Zealot damage type choice

[Zhorn]

Divine Fury: why should you choose necrotic over radiant?

context
One of my player's went Path of the Zealot and chose necrotic damage for the Divine Fury.
After fighting a bunch of zombies they've learnt that radiant damage would have been very helpful pick.
post game they've asked me
"So radiant is good for zombies. What is necrotic good for?"
... and I'm stumped.

Unless I throw celestials at the group which would highlight radiant damage having a drawback, I'm not sure what I could tell them to make them not think necrotic was just the lesser choice of the two damage types.

[Boci]

It pretty much is the lesser option. The choice is a thematic one rather than a mechanically balanced one. Up to you as a DM if you want to change that, or let them swap necrotic for radiant retroactively.

[georgie_leech]

Theming, mostly. Not every Zealot is going to be powered by Righteous Fury or whatever. But from a practical standpoint, Radiant is just a good damage type against... most things that aren't Celestials. So if you have a choice between Necrotic and Radiant, given how common undead are and how rare Radiant resistance is, Necrotic just kind of is the lesser choice, frankly.

[Contrast]

Searching D&D Beyond there's a grand total of 2 enemies vulnerable to necrotic (both from Eberron - positive energy undead).

There's a few more things resistant or immune to radiant but way fewer than necrotic.


Basically, some damage types are better than others. Radiant is, generally speaking, better than necrotic.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Well against undead, it's clearly an inferior option. In most other cases they're about equal.

Radiant tends to be the better option overall because of that one reason though.

I can't access the image right now, but Ludic put together a little sheet about damage types with their resistances, vulnerabilities and immunities. If I remember correctly radiant was fourth best and necrotic was fifth as far as general usefulness goes. I'll correct that if it's wrong once I can dig the image up.

[Contrast]

I can't access the image right now, but Ludic put together a little sheet about damage types with their resistances, vulnerabilities and immunities.

Link (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?612317-Resistances-Immunities-and-Vulnerabilities-of-Monsters-in-MM-Volo-s-and-MToF) to the thread.

[ProsecutorGodot]

Link (https://forums.giantitp.com/showthread.php?612317-Resistances-Immunities-and-Vulnerabilities-of-Monsters-in-MM-Volo-s-and-MToF) to the thread.

Ah, clearly I remembered poorly, Radiant is by far more generally effective.

I am pretty confident though that this discrepancy is purely related to how frequently you encounter Undead.

[Abracadangit]

Yeah, if we're going off RAW and monster interactions and such, radiant wins. I don't know necrotic does anything, the way radiant can nix certain abilities. I was originally gonna say "Isn't there something about neutralizing healing," but then I realized that was the Chill Touch rider, and had nothing to do with necrotic damage.

I've seen DMs houserule that necrotic can wither certain plant-based barriers or difficult terrain, but like... they kinda made that up. Fun and flavorful, sure, but if it comes down to mechanical benefits, it's sadly not much of a contest.

[Zhorn]

That's a shame.

I was aware of it's resist/immunity count being generally where it was on the hierarchy; better than fire/cold/poison but worse than radiant/force/psychic.
but was hoping there was some mechanical benefit somewhere that gives it an edge, a feature synergy somewhere, etc.

Guess I'll just lean in narratively. Make their choice feel like it has some weight and not just a trap option (which it's not, necrotic is still a good type, it just isn't on the same level as radiant).

[lukethecat2003]

Well against undead, it's clearly an inferior option. In most other cases they're about equal.

Radiant tends to be the better option overall because of that one reason though.

I can't access the image right now, but Ludic put together a little sheet about damage types with their resistances, vulnerabilities and immunities. If I remember correctly radiant was fourth best and necrotic was fifth as far as general usefulness goes. I'll correct that if it's wrong once I can dig the image up.

Wouldn't put too much stock into specific counts, as most games arent going to be throwing these enemies with radiant resistance/immunity, as zombies and skeletons and other necro resistant and immune are more common to see in campaigns, because they are better for lower level encounters.

Just because the Gynosphynx and Androsphynx exist doesnt mean they get used nearly as often as necrotic resistant and immune creatures.

[Mastikator]

Ah, clearly I remembered poorly, Radiant is by far more generally effective.

I am pretty confident though that this discrepancy is purely related to how frequently you encounter Undead.

Most necrotic resistance comes from undead, constructs and celestials. Though celestials are resistant to radiant so it's mostly a matter of constructs and undead I think.

[JackPhoenix]

Wouldn't put too much stock into specific counts, as most games arent going to be throwing these enemies with radiant resistance/immunity, as zombies and skeletons and other necro resistant and immune are more common to see in campaigns, because they are better for lower level encounters.

Fun fact: neither skeletons nor zombies are resistant or immune to necrotic damage.

[Bobthewizard]

Fun fact: neither skeletons nor zombies are resistant or immune to necrotic damage.

I almost posted that too. But radiant does remove undead fortitude for the zombie so it is a much better choice here.