acids and bases in d&d and the damage types

[balmz]

hi there, i was wondering in d&d would you say that bases exist chemistry wise? I ask this because i know that a fair number of bases exist irl that are just as corrosive if not more then alot of acids that exist irl like lye and tetramethylammonium hydroxide . This also brings me to another thing, if a creature was resistant or immune to acid damage in d&d, if bases exist do you think they would still be immune to the corrosive damage that bases can cause since acid damage is basically corrosive effects on a target or would you allow a base to do harm since they are chemically different? this also brings another question, would you combine acids and bases and maybe just call it corrosive or caustic damage instead of splitting the two and just say that it's the destructive effect it has that some creatures are immune to?

 

[bedir than]

I would combine the two in one damage type. That's not "realistic" but it is going to be a lot simpler. There are already quite a few damage types and I don't know that adding another is useful from a gameplay standpoint.

 

[jeffh]

"Acid" has always meant "corrosive/caustic substance in general" in D&D, at least as far as I'm concerned. Just as the Lightning Bolt spell behaves nothing like real electricity, D&D acids behave nothing like real acids. The distinction between acids and alkalis/bases may or may not apply to your campaign depending how historical/"realistic" you want it to be, but in any case both should deal damage of type "acid" rather than introducing a new damage type. If this bothers you, just change the game term "acid" to "caustic" or "corrosive".

 

[the Jester]

Sure bases, like lye, exist in D&D. They deal acid damage and are resisted as such.

That's my take on it, anyway.

 

[pBard]

IIRC Green Dragon breath is Chlorine gas. Thus a Base.

 

[pBard]

The caustic nature of chlorine would explain why you don't have to breathe to take damage from cloudkill spells.

 

[Blue Orange]

IIRC Green Dragon breath is Chlorine gas. Thus a Base.

Chlorine is an oxidizer, not a base.

'Chlorine bleach', or sodium hypochlorite, is in fact a base, though it gets its effect by being an oxidizing agent.

(Yes, I resurrected an eight-year-old thread just to argue that.)

 

[Rabulias]

 

[Voadam]

I played in a 1e game where PC wizards had developed variant fireball and lower level single target bolt spells to do different types of damage including acid and base. The basebolt spell was specifically designed to do more against black dragon types.

I generally go with the Jester's (8-year old) approach in my games of PH imbalanced either way is D&D acid mechanically.

 

[LuisCarlos17f]

The acid steals the bonding electrons from the molecules of other materials. A base is a substance that donates unshared pairs of electrons to a recipient species with which the electrons can be shared. I say it again with other words: A Lewis acid is a substance that accepts a pair of electrons to form a covalent bond. A Lewis base is a substance that donates a pair of electrons to form a covalent bond.

When acid and base are mixed, the effect is a mutual neutralization, creating water and salt.