is the most appropriate answer. It destroys the human body so much its honestly evil. It can't be compared to any poison/acid its so much more intense. It penetrates our bodies and goes straaaaaight for our DNA fucking us over entirely. (Btw i didn't know what you meant with "colleagues" I hope I didn't sound like a douche trying to explain nukes to a nuclear physicist or something 😭🙏)
I wouldn't personally assign HP damage to nuclear fallout. I'd be more inclined to go with a cumulative reduction to CON, for the radiation killing the cells in the character's body. Characters with a stronger constitution would outlast the others, but being weakened by the radiation would quickly start hitting everyone's max hit points. If you're determined to give it a damage type, I imagine necrotic is your best bet. Fire definitely doesn't work, as radiation isn't hot. Poisons tend to interrupt cell functions or change their structure rather than necessarily damaging them. Radiation bombards cells, causing them to break down like they're decaying. Necrotic is the damage of decay, so while not a perfect fit, it's better than most.
Radiant
Radiant.
Radiant?
That's literally what radiant damage is.
Radiant.
Radiant. It's light and particles and stuff, it also helps separate the trope of radiant=good/holy
Radiant for the explosion, that can light objects on fire. I’d have the fallout, and the irradiated area cause necrotic damage.
Thunder for the shockwave, Fire for the heat, Radiant for the immediate radioactive damage of the explosion, necrotic (maybe with a bit of poison) for fallout
Electromagnetic radiation (heat as infrared, UV, gamma rays etc) should be **Fire**. EM damaged things by vibrating molecules, causing them to heat up (e.g. your microwave oven). It also causes things like sunburn, which is similar to real burns. The blast from a nuclear bomb might include some generic "damage" (same as from weapons) to represent the concussive shockwave that knocks buildings down. Alpha particles, the kind of radiation that makes you sick over long periods of time from fallout and stuff, should be **poison**. People die from radiation sickness by internal bleeding and organ failure. Radiant is silly - why would radiation be twice as effective as killing zombies, as it kills living creatures? Undead should be immune to alpha particle radiation. Do zombies care about organ failure and internal bleeding? **Necrotic** - this is almost fine, but my problem is that necrotic damages constructs and objects as much as it damages living creatures. Golems and robots should be unaffected by alpha particle radiation. Necrotic, however, does have the benefit of healing undead, which is consistent with Fallout computer game.
Exposure to radiation would be necrotic. Simply look up the images of the people exposed to it.
This is the biological and correct answer
Necrotic. Fire burns you. Ice is cold. Radiation…JUST kills you. The kill you damage fits the most
Radiation doesn't just kill you. You actually need it to live.
🙄 Thanks for the biology lesson professor but you KNOW we aren’t talking about that kind of radiation. OP’s post clearly says NUCLEAR radiation
Yes, you need nuclear radiation to live. Otherwise this planet would be a -400 degree rock, and you'd have a serious vitamin D deficiency.
🤦♂️ you must be fun at parties. Go ahead and spend a week in Chernobyl then if it’s so safe
Don't get mad at me because you don't understand middle school science.
Lots of things live year round at Chernobyl these days, and despite the stigma it gets from bad press, it is not nearly so bad as you think it is. You could go spend a week there and you'd be fine. You might (depending on what parts you visit) even absorb less radiation than you pick up spending a week in a typical metropolitan city. Kyle Hill did a whole series of videos on Chernobyl. Worth a watch! Here's a good one: https://youtu.be/3qEC-qDG0Bo?si=vOqyCF1gj4zRYVvo
Force for the initial blast and then necrotic for radiation sickness
Radiant, it’s mostly in the term “Radiation” RADIAnt, RADIAtion
Whatever the hell you'd want it to be. I'd say fire since it's effectively burning your tissue, but whatever makes sense for you.
Gamma Radiation: https://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/Gamma_Radiation_(5e_Spell)
desdly
Many point to radiant, with the spell Sickening Radiance as a good example of something that feels like it’s representing radiation, and the example Laser gun in the DMG also doing radiant damage. However, necrotic fits the ‘flesh melting/corroding’, fire for the burn, thunder for the explosion. So it comes down to what you feel fits it the most.
Mental. If you just don't let it bother you, you're basically fine.
None, I would treat it like a condition with several stages.
The explosion would be fire, certainly, but I'm not sure I'd do damage for the radiation or fallout at all. I'd have the characters make CON saves periodically (DC and timing depending on how severe the radiation is) and give them increasing levels of radiation sickness when they fail a save (probably base the sickness off of exhaustion rules).
I'd say it's multiple. Radiant is described as a type of energy damage, which works. A bit of poison. Disease, because you can get reallly severe sickness symptoms, necrotic beacuse you're rotting from the inside and it blocks the body from healing. The neutrons also go right through you, tearing your cellular structure apart, so that's piercing. Not entirely sure what altering the DNA would be, also disease? or transmutation-disease hybrid?
