How do you describe alignment damage?

[The Weave05]

My players have an upcoming fight against a creature that deals evil damage on its strikes. I typically like to embellish enemy attacks by saying things like "the sword tears through your leather armor and cuts flesh, you take X slashing damage," or "your knees buckle from the impact of the hammer, you take X bludgeoning damage," and so on. I am wondering how most people go about describing what evil, chaotic, lawful, or good damage looks or feels like to a player.

[BellyBeard]

I usually say something to the effect of "it sears your soul" or "you feel the attack tear into the core of your being", so they know I'm talking about a non-physical effect. I wouldn't want them thinking it's acid damage or something through my description. I usually describe evil creatures being hit with the Sorcerer's Divine Lance as sizzling and hissing in pain.

[tonyz]

Evil damage is a slow black stain, spreading and burning like acid. Maybe some temptation is ladled in. ("For a moment, you feel very angry/lustful/tired/whatever the character's major sin is")

Good damage is a flare of white-gold light that leaves evil creatures scarred and smoking.

Lawful damage is a steady blue glow that's maybe a 3D grid if you look deep enough, closing in around the victim like a cage.

Chaos damage is a shifting of form and feature, leaving the victim blurred and distorted before reality snaps back into place.

[HumbleGamer]

Those are all excellent descriptions.

As for me, I tend to know everything about my players in order not to let them do the math.

This will allow them only to rely only on descriptions.

I won't say "you take X piercing damage and Y evil damage" I just give them the number of damage after the resistance calculation ( just to make an example ), eventually adding some description depends the damage the character suffers from ).

[Bandw2]

since alignment damage only damages people of the opposite alignment, i tend to describe alignment damage as almost sentient(tendrils of darkness worm their way into your flesh before dissipating) or like a matter-anti-matter reaction, where around the cut some of the flesh just vaporizes.

[The Weave05]

Bandw2 wrote:

since alignment damage only damages people of the opposite alignment, i tend to describe alignment damage as almost sentient(tendrils of darkness worm their way into your flesh before dissipating) or like a matter-anti-matter reaction, where around the cut some of the flesh just vaporizes.

Really? I actually didn't know that. Where is that specified?

[Bandw2]

on page 452 of your CRB, where it explains how damage types are used.