Casting Continual Light On Living Targets

[ravenfish]

What about someone's hair or fingernail? Either is obviously fair game after being cut off; are they considered part of the owner's (living) body while still attached, despite being unliving matter? What about a snail's shell? The shell of a paper nautilus, which it can exit and reenter? Can I cast on a chopped off arm before all the cells are dead? On tissue kept alive on a petri dish? Should I stop asking questions like this and just avoid casting it on anything being treated as a "character" in game?

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

Should I stop asking questions like this and just avoid casting it on anything being treated as a "character" in game?

Well probably that one. But one issue that often gets overlooked in these discussions is that magic can apparently behave differently in "identical" situations based simply on intent. So it might well work on some of those targets when you are casting it to provide useful light, and utterly fail on exactly the same targets if you are casting it to inconvenience them in some way.

[Rindis]

Cast it on a wig, which the person then wears.

Or switch to another magic system that doesn't have a hard living/nonliving rule. >.>;

[Flyndaran]

With or without specific rules, that sounds like stepping on the toes of proper illusionists. I'd be okay for it to fool mooks, but confusing mundane magic light bulbs with celestial nimbi seems unlikely for most NPCs.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Rindis

Or switch to another magic system that doesn't have a hard living/nonliving rule. >.>;

You can always just replace it with R-Will. Since objects don't have Will, they don't resist.

[Polydamas]

A living animal's hair and nails would count as part of a being/creature/subject to me ... remember, fantasy settings don't work like ours do, and spells use the GURPS definition of words not the definition in an academic discipline.

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Nope setting their clothes on fire is fine. The real problem with using it on a living target is that most living targets aren't made out of kindling but most fabrics particularly in fantasy settings are quite flammable.

And if someone's clothes catch on fire, they have options (stop, drop, and roll; pour water on it; strip off the affected garment; ...) which are different than if a blowtorch flame suddenly appeared inside their body.

[borithan]

Originally Posted by johndallman

I am glad of that. The AD&D "cast Light on their eyes" trick always seemed terribly cheesy to me.

Surely you cast it on their nose and them call them Rudolf, no?