Electrocution, Cavalry, and Full Plate.

[Talakeal]

During my last gaming session I had a "shock plate" trap which would electrocute anyone who stepped on it. The player who triggered the trap happened to be mounted at the time. The player claimed that the electricity would not pass through the horse into their body and they would be safe from the damage. This doesn't seem right to me, as I don't know how the electricity would know where to "stop".

I have since tried looking it up several times and have found several different arguments and anecdotes on both sides. Does anyone know what would really happen? Preferably with a summary of the science behind it?

Also, the horse happened to be wearing metal barding and the rider metal armor. Does this change the scenario?

I have heard people say that metal armor would provide no protection against electricity, that it would make a shock worse, that it would protect from the shock but heat up in doing so and cause burns, and that it would create a "faraday cage" that would make the wearer absolutely immune to any and all electricity.

Does anyone know the truth of the matter?

[Berenger]

I'm not really sure how electricity runs through such a complex formation of matter, but by my wildly unscientific guesstimate he MIGHT have a point. The horse is actually an arc because at least one foreleg and at least one hind leg are touching the ground. There is also a leather saddle and a woolen blanket between his behind and the poor horse, I don't think those conduct electricity very well. I have absolutely no idea if a complete set of plate armor might work like a Faraday cage...:smallconfused:

[Talakeal]

I'm not really sure how electricity runs through such a complex formation of matter, but by my wildly unscientific guesstimate he MIGHT have a point. The horse is actually an arc because at least one foreleg and at least one hind leg are touching the ground. There is also a leather saddle and a woolen blanket between his behind and the poor horse, I don't think those conduct electricity very well. I have absolutely no idea if a complete set of plate armor might work like a Faraday cage...:smallconfused:

Riding bareback actually. Player is too cheap to spring for a saddle.

Still, at least part of the rider's body is probably in contact with the horse's body at any given time.

[kyoryu]

Even plate mail almost certainly has some kind of padded backing. Metal is good for dispersing impact across a wider area, as well as protecting against pointy bits/cutting, but isn't particularly good for cushioning/slowing impacts.

Someone in plate mail isn't going to have a lot of skin that has direct contact with the metal armor.

[Yukitsu]

This partly depends on how they rode over it.

If the horse was on the plate and the ground, it will move directly from the horse' front legs to the back legs and cause severe internal burning as well as severe burns on its back legs. The electricity is trying to get to the ground though, not towards the guy in the metal. The rider is not going to be electrocuted.

By contrast, if it's suddenly switched on while the horse is completely on the plate, the electricity will not have any specific direction of travel, and will not cause any damage at all. Basically the same as when you're on a car that has downed power lines, it likely won't hurt you while you're in the vehicle, but if you touch the ground while touching the car, it could kill you.

The only time the rider would receive the damage is if the horse was entirely on the plate and the rider's lance or something was touching an enemy that was not on the plate, which would cause electrical burns on the rider's legs and rear end, his hands, his horse' back and whoever he's lancing.

[Premier]

Riding bareback actually. Player is too cheap to spring for a saddle.

That's ridiculous. Plate armour is made of, you know, metal PLATES. Plates have edges. Even if they're not especially sharp, riding a horse bareback like that would cause serious bruising to the beast, causing it to buckle in pain and throw off the rider. Also, no saddle -> no stirrup -> no using a lance, as you'd automatically fall off in the moment of impact.

If he's this cheap, you should hit him over the head with realism. Hit him hard.

[Ashtagon]

If it activated only after the horse was fully on the plate, the shortest arcing exit point might be through the horse, then the character, and then the character's head and the ceiling.

If it is magical electricity, natural physical laws are irrelevant regarding whether the character gets affected by it.

[Spiryt]

, no saddle -> no stirrup -> no using a lance, as you'd automatically fall off in the moment of impact.

If he's this cheap, you should hit him over the head with realism. Hit him hard.

Actually, cavalrymen of pretty much whole antiquity were using lance, sometimes even two handed, without stirrup.

But generally, yeah, guy with full plate that gets cheap on goddamn saddle is rather hilarious image indeed.

