[Magic] So Lasers Can Hurt Ghosts

[Balor Patch]

Originally Posted by Abrasax

Because otherwise how could the objects interact? There either has to be something 'material' about the spiritual or the spiritual simply cannot interact with the material.

Our physical laws are derived from the universe we live in. Fantasy characters don't live in that universe so the physics that describe their universe will be at least partially different. Aristotle, alchemy, and astrology could all be right for them.

Experiment to see if this works in that universe:
Everything in the material world has a shadow in the spiritual and vice versa that can be seen by those sensitive to it. Normally energy bleeds off crossing the veil so the shadow can cause no harm but mana can be manipulated to allow this.

Also, don't try too hard to be all of Galileo, Newton, Darwin, and Einstein. The moon can be a cheese round until a PC goes there.

[malloyd]

Originally Posted by Abrasax

The point here is that when you go down that rabbit hole there really is no 'good' answer that 'makes sense' because a lot of the premises of this sort of thing directly violate core assumptions of physics, etc. So I'd say just decide, for yourself, how it works and whether it 'makes sense' should be more an issue of setting and play balance, because reasoning about ghosts is a dead end street.

Pretty much. In a fantasy setting the "core assumptions of physics" are *wrong*. Nothing says light is actually physical, or even that "energy" is a meaningful concept - it certainly doesn't appear to be a conserved value falling out of some universally observed symmetry like in our physics - magic creates or destroys it all the time. Reasoning from axioms and definitions that work in our universe doesn't necessarily get you anywhere. The difficulty is in deciding at what point a setting becomes "fantastic" and that sort of thinking breaks down entirely. It's usually obvious enough for outright magic, but then there are versions of magic that try to fit in, and versions of "science" that clearly don't. Where you put that break is something of a setting design call - if you want a setting where "ghosts" are always dragging around a cloud of photoreactive molecules, why not?

[AlexanderHowl]

In that case though, it must be represented in the template of the ghost. For example, adding Bane (Light), -10% to Insubstantiality would be sufficient to render a ghost vulnerable to light-based attacks. Salt (which was traditionally thought of as solid light) does have a basis in folklore as being a ward against ghosts (though Dread (Salt) would likely be a better representation).

[Plane]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

adding Bane (Light), -10% to Insubstantiality would be sufficient to render a ghost vulnerable to light-based attacks.

That's a good idea, even though Bane was designed for allowing stuff to bypass your DR the concept makes sense for other stuff that would prevent damage.

[Anders]

Originally Posted by Plane

That's a good idea, even though Bane was designed for allowing stuff to bypass your DR the concept makes sense for other stuff that would prevent damage.

Where's Bane from?

[Plane]

Originally Posted by Anders

Where's Bane from?

Pg 14 of GURPS Horror

[RyanW]

Originally Posted by scc

Well that's been rolling around inside my head and I realized something today: Taking that and the spell Sunbolt lasers can hurt ghosts. Yes it's weird but the logic is this: Sunbolt is a Missile Spell and so can hurt ghosts and other creatures with Insubstantiality, Sunbolt is also clearly a laser attack, ergo lasers can hurt ghosts.

Ice Sphere is a sphere. That doesn't mean that basketballs can cause frostbite.