Is Lightning a "tight-beam burning attack"?

[Nikolai]

The question arose in this thread about the spell Shocking Touch.

As per pp. B433 ("Making Thinks Burn") and B434 ("Catching Fire"), "tight-beam burning attacks" are much less probable to set things afire than normal burning damage: Their damage is divided by 10 (for determining if they set things afire only).

So is localized electrical injury (as per p. B433 in the top left corner) as magical electricity attacks, especially the Lightning spell and the various other Lightning spells, a "tight-beam burning attack" in this sense?

It seems to make sense that Lightning is less probable to make things burn than, f.e., a Fireball spell. But really by a factor of ten? Well, I am no expert on the effects of Lightning.
My intuition would have been that "tight-beam burning" refers only to the weapons on the Ultra-Tech Firearm Table on p. B280.
But then, this might be a linguistic issue, so could someone whose native language is English help? (Answers from people for whom this is not true are very welcome, too, of course... ;-)
Thanks!

[Anthony]

Lightning is an attack that fits poorly within the GURPS damage model, as its penetration behavior doesn't really resemble a burning attack, and it doesn't have the other key trait of a tight beam burning attack (able to make called shots for gaps in armor, like a piercing or impaling attack). That said, it doesn't act like a non-tight-beam attack either, and won't set fires very well.

[J.C.D.]

Originally Posted by Nikolai

The question arose in this thread about the spell Shocking Touch.

As per pp. B433 ("Making Thinks Burn") and B434 ("Catching Fire"), "tight-beam burning attacks" are much less probable to set things afire than normal burning damage: Their damage is divided by 10 (for determining if they set things afire only).

So is localized electrical injury (as per p. B433 in the top left corner) as magical electricity attacks, especially the Lightning spell and the various other Lightning spells, a "tight-beam burning attack" in this sense?

It seems to make sense that Lightning is less probable to make things burn than, f.e., a Fireball spell. But really by a factor of ten? Well, I am no expert on the effects of Lightning.
My intuition would have been that "tight-beam burning" refers only to the weapons on the Ultra-Tech Firearm Table on p. B280.
But then, this might be a linguistic issue, so could someone whose native language is English help? (Answers from people for whom this is not true are very welcome, too, of course... ;-)
Thanks!

If lasers are a tight beam burning attack then I'd say lightining is not. It's an electrical attack and can, under some conditions, burn but it does it's damage thru electrical shock, with burning being caused by the electrical surge as a secondary effect.

It's possible for electricity to kill someone without leaving a mark on them, it only burns under some conditions.

[Camillus]

Originally Posted by J.C.D.

It's possible for electricity to kill someone without leaving a mark on them, it only burns under some conditions.

Electricity with enough energy to kill always burns if hits directly, in fact there is a distinct entrance and exit wound which makes it possible to trace the route it took through the body.

It is possible for lightning to kill without leaving a mark but that's because if you're unfortunate enough to be near a powerful enough strike the electromagnetic pulse can stop your heart.

[J.C.D.]

Originally Posted by Camillus

Electricity with enough energy to kill always burns if hits directly, in fact there is a distinct entrance and exit wound which makes it possible to trace the route it took through the body.

It is possible for lightning to kill without leaving a mark but that's because if you're unfortunate enough to be near a powerful enough strike the electromagnetic pulse can stop your heart.

Dropping an electrical appliance into a bathtub can kill someone without leaving burns on them, as can being near a downed high tension line.

[Nikolai]

Originally Posted by J.C.D.

Dropping an electrical appliance into a bathtub can kill someone without leaving burns on them, as can being near a downed high tension line.

Well, all burning attacks can only make things burn that they hit directly - not if they hit water nearby. (Unless it is an explosive attack such as Explosive Fireball.) That is covered by the rules.

[roguebfl]

Originally Posted by Nikolai

Well, all burning attacks can only make things burn that they hit directly - not if they hit water nearby. (Unless it is an explosive attack such as Explosive Fireball.) That is covered by the rules.

Not True, your Skin can Burn just being near fire and does not need to touch it i would not call that a "direct hit" ;)

[Ogbendog]

I think the point of the question is, how will does Lightning light things on fire. IIRC, 4 points of fire damage lights part of your clothing o nfire, and 10 points lights all your clothing on fire. A TBBA, you divide the damage by something before seeing if it lights stuff on fire.

so with lightning, does it have a chance of lighting things on fire? do you divide, or not?

[Kromm]

1. Burning attacks are never "tight-beam" unless the rules say so. David and I went throught the Basic Set and made sure to add "tight-beam" wherever it belonged. If you don't see it, you can be reasonably certain that's on purpose.

2. Electricity isn't "tight-beam" as a general rule. Charged-particle beams might be, but that's not the same thing.

3. If there's enough electricity to damage material objects and kill people, you can rest assured that there's a serious fire risk. A 10d fire attack and 10d electrical attack have the same odds of setting a fire. Realistically, the plasma arc of the electrical attack will ignite a lot of things that chemical flame won't ignite. On the other hand, its physically smaller, so it cancels out in terms of setting fires in GURPS.

[Nikolai]

Originally Posted by Kromm

3. If there's enough electricity to damage material objects and kill people, you can rest assured that there's a serious fire risk.

Thanks for clearing that up, Kromm!

Originally Posted by Kromm

1. Burning attacks are never "tight-beam" unless the rules say so. David and I went throught the Basic Set and made sure to add "tight-beam" wherever it belonged. If you don't see it, you can be reasonably certain that's on purpose.

Well, neither the Beam Weapons skill on p. B179 nor the Ultra-Tech Firearm Table on p. B280 lists any beam weapon's burning attacks as being "tight-beam". (Or does it say that somewhere else where I have overlooked it?) Does that mean they are not? If yes, what burning attacks are tight-beam, anyway?

Originally Posted by Kromm

2. Electricity isn't "tight-beam" as a general rule. Charged-particle beams might be, but that's not the same thing.

I am not really sure what a charged-particle beam is. Could you give an example?