[DigoDragon]

Several spells give bonuses to hit targets wearing metal armor (Like shocking grasp). Since electricity prefers paths of least resistance, I'd wager the rider will get electrocuted while in contact with the horse (who is in contact with the trap).

Now, if the horse was fitted with rubber shoes... maybe then he'd be safe.

[Mike_G]

It's all about current and resistance. The current will pass through the horse, and into the rider.

The horse will provide some resistance, so the rider will take less damage, but not no damage. The metal armor will act as a good conductor, but the science is very complex, involving path or the electricity, voltage, resistance of horse flesh, plate, padding and so on.

I'd just give full damage to the mount, and half damage to the rider.

[paddyfool]

Actually, cavalrymen of pretty much whole antiquity were using lance, sometimes even two handed, without stirrup.

But generally, yeah, guy with full plate that gets cheap on goddamn saddle is rather hilarious image indeed.

Not a couched lance, and what they had was a pretty supportive saddle, not riding bareback.

Back to the scenario, however, and ignoring the player's ignorance of all things horse: yeah, he won't be hurt by the lightning when the trap initially goes off, but he will be hurt by the fall when his horse collapses and spasms uncontrollably from the shock, just like it's been tazered, very likely crushing one of his legs, possibly rolling over him. And if he lands on the trap, then he might well get a further shock himself (although I also think a suit of proper full plate should act as a faraday suit... up to the point where you're using sufficient voltage to arc weld the moving parts of the suit together, immobilising the character, and quite possibly cooking him at the same time).

[TheCountAlucard]

DigoDragon: Rubber doesn't magically block electricity - the thing about cars not getting struck by lightning because of their rubber tires is a myth.

[valadil]

I would model this off of all other sources of electric damage in the game. In D&D, a lightning bolt spell does electric damage to everything in a line. It doesn't matter how many horses are in front of you in that line or whether they're grounded - that damage is going right through them.

What's the system? Does it have any other examples of electricity damage?

[Altair_the_Vexed]

I wish everyone would stop using "electrocute" when they mean "electric shock". :smallfrown:
Electrocution is by definition fatal. It's a portmanteau of "electric" and "execute".

/electrical safety engineer blog.

Back on topic:

If he's insisting it isn't going to harm him, but pass through the horse - then kill his horse dead, and deal him some falling damage.

[Doug Lampert]

If it activated only after the horse was fully on the plate, the shortest arcing exit point might be through the horse, then the character, and then the character's head and the ceiling.

Given multiple possible conduction paths the amount of current through a substance will be roughly inverse to the resistance the path that substance is on offers.

You can calculate a path's resistance by multipling the distance of the path by the resistivity and dividing by the crosssection available for conduction.

Flesh has a resistivity of roughly 0.2 (units of ohm-meters), metal of roughly 10^-8. So all else being equal approximately 50,000,000 times as much electricity will go through metal as through an equivalent cross-section of person. The person is a larger crosssection, but not to anything even vaguely comparable to a factor of 50,000,000. The person will take a noticable shock ONLY if there is no metalic alternate conduction path to ground. Which is very unlikely with full plate.

Energy disipation in the armor will also tend to be negligable, the same current is going to ground through the (highly resistive) floor after it passes through the armor, and the power disipated per unit volume is directly proportional to that miniscule resistivity. If the current is able to noticably heat the metal then the spell/effect shouldn't be referred to as "electrical damage" but rather as "MASSIVE EXPLOSION OF THE GROUND UNDER YOUR FEET damage".


If it is magical electricity, natural physical laws are irrelevant regarding whether the character gets affected by it.

Of course in D&D land we ONLY seem to encounter magical electricity that ignores physical law. A lightning bolt travels straight through the air, ignoring paths to ground.

[Xelbiuj]

Don't let him Yoshi his horse, sets a bad precedent.

[Talakeal]

Don't let him Yoshi his horse, sets a bad precedent.

I'm not sure I get the reference.

[Xelbiuj]

http://minuszone.com/wp-content/uploads/1991/08/n7950388_45156481_8386.jpg

[Elbeyon]

^
Mario can jump off Yoshi to give himself an extra boost. Often leaving Yoshi in a very bad spot.

