How would you describe necrotic damage?

[Ralanr]

So a villain I'm writing up deals necrotic damage with every strike of his rapier (basically level 12 fiend blade lock) and I find myself wondering how to describe necrotic damage without it being overly debilitating. Necrotic damage sounds like making the effected area physically rot, but I'm wondering if that's too much. I considered that wounds from necrotic attacks would be very cracked and dry as though the water was removed from the body, though this (I know nothing of medicine or very deep wounds, just guessing) would have a benefit of preventing large blood lose. Again, not sure if that works though.

And yes I know the PHB also described harming the soul, but I was hoping for something more physical.

How do you all describe necrotic damage?

[TheOOB]

How it feels can differ from attack to attack. I always thought necrotic damage made you really weak and lifeless, maybe even taking your breath away. You want to avoid having hp damage have overly visible visual/extreme effects, hp isn't your ability to take damage but your ability to avoid taking damage.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Well, necrotic damage would be pretty debilitating IRL (though it might be a slow, lingering death in a lot of cases).

I tend to go for descriptions of withering, drying up, blackening, shrivelling and wilting.

[Easy_Lee]

Decay. Necrotic is associated with the undead, so it moves you in that direction.

[GiantOctopodes]

I like to think of it like the Princess Bride machine- sapping away at your essence and life energy, where the wound on the surface appears fine, but it damages the spirit within.

If you're looking for a more physical, visible effect, then yeah, decay seems like a winner. It makes all the sense in the world to me that necrotic damage would cause necrosis of the flesh.

[The Shadowdove]

What's the dc for gangrene to set in?

[Fwiffo86]

Decay. Necrotic is associated with the undead, so it moves you in that direction.

OP: See and google Necrosis of the flesh.

That should be all you need to know.

I disagree with being pushed to undeath. Necrotic is not Negative Energy.

[Ninja_Prawn]

What's the dc for gangrene to set in?

CON save every 24 hours; DC starts at 10 and goes up by one every time you succeed.

[Easy_Lee]

OP: See and google Necrosis of the flesh.

That should be all you need to know.

I disagree with being pushed to undeath. Necrotic is not Negative Energy.

Negative Energy has been replaced with necrotic this edition. Furthermore, necrosis is something which happens to corpses and stereotypical undead. And furthermore, many undead have resistance or immunity to necrotic damage.

If you seek to correct me, please first time ensure that you're actually right.

[Ralanr]

Ok good to know. Thanks everyone!

Somewhat related but not important: radiant damage. Cause positive energy isn't a thing anymore

[Sigreid]

As the tip of his blade bites into your flesh, you can feel it's hunger as it feasts on your very life force!

[Ralanr]

As the tip of his blade bites into your flesh, you can feel it's hunger as it feasts on your very life force!

I find it weird that life drinker doesn't give temp hit points.

[Alerad]

http://www.goblinscomic.org/12192005/

Your skin withers and flays is a good description if you're looking for visual effects.
That's what I've always imagined the Inflict Wounds would do to a 1st level character.

Otherwise you can say that they feel as if they're dying from the inside little by little.

[Sigreid]

I find it weird that life drinker doesn't give temp hit points.

That would require a weapon willing to share instead of one waiting for you to die so it can consume your life essence too. Basically I view necrotic damage as negative energy which to me is insatiable hunger.

[Ralanr]

That would require a weapon willing to share instead of one waiting for you to die so it can consume your life essence too. Basically I view necrotic damage as negative energy which to me is insatiable hunger.

Interesting, I always viewed negative energy as a magical equivalent to electrons.

Or just pure evil transferred into energy, not pure energy since that's not really a thing.

[Sigreid]

Interesting, I always viewed negative energy as a magical equivalent to electrons.

Or just pure evil transferred into energy, not pure energy since that's not really a thing.

Well, philosophically speaking evil one could see evil coming from a pure, unreasoning hunger for something...power...wealth...respect.

[Ralanr]

Well, philosophically speaking evil one could see evil coming from a pure, unreasoning hunger for something...power...wealth...respect.

True, but philosophical aspects are not physical.

Wait, this is D&D. Carry on.

[Sigreid]

True, but philosophical aspects are not physical.

