D&D 5E Quasi Magical Nukes?

[aco175]

I would be more focused on making the encounters and story needed to stop it over what the damage will be. You can just referance history books and lore to tell the players that the whole mountainside turned to mud and rumbled into the city below. The people could not escape the destruction. Months later reports spread of similar destruction on the other side of the mountain where the plains of horse people were covered with crystallized mud that took days to cross.

If the point is to stop it rather than to survive it, there should be ways to delay things along the way. If the PCs find the Doomsday Cultists gathering 'plutonium' to deliver to the 'heavy water plant' they can try to stop it. Later they encounter shipments to the secret mountain base where they can act. The general governments and locals could not believe them or delay action as politics interfere. It comes down to the PCs to step up and prevent the destruction. An epic battle as the BBEG reaches for the 'big red shinny button' ensues and in his dying breath the button is pushed. PCs rush to the sound of engines as the fuse burns towards destruction. Mooks in redshirts and white helmets try to engage the group or flee screaming that 'the end is neigh'.

Something cinematic and memorable is needed to end campaigns. good luck

 

[Igwilly]

Ok, what I’m saying here may be wrong, but I’ll try my best – I failed some tests at Physics College, but that’s very hard.
Three things to consider:
First, detonating a nuke right on the ground severely reduces its destructive potential, especially the shockwave. Normally nukes are detonated many feet above the ground (don’t have the exact numbers now), so this may complicate your work.
Second, there are many things involved. Basically, nukes involve:
1. The heat (fire and radiant damage, perhaps).
2. The shockwave (thunder, without a doubt).
3. The fallout (I’m not sure).
4. And the often overlooked gamma ray burst. See, even if someone, somehow, suffers no effect from heat and shockwave, and is not in the area milliseconds after the explosion, they would still get sick and eventually die because of the burst. Gamma radiation is nasty, and many “tiny” nukes got rejected because of it.
Third, decide on its power: Nuclear Fission Bombs or Nuclear Fusion Bombs. Fission bombs were the ones used in Hiroshima and Nagasaki, but my information is that they were small compared to cities today. Fusion bombs, on the other hand, make fission bombs look like Magic Missiles. Seriously, they are Much more powerful. It has been severely hard to Reduce their power to something less seriously dangerous.

Now, I actually liked your idea, perhaps you allow me to use it in my campaign.
About fantastic nukes, there are many in fiction, but one example comes to my mind: Final Fantasy XII, in the form of Deifacted Nethicite. A small crystal of that and the explosion is huge – although it takes much time to “recharge” – let alone the Sun Cryst itself. Talking more about this is spoiler, so let’s leave at that.
The Black Materia Meteor, the White Materia Holy (from FFVII) and the super-uber-rare spell Ultima (from the rest of the series), also come to mind. Yes, I’m a big Final Fantasy fan.

P.S.: Sadly, I don’t know much about numbers in 5e, but remind that, sometimes, people not near the middle of it survive the explosion. They’ll still suffer its effects. The rest of it is number’s work.

P.S.2: I’m not so convinced about using necrotic damage to mimic radiation, but besides poison, I have no alternative.

 

[Tony Vargas]

As the title says. How would you design nukes in D&D? I'm thinking radiant and poison damage

I thought about this (well, the radiation part) between the codification of 'radiant' as a damage type in D&D and the release of the last Gamma World. I like radiant & necrotic for radiation. Fallout could also include both poison and radiation.

I suppose the blast could be radiant, fire, thunder, & bludgeoning - but what's going to survive it?

 

[Satyrn]

I suppose the blast could be radiant, fire, thunder, & bludgeoning - but what's going to survive it?

Godzill- I mean, the Tarrasque.

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

'the end is neigh'.

("Nigh" is the word you're looking for.)

 

[Zardnaar]

I thought about this (well, the radiation part) between the codification of 'radiant' as a damage type in D&D and the release of the last Gamma World. I like radiant & necrotic for radiation. Fallout could also include both poison and radiation.

I suppose the blast could be radiant, fire, thunder, & bludgeoning - but what's going to survive it?

I have found a semi nuke ability on a monster in the Tome of Beasts.

Ancient Void Dragon Collapsing Star (when you kill it). 10d6 bludgeoning, psychic and cold (30d6 total), 1 mile radius.

 

[Igwilly]

Well, I thought a little about this, and the conclusion I came is:
Fire (and possibly radiant) damage for heat.
Thunder damage for the shockwave.
Poison (I’m not buying into necrotic) and a disease for radiation/gamma burst.
This would be at the explosion itself.
Then the fallout, which would be a lasting environmental effect, more or less the same effects from the initial radiation, and could move depending on factors like geography and weather.
That is, for a nuke inspired in the real-world nuke.
But you should choose the power level according to the needs of the campaign.

 

[Zardnaar]

It doesn't have to be exactly a nuke.

10d6 fire/radiant/thunder damage no long term fall out effects?

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

In Harry Turtledove's Darkness novels, all of WWII's tech shows up as fantasy analogs. Notably, the setting's equivalent of the Nazi's Final Solution became a necromantic weapon akin to poison gas.

The nukes involved releasing massive bursts of pure magical energy generated by moving a grandparent animal forwards in time while simultaneously moving its grand-offspring backward in time.

 

[SkidAce]

Perhaps we should consult a Suloise Mage of Power concerning the Rain of Colorless Fire, and the Invoked Devastation.