Realistic lightning damage

[Jack Sawyer]

electricity, including lightning can 'kill' in different ways depending on a variety of factors. Much of it (and even the most efficient ways) have little to do with dumping huge quantities of energy into things. And lightning is a bit unpredictable to begin with (there've been lots of cases of people being hit by lightning and survving, rather than being vaporized.)

I think alot of fictional electrical attacks (or fantasy magic 'lightning bolt' attacks) are probably closer to 'arc flash' injuries (Which as mentioned previously would fall in the realm of 'industrial accidents' in GURPS terms probably and put it in the same benchmark - game-wise - as lightning) It's also pretty trivial to do research on ARC flash to find out useful stats or even the visual imagery for descriptive purposes (I won't link to the latter anyhow beccause its pretty gross, and some of the documents I know of tend to feature such imagery anyhow.)

[Jareth Valar]

Ok, slightly of of the OP (ok, a bit, but still thanking about lightning).

How do you think the Draw Power sorry would work with lightning?

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Jareth Valar

Ok, slightly of of the OP (ok, a bit, but still thanking about lightning).

How do you think the Draw Power sorry would work with lightning?

It doesn't, and it isn't designed to.

In the first place, the flash of lightning lasts only a tiny fraction of a second, and it takes at least a full second to cast any spell. By the time you've cast it, your power source is gone.

But in the second place, Draw Power is specified as removing power from a humanly constructed system such as a power line or a machine that's operating. The expanse of air between the clouds and the ground is not a humanly constructed system, and neither is the specific path the lightning takes (which in any case you can't predict in advance). The spell in question is in the Tech College; it's intended to be cast on technological devices, not on the air.

And in the third place, Draw Power assumes a more or less steady ongoing flow. Lightning is as far from steady as you can imagine.

[Jareth Valar]

Originally Posted by whswhs

It doesn't, and it isn't designed to.

In the first place, the flash of lightning lasts only a tiny fraction of a second, and it takes at least a full second to cast any spell. By the time you've cast it, your power source is gone.

But in the second place, Draw Power is specified as removing power from a humanly constructed system such as a power line or a machine that's operating. The expanse of air between the clouds and the ground is not a humanly constructed system, and neither is the specific path the lightning takes (which in any case you can't predict in advance). The spell in question is in the Tech College; it's intended to be cast on technological devices, not on the air.

And in the third place, Draw Power assumes a more or less steady ongoing flow. Lightning is as far from steady as you can imagine.

Fair enough, my thoughts as well but has a player asking because of the end of Force Unleashed II where Starkiller draws the lightning from the lightning rods and redirected it. I know there is a bit set up in the game, but barring that, could the be accomplished with spells? I can't say for powers, not that familiar.

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by Jareth Valar

I know there is a bit set up in the game, but barring that, could the be accomplished with spells? I can't say for powers, not that familiar.

I don't believe there are currently any spells that could do this, no. However, you could always come up with some. I'd put "draw energy from a natural energetic phenomena" in the relevant elemental Colleges, however, not Technology. To be balanced, I'd give them a prerequisite count and Magery requirement in the same general area as Draw Power.

So, here's an example for lightning. It'll be both an Air and a Weather College spell, since that's where lighting seems to go.

Conduct Lightning

Blocking

You can "catch" a lightning bolt or similar electric charge and use its energy to fuel your own magic. As a blocking spell, Conduct Lighting can be used quickly enough to react to a lightning strike near you. Roll against your level in the spell, with a penalty equal to the distance in yards to the lightning bolt, and at -1 for every die of damage the bolt would do. If you succeed, the bolt twists toward you and is absorbed into your body, its electrical charge converted into usable energy (on a critical failure of the spell, the bolt still hits you, but it does full damage instead of being turned into energy!).

To be "caught" by this spell, electricity must be moving through the air as a "bolt" - it does not work on a charge being conducted through wires, or existing in potential in a battery, or any other form that isn't freely moving.