[Kane0]

If it is magical electricity, natural physical laws are irrelevant regarding whether the character gets affected by it.


Of course in D&D land we ONLY seem to encounter magical electricity that ignores physical law. A lightning bolt travels straight through the air, ignoring paths to ground.
These

Are you playing a game that seeks to emulate or stay true to our world? If not, then it really doesn't matter.
You don't have to apply real world laws of conductivity to a world where magic exists and the laws of the multiverse are fundamentally different. Just tell the player he and his horse are shocked by the trap that was designed to shock anything that activates it, then give him a reflex for half damage or something (although that makes no sense either).

/2cp

[Bulhakov]

In short - if the trap was ground to ground mid-voltage electric circuit than the rider would likely take little to no "electric shock" damage (a fraction of what the horse would get), but might get some nasty burn damage (if the voltage was high enough to arc between the horse and rider and between the skin and metal armor), and will likely fall to the ground after the horse gets shocked (either from the jolt, or because it's dead).

Some things you would need to remember for a realistic electric trap scenario:
- the electricity has to go from a high potential source to a low potential destination (basically you need a + and - end for a closed circuit). The trap could go between two plates on the ground (the horse takes the most of the dameg), or the ground and the sky (lightning - the rider's head takes most damage) but a lot depends on whether the voltage was high enough to arc through air
- a low voltage trap (level of voltage comparable to that in a wall socket or a stun gun) would only work if there was a closed circuit, so good isolation (rubber horseshoes) would stop it. The electric current would flow primarily through the horse, but not penetrate deeply into the skin, causing some nerve damage and muscle contraction(s). The rider would be safe, or get a small shock as well if not isolated from the horse. The metal armor would have little influence on this, unless it was touching the skin in several places, then there might be some contact burns (comparable to stun gun burns).
- a high voltage trap (level of power lines or lightning strike) - this level of voltage allows the current to arc through air, and as it will try to travel the path of least resistance the metal armor will become a mixed blessing - wherever it can the electricity will jump from skin to the metal causing nasty entry-exit wounds. In this case the horse still takes much more damage than the rider and will likely be dead. The rider has a chance to live, will get some electric shock, but also big burns at the gaps in his armor and where he was touching the horse. (google "electric burn" but be warned the images are graphic and gruesome)
- it also greatly depends whether this was an AC or DC trap. A strong DC current is more likely to cause the nasty burns but would require a high voltage, while AC can cause a heart attack and muscle spasms at even the lowest voltage.

Some additional reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_shock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_burn

[Talakeal]

Ok, take the armor and saddle out of the picture for a moment.

Assume the horse and rider are both nude for the sake of the example.

For the electricity to kill the horse, it would need to travel up into its body, correct? Simply passing through the legs wouldn't damage any vital organs.

In such a case, is there any reason for the electricity to "stop" once it hits the horses back and not keep going up into the rider's body?

[Alejandro]

Others have explained it well, just wanted to jump in and say that a suit of plate armor is not in any way a Faraday cage.

Faraday suits do exist; people wear them and safely work on the most dangerous power lines. But they aren't like plate armor at all.

http://i1.ytimg.com/vi/6_NEAEGeFIw/hqdefault.jpg

[Bulhakov]

In such a case, is there any reason for the electricity to "stop" once it hits the horses back and not keep going up into the rider's body?

Think of electricity as a ton of microscopic ants appearing from a portal at hoof A and feeling a huge need to get to the exit portal at hoof B. The ants might wander off path a bit, but they will try to take the shortest and fastest route to the second hoof. The shortest path is simple - goes up one leg, across the belly and down the other. The fastest path to travel along is a bit more complicated. The sweat of the horse will be the fastest, but it will get traffic jammed with ants pretty fast and also as more ants take this path it will evaporate. So the ants will spread out to fully use the path (all around the horse's skin), then also go off-road - into the skin, where they will find potential new fast paths (nerves) or onto the rider's skin and sweat. If there is enough ants (high current) or the ants are strong and determined enough (high voltage) they will burn up the good paths faster and spread out more to find alternates, e.g. burning a tunnel through the horse's body, or burning deeper into the rider's skin.


