Mechanical reflavoring.

[Tegu8788]

I know in 4e that it's really easy to say, this is the class I want the mechanics from, and this is the flavor I want to replace it, and create a wonderful character. I am going to be playing a Paladin of the Raven Queen in an upcoming game. Given the Paladin class uses Fire and Radiant damage, and the Raven Queen's domains are Winter and Death, is it at all reasonable or practical to attempt to take every fire spell and feat and rename it ice for purposes of my character, and changing radiant to necrotic, in a mechanical sense, or should I keep the fire and radiant mechanics and just roleplay them has ice and death energy? This is a rollplay versus roleplay question.

[theflyingkitty]

This seems very doable, as long as it's OK with your DM. ^^

[NecroRebel]

Generally, cold damage is slightly stronger than fire - fewer creatures resist it, and the Wintertouched/Lasting Frost combo is about on par with the feat support fire gets.

Necrotic damage, on the other hand, is significantly weaker than radiant, as more creatures resist it and fewer are weak to it (most notably, probably about 1/3 of undead are weak to radiant). Feat support for both necrotic and radiant damage is slim, so that's not really something that tips it one way or the other.

I'd probably allow that refluff, though note that if you go up against the undead, you might be in a bit of trouble. Ask your DM if it's alright; most will probably allow it.

[LaZodiac]

Also note that there are some legit necrotic and cold Paladin powers.

[Hidden Sanity]

It does strike me as a bit odd that you'd be making the Raven Queens servent weaker against the hated undead...

I would first try and propose this feat to your DM.

Power of the Raven Queen.
Requires divine power source, must worship the Raven Queen.
Whenever a divine attack power would deal Radiant Damage, you may instead deal necrotic damage. In addition, whenever you would deal fire damage with a divine attack power; you may instead deal cold damage.

[Tegu8788]

That is kinda what I'm looking for. Whenever my character produces a fire spell, or takes a fire boosting feat, mark out fire and replace with ice. A flaming sword would still be fire, and resistance armor would still boost fire defense, but all the powers simply swap the damage types.

The undead thing is a huge potential problem though, I agree. I'll ask my DM about it, as you all have suggested. Maybe I can use a "dark light" instead?

[Hidden Sanity]

Indeed, evil clerics still do Radiant damage... but some people fluff it so it's dark purple or green lights and the like.

[Thomo]

Yeah, think of Radiant in this sense as more of a divine power than sparkly, bright lights...

[Dimers]

Beams from the staring, baleful eye of the Raven Queen could be radiant damage. Like star warlock and star cosmo-sorcerer powers, that particular refluffing would be cold+radiant.


Power of the Raven Queen.
Requires divine power source, must worship the Raven Queen.
Whenever a divine attack power would deal Radiant Damage, you may instead deal necrotic damage. In addition, whenever you would deal fire damage with a divine attack power; you may instead deal cold damage.

Too powerful, because it'd let you choose from a wider range of damage types to match up with enemies' weaknesses. (Well, not "too powerful" per se, but clearly a notch above what most feats and features can do.)

I'd recommend instead that the fire-->cold and radiant-->necrotic switch simply be an extra class feature for a Raven Queen paladin. And to cover the undead-hating aspect, as either a class feature or a feat (depending on how much your DM wants to tax you), add a Channel Divinity power to remove or invert necrotic resistance.

Raven Queen's Subordination [Divinity]
Prerequisites: Channel Divinity class feature, must worship the Raven Queen
Benefit: You can invoke the power of your deity to use Raven Queen's subordination.
Channel Divinity: Raven Queen's Subordination (Feat Power)
Those who reject your goddess's finality will be brought into line all the more firmly.
Encounter * Divine
Minor Action * Personal
Effect: Until the end of your next turn, your attacks ignore resist necrotic and deal extra damage equal to the amount of the resistance.
Sustain Minor: The effect persists.
Special: You must take the Raven Queen's Subordination feat to use this power.

If that looks overpowered, a few quick adaptations are to change the extra damage to a flat +5 (or +2/+4/+6 scaling by tier), remove the ability to sustain it, or specify divine attacks or attacks against undead creatures. Lots of sensible options.

[Crasical]

There's apparently an epic feat in Dragon 380 called Echo of Letherna that lets a Raven Queen follower change radiant powers to radiant/necrotic.