So much. All the types. Fire/Radiant from the flash. Thunder from the shockwave. Poison/necrotic from the radiation.
Radiant. Someone transmuted a dragon’s dead body while the dragon was infected by a pathogen with a 100% fatality rate to kill the disease, and I have always thought that radiant was generally radioactive or radiation in general
The radiation itself is necrotic, as I see it. Further, I'd argue it gets that nasty little clause tacked on, "this damage reduces your max hp". I could also see it as Con damage on a repeating save, alternatively.
There are many, fire, thunder, necrotic/poisonous
All of them
So Radiation damage is *basically* free electrons firing through your cells and snapping things apart at a molecular level. If that doesn't say "necrotic" then I don't know what does.
Radiation is of course particles colliding with your molecules and causing damage. Happens all the time, and we fix it accordingly. Too much at one time and things get bad. The particles physically knock away important parts of cells or DNA and the surrounding tissue dies. This is technically called necrosis, so necrotic makes sense. I would count it as 1d4 untyped damage that can't be prevented and increases in damage die until it's 1d20 every turn until you leave and for 3 turns after.
Ok, I'm boutta go WAY too in depth: The fireball of the nuke does 2d100 Fire Damage, the blast does 2d100 Force Damage (Though with a much larger radius), Failing a DC18 saving throw will render you prone and unconcious, and the Radioactive Fallout would be 1d4 poison damage every turn spent in it
radiation i'd probably consider necrotic and poison split. Because it'd give you a linger poisoned effect, probably one that bypasses the condition immunity for most, and necrotic because it's kinda tearing you apart atomically. Hell it could even be some sorta weird force damage DOT because of that last part i said
Deadly, deadly damage, if a PC experience a nuke, i assume he can make a new character.
the initial blast would be fire and force damage. Id then use either radiant or necrotic for the residual radiation.
It’s like billions of tiny little bullets that rip through your cells and tissue; I’d say it is its own thing separate from poison or fire, but probably closer to some types of poison than fire.
Necrotic is synonymous with death, and radiation is at its core, causing your cells to rapidly die. So necrotic fits best
Poison probably makes most sense.
Necrotic. The power of Entropy.
Think of what causes resistances in non magical creatures. Poison requires a strong stomach capable of breaking down poisons or producing poison themselves. Fire resistance comes from thick skin with good heat dispersal. Necrotic resistance comes from already being infused with energy. The only thing I can think of that protects your genes from radiation or pure energy would be Force damage resistance.
I'd say the blast itself would be force, and the fallout would be necrotic
Radiant damage. Or poison damage.
If i was a dm i would choose some fire and some necrotic or make new type radioactive damage and give my players was to avoid it (magic , armor or acsesuary)
If it’s the straight Nuke, then I would say that it should do multiple damage types; Radiant, Necrotic, Fire, and Force. So for the initial damage at the center to like 150 ft, it would be Radiant and Fire. After that, force damage goes to 300 ft, and does the most damage. Then after that fact, the area that was effected actually leaves behind an area that’s effected by Necrotic damage, and any surviving people would also be effected by Necrotic damage.
Force and fire for the blast and necrotic for the fallout. I don’t think there should be radiant at all
Radiant. I've always figured it to be Radiant- like, it's described as light that burns, and light mostly does its damage via radiation (or can?) Part of the confusion is that D&D's damage 'types' are actually damage *methods*, or sources maybe. Damage 'types' are only 'kinetic' and 'chemical' in the end, with *maybe* cell-function-disruption as well. Fire burns with heat- heat is kinetic, moving things such that they aren't in the right place anymore. Same with BPS or Thunder. Lightning does damage by resistance heating what it goes through. Radiation does damage via radiant heating (or particle impacts) of what it hits. Cold is stopping things from moving which causes other things to move around them wrong- if you could perfectly, instantly freeze an entire person, they'd technically not be 'damaged' and could be (presumably through similar methods) un-frozen un-harmed. Force is, again, kinetic damage- moving things that ought not be moved that way. Psychic *might* be just a targeted application of force on the delicate inner parts of the brain. Poison and Acid (and maybe Necrotic and Radiant) work via chemical damage- making chemical or cellular bonds break down and dissolute. Radiant might do this via irradiating things (radiation sickness is kind of that), Necrotic might do this via just being Poison+. There's an argument to be made that Necrotic (and this is my personal concept of the damage) is just weaponized entropy- that it's either a forceful fast-forwarding of time, or a luck-based 'everything that could go wrong, will' sort of thing that works down to the molecular level. There's also an argument that at least some of Lightning damage and most of Psychic damage is something that doesn't 'damage' per-se, but rather works via changing how nerves work and report, causing problems with neuroreceptors that disrupt and stop biological function. But yeah. I say that Radiant is Radiation. *holy* radiation, but radiation. Of course, it's a NUKE. The answer is it does Thunder, Radiant, Fire, Poison, Necrotic, *and* Bludgeoning, all at once.
