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D&D Ideas — Radiant & Necrotic

Welcome once again to the weekly newsletter. This week’s topic is radiant & necrotic, which we discussed in our weekly live chat. We hangout every Monday evening at 8 p.m. EST on Nerdarchy Live to talk about D&D, RPGs, gaming, life and whatever nerdy stuff comes up. Speaking of radiant & necrotic the two are often intertwined and closely related as opposing forces of spiritual life and undeath. You can get the Nerdarchy Newsletter delivered to your inbox each week, along with updates and info on how to game with Nerdarchy plus snag a FREE GIFT by signing up here.

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Delving Dave’s Dungeon

Up until this point all of the 5E D&D energy types we’ve covered have been linked to elemental planes in the D&D cosmology but radiant and necrotic don’t have any planar analogs in 5E D&D. They used to in earlier editions though.

The Positive Energy Plane and Negative Energy Plane were probably the most hostile planes to survive. One would kill you with goodness poisoning and the other would sap your life force until you were no more — if the undead didn’t get you first. In 5E D&D radiant and necrotic are really just damage descriptors for the most part. They have lost some of their thematic dressing of previous editions.

In 5E D&D radiant damage is generally associated with holy damage and necrotic affects your life force. Let’s consider some ways to use these damage types in your games.

First and foremost if characters head to an area infested with undead they can probably predict a lot of necrotic damage coming their way in the near future and could plan accordingly. On the flip side if they visit a temple or holy site that a god and their servants actively care about then radiant damage is something for which they should prepare. I would reward the players for this forethought and sprinkle in some magical traps or puzzles dealing radiant damage alongside any more mundane traps at the holy site.

What about magical hazards? An area where a god died might be irradiated with radiant damage for years to come, perhaps in spots where their blood touched down. Imagine a location where an epic battle took place between two gods. Everywhere their blood splattered now crackles with white energy causing radiant damage to any who touch the area. Now you’ve got interesting obstacles and dangers on a battlefield.

Another take is an encounter taking place while the two gods do battle in the present. Wherever the goodly god’s blood rains down takes radiant damage. Where the evil god’s blood touches the ground undead monsters spring up seeking the life of the living. The adventurers and another group have to navigate and fight each other as these battling titans go at it for godly supremacy. Pick a MacGuffin needed to complete a quest, which must be retrieved before the opposition gets their hands on the object. This could result in a running battle where random damage and hostile monsters spring up on any given initiative count.

Here is how I’d run an encounter like this. I give the two gods each their own initiative count. Next I’d randomly determine what side (players or monsters) will be impacted by the action of the gods. Once I have a side then I’d randomly roll to see who is affected. If it is the radiant damage then the creature makes a Dexterity saving throw for half damage. Use the Dungeon Master Guide chart for damage and DC ratings to determine the details based on the party’s level. If it’s the evil gods blood spilled then pick an undead monster to spring up and take hostile action against whoever they appeared before.

From Ted’s Head

Evocative thoughts very often come to mind when 5E D&D players hear the words radiant or necrotic. Radiant conjures bright, brilliant and glowing thoughts, but gamers think of powers from the heavens and clerics dealing damage. For the average person necrotic relates to medical terms and wounds with necrosis. Gamers identify this damage type as darker powers typically used by warlocks, evil spellcasters or maybe those attacking plants.

While thinking about the duality of the concepts of radiant and necrotic I wanted to create something inspired by both. Allow me to share the following 5E D&D magic item with you.

Twisted Staff of Light and Dark

Staff, very rare (requires attunement)

This amazing staff comprises two different types of wood, which grow around each other twisting all the way up the length of this 6 foot long shaft. This staff of light curly maple entwined with dark ebonwood can be wielded as a magic quarterstaff that grants a +2 bonus to attack and damage rolls made with it. While holding this staff, you also gain a +2 bonus to spell attack rolls.

At the end of a long rest you tune the staff to either radiant or necrotic.

When you tune the staff to radiant you have immunity to radiant damage. As an action you can cause the staff to emit bright light in a 30 foot radius. When you cast a spell using a spell slot that deals damage, you can change the damage type to radiant. If you do you can cause one target of your spell to take an additional 2d6 radiant damage. While the staff is tuned to radiant you feel the compulsion to be more heroic.

When you tune the staff to necrotic you have immunity to necrotic damage. As an action you can cause the staff to emit darkness in a 30 foot radius. When you cast a spell using a spell slot that deals damage, you can change the damage type to necrotic. If you do you can cause one target of your spell to take an additional 2d6 necrotic damage. While the staff is tuned to radiant you feel the compulsion to take more risky actions.

*Featured image — A ceremonial scene lures heroes into a ring of gray mold covered zombies — a dangerous new necrotic dungeon hazard — who attack if disturbed along with 54 other dynamic encounters ready to drop right into your Fifth Edition games in Out of the Box. Find out more about it here. [Art by Kim Van Deun]

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