do energy attacks have extra effects?


Rules Questions


like cold chills, shock stuns, acid and fire extra dmg in the next round? if that is a thing where can i find that info? preferably on the d20pfsrd site.


Energy damage in and of itself does not have any rider effects.

Plenty of specific effects deal energy damage and have riders, but that's a function of that specific effect, not whatever associated energy type it might utilize.

Examples:

Alchemist's Fire deals additional damage on the following round - this is a specific effect of alchemist's fire, not fire damage in general.

Frost Bombs stagger on a failed save - this is an effect of the alchemist bomb, not cold damage in general.

And so on.

There is only one exception that I'm aware of, and that's force damage, which ignores the incorporeal quality.

Also worth noting is that specific damage types may - at the GM's discretion - ignore the hardness of objects. Fire, for instance, *may* ignore some or all hardness of a highly-flammable object. Sonic *may* ignore some or all hardness of a crystalline object.

This is left deliberately vague and undefined, and is entirely at the discretion of the GM how to adjudicate.


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Each attack should detail all effects, such as lightning bolt spell or alchemist fire. There isn't a general use section of the rules for additional effects.


k thanks


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The general section of rules and extra affects is that if there is an extra affect the ability will specify it.

So, generally speaking if the ability that grants you the energy damage doesn't mention a secondary effect, then it doesn't have one.


So if you specify a sonic attack, you have to mention on a failed save any glass vials, flasks, or crystals must try a second save or shatter. A fireball turned into a sonic effect has no effect on fragile objects because it's not specified. Bummer.


If you get some sort of sonic attack and it says that it can cause glassware to shatter if the initial and follow up save are failed, then it does so. If you have a sonic attack that doesn't say that, then it doesn't. See Sonic Scream as an example of a spell that deals sonic damage but doesn't specify any extra effect.

And thus a Fireball turned into a sonic attack (which to my knowledge isn't possible as things like Elemental Spell can't turn into Sonic) don't have an extra effect just because their element changed.


You can have all sorts of fluff effects. As long as they are descriptive and not mechanical effects, they are OK.

Example, getting chills from cold energy can describe how you react to the damage, but has no in game effect. Those chills do not make you less accurate, less strong, less alert or change any other effect. It will, however, create a vivid roll play experience.

/cevah


zainale wrote:
like cold chills, shock stuns, acid and fire extra dmg in the next round? if that is a thing where can i find that info? preferably on the d20pfsrd site.

Magically created energy effects usually explicitly state in their descriptions what they do, either from spells, SLA's, Supernatural abilities or magic items.

That said, many mundane energy and environmental effects (and even SOME magic) effects have some riders. Sometimes fire has a chance to light the target on fire, if it is flammable, causing burn over the succeeding rounds.

It is important to note that technically any non instantaneous fire spell should have a chance to cause targets or the area to catch on fire as per the rules on fire.

Sometimes acids can be dangerous due to their fumes and cause Constitution damage.

I would suggest reading up on the environmental effects section of the rules for more information.

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