Advantage of not doing physical damage?

[Gloombunny]

There's the Lightning Arc feat at paragon. If you crit someone with your axe while it has its lightning feature on, you could choose to treat it as a normal hit but do the same amount of damage to another enemy 10 squares away.

Granted it's probably usually better to just take the crit, but sometimes dealing the damage to another creature is better. Like if you roll a crit against a minion.

 

[Ginnel]

So is this correct?

An untyped damage power will always deal untyped damage until you switch on a special power that converts damage to lightning/fire/acid/apples

And

A radiant damage power will always deal radiant damage just when you switch on a special power that converts damage to lightning/fire/acid/apples it will do both types of damage

One last thing

And extra damage applied on top as in a crit a power which normally does 1D8 + 4 damage and 1D6 lightning on a crit

does it do damage versus a lightning resist 5 creature of
12 then 1D6 -5 with the 1D6 as a minimum of 0
Or
does it do 12 and +1D6 lightning -5

 

[cmbarona]

So is this correct?

An untyped damage power will always deal untyped damage until you switch on a special power that converts damage to lightning/fire/acid/apples

And

A radiant damage power will always deal radiant damage just when you switch on a special power that converts damage to lightning/fire/acid/apples it will do both types of damage

One last thing

And extra damage applied on top as in a crit a power which normally does 1D8 + 4 damage and 1D6 lightning on a crit

does it do damage versus a lightning resist 5 creature of
12 then 1D6 -5 with the 1D6 as a minimum of 0
Or
does it do 12 and +1D6 lightning -5

1 & 2) Yes, although keep in mind the "weapon" keyword is required in order to add the weapon's energy to a power. And this really is a key to answering these first two questions: these keywords are added, not changed. Untyped damage is more of a blank slate, so the damage type isn't converted to apples, the proverbial slate is just no longer blank.

3) Answering this question depends on whether or not the weapon was normally dealing lightning damage at the time of the attack. If you turned off the lightning property before the crit, then the first scenario applies (12 + {1d6-5}). If it was dealing lightning damage the whole time, I'm less sure. I want to say it's all part of the same attack, so that (12+1d6-5) would be correct. I could be wrong, though.

4) Keep an eye out for the upcoming Newtonian feats that take advantage of apple damage.

 

[Saben]

The section on page 226 still seems a little ambiguous, however.

What about a Flameburst or Thunderburst Weapon? It seems despite not converting the damage type, it still adds the keyword, yes?

"When you use a magic item as part of a racial power or a class power, the keywords of the item's power and the other power all apply."

"Burst" items have powers with elemental keywords, so the keywords should apply when using those magic item even if you aren't using the power (it doesn't specify that).

So if I use a Flameburst Longbow on Twin Strike (without using the daily power) although it will do untyped damage, it still has the Fire keyword (for the purposes of feats, I guess).

 

[Saben]

Nevermind, PHB FAQ covers this:

"When do a Magic Item's keywords apply?

If you use a magic item's power in conjunction with a power granted to you by your race or class, that item's keywords are added to the regular keywords of the power you are using. For example, if you are have a Flaming Weapon, and you use an at-will power to attack an enemy along with the at-will power of the Flaming Weapon, your attack will have the Fire keyword in addition to the normal keywords of your attack. You have to be using the powers of the weapon for those keywords to be added; simply using the magic item does not necessarily mean every keyword attached to a power of that item will be added."

 

[lukelightning]

there's also the important note that lightning is one-point-twenty-one times as awesome as physical damage.

I'd name my lightning sword "elecric razor" and make a lot of awful shaving puns and jokes.