D&D 5E Elemental Affinity

[Runny]

Is Elemental Affinity treated the same as Empowered Evocation? Would a single target Scorching Ray do 4d6 + Cha or (2d6 + Cha)*3?

 

[brehobit]

I asked the same question about a warlock and eldritch blast on these boards, and the sense was that each blast added the damage. The more I think about it, the less likely I think that's RAI. We'll see.

 

[Runny]

Okay. The wording is funky for Elemental Affinity, which is why I am not sure if it is meant to function the same as Empowered Evocation and Agonizing Blast.

 

[Andor]

It's ambiguous, and therefore up to the DM. Personally, I would regard a single spell as a single source of damage and use 4d6 + mod. Otoh given that each ray has an individual miss chance it would not be unreasonable to add the mod to each ray. The flipside to that is that resistance would also apply to each ray individually. Choose wisely.

 

[Chocolategravy]

It's ambiguous, and therefore up to the DM. Personally, I would regard a single spell as a single source of damage and use 4d6 + mod. Otoh given that each ray has an individual miss chance it would not be unreasonable to add the mod to each ray. The flipside to that is that resistance would also apply to each ray individually. Choose wisely.

The argument is that an AE like fireball gets the bonus on each creature. A ray should likewise get it's bonus against each creature. If all rays are on one creature each ray should still get a bonus.

 

[Runny]

Wouldn't resistance have the same effect regardless?

I am going with the ruling more than one attack roll, multiple Cha applications until I hear something that defines it otherwise.

 

[Runny]

Good point Chocolate

 

[Andor]

Wouldn't resistance have the same effect regardless?
.

No, because resistance is divide by two and round down. So two 7 point bolts treated individually deal 3.5 rounded down to 3 for a total of 6 points of damage. Combined it's 14 rounded down to 7.

 

[Runny]

Forgot about rounding. Still, two 10 point bolts (add Cha) do 10 points of damage versus resistance, while two 7 point bolts which add 3 for Cha only do 8 points versus resistance.

Anyways, it seems like applying the Cha damage to each attack roll, ala 4E, is the correct interpretation. Or at least the more popular interpretation on internet forums.