Wait, this is D&D. Carry on.

Similarly, I could see radiant damage as feeling a searing pain as the holy energy burns away that which is unworthy in your very soul!

[Ralanr]

Similarly, I could see radiant damage as feeling a searing pain as the holy energy burns away that which is unworthy in your very soul!

More likely the power of your deity through you as a conduit (Like a pipe with water). I like yours, but angels only have resistance to radiant damage for some reason.

And paladins don't need a deity...Well that debunks my theory of radiant damage.

[dropbear8mybaby]

Like any damage in D&D, the only time there is any significant injury is when the PC dies. Even going unconscious doesn't represent major damage unless the PC fails all three death saves. So I would describe 'hits' as something very minor, maybe like a scalding wound with some wisps of smoke coming off it.

[Telwar]

More likely the power of your deity through you as a conduit (Like a pipe with water). I like yours, but angels only have resistance to radiant damage for some reason.

And paladins don't need a deity...Well that debunks my theory of radiant damage.

In 4e, radiant damage was basically light, either nearly full-fledged laser, or backed up by holiness or eldritch horror.

Heh, at one point I had a character doing radiant and necrotic damage in the same attack. That got described as gamma radiation. :)

[Ralanr]

in 4e, radiant damage was basically light, either nearly full-fledged laser, or backed up by holiness or eldritch horror.

Heh, at one point i had a character doing radiant and necrotic damage in the same attack. That got described as gamma radiation. :)

Yin-Yang beam! Taste the power of perfect philosophical balance!

[Slipperychicken]

Similarly, I could see radiant damage as feeling a searing pain as the holy energy burns away that which is unworthy in your very soul!

This is how I imagine radiant damage:

http://24.media.tumblr.com/8b4155ef847feabcd0429d04956ba1a7/tumblr_mgdhxykI9u1qa69wso2_500.gif
http://24.media.tumblr.com/a460eb13375bc895b6db3ab1799ee646/tumblr_mgdhxykI9u1qa69wso3_500.gif


Radiant damage. [...] sears the flesh like fire and overloads the spirit with power.

[Ralanr]

Overloads the spirit with power?

That's metal as ****.

[Kurt Kurageous]

Otherwise you can say that they feel as if they're dying from the inside little by little.


Like this?

(for a guy) "You feel like you are asked to hold your wife's purse."

(for an aged punk) "You feel like you are shopping at Hot Topic."

(for a teenager) "You feel like you are being forced to listen to opera."

[Safety Sword]

Like this?

(for a guy) "You feel like you are asked to hold your wife's purse."

(for an aged punk) "You feel like you are shopping at Hot Topic."

(for a teenager) "You feel like you are being forced to listen to opera."

You feel as if you have to wear a tutu and do stand up comedy in front of a naked audience?

May the uncomfortable feeling in your stomach consume your breakfast sandwich... or something..

[Alerad]

Like this?

(for a guy) "You feel like you are asked to hold your wife's purse."

Yeah, seems legit. Shopping malls and outlets also work. On the plus side if there is ever a zombie outbreak I should be fine because years of training must have given me resistance to necrotic damage.

[djreynolds]

Bacterial "usually". Gram-negative "usually". Make it a disease. Have it turn areas of the skin black and if it is not treated it gets worse and you lose a limb from gangrene or you get necrotizing fasciitis and then sepsis and then die.

Meaning if you're hit with necrotic damage you can't just shrug it off till your next rest, you must use a healer's kit, or paladin, or medicine skill before you short rest, or there are consequences.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Like this?

(for a guy) "You feel like you are asked to hold your wife's purse."

(for an aged punk) "You feel like you are shopping at Hot Topic."

(for a teenager) "You feel like you are being forced to listen to opera."

Nah, that's psychic damage. :smalltongue:

[djreynolds]

Nah, that's psychic damage. :smalltongue:

Very true, and no sarcasm.

[Joe the Rat]

Best not to get hung up on the linguistic connections, lest you find yourself in the weeds. And while you're there, see if you can't bring the Dev team back to the path with you.

