Unearthed Arcana Unearthed Arcana and Necrotic Undead hunting.

[Jeff Carlsen]

There is clearly a mismatch between the fluff and the crunch, and in this case I think it's the fluff that is wrong. Neither of these subclasses should be undead hunters. They clearly have an affinity with the plane of shadow and negative/necrotic energy. They're more likely to cultivate, befriend, command, or at least ignore the undead.

 

[Caliban]

As we can gather from this, poison (15/15 immune!) is the absolute worst damage type to try to take on undead with.

Minor nitpick, vampires and vampire spawn are not immune to poison. So it's poison (13/15 immune). But your main point still stands.

 

[Leatherhead]

Minor nitpick, vampires and vampire spawn are not immune to poison. So it's poison (13/15 immune). But your main point still stands.

Corrected, thanks for that.

 

[CapnZapp]

Radiant damage is no better than unnamed damage, unless fighting zombies. I may have missed something, but all I can recall finding when I looked at undead was the zombies undead fortitude ability being nullified when hit by radiant energy. None of them seem to be vulnerable to radiant damage.

I might have missed the joke here, but his point isn't that radiant damage is better than unnamed damage. His point is that unnamed damage is better than necrotic damage.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

There is clearly a mismatch between the fluff and the crunch, and in this case I think it's the fluff that is wrong. Neither of these subclasses should be undead hunters. They clearly have an affinity with the plane of shadow and negative/necrotic energy. They're more likely to cultivate, befriend, command, or at least ignore the undead.

The gods that the Grave domain are associated with are generally the ones that regard undead as anathema and against the true order of things. Likewise the Druids of Twilight.
Its unlikely that either would be willing to ignore, let alone befriend the undead.

 

[Corpsetaker]

I always though of radiant damage as positive energy and necrotic as negative energy. In my games all undead are immune to necro and take increased damage from radiant.

 

[AaronOfBarbaria]

People keep mentioning "unnamed damage"... that's not a thing in 5th edition; all damage has a type, even if it is inherited from the source it is providing a bonus to.

 

[Leatherhead]

People keep mentioning "unnamed damage"... that's not a thing in 5th edition; all damage has a type, even if it is inherited from the source it is providing a bonus to.

I've just been assuming that they are using the name "unnamed damage" to refer to the mechanic of inheriting the damage type of the attack that the feature rides on, because that mechanic doesn't have a proper name.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I've just been assuming that they are using the name "unnamed damage" to refer to the mechanic of inheriting the damage type of the attack that the feature rides on, because that mechanic doesn't have a proper name.

Yep. As I understand it (not wishing to put words into anyone's mouth) the necrotic damage people are objecting to on the Grave cleric (the extra d8 or 2d8 once/round) would become P/S/B damage based on the weapon the cleric was using, and the Twilight Druid's extra dice would become the energy type of the spell that they are enhancing if changed to 'unnamed' damage.

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

I don't think so, but they do gain resistance to undead attacks, so that would give them a benefit while fighting them.

Fairly sure that they gain extra HP back if they use that ability on undead to make up for potential damage loss.