But would it take out a Skin Walker?
Urban areas completely levelled (20 psi/140 kPa)" implies more than 20 stress levels140 kPa = 1,3 atmospheres or 20 psi. It is comparable to suddenly being exposed to the pressure of 40 feet of water or being hit by a speeding truck.
Effects of high overpressure;So a 40-kiloton nuclear explosion is not automatically lethal. 7% of people within 1000 feet of ground zero did survive, despite gamma radiation, blastwave and the firestorm that followed. There have been people that survived the bombing of Hiroshima, traveled to Nagasaki, and survived the bombing of Nagasaki as well. I feel rather justified with the mechanics I gave the 40-kiloton nuke now. I might even have given it marginally too high effects.
20 psi overpressure severely damages or demolishes heavily built concrete buildings
35-45 psi overpressure may cause 1% fatalities to humans (but universal injuries)
55 to 65 psi overpressure may cause 99% fatalities to humans
Distance from ground zero in feet and mortality rate for hiroshima bomb;
0 - 1000 93.0%
1000 - 2000 92.0%
2000 - 3000 86.0%
3000 - 4000 69.0%
4000 - 5000 49.0%
5000 - 6000 31.5%
6000 - 7000 12.5%
7000 - 8000 1.3%
8000 - 9000 0.5%
9000 - 10,000 0.0%
Cause of immediate death for hiroshima:
Burns 60%
Falling debris 30%
Other 10%
Cause of immediate death for nagasaki:
Burns 95%
Falling debris 9%
Flying glass 7%
Other 7%
Blast and Hazards don't only affect creatures. They affect the area itself.
Just like a 10-shift fireball can add the aspect "House On Fire" to the scene in addition to causing damage to its occupants, so a nuke would affect the area. The blast would replace existing aspcets by the overall scene aspect of "Apocalyptic Wasteland". The firestorm would leave behind the aspect "Scorched Earth" and the radiation hazard would leave behind the aspect "Highly Radioactive".
Then the GM could occasionally compel the "Highly Radioactive" aspect to cause radiation-related stress or consequences just like he could compel a "House On Fire" aspect to burn the occupants.
Another key difference is that both devices were airbursts, with detonation occuring at ~10,000ft if I remember correctlyActually, the airburst was 580 meters off the ground for Hiroshima. People at ground zero were 580 meters from the bomb. Some of them did survive, if barely.
Unless the supernatural creature or being is able to shrug off 20,000 tons of explosive force, 10,000 degree temperaturesNot 20.000 tons of explosive force - 20.000 tons of explosive. Which produced a 140 kPa blastwave, roughly equivalent to a 16-ton truck hitting per square meter (average frontal surface of a human). And it was ~3400 degrees, not 10.000, lasting a millisecond. It was just enough to ignite wood but not to melt most metals - even the relatively soft ones.
A 2 megaton device, which is one of the standard sizes used for single warhead ICBMs is the rough equivalent of 2 million tonsSo, 100x more explosive. That means, according to fairly simple explosion calculations, 4.6 times greater radius and 4.6 times greater explosion strength. 1000x more explosive (a 20-megaton bomb) would mean 10 times greater radius and 10 times greater explosion strength than a 20-kiloton one.
Keep in mind also that a 20 stress hit isn't going to result in an automatic Taken Out result for anything with even Mediocre (+0) Endurance as long as they can take Consequences.A 20 kPa blastwave will shear off trees and collapse 99% of all manmade buildings. Most humans are killed at three-four times as much overpressure. Simply put, it is four times easier for a bomb to collapse major buildings than it is to kill a human.
I find it amusing that with a handful of fate points, my character could probably survive a nuke.Nice :)
Perhaps he could shut himself in a lead line refrigerator?
::lol::
If you want to use nukes in your game, you need to assign numbers of some kind.Why?
Why?
