OOTS #1093 - The Discussion Thread

[Peelee]

A cast iron pan, a bit of oil, and some nice onions. Maybe carrots, if you're feeling adventurous. Oh, and a few aromatics - thyme's good, for example.

GW

I love to cook, but I'm always restricted by thyme.

[Monday]

I love to cook, but I'm always restricted by thyme.

I really don't see the knead for another pun thread, they're almost universally panned.

[Peelee]

I really don't see the knead for another pun thread, they're almost universally panned.

Simmer down. That's not exactly sage advice.

[The MunchKING]

*facepalm* ANOTHER one? This really brings my temper to a boil.

[Peelee]

Maybe I should quit stirring the pot.

[The MunchKING]

Secondly, I find your interpretation of "direct sunlight" to be interesting because I would never have interpreted it that way. I mean, as soon as you point that out I see your reasoning, but I'm looser in my interpretation of that.

It's common in a lot of vampire fiction where they don't want the character's restricted by time of day. Discworld vamps even usually practiced weather control powers so they could use that to their advantage.

[Quibblicious]

Maybe I should quit stirring the pot.

But it's the bread and butter of this forum!

I say we stand pat! pat of butter... get it?

Q

[Grey_Wolf_c]

It's common in a lot of vampire fiction where they don't want the character's restricted by time of day. Discworld vamps even usually practiced weather control powers so they could use that to their advantage.

Or simply wear long sleeves and a wide-brimmed hat.

And of course, there is the vampire watermelon, although the legends are quite unclear about what a vampire watermelon actually does. Presumably, it sucks back

(I recommend serving the latter with a bit of cured ham)

Grey Wolf

[Peelee]

Or simply wear long sleeves and a wide-brimmed hat.

And of course, there is the vampire watermelon, although the legends are quite unclear about what a vampire watermelon actually does. Presumably, it sucks back

(I recommend serving the latter with a bit of cured ham)

Grey Wolf

I usually don't play divine casters, so curing a ham would be tricky.

[Quibblicious]

I usually don't play divine casters, so curing a ham would be tricky.

you can only cure the ham if the ham truly wants to be cured.

Ask any psychologist...

Q

[Vingelot]

you can only cure the ham if the ham truly wants to be cured.

Ask any psychologist...

Q

You can also cure it if it fails an INT or WIS save (it's choice).

[Quibblicious]

you can only cure the ham if the ham truly wants to be cured.

Ask any psychologist...

You can also cure it if it fails an INT or WIS save (it's choice).

Which means again, it must want to be cured

Q

[Rogan]

There is something I just noticed:

Why do we assume those Caretakers are the best the tempel has to offer?
Maybe the higher Level (and ranked) Clerics are stationed at the townside entrance to the tempel? Since thats where the vampires are more likely to attack, after all they were at this door the last time they were seen.

[GreatWyrmGold]

To Serve Vampires

I wish sometimes I could stuff an entire thread into my sig. Er, well, the link in my sig where I store quotes.

Obvious cooking puns

Never mind.

I usually don't play divine casters, so curing a ham would be tricky.

This one is clever, though. As they say, a broken clock is right twice a day. (Unless it's one of those egg timers, then you're going to overboil your eggs every time.)

Sunbeam and Sunburst seem to be available to clerics of the Sun domain. Not that Thor would likely grant that.

Thor, god of storms? Oh yeah, he's all about sunny days.

First off, I don't think they were arguing about the point, just saying it's a weird name for the spell. Which it is. It was a rather poor name choice for the "No longer continual light, but more powerful than the light spell" spell.

"We need a name for a darkness spell more powerful than darkness."
"How about deeper darkness?"
"Ooh, nice! Love the alliteration. Now we need a name for a light spell more powerful than light."
"Luminous light? Lighter light? Brighter light? Brilliant light? Illuminate?"
"Nah, those are lame."

There is something I just noticed:
Why do we assume those Caretakers are the best the tempel has to offer?
Maybe the higher Level (and ranked) Clerics are stationed at the townside entrance to the tempel? Since thats where the vampires are more likely to attack, after all they were at this door the last time they were seen.

Actually, that's exactly why we assume the caretakers are the best the temple (still) has to offer.

[Peelee]

This one is clever, though. As they say, a broken clock is right twice a day. (Unless it's one of those egg timers, then you're going to overboil your eggs every time.)

Yep; you throw enough at the wall, something's gonna stick.

[Jasdoif]

Yep; you throw enough at the wall, something's gonna stick.

Personally, I keep expecting the Kool-Aid guy to come through.

[Grey_Wolf_c]

(Unless it's one of those egg timers, then you're going to overboil your eggs every time.)

Nah, what you do is, sing three stanzas of the hedgehog song. Then you're thrown out of the kitchen, and it is someone else's fault that the eggs overboiled.

GW

[Peelee]

Personally, I keep expecting the Kool-Aid guy to come through.

Oh yeah. I always forget about that guy.

[factotum]

Secondly, I find your interpretation of "direct sunlight" to be interesting because I would never have interpreted it that way. I mean, as soon as you point that out I see your reasoning, but I'm looser in my interpretation of that.