The general content of Radiant is additive: Restorative energy, holy burning fire that does not require oxygen, and burning light in general. Sacred Flame and Laser Pistols and Sun Blades. The line between Radiant damage and Fire damage is a peculiar one. Somewhere around infrared, I think (Scorching Ray vs. Laser). Also, it's what you evoke to heal things.

The general content of Necrotic is subtractive: Destruction, life-draining, withering, decay, atomic disassembly. Mummy Rot and Disintegrate and Evil Bad Touches that prevent healing or reduce hit point maximums and Antimatter.


So to the original question: It depends on the source. Chill touch and Wight Drain and the like suggest a cold numbness - the life energy is sucked away. Fatigue. Weakness. The feeling of icewater (or saline fresh from the fridge) flowing through your veins. The "wound" (if there is one) would be pallid or grey, or perhaps go for the color of an old bruise. A physical withering (like it sucked the water out of your tissues) may be fitting as well. Disintegrations suggest leaving a gaping lack of anything, though that strains believability with the whole surviving the attack thing. For that, I'd go with the "feels like your body is being torn apart at the most basic level, but in the end stays together" angle.

[Fwiffo86]

Negative Energy has been replaced with necrotic this edition. Furthermore, necrosis is something which happens to corpses and stereotypical undead. And furthermore, many undead have resistance or immunity to necrotic damage.

If you seek to correct me, please first time ensure that you're actually right.

Ignoring the condition of undeath entirely because arguing fantasy trope definitions is an exercise in waste.

Please cite where WotC has stated Necrotic damage replaces Negative Energy damage. I am sure it exists, I am just AFB. I suspect it would be in an undead description, or within the spell descriptions that inflict Necrotic damage or animate undead.

The question is what does necrotic damage do to a character (living I assume). My example was to demonstrate what it would look like so it can be described. If you want to argue that ONLY necrotic damage leads to undeath, I will be happy to oblige.

[Ralanr]

I don't think it outright specifies that necrotic replaces negative energy. I think it's implied to people who know those energy types.

I miss revive kills zombie. Sadly radiant damage is offensive positive energy rather than positive energy that counteracts negative.

Clerics can't harm undead with cure wounds. Though they have an undead specific ability (that I think is poorly placed. Seems like an ability waste). It's not overly bad, but I miss the flavor.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I am sure it exists, I am just AFB.

Death Tyrant racial ability: Negative Energy Cone
Lich lair action: uses negative energy tether to share damage with target creature
Mummy Lord legendary action: Channel Negative Energy
Wraith description: "the creature is suffused with negative enegry"

[Kurt Kurageous]

Once upon a time in a land far far away (ADnD), major undead didn't hit for necrotic or negative energy or temporarily reduce your maximum HP. They actually took away whole LEVELS of XP in a single blow, a d4 worth. That's negative energy for you, actually stealing your life experiences from you.

I like it here in 5e. Vampires are still tough, but not that sucky tough.

[Ralanr]

Once upon a time in a land far far away (ADnD), major undead didn't hit for necrotic or negative energy or temporarily reduce your maximum HP. They actually took away whole LEVELS of XP in a single blow, a d4 worth. That's negative energy for you, actually stealing your life experiences from you.

I like it here in 5e. Vampires are still tough, but not that sucky tough.

I've always wondered about that. Did you get your levels back after the fight or the hard way?

[Slipperychicken]

I've always wondered about that. Did you get your levels back after the fight or the hard way?

IIRC you had to get them back the hard way, if at all. Getting level-drained to zero has been instant death in each edition that used it.

It seems that 5e dispensed with xp-costs, experience penalties, and level-removal of all sorts. Good riddance, I say.

[GiantOctopodes]

I've always wondered about that. Did you get your levels back after the fight or the hard way?

Some effects were permanent, some were temporary, iirc occasionally with a save at the end of it to see if it would become permanent. You could also permanently lose stats, or by casting mordekanein's disjunction on an artifact, permanently lose your spellcasting abilities.

[Ninja_Prawn]

I've always wondered about that. Did you get your levels back after the fight or the hard way?

In Baldur's Gate, Greater Restoration usually cured it, but I don't know if that worked in the TT version. And the act of casting that spell made the caster 'fatigued', so then you'd have to rest or they'd get slaughtered by the next wave of vampires...

