Spells dealing cold damage. effects?

[Uber Dungeon]

I have to questions in regards to spells that do "Cold Damage"
Cone of cold for example.

-Since it deals cold damage would it be considered non-lethal damage?
-Also, Someone damaged by Cold such as with extreme weather rules would become fatigued, would this be the same for someone taking cold damage from a spell such as Cone of Cold?

 

[Herzog]

-no
-no

 

[Empirate]

What is not spelled out in the rules can usually safely be presumed not to be the case. If cone of cold dealt nonlethal damage or fatigued the target, the spell description would say so. It only talks about damage and its type (cold), which means you ought to assume that this is regular damage, resisted by cold resistance, with no extra effects above and beyond the damage itself.

 

[Ahnehnois]

If a spell caused nonlethal damage or fatigue, it would say so. There are a number of specific cold spells (especially in Frostburn) that do say so.

Otherwise, it's just damage. Realistic? No. RAW? Yes.

 

[the Jester]

What they said.

However, it might do things like freeze the surface of a lake or something, depending on your dm.

 

[Dozen]

If a spell caused nonlethal damage or fatigue, it would say so. There are a number of specific cold spells (especially in Frostburn) that do say so.

Otherwise, it's just damage. Realistic? No. RAW? Yes.

What's so unrealistic about that? Hypothermia is a small-timer, in severe enough cold your body parts literally crumble off from the smallest impact, or freeze to an aesthetically pleasing ice cone, which would just simply kill you, not hibernate you, without proper measures taken(or being very lucky). And that doesn't even touch the stress your organs have to soak up due to the sudden change in temperature. It's safe to assume a cone of cold is cold enough to be lethal, hence the lethal damage. Hell, if we wanted realism cold should deal constitution damage in some cases.

Don't believe me? Buy a few liters of liquid nitrogen. Put your hand in it. The Leidenfrost effect(which only applies to cold liquids, not cold air) protects it from turning rock solid for the time being, so leave it in for a short while. A minute or two. You better not be too fond of that hand though. You're not getting it back. Once you're done, drink a mouthful. At best your mouth freezes shut before much could reach your throat. At worst you've just lost your stomach, and you can watch as the nitrogen boils away to 20-something liters of gas, tearing apart your insides.

That was a mouthful of extremely cold drink. What do you think a 60 feet long area of extremely cold air would do to those standing in it? Sure, it doesn't kill you instantly(that's not even possible), but I'm still going to stand over there, far, far away, if you don't mind.

 

[Greenfield]

Actually, thermal shock can kill you instantly.

 

[Empirate]

What's so unrealistic about that? Hypothermia is a small-timer, in severe enough cold your body parts literally crumble off from the smallest impact, or freeze to an aesthetically pleasing ice cone, which would just simply kill you, not hibernate you, without proper measures taken(or being very lucky). And that doesn't even touch the stress your organs have to soak up due to the sudden change in temperature. It's safe to assume a cone of cold is cold enough to be lethal, hence the lethal damage. Hell, if we wanted realism cold should deal constitution damage in some cases.

Don't believe me? Buy a few liters of liquid nitrogen. Put your hand in it. The Leidenfrost effect(which only applies to cold liquids, not cold air) protects it from turning rock solid for the time being, so leave it in for a short while. A minute or two. You better not be too fond of that hand though. You're not getting it back. Once you're done, drink a mouthful. At best your mouth freezes shut before much could reach your throat. At worst you've just lost your stomach, and you can watch as the nitrogen boils away to 20-something liters of gas, tearing apart your insides.

That was a mouthful of extremely cold drink. What do you think a 60 feet long area of extremely cold air would do to those standing in it? Sure, it doesn't kill you instantly(that's not even possible), but I'm still going to stand over there, far, far away, if you don't mind.

Wow, that was surprisingly... graphic. Disturbing. I'll use some of this to describe cold damage in my games, if you don't mind.

 

[Dozen]

Actually, thermal shock can kill you instantly.

Only if you're a construct, deathless, elemental or undead.

Thanks partly to our thermoregulation, and partly to being made of matter that expands and contracts at a similar rate, as well as stretches easily, living organisms are resistant to extreme tempeture fluctuations - a resistance that can be easily trained. In humans, the worst that can happen(to our luck, rarely) is the blood cells/vessels or heart bursting. Resulting in a relatively quick death, not an instant one.

The above only applies downwards though. If you meant shock from extreme heat, you are quite right, that does happen in a few situations(falling into magma or molten iron, approaching a star, etc.). In theory, extreme cold could do so as well, but for most creatures cold just above absolute zero simply doesn't differ from our normal state enough.

Wow, that was surprisingly... graphic. Disturbing. I'll use some of this to describe cold damage in my games, if you don't mind.

Why, thank you! And you can, go ahead^^

 

[Starfox]

Buy a few liters of liquid nitrogen. Put your hand in it. The Leidenfrost effect(which only applies to cold liquids, not cold air) protects it from turning rock solid for the time being, so leave it in for a short while. A minute or two.

While I enjoyed this reading, a minute or two is hardly useful in a combat situation with 6-second combat rounds. And Cone of Cold is gaseous, not a liquid.

Still, it's magic. That works for me.