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Old 12-05-2009, 04:46 AM   #11
RedMattis
 
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Default Re: That wonderful stuff: Lava

Quote:
Originally Posted by Ragitsu View Post
It's doable with a good Light Walk roll :-).
How does that stop the fumes from poisoning and roasting you?
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Old 12-05-2009, 09:47 AM   #12
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Default Re: That wonderful stuff: Lava

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Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty View Post
The short answer is that it would be entirely reasonable to say that anyone close to molten lava/magma should take about half the damage that they'd take from actually falling in. I'm not enough of an expert to give actual ranges in yards and such, but the whole idea of "jumping from plate to plate, over rivers of hot lava" is 100% ridiculous -- not only jumping over lava, but just getting close enough to try it is a death sentence.
I always laugh a bit at the end of The Return of the King movie from the Lord of the Rings trilogy, specifically the Mount Doom parts - all that red-orange hot lava would have radiated like any other red-orange hot surface, such as the heating elements in a toaster oven or broiler. Frodo and Sam would have been nicely grilled by the time the eagles got to them, and the eagles would have at least been singed. And this is not even counting the hot fumes emitted.

And as long as I am grouching, gold is denser than lava - the ring would have sunk. Flesh is less dense than lava - Gollum would have floated (while burning to a crisp, of course).

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Old 12-05-2009, 10:03 AM   #13
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Default Re: That wonderful stuff: Lava

Powers page 117:
Quote:
Originally Posted by Benchmarking Attacks and Defenses
Ordinary fire rarely exceeds 1d burning. To rate other fires, use Making Things Burn. For instance, magma should ignite even “highly resistant” items instantly, which takes 30 points of damage – average damage for 8d+2.
Benchmarking Attacks and Defenses free sample available here.
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Old 12-05-2009, 10:07 AM   #14
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Default Re: That wonderful stuff: Lava

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Originally Posted by David Johnston2 View Post
Burning, not corrosive. And Campaigns sez molten metal does 3d per second.
Maybe it's just me, but 3d doesn't seem like nearly enough for molten lava. Lead has a melting point of about 330°C. Freshly erupted lava can get up to 1,200°C. I'd eyeball it as at least 10d per second of exposure assuming you were getting hit by splash and splatter. For complete immersion, I'd just handwave as instant death (with kudos to the earlier posted PDF :D) unless the character had fire DR at some irrationally high level or another magical way of weaseling out of it.
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Old 12-05-2009, 08:12 PM   #15
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Default Re: That wonderful stuff: Lava

This conversation turned out to be far more amusing than I originally thought it was going to.

So, at this point, I'm looking at splash/contact as doing 8d+2 per second, and immersion as doing at least 600% damage (however many hit points you have, you take at least 6 times that much).

Anyone know anything about the toxic fumes though? I mean, discovery channel specials show the scientists studying volcanoes wearing those crazy suits with air supplies. There must be danger just from the fumes right?

That PDF really is fantastic.
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Old 12-05-2009, 08:32 PM   #16
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Default Re: That wonderful stuff: Lava

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Originally Posted by Rev. Pee Kitty View Post
The short answer is that it would be entirely reasonable to say that anyone close to molten lava/magma should take about half the damage that they'd take from actually falling in.
Lava isn't that dangerous to approach. You can light a cigarette off of it. Here's a couple videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf9T5ZdAQX0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDpf_FVo0MM

On the other hand, you might burn your beard. As this link, a tourist describes that happening to him while he was scooping lava rocks out of a flow with a stick:http://thegramercypark.blogspot.com/...p-volcano.html

Last edited by Grouchy Chris; 12-05-2009 at 09:43 PM.
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Old 12-05-2009, 09:42 PM   #17
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Default Re: That wonderful stuff: Lava

Quote:
Originally Posted by lwcamp View Post
And as long as I am grouching, gold is denser than lava - the ring would have sunk. Flesh is less dense than lava - Gollum would have floated (while burning to a crisp, of course).
There are three issues in play here:
1. It's magic, in the same way that it's still cold after it gets snatched out of the fire. It doesn't have to abide by regular physical laws
2. Steel is denser than noodle soup, but my spoon still stands up in my soup.
3. Narrative awesomeness
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Old 12-05-2009, 10:43 PM   #18
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Default Re: That wonderful stuff: Lava

Quote:
Originally Posted by Grouchy Chris View Post
Lava isn't that dangerous to approach. You can light a cigarette off of it. Here's a couple videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xf9T5ZdAQX0
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qDpf_FVo0MM

On the other hand, you might burn your beard. As this link, a tourist describes that happening to him while he was scooping lava rocks out of a flow with a stick:http://thegramercypark.blogspot.com/...p-volcano.html
That's mostly-cooled lava, though. The fresh stuff is going to be putting off a lot of heat.
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Old 12-05-2009, 11:42 PM   #19
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Default Re: That wonderful stuff: Lava

Well, it's not like lava has a fixed temperature. So there's a wide range. I will be assigning numbers, on the principle that guessed numbers are better than none :J

Fresh from the interior, I'd guess 32d/sec burn damage from immersion. At these temperatures, even convection can't keep up, and you're probably looking at about 24d/sec burn damage from contact or being next to it. Maybe -1d/sec per hex, in open air.

A lava flow, hot enough to still be flowing but with a crust of solid black rock, I'd guess 10d/sec from immersion, 8d/sec from contact, 5d/sec from being next to it. Also -1d/sec per hex, so you can stand a few yards away and not take damage. This is also a reasonable level for traps that pipe magma around. (Hail the retracting bauxite bridge!)

For lava that's cooled enough to stop in place, I'd guess 3d/sec from immersion. A large chunk of it, however, may have a more-liquid(i.e. hotter) core. Similarly the surface is cooler, maybe 1d/sec from contact. This is only marginally hotter than fire, so you might take 1/sec within 1 hex, but the air temperature is likely to be within mere heat rules.

If it's cooled enough that a complete shell of black rock has formed, the surface is at fire temperatures.

On the other end of the scale, boiling magma is going to be significantly hotter; this guess is even sketchier, but say 100d/sec for immersion, 75d/sec for contact or in adjacent hexes, -1d/sec per hex away. However, mere liquid magma with gases boiling through it falls into the first category.

All of this assumes open air. In a confined area, air temperature will rise until it burns like contact. Or if it's in a tube that's open at both ends, you can get a real good wind howling through there. This may merely require DX rolls to not fall over, but when the convection maxes out, it may be best to hug the ground and use the climbing rules.



Now, the above only considers the direct heat-transfer damage. There's also the "hot weather" and fumes. Heat(B434) caps out at fire temperatures, so just use that cap as-is. In open air, the fumes from a stable flow will be at the level of Mildly Toxic(S78) or "pollutants"(B429). If it's in the process of erupting, the air nearby will be more like Highly Toxic or "lethal gases". In a confined area, a stable flow can also build up to this level, or beyond if it's been sealed for a while.
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Old 12-06-2009, 12:35 AM   #20
Ragitsu
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Default Re: That wonderful stuff: Lava

Quote:
Originally Posted by RedMattis View Post
How does that stop the fumes from poisoning and roasting you?
I'm pretty sure that in a campaign where the GM allows you to walk across the lava by merit of your Kung-Fu training, issues like poison fumes and the wafting heat will be pretty much brushed aside :-P.
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