What element would "radiation" be?

[Sejs]

Untyped, Vile, and Con damage would be the top three contenders, personally.

There are things that just don't fit well into a classical, four-elements type structure and radiation is one of them.

 

[lukelightning]

It's negative energy. It is released when elements decay. It also explains why zombies are a common side-effect of nuklear war.

 

[Blackrat]

Hasn't really been an issue in my games but if I ever have to deal with the situation I'd dug out my D20 Apocalypse book and use the system presented there. Don't remember but I think it was something about dealing CON damage based on the severity of the radiation.

 

[nute]

Count my vote for negative energy. It's an energy form that is harmful to living things and has varied effects. While "uranium" may not exist in a D&D world, there might be a large chunk of matter that fell planetside millennia ago through a rift from the Negative Energy Plane that has slowly spread through the planet's crust and shows up in veins of this weird ore.

*Prolonged exposure by unprotected living beings = negative levels?
*Chunks of it can be used as alternate spell components with a chance to boost negative energy damage?
*Undead gain Turn Resistance when in the presence of this material?

Reminds me of the novel Riptide, where

Spoiler

there's a huge broadsword in a treasure cave that's kept in a lead coffin because it's made from meteoric uranium and HIGHLY radioactive

. Could be a good surprise for treasure-hungry munchkin PCs.

 

[Jesus_marley]

You could always rule it as an AoE poison that deals con and str damage.

 

[Koraax]

I have allways considered the radiation to be the like the stuff that the gems in the underdark emit that recharges the crap drow use. to me it is a dark element.

 

[TheYeti1775]

This thread reminds me of the old Grimtooth's Traps. The 'Excalibur' Stone, pull the radioactive sword out of the lead stone.

 

[airwalkrr]

Con damage is in no way accurate. That assumes that the body can somehow repair itself. Radiation sickness is irreparable. It causes life-long problems that are often fatal depending on the severity of the exposure. The only way to treat it is through transplants to affected areas of the body and blood transfusions. Damage to tissue from radiation is usually permanent because of the damage it does to your DNA. Hence, Con drain is much more appropriate.

But that is only if you are going for realism.

 

[Celebrim]

Negative energy (if it kills you) or positive energy (if it gives you super powers)

I believe that this is the correct answer.

It is a fantasy we are dealing with. We go amiss by assuming that things behave as they do in the real world. If we were to introduce radioactivity or something like radioactivity, we should assume that it behaves in the way that fantasy radiation behaves. Fantasy radiation doesn't kill you - it gives you super powers or turns things into mutants or zombies or whatever.