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Warlocks with the Celestial patron (Xanathar's Guide to Everything, p. 54-55) gain the Radiant Soul ability at 6th level:

You have resistance to radiant damage, and when you cast a spell that deals radiant or fire damage, you can add your Charisma modifier to one radiant or fire damage roll of that spell against one of its targets.

The guardian of faith spell is also added to the warlock spell list (but not automatically known) for warlocks with the Celestial patron. The spell description says:

A Large spectral guardian appears and hovers for the duration in an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see within range. The guardian occupies that space and is indistinct except for a gleaming sword and shield emblazoned with the symbol of your deity.

Any creature hostile to you that moves to a space within 10 feet of the guardian for the first time on a turn must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw. The creature takes 20 radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The guardian vanishes when it has dealt a total of 60 damage.

If my Celestial warlock has a Charisma score of 20 (and a corresponding modifier of +5), can his guardian of faith deal 65 damage in total rather than 60?

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2 Answers 2

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No, nor would it increase damage done

It's debatable whether or not the spell guardian of faith is a "spell that deals radiant or fire damage." (NathanS covered this well in their answer.) But one thing is certain: it does not involve a "radiant or fire damage roll."

From PHB, pg. 247 (bold added):

Any creature hostile to you that moves to a space within 10 feet of the guardian for the first time on a turn must succeed on a Dexterity saving throw. The creature takes 20 radiant damage on a failed save, or half as much damage on a successful one. The guardian vanishes when it has dealt a total of 60 damage.

Neither the damage dealt, nor the damage limit are determined by a "damage roll." They are set values. So this feature has no effect on either of them.

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    \$\begingroup\$ In addition, even if the damage dealt by guardian of faith were determined by a roll, the guardian's damage limit is still a flat limit of 60 - it's not a damage roll. Even if a creature were vulnerable or resistant (or immune) to radiant damage, the guardian would still last until it dealt 60 damage after all other modifiers were applied. \$\endgroup\$
    – V2Blast
    Commented Jul 1, 2018 at 21:57
  • \$\begingroup\$ @V2Blast Agreed: I hope that my edited answer (adding bold for emphasis) makes it clear that the fact that the limit is not a damage roll makes it ineligible for this feature's bonus. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jul 1, 2018 at 22:03
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The way I read this, Radiant Soul wouldn't apply to this since the spell guardian of faith is actually about summoning the guardian, not dealing the radiant damage directly.

From PHB, pg. 246-7:

A Large spectral guardian hovers in an unoccupied space of your choice that you can see. It occupies the space and is indistinct except for a sword and shield that have the symbol of your deity.

The guardian is the one then dealing the damage, as pointed out in the emboldened part of your quote. Hence it would still only deal its 60 points of damage before vanishing.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Good answer, though it might be worth mentioning that it's not game breaking to do 65 versus 60 HP at that level (Tier 2 play, minimum level of 7 caster) since it is a "once" application of radiant damage. \$\endgroup\$ Commented Jul 2, 2018 at 13:25

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