English question: what does city utility mean?

Hello everyone, I am not a native English speaker, I am not sure what “utility” means in this context, can you tell me?

This is an ability the cleric has in the modern magic of 5th edition:

Starting at 2nd level, you can use your channel divinity to call the city for aid. As an action, you present your holy symbol, and any city utility within 30 feet of you either works perfectly or shuts down entirely for 1 minute (your choice)

What is a city utility? Cars, trains, metro, are those utilities?

It's #3 here: https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/utility

Quote:

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Originally Posted by M-W

3 a : public utility
b (1) : a service (such as light, power, or water) provided by a public utility
(2) : equipment or a piece of equipment to provide such service or a comparable service

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So yeah, it's basically what you think -- electricity, water, gas, sewage, that type of thing.

In this context my guess is that it means things like electricity, gas pipes, radio antenna, sewerage, communications (telephones, internet) and similar elements of infrastructure. Perhaps extending to electric tramlines and rail lines? Maybe traffic lights?

It might not apply to cars in general, because those don't typically belong to the city. If you were being followed by government vehicles, you might be able to shut off their cars for a minute.

Likewise with radio receivers and transmitters, a lot of them are privately owned rather than a public service. Any radio provided by the city could be targeted.

In general, water, electricity, and waste disposal are city utility services. Yes, traffic lights and metros and other public transportation would likely be something you could affect, but I'm not sure you could do much more than turn it on or off.

I'm a building services engineer so, as far as I'm concerned, utilities are the things that come into a building from a public network of some kind:

• Mains water
• Mains electricity
• Mains gas
• Mains sewerage
• Telecom lines
• District heating pipes

Personally, I wouldn't consider anything else a 'utility'; 'amenity' or 'street furniture' would be the proper terms terms for things like tram lines, street lights, fire hydrants, rubbish collection and traffic lights.

I would definitely say street lights and fire hydrants were intended to be covered by this ability. It would surprise me greatly if they weren't specifically thinking of the Deluminator as an intended application of this power.

Thanks everyone, you have been very helpful

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Psyren

I would definitely say street lights and fire hydrants were intended to be covered by this ability. It would surprise me greatly if they weren't specifically thinking of the Deluminator as an intended application of this power.

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I thought they were thinking about warchdogs when writing this ability

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Myth27

Thanks everyone, you have been very helpful



I thought they were thinking about warchdogs when writing this ability

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That too. He can mess with streetlights and traffic lights IIRC.