A real life example of this - If you touch an exposed wall socket (assuming you're isolated from the ground) with two fingers of one hand - you're likely to get away with a burn on your hand and a spasm in your arm muscles. If you touch it with two fingers, one from each hand, you're much more likely to stop your heart.

[Yukitsu]

Ok, take the armor and saddle out of the picture for a moment.

Assume the horse and rider are both nude for the sake of the example.

For the electricity to kill the horse, it would need to travel up into its body, correct? Simply passing through the legs wouldn't damage any vital organs.

In such a case, is there any reason for the electricity to "stop" once it hits the horses back and not keep going up into the rider's body?

Because the rider's body is not the path of least resistance to the ground.

[Talakeal]

Because the rider's body is not the path of least resistance to the ground.

I guess I just don't get how electricity works then. Why is the electricity going high enough to pass through the horse's heart (or other vitals) but then stopping before passing into the rider's body, but not just running up one leg, across the belly, and down the other leg?

[Yukitsu]

I guess I just don't get how electricity works then. Why is the electricity going high enough to pass through the horse's heart (or other vitals) but then stopping before passing into the rider's body, but not just running up one leg, across the belly, and down the other leg?

If the belly is conductive then that is what would happen, but I suspect that the resistance of the skin and fat is higher than the pulmonary system, ie. the heart, arteries and veins.

It's kind of like how a charge won't pass through the rubber insulation into the ground, but rather follows the bronze cable that's in the rubber insulation to the output destination.

[scsimodem]

Physics answer: Electricity is complicated. About the easiest class you can take and have a reasonable enough grasp to apply it to situations like this is (calculus based) physics II, university level. For the Layman's explanation, I'll give it a try. Electricity wants to travel, and it wants to travel fast, and it wants to get to its destination as fast and with as few detours as possible. We'll not get into the why. You're just going to have to trust me. For this illustration, our horse is the far southern United States (where I live. I'm sure you can come up with a suitable analog closer to home if you're not familiar with the geography). Florida and Texas are the front and hind legs, respectively. The rider is Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, and lower Michigan. Now, your electricity starts in Miami and needs to get to Corpus Christi. The most *direct* route would, of course, be to go west until hitting the Gulf Coast and following it the whole way. But that's not the *fastest* way or the *easiest* way. Instead, plug it into Google Maps. It tells you to take highway the whole way. If I had to guess, you'd take 75 up to Atlanta, 20 west, and then...something else south to Corpus Christi. This will take less time and be an easier drive than following the coast. That is what the metal armor is, a less resistant path. However, in neither of these scenarios is it even remotely necessary or advisable to go through Kentucky, Ohio, Indiana, or lower Michigan, unless you have relatives there or something, and everybody knows electricity is pretty much an omnicidal jerk and, thus, has no friends or relatives it's on speaking terms with.

Edit: Also, the hair and any air or padding between the horse and the rider would act like a wall separating Tennessee and Kentucky.

Game answer: Is the trap single target or AoE? If it's single target, it only hits the horse. If it's AoE, it also hits the rider.

[The Glyphstone]

Possibly unhelpful question - does the answer to this really matter when we know that, based on prior observational anecdotes, your player will complain long and bitterly regardless of how minor the penalty/injury he or his horse suffers is?

[Talakeal]

Possibly unhelpful question - does the answer to this really matter when we know that, based on prior observational anecdotes, your player will complain long and bitterly regardless of how minor the penalty/injury he or his horse suffers is?

It makes me feel better. At the time I did a quick google search, found some anecdotes about people on horseback getting injured when their horse bumped into an electric fence and then ruled that the rider would take the damage.

I also want to know the truth if it ever comes up again.

I also had a guy way back in high school who insisted that plate armor would make you immune to electric damage because it would form a faraday cage and this his fighter should be immune to lightning bolts. I never have gotten a straight answer on whether he was talking out his butt or correct.

[Ashtagon]

I also had a guy way back in high school who insisted that plate armor would make you immune to electric damage because it would form a faraday cage and this his fighter should be immune to lightning bolts. I never have gotten a straight answer on whether he was talking out his butt or correct.

