Modern Earth + 1 Necromancer = Exponential Math

[Mr. Friendly]

Ok, so inspired by the killing the planet in 30 minutes thread, supposing we have modern day Earth; for the sake of arguement, no-one can use magic or what magic there is, is limited to divinations and lengthy rituals for creating rain and whatnot.

Except, well.. me. 'Cause it's my thread.

For the purposes of this thread, we will say I have learned Necromancy and I am able to summon (1) Spectre. I then order my Spectre to go create as many spawn as possible and for him to order his newly creaed spawn to create as many spawn as possible and for them to pass those orders on to their spawn and so on.

Ignoring myself from the mathematical equation (since I may or may not order it to not attack me) how long does it take for the Earth to become a Deadworld?

The following relevant criteria: Though I do not live there currently, for the purposes of our theoretical ritual I live in the central most city of the United States. I unleash my minion at sundown on (an) equinox. Spectres have a fly speed of 80 ft./6sec. Spectres also can only be active during times of darkness; for simplicities sake we will only allow then to be active at night.

All things being equal, my minions will wipe out the whole of the human race with virtually no resistance. Just to keep this mostly a mathmatic equation, we will assume that science offers no defense either. (No Ghost Touch AR-15's - not yours) The only question is - how long will it take?

[Citizen Joe]

There would be massive carnage the first night. Second night, witnesses will report what they saw in sufficient numbers that people will believe them. After the third night, people will realize the sunlight weakness and the telltale baying of dogs around specters and other animals being upset. By the fourth night, huge UV spotlights will protect certain locations. The distance between cities would be too great to traverse in one night, combined with their longing to kill will keep them locked down to a regional problem countered by the use of solar radiation. Once trapped by solar screens, experiments will be used like electrical and fire attacks plus Vatican will send blessed water in firetrucks to the infestation areas to wipe out the trapped specters. The Vatican would then declare this as proof of the Devil and thus of God. Other religions would counter. Religious zealots would get control of nukes. Then the world gets destroyed about a week later. Survivors would be minimal since populations would have clustered around protected cities to avoid being specter killed. Those that do survive would die of starvation/radiation within two weeks.

So... one to two months.

[Ranis]

There would be massive carnage the first night. Second night, witnesses will report what they saw in sufficient numbers that people will believe them. After the third night, people will realize the sunlight weakness and the telltale baying of dogs around specters and other animals being upset. By the fourth night, huge UV spotlights will protect certain locations. The distance between cities would be too great to traverse in one night, combined with their longing to kill will keep them locked down to a regional problem countered by the use of solar radiation. Once trapped by solar screens, experiments will be used like electrical and fire attacks plus Vatican will send blessed water in firetrucks to the infestation areas to wipe out the trapped specters. The Vatican would then declare this as proof of the Devil and thus of God. Other religions would counter. Religious zealots would get control of nukes. Then the world gets destroyed about a week later. Survivors would be minimal since populations would have clustered around protected cities to avoid being specter killed. Those that do survive would die of starvation/radiation within two weeks.

So... one to two months.

And, out of the blue, Will Smith becomes the last man on earth, combatting the Spectres at night while secretly dabbling his levels in Expert to UMD long enough to find a cure for the Spectre plague, dying in the process of releasing the agent throughout the air, thus saving the human race.

[ashmanonar]

Ok, so inspired by the killing the planet in 30 minutes thread, supposing we have modern day Earth; for the sake of arguement, no-one can use magic or what magic there is, is limited to divinations and lengthy rituals for creating rain and whatnot.

Except, well.. me. 'Cause it's my thread.

For the purposes of this thread, we will say I have learned Necromancy and I am able to summon (1) Spectre. I then order my Spectre to go create as many spawn as possible and for him to order his newly creaed spawn to create as many spawn as possible and for them to pass those orders on to their spawn and so on.

Ignoring myself from the mathematical equation (since I may or may not order it to not attack me) how long does it take for the Earth to become a Deadworld?

The following relevant criteria: Though I do not live there currently, for the purposes of our theoretical ritual I live in the central most city of the United States. I unleash my minion at sundown on (an) equinox. Spectres have a fly speed of 80 ft./6sec. Spectres also can only be active during times of darkness; for simplicities sake we will only allow then to be active at night.

All things being equal, my minions will wipe out the whole of the human race with virtually no resistance. Just to keep this mostly a mathmatic equation, we will assume that science offers no defense either. (No Ghost Touch AR-15's - not yours) The only question is - how long will it take?

