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View Full Version : Pathfinder White Wyrmling trying to keep a stupid human alive- would this work?



Elvensilver
2023-10-06, 08:42 AM
In a recent adventure, I, a very cool white wyrmling of great power and brilliance (5f, White Wyrmling+3Lvl Water (cold) Kineticist), met a human. It was soaking wet, and told me it would freeze in the warm spring weather of about -5°C/25°F. As i do like to talk to my human, and it has very colorful fur, I stopped this "freezing" with soaking it in terribly hot water repeatedly (40°C/105°F) while it carries me to Dwarftown. My human is still alive, but getting sluggish, slow and it stopped telling me stories. I can still fix it, right?

Rules and common sense question: how viable is this strategy? My GM and me decided that created Water can be any temperature that will not scald or endanger, as to not allow this spell to be used for attacks - so 10 to 40°C seems reasonable. Water Kineticist can, through basic hydrokinesis https://aonprd.com/KineticistTalentsDisplay.aspx?ItemName=Basic%20Hyd rokinesis, create about 6gallons/23l of water/round, which would come to 60gallons or 230l/min. As a comparison, showering takes about 3 gallons or 10-12l of water/minute. Are there any rules regarding using magic to keep warm? And from a practical perspective, would getting soaked by ridiculous amounts of warm water every 6-12s allow a human to survive a several hours long walk through sub-freezing lands?

Kurald Galain
2023-10-06, 08:49 AM
Well, personally I would allow this under "rule of cool".
That said, there are no specific rules about this, to my best knowledge.
That said, if someone has hypothermia, giving them a hot shower is dangerous and counterproductive (https://seagrant.umn.edu/programs/recreation-and-water-safety-program/hypothermia).

Beni-Kujaku
2023-10-06, 09:09 AM
Yeah, the problem isn't really how much water you throw on it, but that it's all at once every 6 seconds. Only a small fraction will actually stay on it, and as wind and cold infiltrates its clothes (the weird fur it has everywhere except on its face), the soaked clothes might freeze, which will make everything worse. Do NOT remove the clothes. It is a common practice among human-keepers, but humans react weirdly to it, and it might even kill it outright if you do it while the temperature is below freezing. However, once you bring the human back to one of their pack, they will remove the clothes themselves and put them close to fire (this is normal, do not worry). If you cannot find a human pack or if the human seems to be too tired to continue, always make sure the temperature is high enough and its around noon before taking off the clothes. The best choice is to find some kind of recipient where he will be shielded from the wind. If you know any frost giant, they could help you by giving you a cooking pot. Then, you fill the pot with warm water and put the human in it (keep the head outside the water, of course), keeping the clothes. You can then ask the frost giant to transport the cooking pot down the mountain, changing the water every minute or so to keep it warm.

If you don't have any frost giant or require the human to walk by itself, try to make sure your warm water stays as long as possible on the human's skin instead of draining to the ground. Replace the water as often as possible, and add as many clothes as possible (if the human has a bag, he may have some inside), and Create Water INSIDE the clothes, not outside, so that the inside is always more warm than the outside. And of course, always remember that a fainted human always has a better chance of recovery inside a cave or otherwise shielded from wind than inside a blizzard. Good luck in this difficult situation!

Note: this is absolutely and in no way medical advice, do not use in any situation not involving white wyrmlings and/or frost giants.

Elvensilver
2023-10-06, 10:21 AM
very good advise
That's great! Except I don't know any Frost Giants. You know, my human also told me something like that, but I didn't think it knew much about cold, since I never see humans around here. So I will continue with the hot water, and human-best-friend has to keep walking, because I have a penguin-against-a-kraken's chance to carry or drag it, it easily weights 15 times as much as me. I will try to keep hum's spirit up by describing all my great deeds and my hoard and the most delicious food I ever had.
Since you seem very knowledgeable about humans, are they safe to eat? I only ever had one once, from a boat with broken wings, and it smelled very bad and dead and didn't talk but since it still moved I ate a foot. And then I got so very sick. So, if my dear human can't be saved, can I safely eat it or would I then get it's shivering sickness?

Beni-Kujaku
2023-10-06, 04:05 PM
Ooohohohoho! Very good subject, I see you have some innate taste. Now, the question of eating humans is a very divisive one in the community. First, let me be clear: you won't catch what you call the shivering sickness. It's not contagious at all, only a byproduct of humans not having a Draconis Fundamentum, which makes their heart function more slowly in the cold. Since you have a Fundamentum yourself, there's no inherent risk to eating a human if you're careful. I personally find it's actually quite delicious. Basically like a rabbit, but bigger, and generally with a bit more fat on the bones. However, humans tend to often have a lot of things on them that are not edible. The clothes, for one. If your human dies (sorry for you if that happens), you have to peel it before eating. Depending on their role in the society, humans have different types of clothes, with some of them having metallic ones, which has spread the myth that humans are just a kind of mammalian hermit crab and could stay stuck in your throat, choking you. It's an actual risk, but only if you don't open them up correctly. Fortunately, those you find in the mountain generally only have clothes that are easy to rip apart, and wouldn't be too bad for you even if you ate them (though the texture and taste are really not the best). If you're confused about what is and isn't clothes, there's a good rule of claw for humans: "If it bleeds red, you can get fed". This is a general rule, that you can check with simply biting into it without biting off. For example, the human you saw in that ship, I bet it bled black, or green, or worse, not at all? Those mean that it was expired. Don't eat that. At best it will be disgusting, at worst it will make you sick.
Your case is really the best scenario. No actual pre-mortem injury, instant conservation, and the body will be cold enough to be even better to your tastebuds. I don't wish for you to lose your humans, but if you do, it may be the best possible circumstances for a human feast. The only possible problem is if some of the extremities (fingers, nose, feet) turn black. That's gangrene, and it won't bleed at all, so as you can guess it's not good to eat, but the rest is still good.

However, there's one final thing to say: instead of eating humans as food, you can eat human food. If you bring your human back to a pack alive, tell the others what you did, then ask for their best food, they can get you actually delicious stuff. I can't say for sure, it seems to depend on what kind of humans you ask, but it's always yummy, though a bit hot when they serve it (humans use fire to somehow make food taste better without burning it). If it's really too hot, a small breathe should make it better without altering taste too much. It actually makes the hurdle of finding humans in the mountain and bringing them back down almost worth it just for the food.