Wounds from Eldritch Blasts

[Bad Paper]

I'd have it depend somewhat on the flavor of the warlock.

yeah, I doubt two warlocks have the same flavored blast. You may decide that this guy's blasts shred, or blenderize, or melt, or invert, or ... hmm. Did you see that remake of the Fly with Goldblum? Remember how meat always came out wrong, and the monkey was turned inside out? yeah, do something like that. An eldritch blast has to be different, so it can't act like a scorching ray or magic missile. Make something up.

 

[Nifft]

I say bruises, boils, blisters, rashes, and internal bleeding are the way to go. Corruption, rot, and mysterious bleeding are all icky & evil.

Cheers, -- N

 

[Black_Swan]

If it's magical force then maybe there are no marks. The skin is unharmed but parts of his body are sunken in or protruding oddly. Like something hit or vaporized parts of his insides without harming the outsides.

 

[MarkB]

I visualise Eldritch Blast as causing disruption to the matter it strikes - so a wound from an eldritch blast consists of a heavily bruised area, caused by ruptured veins and capillaries beneath the skin, topped off by a blistered effect like heavy sunburn.

That's just how I visualised it for my warlock, though - if a player in one of my games wanted to have it look like something else for his warlock, I'd have no problem with it, providing he doesn't try to parlay it into game-mechanical effects.

 

[Sejs]

Think radiation burns.

Obvious that damage has been done to the body, but it's not the same as if they'd been charred with fire, etc.

 

[QuaziquestGM]

Mechanically, your pcs would need checks with both the heal skill and then either knowledge arcane or spellcraft.

Flavorwise....take a peice of fresh (never frozen) chicken breast with the skin on, and microwave it on the highest setting possible. Watch it cook though the glass. When it gets to the point were ,if you were the chicken, you would hope that you were already dead, stop. Open the microwave, take a good long look, and then describe this from memory to the pcs.....don't forget the smell, humans do taste like chicken after all....

 

[GreatLemur]

It depends on how the damage is done. If an eldritch blast can harm objects, then it logically also must do physical damage to a body. If it does full damage to objects, then treat it as a physical attack -

I think this is the vital point, here. I can easily imagine magic missiles not causing any visible damage to a body--since they can't target objects, they're presumably attacking some kind of internal vital force--but Eldritch Blasts would logically be a bit more physical, and thus cause visible damage. Since they don't (by default) have a damage type--not fire, not acid, not blunt, etc.--I figure they must do a very specifically magical kind of harm. I keep picturing corroded black stains, and places where the flesh glows a little with purple light as it melts away, floating off of the victim in tiny, weightless droplets before evaporating into nothingness.

don't forget the smell, humans do taste like chicken after all....

Pork, actually.

 

[Nifft]

I suppose that having the EB cause hideous scar tissue and festering maggot-filled wounds in the shape of the Warlock's name would give the game away?

-- N

 

[Set]

I suppose that having the EB cause hideous scar tissue and festering maggot-filled wounds in the shape of the Warlock's name would give the game away?

A tattoo appears under the blast, "How do you like my killing? Call 1-800...."

I like the corruption-themed suggestion above for a Fiendish-themed Warlock. For one who derives his power from other sources, like a Celestial Heritage, or a Fey one, something different would be appropriate. (and the inverted tissue a la 'The Fly' would make a great signature for a Far Realms-Heritage Warlock!)

 

[Scarbonac]

Have you ever seen someone who's recovered from severe fire damage, particularly the way that the scar tissue resembles melted wax? Have spots and "stripes" of that sort of effect, without charring but with bruise-like discoloration over at least part of it and sunburn-like effects over the rest.


Great; now that image is stuck in my head.