How would science not offer any defense, if there are 4 guys with unlicensed proton accelerators on their backs?

[Thinker]

How would science not offer any defense, if there are 4 guys with unlicensed proton accelerators on their backs?

Who ya gonna call?

[Mr. Friendly]

How would science not offer any defense, if there are 4 guys with unlicensed proton accelerators on their backs?

Ok, that is funny.

Still - the UV spotlights are useless, the Spectres need Natural Daylight to stop them or a Sunlight spell, as I said that is out.

Also, the Spectres can travel underground....since they can glide incorporeally through the ground.

[Cybren]

What about an array of reflective satellites positioned to direct natural sunlight towards every area of the planet?
Alternatively: move to the north pole during their month long stretches of day, and then the south pole when it switches.

[Kioran]

TNT does force damage, according to the DMG. It stands to reason that other explosives will do that as well. So, two days after the specters start their massacre, the U.S. Air Force will do what it does best - bombing the **** out of ground targets from a big height. I´m not saying they will be capable of stopping it, but then delay would be considerable.......

[Titanium Dragon]

I think the specters would lose; while they are incorporeal, they can still be damaged by some stuff, and between high explosives and nuclear weapons they'd probably lose (though they'd probably wipe out the city). And UV spotlights would probably count as daylight for such purposes; they may not be natural in origin but they replicate sunlight pretty well.

However, ignoring the fact that humans even without magic would probably win, the amount of time it would take would probably be at least 3 months, and possibly longer due to perpetual daylight on the poles, as well as because it'd be a pain for the specters to track down every human being - IIRC they don't have survival, so it'd be troublesome to track down people in Siberia, and it may be that they'd never go out and cross the oceans at all because they wouldn't know to do so.

[Burley]

While the length of time theoretically would not be that great, and the longest amount of dead time would be going from the American coasts to the Asian and Australian coasts, there is one flaw. There are tons of places that, even undead, people won't travel to.
"Hmm...I say, Charles. What say we go to [insert unwanted state here], and transform some folk?"
"Well, that is a capital idea, Reginald, except for the fact that [above state] blows righteously."

Also, we all know that the Pneguins would fight, saving the human race. And, Samuel L. Jackson and Michael Jackson. Samuel because he's super awesome, Michael because he's already a ghost and therefore immune to attacks. Chuck Norris would be the first to be spawned.

[The_Werebear]

I would say that most limits would be due to move speed. The odds that one will travel along on a plane or boat is limited due to the fact that they wouldn't be able to restrain the urge to kill, thus leading to the plane going down and fire damage most likely killing them.

So, my guess is that they wipe a continent, then are trapped/delayed by apathy. Why would they go looking for more humans across the ocean? Their intelligence, while not small, is limited by overwhelming hatred and lack of reason. The delay would give the Vatican enough time to train their priests to turn undead and the world's militaries to reorganize flamethrowers into holy water throwers and get blessed bullets.

[Jayabalard]

hmm... if everyone in the world was lined up and ready to go, a couple of hours would be enough.

[Kyace]

If you are in a vehicle moving 37 mph, you are moving 325.6 feet per round. A spectre's top speed, using the run action, is 320 feet per round. Congrats, your incorporeal monster can't keep up with your vehicle nor can they climb aboard. If you put a blanket over yourself, you now have total cover, thus they get no AoOs for you passing through their threatened area if they manage to get in front of your train or whatever. :P

[GoC]

If you are in a vehicle moving 37 mph, you are moving 325.6 feet per round. A spectre's top speed, using the run action, is 320 feet per round. Congrats, your incorporeal monster can't keep up with your vehicle nor can they climb aboard. If you put a blanket over yourself, you now have total cover, thus they get no AoOs for you passing through their threatened area if they manage to get in front of your train or whatever. :P

LOL!
The spectre invasion is foiled by hiding under blankets!

[Titanium Dragon]

LOL!
The spectre invasion is foiled by hiding under blankets!

Not to mention you'd gain experience for bypassing the challenge. Level up, multiclass into wizard, and you and your cadre of level 1 wizards can start magic missiling away the specters. As there will be tons and tons of specters, you'll gain levels pretty quickly from your speeding train, and soon you'll be more than capable of killing them all

[Collin152]

The spectres fly to the center of the earth, and turn the earth into its spawn.
The world kills everybody.
We spend the rest of eternity dancing "Thriller"

[Rockphed]

The delay would give the Vatican enough time to train their priests to turn undead and the world's militaries to reorganize flamethrowers into holy water throwers and get blessed bullets.

