Does Blazing Starfall Cause Fire Damage?

Question

Blazing Starfall has the Fire and Radiant keywords, the damage line indicates radiant damage, and cosmic magic sorcerers create a zone has a fire damage effect.

The players were fighting Trolls "if the troll takes acid or fire damage, regeneration does not function until the end of its next turn", and the sorcerer was not a cosmic magic sorcerer.

My recollection is that there are rulings that keywords in the power description also apply to the damage - is that correct, and Blazing Starfall would stop the Trolls regeneration?

Answer 1

Keywords are put on a power, based upon the damages and effects that can be caused by the power, and the general nature of the power. The damage types within the power define the keywords, not the other way around.

Blazing Starfall does not on its own cause fire damage. However, a Sorcerer with the Cosmic Magic class feature can use the additional text under that heading in the power. This creates a zone of burst 1 until the end of the Sorcerer's next turn, from which an enemy cannot leave without taking fire damage.

This is why the Fire keyword is part of Blazing Starfall. The Troll will not take actual Fire damage unless the Sorcerer has the applicable class feature, and the Troll moves out of the zone prior to the start of the Sorcerer's next turn.

It is noteworthy though, that this power may perhaps be affected by other feats and effects that target the Fire keyword itself rather than Fire damage. This is under some debate however. (See comments on the other Answer in this thread.)

Having answered the general question, here's how it applies to your specific scenario:

Since your Sorcerer was not a Cosmic Magic Sorcerer, they could not have created the zone effect available through Blazing Starfall. Therefore, there would not be any opportunity for the Troll to trigger any Fire damage. So, there would be no means for your Sorcerer to disable the Troll's regenerative abilities through Blazing Starfall.

Answer 2

Blazing Starfall does not cause fire damage as part of it's Hit line. That damage is only radiant.

The Cosmic Magic zone does the fire damage.

The Rules Compendium clarifies how the two interact.

from p110 - "A power's keywords summarize important aspects of the power."

This tells us that the keywords do not define the power, they only serve as a reference.

from p115 - "If a power gains or loses damage types, the power gains the keywords for any damage types that are added, and it loses the keywords for any damage types that are removed.

This clarifies that keywords come and go as needed to reflect the usage of the power.

For Blazing Starfall, the hit line only does radiant damage and is therefore a radiant power. It is not (at that time) a fire power.

When used with Cosmic Magic, when it deals damage as a zone it does fire damage and is a fire power (not a radiant power).

Answer 3

Contrary to what I and others seem to think and agree:

The glossary entry in the Monster Vault for "damage type" p306 reads:

Each damage type has a keyword associated with it. If a power has such a keyword, the power deals that type of damage

The implication here is pretty clear: that Blazing Starfall does indeed deal fire (and radiant) damage regardless of which aspect of the power is doing the damage.