Butt

(10 characters)

[Aux-Ash]

It's also well worth pointing out that IF the horse survives (and that's a big if) it will panic.
Horses are skittish animals and it takes a lot of training for them to get used to scary stuff like small mice, strange sounds, suprising movement and so on. Hence why a proper warhorse is so increadibly expensive (they're trained to tolerate a rider and the most common scary stuff happening in battles.

Electrical burns recieved from rider or enviroment? It's probably not familiar with that.

And plate armour or no... being trapped on top of a panicky 400 kg animal is not recommended.

[paddyfool]

In short - if the trap was ground to ground mid-voltage electric circuit than the rider would likely take little to no "electric shock" damage (a fraction of what the horse would get), but might get some nasty burn damage (if the voltage was high enough to arc between the horse and rider and between the skin and metal armor), and will likely fall to the ground after the horse gets shocked (either from the jolt, or because it's dead).

Some things you would need to remember for a realistic electric trap scenario:
- the electricity has to go from a high potential source to a low potential destination (basically you need a + and - end for a closed circuit). The trap could go between two plates on the ground (the horse takes the most of the dameg), or the ground and the sky (lightning - the rider's head takes most damage) but a lot depends on whether the voltage was high enough to arc through air
- a low voltage trap (level of voltage comparable to that in a wall socket or a stun gun) would only work if there was a closed circuit, so good isolation (rubber horseshoes) would stop it. The electric current would flow primarily through the horse, but not penetrate deeply into the skin, causing some nerve damage and muscle contraction(s). The rider would be safe, or get a small shock as well if not isolated from the horse. The metal armor would have little influence on this, unless it was touching the skin in several places, then there might be some contact burns (comparable to stun gun burns).
- a high voltage trap (level of power lines or lightning strike) - this level of voltage allows the current to arc through air, and as it will try to travel the path of least resistance the metal armor will become a mixed blessing - wherever it can the electricity will jump from skin to the metal causing nasty entry-exit wounds. In this case the horse still takes much more damage than the rider and will likely be dead. The rider has a chance to live, will get some electric shock, but also big burns at the gaps in his armor and where he was touching the horse. (google "electric burn" but be warned the images are graphic and gruesome)
- it also greatly depends whether this was an AC or DC trap. A strong DC current is more likely to cause the nasty burns but would require a high voltage, while AC can cause a heart attack and muscle spasms at even the lowest voltage.

Some additional reading:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_shock
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electrical_burn

I somewhat agree, but the plate armour would (a) not be on the shortest route through the horse to a point where the current could ground, and (b) not be up against the wearer's skin, but instead against padding.

But definitely, the major damage is done to the horse, and mostly the rider would be at risk from the consequences of sitting on said horse at the time it receives this shock, e.g. falling / being rolled on.



I also had a guy way back in high school who insisted that plate armor would make you immune to electric damage because it would form a faraday cage and this his fighter should be immune to lightning bolts. I never have gotten a straight answer on whether he was talking out his butt or correct.

If it's a suit of articulated metal plate which reaches all the way to the ground and has some form of padding for insulation (which it would), then it should indeed work as a kind of faraday suit (partial metal armour would be useless, or worse than useless, a lot less useful, however, since the arc would go through the armour, through the wearer, back through the armour etc. by whatever route gets it to ground with the least net resistance, although metal armour which covers his head and torso might at least save his brain, heart and spine from having their normal electrical signalling scrambled).

EDIT: Anyway, at my table, full plate or articulated plate of any metal grants Electricity resistance 4 (while playing Fantasy Craft, anyway; you can also purchase an armour upgrade that grants the same bonus to any armour called "insulated", and the two resistances would stack for a theoretical resistance of 8 if you want armour that's actually built to be some kind of Faraday suit).

[Bulhakov]

You ask why the electricity would travel to the horse's heart - the answer is short and simple - because nerves are actually an excellent low-resistance path (even better than the sweat on the surface of the skin). The problem is that the nerves are buried under a layer of insulating skin and fat. So electricity will primarily travel over the surface of the skin, but as some of it probes sideways, if it encounters a nerve, it will direct a strong stream to this new found path. The rider will get some current flowing across him as well, but it will be a small fraction of what goes through the horse.