[Fwiffo86]

Death Tyrant racial ability: Negative Energy Cone
Lich lair action: uses negative energy tether to share damage with target creature
Mummy Lord legendary action: Channel Negative Energy
Wraith description: "the creature is suffused with negative enegry"

Are those from 5e? If so, that sets the possibility that negative energy and necrotic damage are entirely different animals.

[Shining Wrath]

Flesh turns grey, as though the blood (or life) has been drained from it.

[Gritmonger]

Necrotic: you are dying. Necrotic damage to a plant would cause it to wither, necrotic damage to a creature might cause it to lose hair or scales, necrotic damage to a person might cause them to go ashen, appear aged, or visibly become distressed or dead-appearing (gray-green cast to skin, milky eyes, hair and nails growing brittle and sparse).

Radiant: The power of raw reality that really can't be contained in flesh, the hand of a deity or higher power having touched the living cannot withstand. Overflow, supercharging, nitrous to a body's engine.

Kind of like yin and yang - Radiant would be Yang, positive, light loud energy, Necrotic/negative would be Yin, negative, dark silent energy, the two colliding would be potentially explosive in raw form. Both in raw, unmixed form are harmful to a balanced living system.

[Ninja_Prawn]

Are those from 5e? If so, that sets the possibility that negative energy and necrotic damage are entirely different animals.

Yes, all from the 5e MM (the legendary action should have been a giveaway). I'd give page numbers, but I'm AFB. I am convinced that NE and necrotic damage represent different concepts in 5e. How those concepts relate to previous incarnations, I'm not sure.

[djreynolds]

So a villain I'm writing up deals necrotic damage with every strike of his rapier (basically level 12 fiend blade lock) and I find myself wondering how to describe necrotic damage without it being overly debilitating. Necrotic damage sounds like making the effected area physically rot, but I'm wondering if that's too much. I considered that wounds from necrotic attacks would be very cracked and dry as though the water was removed from the body, though this (I know nothing of medicine or very deep wounds, just guessing) would have a benefit of preventing large blood lose. Again, not sure if that works though.

And yes I know the PHB also described harming the soul, but I was hoping for something more physical.

How do you all describe necrotic damage?

I'm seeing necrotic as a disease or bacterial poisoning. You could say that you dipped your rapier into the mouth of "komodo dragon" who's saliva is teeming with this bacteria that causes necrosis. It is a disease, germ warfare. If the idea sells, we split the credit. Anthrax naturally resides in soil. Bubonic plague. Lot's of nasty bacterial stuff that can cause necrotizing wounds. And they would be difficult to be rid of.

The wounds could be oozing pustules, sloughing skin, boiles. Villains can have fantasy fun.

[Whyrocknodie]

Like any damage in D&D, the only time there is any significant injury is when the PC dies. Even going unconscious doesn't represent major damage unless the PC fails all three death saves. So I would describe 'hits' as something very minor, maybe like a scalding wound with some wisps of smoke coming off it.

I would do it this way, saving the dessication and horrific wounds for when the hit points are exhausted.

[djreynolds]

I would do it this way, saving the dessication and horrific wounds for when the hit points are exhausted.

Make it something that has to be treated. Its not just some gash, its a gash but some rusty blade. Make the character have to receive treatment or it gets worse. It has to be cured by a kit or spell or medicine skill and not just a short rest.

[DemonSlayer6]

The PHB describes necrotic damage as that which "withers matter and even the soul". In practice, it's been discussed various ways.

The Sorceress' "Chill Touch" drains the life from the target slowly, typically weakening him mentally. Meanwhile, the Cleric describes his "Inflict Wounds" as though a plague were eating at the target's flesh. One NPC I attacked with a necrotic-dealing weapon left decaying wounds as the blade slashed through the flesh. A flesh golem, meanwhile, did not visibly decay but also could not regenerate where my blade touched his vile rotting flesh. Incidentally, that was how the Druid recognized the necrotic damage my sword was doing.

At no point did the Druid recognize the Sorceress or Cleric using necrotic damage (or else she wouldn't have singled my Bard out). But she saw necrotic damage inflicted to her friends and family as it was dealt through my sword, and so could recognize it for what it was.