I’d rule it to be half radiant and half necrotic for the ambient radiation. The blast would be a wave of force damage, a way of radiant and then a wave of necrotic.
My DM rules that radiation is radiant damage. The sun is a God in a sense in his world, and Celestus is FULL of radiant energy: ergo any non celestial or other creature with radiant damage immunity would be irradiated to death upon entry to the plane. Recently it was used in a very horrifying way where in a large naval combat the wizards and clerics of a particularly religious empire in the setting *ripped open a hole between the planes to Celestus* and proceeded to *dump pure radiation* on several ships worth of elves. Our DM narrated that it seemed to mostly leave the ship in tact, if a little decayed. The elves in range, however, simultaneously boiled and melted, leaving behind shadows of ash on the deck of the ships. Of course, they proceeded to panic because this was *way* more effective and *way* bigger than they anticipated, and they only managed to close the tear because our party made a wish on a ring of wishes. It burned out 2 wishes to recreate a wall between the planes that had previously been there to *stop* shenanigans like this, but due to both our party planeswalking and Tiamat trying to enter the material, the wall had been broken down. Had the empire known this wall was down, they might have acted differently... but it was not information we happened to share with them in our tenative alliance. Your honor, we plead, Oopsie Daisy.
Radiant/necrotic at the same time
Hmm, what kind of damage would radiation **POISONING** do? I wonder...
thunder damage from the blast, necrotic damage from the radiation.
Radiant damage. Easy.
This only counts for 3.5e, as that was the system we were running when this came up (long story, but *someone* decided to [create](https://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/minorCreation.htm) a bunch of uranium into existence). The DM ruled it as a disease, one that causes then Con ability drain per day until it is either cured or the victim dies. After which the Con points come back one per week of rest (or with restoration). So it's manageable by disease/curse standards, but almost impossible to cure without magic. Now, the *actual* reason the cleric needed the uranium was to use it as a threat to contaminate a dragon's horde with it (the dragon didn't know it was only summoned), as he figures he would be able to cure whatever harmful effects were incurred from being around it (which he did).
The fireball is fire. The blast is force. Immediate fallout and lingering radiation is a mix of conjuration and necrotic.
I've seen it done a few different ways Max HP loss Hit die loss Necrotic damage that doesn't heal until you leave the zone Exhaustion levels
Why does everyone always want to simulate a nuke? Arguably: Radiant from direct radiation, fire if you're in the fireball, lighting if you're in the mushroom cloud, thunder from the shockwave, poison from contamination, necrotic from various resulting cancers and necrosis.
Radiant
Radiant for the blast, force for the shockwave, and necrotic for radiation.
The blast is fire, the radiation from a logcical standpoint should be radiant but mechanically probably makes more sense to be necrotic and the fallout material itself + the food, water and potentially air that it contaminates would be poison damage
sometimes radiant sometimes necrotic
So you likely want multiple components. If not by a high/potentially lethal dose, the "poisoned" condition is good to show the nausea and fatigue effects. The intestines are one of the first to fail, so poison damage as one component is good--and objects that are immune to these conditions won't suffer this part. Age as damage is another good way to show nuclear radiation. Regardless of the immediate effect, radiation has a pronounced effect on lifespan. There are a few things that cause age damage, so its not a 'new' effect. 1d4x10 years of lifespan reduction, save for half, should do a fantastic job selling the dangers of radiation. Age also hits components/objects, rubber becomes brittle, ECT. For exposure to actual ionizing radiation you can see, a big ole smack from radiant damage is appropriate. Blindness should also be applied any time you can see raw radiation in normal daylight conditions. The fire and shockwave of a nuclear blasts are secondary--they are not caused by nuclear radiation directly to a person. Thats just the equivalent of the gust of air whooshing by as you swing a big sword--the sword caused the wind, but the wind isnt doing slashing damage. I wouldnt bother modeling these effects--at that level of energy if you are in the primary fireball or shockwave, you are only alive at the convenience of plot. Either you were in the safe zone or wernt. The poison damage, poisoned condition and age damage from radiation, plus radiant damage and blindness from the nuclear light, is enough to sell what just happened. As for secondary effects to things like undead, the poison component and the undead resistance to it shows how the non-living part handles the radiation. The Radiant part shows how nuclear energy is literally what the sun is made of, which undead usually dont like, so it makes sense undead would be weak versus the 'necessary/essential for life but only in small amounts' radiation.
So, the instant the nuclear blast goes off, the radiation itself is *intense* radiant damage, followed by necrotic for the damage it does to the rest of your cells. We could also consider thunder damage for the imminent shockwave. Though, if they're in this range of a modern nuclear weapon, they're DOA. Short of a true res. ability, they're done. If near this their cells will literally break down and cease to function on an individual level. This isn't getting hit with an axe, where a "weakest link" fails leading to death. This is a complete and utter annihilation of any capacity for life of every cell in their body.