To me it is more a situation like "there is a nuke about to blow up in 20 minutes. You better find a way to get out of here asap or you are going to blow up with it". I for one would be pretty disappointed if someone in the centre of the explosion would survive, just because he could stack a ton of fate points against an attack of a certain number. I would have no problem with a cool invoke for effect, but just number crunching for a nuke seems kind of silly.
And you can do anything with enough Fate Points. Seriously, a Pure Mortal can kill the entire Senior Council with enough Fate Points. Fate Points are like the power of Plot, bent to the service of a character. If they can't save you from a nuke, there's a serious problem.To each their own but, in my book, surviving a nuke means getting away from it or preventing the explosion. Not toughing it out.
Actually, the airburst was 580 meters off the ground for Hiroshima. People at ground zero were 580 meters from the bomb. Some of them did survive, if barely.
I disagree completely with everyone saying that nukes should be a plot device.
What does that even mean? Do you tell your players that they die, no defence possible?
If you want to use nukes in your game, you need to assign numbers of some kind.
I disagree completely with everyone saying that nukes should be a plot device.
What does that even mean? Do you tell your players that they die, no defence possible?
If you want to use nukes in your game, you need to assign numbers of some kind.
I object on a philosophical basis to statlessness. I'd rather use arbitrarily high numbers.
So BumblingBear's enchanted sword would just be weapon 45 or so in a game run by me.
How odd. Infinity is considerably larger than 45.
Oooh I've been inspired by this talk of nukes being plot devices.
What about an enchanted sword in a game or a lightsaber or something that spells instant death if it makes contact?
Like... a soul sucking sword or something.
That would be intense! I just don't know whether my players would like it or hate it. Probably hate it... but then again most of them want to play a new character now that they know the system better.
What better way to kill off a character than be killed by a Jedi? :P
It's not like the survivors of the bombs absorbed the damage and walked off. They got lucky at being behind cover. You survive a nuke by not being next to it when it goes off, not because you're tougher than the bomb. Yeah, fate points can save you from a nuke. But not by making you bomb proof. By making you run, or make smart decisions or "Hey look! A lead lined refrigerator!"
If your Character can survive a nuke, wheres the difficultly? You're a god.Nicodemus can survive nukes. In fact, he's immune to them (says so on his sheet). So are all ghosts because they're immune to all attacks they don't acknowledge and a nuke is too fast and explodes too far for them to do so - even if they wanted to, for some reason. And both ghosts and Nicodemus have been defeated in the series. Repeatedly.
Nicodemus can survive nukes. In fact, he's immune to them (says so on his sheet). So are all ghosts because they're immune to all attacks they don't acknowledge and a nuke is too fast and explodes too far for them to do so - even if they wanted to, for some reason. And both ghosts and Nicodemus have been defeated in the series. Repeatedly.
Also, my current character in a PbP game could survive a nuke due to death being a nuisance to her. Nuke her and 5 mins later she comes back and she'll be radioactive. That doesn't mean there is no challenge in the game. In fact, I love some of the challenges in that campaign.
So Nickleheads rope wont burn in the heat? I want a WOJ on thisThat is also in the book. As an artifact, The Hangman's Noose is indestructible except by a ritual perversion of its own purpose. Just like Swords of the Cross, The Blackstaff, the Denarian coins and other similar artifacts. Most IoPs get this for no extra refresh BTW.
Anyway, the rules being used for nukes here could also be used for normal bombs. Am I right in assuming that nobody objects to the mechanics so much as the idea that a nuke has them?
Honestly a nuke is like throwing something into the sun. If the fire of the sun isnt enough to kill things, but sunrise is, then something is wrong.Not really. Sufficiently tough buildings can survive a nuke. They might be very damaged but still standing. If you throw a building, mountain or even planet into the sun, you aren't seeing it again.
I usually use the term to refer to something without stats.
As would I. Having inadvertently killed a party because I gave monster stats to a puzzle with teeth, I am eager to avoid such misunderstandings in future.
@polka: That actually raises an interesting question. Can you use a social consequence to absorb physical stress?
Sounds like there's an interesting story behind that.