Taking a swim..... in lava.

[garhkal]

Porting this over from the holonet. One of my earlier modules has the party landing on this planet that is protected by an Ionization field in the atmosphere. This field disrupts electronics (ships!!!) going IN, but fries going out. Those on the planet have learned of a gem grown by one of the crystalline plants, deep in the heart of one of the mountains, that can help protect the ship, but to get them, they have to 'take a test of faith' to show their worth.

That test has one (or more depending) of the party having to cross a lake of Lava. When i initially ran the module (gencon 02) i had the damage set at 8d per round someone was in the lava. Of the 20 people who played the module at the con, only 1 did not think that damage ammount was WAYYYYYYYY to low. And he felt it should be instant death....
NOW i have it set at 12d per round..

Do you feel that is enough? Not enough? Too much??
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[Hellcat]

I think it could be one that could be modified from something fairly low to 12D as the temp of the lava goes up. I remember seeing something earlier this year talking about the lava fields in Hawaii and how scientists can walk out in an active field without any protection as long as they stay in so called "saftey" zones, zones that are cooling off the further away they get from the central stream. But the closer to it they get, the higher the temps get until eventually you have to wear saftey gear to get closer. And then you might be able to get to one of the "colder" streams in the gear, but the really "hot" streams are going to keep you from getting too close even in protective gear.
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[Boomer]

Indeed. Auto E-Web damage to the whole body per round seems pretty good for the "cooler" lava. Especially since that is...
1) Instant death for a lot of cases where they end up immersed in lava.
2) Definitely charring/burning and likely loss of any single body part that enters.
3) Still indicative of lava's POOR HEAT CONDUCTION for being stone, yet still represents a significant amount of heat contained and given off in a material to material transfer of heat.

So yes, go for it. 8d, 12d, whatever. This isn't a video game where falling off the gray blocks into the red field is a life loss. Your making it have an in game effect like real damn lava. Both damages are a good call... and to the player who thinks it should be instant death, give him 4d and see how long he lasts in the 8d lava. If he is lucky, he only ends up like vader in round 1, I gaurantee round 2 will not go as well.
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[Krapou]

Looking at the Jedi Academy Sourcebook (and the Lava Dragon), lava does 5D speeder scale damage to the dragon if one of its scales is broken.

However, the dragon special attack (spewing lava) does 10D damage (character scale).

[Jedi Skyler]

Ouch! That'll leave a mark. Well, maybe a grease stain...

[KageRyu]

If they have to swim in the lava as a test of faith to get a nescessary item/object/information to complete the module, then making the lava instant death is self defeating. 8d-12 is a good range, and could even fluctuate from round to round as the lava contiues to flow and boil. However, I do hope there was some way for the PCs in this module to acomplish this task without loss of life or limb? Otherwise I feel it is a poorly constructed module.
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"There's a set way to gain new Force Points and it represents a very nice system, where you're rewarded for heroism, not for being a poor conductor to electricity." ~Jachra

[garhkal]

The 'swimming in it' is not the test of faith. Crossing a bridge (narrow, around 6 inches wide) OVER IT, is. I have a convoluted chart, of willpower, stamina and running/dex (as running BTB also covers balance) to make, with 3 possible ways to take it. Slow (12 rounds for someone at normal 10 move (human base), regular (6 rounds) or fast (3 rounds). THe difficulties are lower for the slow one, but more are required, while as you get faster at it, they go up (also are tiered to the 'sheet number' of who is taking it).
Fail the stamina, then loose a D from all remaining rolls until over the lake. Fail either of the will or Dex/running rolls, then have to make an "emergency reaction check (based on dex/running again) to avoid falling...

And no, they have to take the test to get one of the gems required to get off planet...... I will Email you more if you wish...
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[KageRyu]

[garhkal]

Since i am now at work (where i don't have the module), all i can remember of the top of my head is...
'Normal' speed. Rounds 1-6 make willpower check, Rounds 1,3,5 make dex check, and rounds 2,5 make stamina check (though i could be mistaken on the dex side)...
Quick way, make will/dex checks each round and stamina on rounds 1 and 3.
Slow way, make will checks each round dex check in rounsd 2,4,6,8,10,12, and stamina in 3,5,7,9 (again IIRC)..

Difficulties i will have to get back to you on...
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[K_Feldspar]

As an ex-geologist I feel I can add some insight here, and maybe a little more richness to your lava experience.

Chemically speaking there is a vast continuum of earthly lavas--magma if it's underground yet. You can think of it in a spectrum fashion with 'felsic' lava on one end, and 'mafic' lava on the other end. Felsic lava doesn't always have to be so 'hot' around 700 degrees celsius. It is also very viscous meaning slow-moving and thick. It forms rocks high in silicate minerals such as granite and I might say andesite--think volcanos like Mt. St. Helens.

Now mafic lavas lack silicate. This makes them less viscous, and much hotter >1200 degrees celsius. This forms rocks such as basalt--think Hawaii.

Now the difference in temperature doesn't matter much to me. I'm vaporized either way. However, there are lots of poison gasses, and other effects from lava too. Certain lavas contain lots of poisonous sulfur gases too. Generally felsic lavas have more gases, especially water vapor.

Lavas can also affect the ground water. It can become poisoned with heavy metals such as arsenic, lead and the like. It also creates geysers and mudpots like in yellowstone park. The USGS has a neat website for the park including GPS receivers that monitor ground motion in three dimensions. The entire surface of the park there rises and falls.

Now, these are earth scenarios. You could think up entirely different chemistries for other planets. Read up a little on Io, Mars, and Callisto. There you can find examples of different vulcanism.

I hope that helps.
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"I don't believe it!"

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[Argamoth]

Io is a WAY cool place, I'd love to involve a place like it in a campaign.

[Jedi Skyler]

[garhkal]

Part of the reason i threw in the stamina checks..... along with the heat!
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!

[Jedi Skyler]

[garhkal]

Reviving this thread to see what our new folk think of this? What damage rating/round would YOU make it if some how a PC took a swim in lava?

PS for note, in the situation this came about from i initially had it set for 12d damage/round, but over the years morphed it into 8d base, +1d per additional round (to taking a 4 round dunk would be 8d, then 9d, then 10d, then 11d)..
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Confucious sayeth, don't wash cat while drunk!