On a success, roll the bolt's normal dice of damage, and divide the total by 3. The result is the number of energy points you immediately gain. This first restores any FP you have lost casting spells, then any Energy Reserve you might have. Any remaining energy still remains, in the form of a temporary Energy Reserve, but since it comes from lightning, it is very volatile. At the start of every turn you have energy remaining in this reserve, you must make a Will-based Conduct Lightning roll, at -1 for every 5 points in the reserve. If you succeed, you may continue to hold on to the energy. If you fail, you must either cast a lightning-based spell immediately, using all remaining energy in the reserve. If you do not cast this spell, or your spell fails, you take damage yourself, as if you had been hit with a Lightning spell, taking 1d-1 burning damage per point remaining in the reserve.

Duration: 1 minute, but does not count as a spell "on".
Cost: None to cast, 1 to maintain if you have any energy remaining in the reserve, and the cost to maintain cannot be paid from the reserve.
Prerequisites: Magery 2, Lightning, Conduct Power or Steal Energy, and 10 other Air or Weather College spells.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by Kelly Pedersen

Conduct Lightning

Blocking

You can "catch" a lightning bolt or similar electric charge and use its energy to fuel your own magic. As a blocking spell, Conduct Lighting can be used quickly enough to react to a lightning strike near you.

I'm not criticizing your design for this spell, or your proposal that it could be designed, and certainly not your saying it ought to go in Air or Weather rather than Tech, which I wholly agree with. But I don't think what you describe "draws the lightning from the lightning rods and redirected it, " which is what the player was apparently asking for. Of course a spell like that could be designed, too, and would probably be simpler than the one you designed (which seems to turn the electrical energy into mana).

[Kelly Pedersen]

Originally Posted by whswhs

But I don't think what you describe "draws the lightning from the lightning rods and redirected it, " which is what the player was apparently asking for. Of course a spell like that could be designed, too, and would probably be simpler than the one you designed (which seems to turn the electrical energy into mana).

Fair enough, I was still thinking in terms of Draw Power, and missed that the request was for more of a "redirect a bolt" trick. (You could still do something that looked kind of like that with mine, by using it to absorb a bolt just as it hit a lightning rod, then using the energy next turn to cast a Lightning spell on whatever you wanted to hit. But it's a bit convoluted, and certainly not the only thing Conduct Lightning would do.)

For a simpler "redirect lightning" effect, how about this:

Redirect Lightning

Blocking

You can take lightning, and redirect it to another target. As a blocking spell, you can do this quickly enough to react to a lightning bolt striking near you when it isn't your turn. You must make a Redirect Lightning roll, at -1 per yard to the point the lightning is striking. If you succeed, the lightning changes course and strikes you, where it harmlessly hovers around you in a swirl of electrical energy (on a critical failure of the Redirect Lightning roll, the lightning still hits you, but it does full damage to you).

On your turn, you can throw the bolt, just as if it were a Lightning spell, with damage dice equal to whatever the original bolt would have done. If you don't throw the bolt, you must either make another Redirect Lightning roll (at no penalty, since you are the "source") to contain it for another round (this counts as maintaining it), or let it ground itself through you, taking the damage the bolt would have originally done.

Duration: 1 second
Cost: 1 energy/die of damage in the original bolt. 1 energy to maintain.
Prerequisites: Resist Lightning, Lightning, and six other Air or Weather spells.

[Jareth Valar]

That you Kelly and Bill. Both spells are very cool and look balanced at first glance (will probably be play testing then soon!). Unfortunately I want very clear with my original analogy (I blame hurricane Florence, she was very distracting 🙄).

Player more wants to draw power from a storm (irony of the topic is not lost on me right now, lol). More like having to lightning come to him with a similar effect as draw power. I agree this is NOT a tech spell and solidly in weather, possibly air.

Just didn't know if anything was printed elsewhere as I don't have every book..... Yet. 😏