I don't see why else the description would have specified *direct* sunlight. That implies to me that the sunlight in question is coming direct from the surface of the sun to the surface of the vampire with nothing in between, so no thick clouds, factor 50 sunblock, or what-have-you in the way.

[Gnoman]

I don't see why else the description would have specified *direct* sunlight. That implies to me that the sunlight in question is coming direct from the surface of the sun to the surface of the vampire with nothing in between, so no thick clouds, factor 50 sunblock, or what-have-you in the way.

My assumption is that it was to prevent arguments involving rooms with windows, so anything except the exact point where the light is streaming in is safe for Vampy.

[Manty5]

Been a while since a dwarf hit Roy with a Turn Undead.

Indeed. I am aghast.

[8BitNinja]

It's the spaghetti theory of defense -- throw everything you've got and hope something sticks.

Q

Defending has never sounded so tasty

Or Italian.

[danielxcutter]

Indeed. I am aghast.

A ghast? Turn Undead!

[Rogan]

Actually, that's exactly why we assume the caretakers are the best the temple (still) has to offer.

So why exactly are we assuming that the clerics on the townside door all left the temple to get slaughterd (while somhow stoping the vampires from taking the opportunaty of an open door to incade the temple)

Those Clerics outside of the temple grounds during the vampire attack? Yeah, they are toast.
But those inside should all be save.

So why would you send your strongest remaining units to guard a door that was not attacked before and that is less likely to get attacked instead of sending them to the place that might see another attack? Sure, the temple is likely low on high level Clerics, but why should those (assistant) caretakers the best they still have? If the attack had been somewhere in the middle of the whole complex, okay.
But the fact that they were waiting on THIS door seems strange if they are the best of the best. After all, they knew the Vampires are already in the town, so why guard the door to the surface (instead of the door to the town)

[Kardwill]

"We need a name for a darkness spell more powerful than darkness."
"How about deeper darkness?"
"Ooh, nice! Love the alliteration. Now we need a name for a light spell more powerful than light."
"Luminous light? Lighter light? Brighter light? Brilliant light? Illuminate?"
"Nah, those are lame."

2 Weeks later
Playtest player : "Yeah, burn, you overpretentious tick, burn! Mwahahahaha!"
DM/Author : "Oooookay. I think we'll change the description of the spell in the manual."

[factotum]

My assumption is that it was to prevent arguments involving rooms with windows, so anything except the exact point where the light is streaming in is safe for Vampy.

But in the case where it's overcast, as I mentioned earlier, you don't get "light streaming in the windows"--you get a diffuse light filling the entire room. How would a vampire standing in such diffuse light indoors be different to them standing in diffuse light outdoors? If the people who wrote the manual intended for vampires to die in any sort of daylight, I'm pretty sure they'd have just said "daylight" rather than "direct sunlight".

[Centaur]

I don't see why else the description would have specified *direct* sunlight. That implies to me that the sunlight in question is coming direct from the surface of the sun to the surface of the vampire with nothing in between, so no thick clouds, factor 50 sunblock, or what-have-you in the way.

Okay, I’ll bite again. *Direct* sunlight. Does that mean reflecting sunlight by a mirror will not work? What if multiple mirrors are arranged in a parabolic arc, all focusing on the vampire? Still no?

[Goblin_Priest]

Okay, I’ll bite again. *Direct* sunlight. Does that mean reflecting sunlight by a mirror will not work? What if multiple mirrors are arranged in a parabolic arc, all focusing on the vampire? Still no?

Yea, I would assume that's exactly the case. A mirror just radiates more of the light back than other surfaces, but it's still providing an altered redirected ray. That said, a large parabolic arc array of mirrors might cook the vampire anyways, regardless of whether that specific vulnerability applies or not.

[Mad Humanist]

Okay, I’ll bite again. *Direct* sunlight. Does that mean reflecting sunlight by a mirror will not work? What if multiple mirrors are arranged in a parabolic arc, all focusing on the vampire? Still no?

Yea, I would assume that's exactly the case. A mirror just radiates more of the light back than other surfaces, but it's still providing an altered redirected ray. That said, a large parabolic arc array of mirrors might cook the vampire anyways, regardless of whether that specific vulnerability applies or not.

I am not disputing the interpretation. However this is really the difference between a game and reality. Direct sunlight in the real world is refracted through the atmosphere and so is not actually direct.

Essentially this world is premised on essentialism. The atmosphere does not alter the essence of the sunlight but a dwarf-made mirror is artificial, and so disrupts the essence of the light.

[Svata]

Even with that they're still 7th and 8th level spells--pretty sure there are regular cleric spells of those levels that would have been more useful than what the acolytes cast here, so it's unlikely they're high enough level to cast those even if they had that domain.

Namely Undeath To Death, which destroys (on exactly average, for a 15th level caster (i.e. when you get 8ths)) up to 39 HD of undead, (min 14 HD, maximum 60 HD) which is sufficient to take out a large chunk of small undead, or one big undead threat. It also does work against a few medium-level undead threats.