Killing people

From: Andrew Barton <100010.533_at_CompuServe.COM>
Date: 18 Apr 97 11:13:08 EDT

David Cake gave an interesting and useful discussion on killing people. His idea of using Tap POW to destroy a soul, though, doesn't work with the rules as written. The text of the Tap spells includes a well-buried line 'no characteristic may be Tapped below one'.  

IMG, that's how it works. The reason is that reducing SIZ or POW to 0 would involve the total destruction of a physical or spiritual entity, an effect of far larger scope than reducing a characteristic.  

In Gloranthas where the Tap spell can cause reduction to 0, a Tap POW weapon is particularly nasty, but it needs a high Intensity to cause spirit destruction with a single blow. In worlds where magic spirits can know sorcery spells, a solution is to summon a spirit and teach it the spell (summoning one that already knows Tap POW is very risky!), then bind it into the weapon. If the spirit itself receives the MP from the Tap spell, then each successful Tap will increase its chance of overcoming MP on its next hit, which seems an appropriately nasty property.  

In RQ2, btw, spirit destruction was much simpler, because spirit combat and draining magics took characteristic POW rather then MPs.  

Andrew  

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