As for a faraday-cage armor, there are real life examples:

http://topperchoice.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Faraday-suit.jpg

The main requirement is that the suit must allow for an unbroken conductive path from the source of the electricity to the ground. The suit then serves as a lightning rod.

[Autolykos]

Mixing magic and physics is always going to be a matter of interpretation (I assume it's a magical trap). The most important question is: From where to where does the magic generate a potential? I'd assume Trap->Target, as that makes the most sense. In that case, the target will get fried, no matter what. And everything on the path of least resistance to the target will, too. If the rider (i.e. "the person that passes over the plate") was targeted, he will get damaged, and the horse is done for, too. If the horse (i.e. "any creature that touches the plate") is the target, the rider's probably fine, except for the fact that his horse is now dead and he might fall on the trap very soon, to be fried next. The player seems to think that the trap would generate a potential from one part of the plate to another. This would make some sense if you had to build the trap with electronics, but magic can work around those limitations, and makes other designs more plausible.
There's also the option of simply saying "You take xD6 lightning damage. It's magic.". I'm not a huge fan of this GMing approach, but I would probably use it if the player was sufficiently obnoxious about it.

[Talakeal]

So, it seems that the general consensus is:

Most likely outcome is major injuries to the horse and minor injuries to the rider.

However, there are so many variables, including clothing, environment, body position, and the exact construction of the trap, that any possibility from death to no injuries at all is possible for either.

Is that about right?



btw I didn't go into that much detail designing the specific trap. The PCs were wading through waist deep water and stepped on a pressure plate. The effect of the trap as RAW was that it electrified the water (something I am not sure is even possible anymore, despite what movies and video games have told me) and that everyone touching the water would take 15 electric damage save for half.

But this thread isn't really about that specific trap as it is over and done with. It is about me trying to wrap my head around how electricity acts so that I won't have these kind of arguments in the future.

[Yukitsu]

Basically. This is why some people can get struck by lightning twice in the same day and live, while some other people can lick a AA battery and have their pace maker stop.

[TheStranger]

Allow me to confuse this issue by sharing an anecdote from my misspent youth. In study hall, we discovered that if you stick a heavy-duty metal staple in a wall outlet, it hurts (ok, nobody was surprised by that). But, it was discovered that if you stick a staple into a wall outlet while a second person was touching your arm, it would hurt the second person, but not you. This was confirmed over several repetitions with different people in each role.

Can somebody explain this?

(I can't explain why we were all dumb enough that sticking things in wall outlets seemed like a good way to pass the time, or why no teachers intervened in this.)

[Raphite1]

This would be a fun question to submit to XKCD's "What If?"

Not only would you get a detailed answer, but he'd probably give answers for all kinds of crazy scenarios, like if the shock-trap was carrying all the output of the pre-disaster Fukuskima plant.

It would somehow end with continents shattered and something in orbit.

[The Glyphstone]

Allow me to confuse this issue by sharing an anecdote from my misspent youth. In study hall, we discovered that if you stick a heavy-duty metal staple in a wall outlet, it hurts (ok, nobody was surprised by that). But, it was discovered that if you stick a staple into a wall outlet while a second person was touching your arm, it would hurt the second person, but not you. This was confirmed over several repetitions with different people in each role.

Can somebody explain this?

(I can't explain why we were all dumb enough that sticking things in wall outlets seemed like a good way to pass the time, or why no teachers intervened in this.)

I'm wondering who was dumb enough to be the second person in the repetitions...

Also, since XKCD was mentioned...
http://xkcd.com/242/

[TheStranger]

I'm wondering who was dumb enough to be the second person in the repetitions...
Obviously, somebody who didn't want to look like a wuss compared to the first person.

[scsimodem]

Allow me to confuse this issue by sharing an anecdote from my misspent youth. In study hall, we discovered that if you stick a heavy-duty metal staple in a wall outlet, it hurts (ok, nobody was surprised by that). But, it was discovered that if you stick a staple into a wall outlet while a second person was touching your arm, it would hurt the second person, but not you. This was confirmed over several repetitions with different people in each role.

Can somebody explain this?

(I can't explain why we were all dumb enough that sticking things in wall outlets seemed like a good way to pass the time, or why no teachers intervened in this.)

