V's actions may go horribly, horribly wrong (SPOILERS)

[GSFB]

It is possible that the Disintegrate spell is not enough to kill off the ABD, meaning combat will go at least one more round.

What V does next might catastrophically end things in a bad, bad way.

V now has 9th level spells and beyond. Presumably, V could cast Meteor Swarm, or something similar to it, maybe even an epic-level more powerful version of it. V cast the Disintegrate spell, not so much because V thought it would kill ABD, but because doing damage with that particular spell is important considering the history of these two so far.

Now that V has sent that message, V is free to use other spells to finish the ABD off. Problem is, V is not sane at the moment, and has three evil mages urging V on.

I predict that after a short dialogue whereby V taunts the ABD, V will then move to end the battle with a Meteor Swarm, or something like it. Problem is, the family would be within the area of the blast effect.

To make things worse, the family will have seen the "evil" V. We know that V can't use the power of the splice to cast divine magic, but with all this power, V could surely find some other way to get a Resurrection effect going (coerce a priest, etc). Problem isn't lack of power. V can overcome. Problem is, after seeing "evil" V, it is entirely possible that V's family WOULD NOT CONSENT TO RESURRECTION.

Because of V's descent into evil - not that V is actually EVIL, but V has certainly taken an evil path - odds may be against V rejoining the family in the afterlife. V's family is probably bound for some good-aligned plane. V might be luck to get by with a neutral-plane afterlife at this point.

And that would be the REAL loss. V wouldn't just be apart from the family now, but for eternity. And that is just what the ABD wanted to do to V all along.

[Shpadoinkle]

V's evil, not STUPID. He's not going to Meteor Swarm his own family.

[Theodoriph]

Yeah...this isn't some crappy plot like Star Wars and the whole Anakin tries to kill Padme scene.

[factotum]

Possible? It's an absolute certainty that a single Disintegrate won't kill an ancient Black Dragon--even if you rolled nothing but 6s on the damage roll (and the odds against doing that are something like 10^31 to 1, e.g. VERY unlikely) you'd do 240 damage, which just isn't enough.

Anyway, I agree that V is simply not stupid enough to be fooled into casting an area of effect spell like Meteor Swarm, Fireball, or what-have-you when his family are close by. If his family DO die then it'll be the black dragon who kills them, which would leave V with the knowledge that even with ultimate arcane power he failed...again. Chances are that'll drive him over the edge worse than killing his own family would!

[Yehomer]

If I were V, I would cast nothing but Empowered \ Maximised \ Quickened disintegrate for the rest of the fight... A fitting end for the dragon bitch...

[Optimystik]

Possible? It's an absolute certainty that a single Disintegrate won't kill an ancient Black Dragon--even if you rolled nothing but 6s on the damage roll (and the odds against doing that are something like 10^31 to 1, e.g. VERY unlikely) you'd do 240 damage, which just isn't enough.

You're forgetting that spells that require attack rolls (Like disintegrate) can critically hit, doing double damage. 480 is certainly enough to one-shot an ancient black dragon (Average HP 387). :smallwink:

[Nerdanel]

You're forgetting that spells that require attack rolls (Like disintegrate) can critically hit, doing double damage. 480 is certainly enough to one-shot an ancient black dragon (Average HP 387). :smallwink:

Not in 3.5. Though, the damage CAN kill the dragon if she fails her save against massive damage, but that's about 5% likely.

[Cúchulainn]

V has pulled off longer odds against dragons before, but I doubt Mummy will die in one shot. She's a sorcerer dragon so I wouldn't mind seeing her pull out some desperation tactics against the family, could be fun.

[SoD]

To make things worse, the family will have seen the "evil" V. We know that V can't use the power of the splice to cast divine magic, but with all this power, V could surely find some other way to get a Resurrection effect going (coerce a priest, etc). Problem isn't lack of power. V can overcome. Problem is, after seeing "evil" V, it is entirely possible that V's family WOULD NOT CONSENT TO RESURRECTION.

Problem is, all they would know is the alignment and class (I think) of the person raising them, so if V got a NG Cleric of Pelor, they'd know "NG Cleric" and nothing else.


Not in 3.5.

Actually, yes in 3.5.

[Nerdanel]

Actually, yes in 3.5.

Since when? According to everything I've heard, spells critting is new to the 4th Edition.

[Zerg Cookie]

Since when? According to everything I've heard, spells critting is new to the 4th Edition.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsincombat.htm#criticalHits

"Spells and Critical Hits
A spell that requires an attack roll can score a critical hit. A spell attack that requires no attack roll cannot score a critical hit."


A side note: disintegrate DOES require an attack roll (ranged touch attack)

[Theodoriph]

Since when? According to everything I've heard, spells critting is new to the 4th Edition.



You've heard wrong. :P

"Spells and Critical Hits

A spell that requires an attack roll can score a critical hit. A spell attack that requires no attack roll cannot score a critical hit. "

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/combat/actionsincombat.htm

[raphfrk]

You're forgetting that spells that require attack rolls (Like disintegrate) can critically hit, doing double damage. 480 is certainly enough to one-shot an ancient black dragon (Average HP 387). :smallwink:

The chances of that are tiny. Disintegrate can do at most 40d6 (assuming V counts as greater than level 20). However, with 40 dice, the result is very likely to be close to the average.

The odds are roughly (based on 100000 rolls):

>140: 50%
>150: 17%
>160: 3%
>170: 0.2%
>180: 0.007%
>190: less than 1 in 100,000
>200: even lower

Assuming, a critical with 190-200 is sufficient and adding another one in 20 chance for the to-hit roll, then you are talking less than 1 in 2 million chance of it happening. OTOH, probability in OOTS seems to wrap around as pointed out by Elan here (http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0584.html)

[Theodoriph]

As an alternate point of view. If the dragon is completely disintegrated, it's also possible V nailed a triple 20. I believe they do play with that rule (in one of the bonus strips), though I can't check since my books are in another city.

Chance of a triple 20 are 1 in 8000.

[GSFB]

Well, we know the Disintegrate didn't kill the ABD in one round. So now that question is answered, how about returning to the real issue, that is, V accidentally killing the family.

It is true that V would not ordinarily make such a mental mistake. But we aren't just dealing with V anymore, here, folks.