You don't need to change what a flamethrower does. Energy Damage would destroy spectres fast enough.

[EvilElitest]

Quick question, are you the necromancer mortal? I mean if the government got smart, they'd try to attack the source. I don't know how that would work out however.
from
EE

[Collin152]

Quick question, are you the necromancer mortal? I mean if the government got smart, they'd try to attack the source. I don't know how that would work out however.
from
EE

He's a necromancer. Like that'd work.
"Strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!"

[EvilElitest]

He's a necromancer. Like that'd work.
"Strike me down and I shall become more powerful than you can possibly imagine!"

oh touche
from
EE

[The_Werebear]

You don't need to change what a flamethrower does. Energy Damage would destroy spectres fast enough.

Hrmm... You still have the 50% miss chance either way, so..

I wonder if Bless Water works on Jellied Gasoline?

[Talic]

Ok, that is funny.

Still - the UV spotlights are useless, the Spectres need Natural Daylight to stop them or a Sunlight spell, as I said that is out.

Also, the Spectres can travel underground....since they can glide incorporeally through the ground.

Sunbeam spell lists the UV as being damaging to undead harmed by light. There's a substantial arguement for the case.

[Dr Bwaa]

I agree, the UV would probably hurt them. However, I also agree that their INT is not low, and that they can move underground.

Where you start is also going to have a huge impact. If you begin in, say, Minneapolis/St. Paul MN, you've got a large population of people to start with, but as soon as you get rid of all them, you've run out of prey for a while because there's nothing within a couple hundred miles.

...However, if you bought yourself a plane ticket to India or China, you're going to be spawning very quickly with very little restriction due to population density...

[Yakk]

To take out a city:
1 kill+raise every 10 minutes per spectre

At that rate:
A city with 1 million people would take about 200 minutes to saturate.
A city with 1 billion people would take 300 minutes to saturate.

Now that is an approximation. Initial spawnage would be faster than that per specter, and late spawnage would be slower. But let's say in 5 hours a single specter could make 90%+ of the population of any city into specters.

Now, specters have 14 int and 14 wis. They aren't dumb. Let's assume a not-dumb strategy to wipe out the world!

You start with a few isolated farms, and build up a few dozen specters.

Next you have to deal with the intercontinental problem. Get some specters on each continent or major island with a significant industrial base. This is the "lull".

Now head out to the major cities on the continent, travelling underground. Along the way, create a few isolated specters for reinforcements. Leave half of them to "clean up" after a delay, and the other half are reinforcements.

Now for the "death bloom". Every major city in the world has a specter in it, as does every military base on the map (so not every military base). On a single night they go exponential. Within 6 hours, 90%+ of the population of the world has become specters, and the military has been torn up.

The specters in the cities, after they pass a certain threshold, export most of their specters to the countryside. Bunching up is a bad idea, because there is too much competition, and it makes a to target-rich environment.

Some small isolated islands will survive. But they lack the infrastructure that a modern military or industrial complex requires. The main continents and industiral base of the world will saturate with specters. And then the darkness will fall, as the specters look for food from the remaining few humans.

Of course, this isn't "turn every human you see" instructions. :) But if you wanted to end the world with necromancy...

[Zim]

I'm sure that a group of 4-6 plucky adventurers would show up and shoot you in the middle of your ritual. It always happens that way.

[Dr Bwaa]

*snip*

Yes. I agree wholeheartedly.

[Citizen Joe]

Ahah! I see the flaw in your logic....

You're taking fantasy stuff into the real world. You can inflict as may hit points of damage as you like on me, I don't have hit points. So really you're doing nothing. Likewise, I don't have levels, so draining doesn't do anything either. However, my real world fire does damage your fantasy creature...

[Worira]

Ahah! I see the flaw in your logic....

You're taking fantasy stuff into the real world. You can inflict as may hit points of damage as you like on me, I don't have hit points. So really you're doing nothing. Likewise, I don't have levels, so draining doesn't do anything either. However, my real world fire does damage your fantasy creature...

As opposed to your fire trucks full of holy water? Anyway, fire doesn't hurt incorporeal creatures, and I don't know where you're getting the idea it does.

[Jack Zander]

Energy damage does, so a fireball spell would, but natural fire does not.

[Worira]

Natural fire deals energy damage. The fact that it's fire is irrelevant, energy damage has the same chance of missing as anything else.