Hostile creatures in Dungeons & Dragons are cut apart, burned, frozen, and dispatched in many other ways during battles. However, a game master wants to know what kind of wound a particularly “radiant” attack would leave… but it is mainly the reason for their question that sparks discussion within the community.
Why does the game master want to know more about the damage? The DM (Dungeon Master) reaches out to the D&D community on Reddit with a burning question. He is running a campaign for a group where one player wants to play as a master chef who prepares the slain creatures for the group to eat after battle. The plan strongly resembles the anime “Delicious in Dungeon,” which we feature in this list on MeinMMO.
He can envision and explain how the wounds would look and how the type of damage affects the flesh of the creatures and its flavor. Only for one type is he currently at a loss: radiant damage.
“I know the simple and boring answer is ‘white burning,’ but personally, I want more interesting answers,” he writes on Reddit. He also wants to know how he could describe the taste of the flesh that was “cooked” with radiant damage to the player.
Here you can see the trailer for “The Mighty Nein” on Amazon Prime, the series adaptation of Critical Role’s second campaign:
Radiant damage can lead to incredible flavor, but also inaccurate preparation
What exactly is radiant damage? To determine what wounds and flavors radiant damage may cause, one must first clarify what kind of damage it actually is.
In the 2024 Player’s Handbook, radiant damage is described as “Holy Energy” and “Searing Radiation.” In this regard, it can be considered a type of “burn” that is not caused by fire, but rather by holy energy. Even in Baldur’s Gate 3, a target killed by radiant damage falls burning to the ground in a kind of white “fire.”
But how would the flesh react to this kind of holy fire? On Reddit, hundreds of players participate in the discussion.
Due to the holy influence, many players expect that the flesh should simply taste divine. The user shutternomad already floats in culinary heaven with their description:
“Perhaps radiant flesh… is too perfect? The fibers separate cleanly. No cartilage. The fat transforms into a translucent, pearl-like gel that melts instantly on the tongue and tastes amazing.”
Holy damage, on the other hand, could also render the flesh completely inedible. Due to radiation, the flesh could be completely destroyed. The molecules might decompose and break down before it can even be consumed.
“Radiant damage is not a cleansing force. It’s deadly light,” explains Hades_Gamma, and TalksInMaths emphasizes: “Acute radiation damage is much worse than just being unevenly cooked. Seriously, don’t look at images of it if you’re sensitive. The body begins to disintegrate at the cellular level.”
In this regard, the game master should consider whether their master chef might prefer to only handle creatures roasted by fire.
Since there are still no exact specifications regarding the taste of flesh that has been affected by radiant damage, we also want to hear from you if you have a hypothesis on the question.
The player of the asking DM has given their character a solid backstory with the master chef background, which can lead to exciting moments within the group. Not every group can claim to be rewarded with a real meal during their nightly rest. If your characters still lack backgrounds, we have prepared more inspirations for you here on MeinMMO: 5 strong backgrounds from Dungeons & Dragons in the ranking that can enhance your backstory’s advantage in gameplay
