Energy time damage as melee attack


Pathfinder First Edition General Discussion

Scarab Sages

Hi all, i'm looking for the easiest and/or cheapest way to deal energy or elemental damage by melee attack.
I know that the are so many effects and weapons that ADD this type of damage, but i'm looking for something the deals ONLY pure energy or elemental damage. Also it should not require to be able to cast spells or a UMD skill check.
Any other way it's ok, including feats, magic items or i don't know.

For example a flame fountain firework (alchemical item) meets this requirements (and it's the only thing i found) but a fire longsword or a shocking grasp spell do not.
The amount of damage is not important, 1 damage is enough. It's better if cheap and doesn't require a competence.

Any suggestion?
Thank you.


Check with your GM if you can make touch attacks without using an ability (i.e. can you just reach out and touch someone without having some ability that needs it). If they say you can, try Deliquescent Gloves. Touch things for 1d6 acid.

If the GM says no, all you will need is another ability that lets you make touch attacks repeatedly. Then you are good to go.

Scarab Sages

Snowblind wrote:

Check with your GM if you can make touch attacks without using an ability (i.e. can you just reach out and touch someone without having some ability that needs it). If they say you can, try Deliquescent Gloves. Touch things for 1d6 acid.

If the GM says no, all you will need is another ability that lets you make touch attacks repeatedly. Then you are good to go.

Nice, a little expensive but nice, thank you.

I wait for other suggestions.

By the way i "need" such a thing because i'd like to deal energy type damage sneak attacks while flanking in order to overcome the DR of enemies, so i prefer the item/ability to deal less damage if it's cheaper.

Scarab Sages

I notice now that i wrote "energy time" instead of "energy type" in the title... i don't know how to edit it, i'm sorry


Energy/elemental damage does not interact with DR in any way. DR applies to melee/physical damage only. Energy/elemental damage is affected by energy resistance. DR =! energy resistance.

When you attack, you should report the physical damage to the DM and then separately report the energy damage to the DM so each can be reduced by DR and energy resistance as needed. You should not be reporting it as a total damage done that then has DR applied to it. Unless you guys have some sort of houserule arrangement to the contrary, of course.

Scarab Sages

born_of_fire wrote:

Energy/elemental damage does not interact with DR in any way. DR applies to melee/physical damage only. Energy/elemental damage is affected by energy resistance. DR =! energy resistance.

When you attack, you should report the physical damage to the DM and then separately report the energy damage to the DM so each can be reduced by DR and energy resistance as needed. You should not be reporting it as a total damage done that then has DR applied to it. Unless you guys have some sort of houserule arrangement to the contrary, of course.

ok, i guess? when did i say DR=energy resistance?

I'm not good in english so i'll explain myself with an example:
there is an enemy with damage reduction from phisical damage, i want to do sneak attack with energy type damage so the damage is not reduced.


I apologize if I misunderstood you however you said you want to make your attacks energy damage so that they overcome DR while flanking. I don't really see how flanking, sneak attacking and energy damage interact in your mind. Energy damage occurs whether the enemy has DR or not and whether you are sneak attacking or not.

If you are trying to transform your melee sneak attack dice into energy sneak attack dice, which is what I gather from your example in the last post, I do not believe such a thing is possible. And, if I've misunderstood you again, I'll take it as an indicator that I am unqualified to offer advice on this matter :) Hopefully someone else can help you out better than I have.

Scarab Sages

Yes, i want to "transform" SA damage in energy type, and it is possible as long as the damage comes from an attack (that requires you to hit, you can crit etc.). For example a level 5 rogue with minor magic and major magic can use shocking grasp to deal 5d6+3d6 from SA, all of this are electrical damage, as long as you respect the conditions to deal precision damage (and flanking is the easiest way imho).

By the way this is not the topic of this thread.

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