Disclaimer: I am not a professional physicist and, thus, may be completely wrong.

This actually makes a lot of sense. Pain from electric shocks typically comes from either the resistance of human skin or, in more severe cases, muscle spasms caused by direct stimulation of the nervous system (this is how tasers work). When you're talking about touching a staple like that with a 120V, 60Hz AC (which is what is used in the US), perspiration and skin will conduct most of the electricity. This means that electricity passes easily from person to person through direct skin contact.

Now, if the voltage was low enough, the only pain caused would be heating in the staple, as the staple itself is the path of least resistance from one terminal of the outlet to the other. However, with voltage this high, current is easily pushed through other substances. Think of it as a big pipe. If the pressure is low, attaching a small or clogged pipe will have little effect, since there is not enough pressure to push through it. 120V, however, is high pressure, which would force the electricity into the person's body. Now, the current has nowhere to go. Either the current is forced back into the staple to go through the other terminal, or it has to overcome whatever resistance is keeping your body separated from ground. This gives your body a high resistance from the perspective of the staple, which, as stated earlier, causes heat buildup and pain.

When some sucker is touching you, though, that's an easy way for the electricity to leave your body, once again traveling along your skin. Now, the electricity has nowhere to go from that guy's body, causing pain at the point of contact. Interestingly enough, you can chain this out to a very large number of people, and it will always only hurt the person at the end.

On an added note, this is dangerous. If anybody has some kind of wound, it gives the electricity easy access to the bloodstream and the nervous system, which are far more conductive than skin, and cause most paths through the body to cross the heart. It takes on about 500 microamps across the heart to cause fibrillation (your light bulbs use about 20,000 or more times that much current).

For a much safer, but no less hilarious, experience, you might try using a Van de Graaff Generator. Those are the metal spheres with a belt running through them you'll find in physics labs. Turn it on and the belt spins, building up static electricity in the sphere. This has many fun applications. Put a bunch of small paper bits in a Styrofoam cup on top, and they will float out one at a time. Fun, but not painfully hilarious. As anybody who has scuffed his feet across a carpet knows, building up static in an object and then touching it to a person will create a satisfying arc of static, a delightful pop, and sharp, but harmless pain. Let the generator run for a minute and touch it, and it will hurt. Touching it before your turn it on and maintaining contact will, instead, slowly build up static in your body, causing hair to stand on end. Touching somebody while in this state will deliver a rather hilarious shock. However, like the above, this can be carried in a chain (though the more people in the chain, the longer it takes to build up the same level of static charge). In physics, we once used this trick to run a chain all the way to the door from the generator, which was in the opposite corner of the room, which we then used to shock the teacher on his way in. He wasn't even mad, as it demonstrated practical knowledge of the material.

[TroubleBrewing]

More to the point, why are you letting the player dictate what happens here?

He went over the trap. Trap goes off. He takes damage. Why? Because you said so.

[Wardog]

Actually, cavalrymen of pretty much whole antiquity were using lance, sometimes even two handed, without stirrup.


For example:
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_A_kUWzaUDUA/S_wpqgFX0XI/AAAAAAAABJo/kixREeQVq5w/s320/Sarmatian_horsemen.jpg


Not a couched lance, and what they had was a pretty supportive saddle, not riding bareback.

I'm not sure about that. I'm pretty sure I read somewhere (possible this book (http://www.ospreypublishing.com/store/European-Medieval-Tactics-%281%29_9781849085038), or maybe some website somene here linked to once) that couching a lance is actually a very easy, natural, and stable thing to do, and works perfectly well without stirups. Although as you say, you do need a good saddle.

(The Osprey book, I think, claims that the main advantage of stirups is actually strategic/logistic rather than tactical: it reduces the strain on your legs from long rides, which means you can travel further and still be able to fight when you get there, particularly in cold climates).


It makes me feel better. At the time I did a quick google search, found some anecdotes about people on horseback getting injured when their horse bumped into an electric fence and then ruled that the rider would take the damage.

I presume in that case, the electricity is entering the horse through the side rather than the feet, so it would be less of a diversion to go through some of the rider as well.