Is radiant damage classed as normal damage?

[sylanc]

In terms of gameplay, it is confusing as to whether radiant damage can effect normal creatures (not undead) in combact as I would have thought radiant damage would be akin to sun-type damage and therefore not effect a normal creature. is this a wrong assumption??

 

[Mad Hamish]

Yes it's a wrong assumption.
All 4th ed D&D damage types will affect any creature unless it has a resistance or immunity.

Consider what it would do to ranged clerics or Paladins if Radient damage only affected undead....

 

[FireLance]

Think of it as "holy" or "divine" energy.

 

[fba827]

the others are correct, radiant damage will damage any creature as normal unless that creature has a special resistance or immunity to it.

Note that undead creatures are generally (but not always) vulnerable to radiant damage, meaning that they take -extra- damage from it. So that is where the distinction is (others are still damaged by it, but undead are extra damaged by it).

 

[Jhaelen]

In terms of gameplay, it is confusing as to whether radiant damage can effect normal creatures (not undead) in combact as I would have thought radiant damage would be akin to sun-type damage and therefore not effect a normal creature. is this a wrong assumption??

Well, have you ever suffered from sunburn? Light at certain wavelengths is far from harmless (think: laser).

The radiant energy type in 4e is used for a lot of things that were separate entities in earlier editions. It seems to combine aspects of 'brilliant energy' (which in 3e didn't do any damage to undead), 'positive energy' (which damaged undead and healed living beings), 'holy/sacred' (which damaged undead and evil aligned beings), etc. but affects everything (unless it's explicitly resistant or immune to radiant damage). 'Radiant' is also used for anything with an astral source. Therefore it's also not really the opposite of 'necrotic'.

Anyway, in 4e all energy types are treated equal (at least in theory).

 

[ValhallaGH]

Radiant is a standard damage type, just like Cold, Fire, Thunder, or "normal". It works on everything that isn't specifically resistant to it.

Have fun.

 

[lukelightning]

Paladin/cleric radiant damage: Shiny holy wrath.
Warlock radiant damage: The Unwholesome Spectrum Which Was Not Meant To Be.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

Warlock radiant damage: The Unwholesome Spectrum Which Was Not Meant To Be.

It's simply Octarin, the 8th Colour. Also called the colour of magic.

 

[FireLance]

It's simply Octarin, the 8th Colour. Also called the colour of magic.

Yeah, right. Next you'll be telling me that you can actually see octarine, Mustrum_Ridcully.

 

[Eldorian]

Well, have you ever suffered from sunburn? Light at certain wavelengths is far from harmless (think: laser).

Light at certain wavelengths is far from harmless (think X-Rays). Lasers are high intensity visible light. It's not the wavelength, it's the amount of light. You are however correct in that certain wavelengths are more dangerous, it's just that they're not usually used in lasers. They're X-Rays and Gamma Rays and Microwaves and such.