Burning oil or tar
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RavenStarver
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Burning oil or tar
Just quickly, does anyone know what damage boiling oil or tar does? I just watched The Beastmaster and was wondering how valid setting a moat of tar on fire is as a tactic?
Re: Burning oil or tar
If you set a wide area of tar or oil on fire, you'll create some significant effects, including flash burns from flames, inhalation hazards from fumes, and reduced visibility from thick smoke. It would make a pretty effective obstacle. I'd look at the Fire Warlock spells to get a look at some of the appropriate effects of a big wall of flames and a thick cloud of smoke. Take a look at pictures of the oil well fires Saddam set back in the first Gulf War as a guideline.
Boiling oil is a totally different approach in which you're dumping a superheated liquid (with a boiling point well above that of water) onto someone. The only fire in this case is the one used to heat the liquid. As heat transfers to the victim by conduction and convection, their flesh will boil and char. Survivors will be horribly scarred/mangled for life. I'm not aware of any rules for boiling oil in the game. Historically, it was generally used only by defenders in sieges, and it was a particularly nasty tactic.
The damage of getting boiling oil poured on a character should be pretty severe, with a wide distribution of damage possibilities reflecting whether it's a square-on hit that runs down the head/trunk of the body or a glancing shot that lightly sprays an extremity. All but the very-lightly sprayed should be incapacitated as they either die in agony or frantically try to shed soaked clothes and scrape off the oil (possibly hurting themselves more). For a human-sized target, anything more than a gallon of boiling oil in a square-on hit means the person will die absent magic/divine intervention. Even a light splattering will create disfiguring scars and a great deal of pain.
Rolls to strike would get no bonuses; this isn't a precision placement weapon but rather a rig pre-set to dump on a designated area, such as just outside the gate. It's a question of catching the intended victims unprepared at the right moment. If the victims know it's coming they may be able to avoid it. I'd give them a perception roll to see it coming and get out, or a dodge attempt if someone shouts a warning as the pour starts.
If there's only a limited amount of oil coming down (like buckets vs vats), then victims with a shield could use them like an umbrella to reduce or even eliminate the damage, so you could let them roll to parry and/or roll with impact if they know it's coming. If it's a big, pour, though, even a shield won't be able to keep it off. In most cases, normal armor will be useless against a direct shot. However, some armor may delay some of the oil getting to the skin for a few desperate seconds. This could give the wearer a chance to dive into a watery moat and/or frantically strip off their armor. Unless there's a lot of water nearby, or unless they can shed their armor in 1-2 melee actions, though, this delay will only prolong the agony as the oil soaks into leather padding and undergarments, cooking the victim like a beef Wellington.
About a minute or two after the pour, the oil will be spread out and cooled enough that it won't be damaging anymore. Heavily saturated ground may become slippery, though, which will slow down characters who have to move through the area and may impede their ability to fight.
Boiling oil is a totally different approach in which you're dumping a superheated liquid (with a boiling point well above that of water) onto someone. The only fire in this case is the one used to heat the liquid. As heat transfers to the victim by conduction and convection, their flesh will boil and char. Survivors will be horribly scarred/mangled for life. I'm not aware of any rules for boiling oil in the game. Historically, it was generally used only by defenders in sieges, and it was a particularly nasty tactic.
The damage of getting boiling oil poured on a character should be pretty severe, with a wide distribution of damage possibilities reflecting whether it's a square-on hit that runs down the head/trunk of the body or a glancing shot that lightly sprays an extremity. All but the very-lightly sprayed should be incapacitated as they either die in agony or frantically try to shed soaked clothes and scrape off the oil (possibly hurting themselves more). For a human-sized target, anything more than a gallon of boiling oil in a square-on hit means the person will die absent magic/divine intervention. Even a light splattering will create disfiguring scars and a great deal of pain.
Rolls to strike would get no bonuses; this isn't a precision placement weapon but rather a rig pre-set to dump on a designated area, such as just outside the gate. It's a question of catching the intended victims unprepared at the right moment. If the victims know it's coming they may be able to avoid it. I'd give them a perception roll to see it coming and get out, or a dodge attempt if someone shouts a warning as the pour starts.
If there's only a limited amount of oil coming down (like buckets vs vats), then victims with a shield could use them like an umbrella to reduce or even eliminate the damage, so you could let them roll to parry and/or roll with impact if they know it's coming. If it's a big, pour, though, even a shield won't be able to keep it off. In most cases, normal armor will be useless against a direct shot. However, some armor may delay some of the oil getting to the skin for a few desperate seconds. This could give the wearer a chance to dive into a watery moat and/or frantically strip off their armor. Unless there's a lot of water nearby, or unless they can shed their armor in 1-2 melee actions, though, this delay will only prolong the agony as the oil soaks into leather padding and undergarments, cooking the victim like a beef Wellington.
About a minute or two after the pour, the oil will be spread out and cooled enough that it won't be damaging anymore. Heavily saturated ground may become slippery, though, which will slow down characters who have to move through the area and may impede their ability to fight.
Hotrod
Author, Rifter Contributor, and Map Artist
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Author, Rifter Contributor, and Map Artist
Duty's Edge, a Rifts novel. Available as an ebook, PDF,or printed book.
Check out my maps here!
Also, check out my Instant NPC Generators!
Like what you see? There's more on my Patreon Page.
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ShadowLogan
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Re: Burning oil or tar
While Oil and Tar might not be stated out in an easy to find place, you might also consider finding a suitable stand-in focusing on just what you want done and calling it there.
Napalm, Molotov Cocktails, maybe even Phosphorous based weapons if you are directing it at them (projectile style). All of which can be found in various places.
If it is just to create a wall of fire, again the source might not be as important as just treating it as a wall of flame (Burster OCC, Pyrokenesis Super Psionic Power, some Fire Elemental Magic Spells to IIRC) will also work.
NOTE: this is repost from the Rifts forum on the same topic.
Napalm, Molotov Cocktails, maybe even Phosphorous based weapons if you are directing it at them (projectile style). All of which can be found in various places.
If it is just to create a wall of fire, again the source might not be as important as just treating it as a wall of flame (Burster OCC, Pyrokenesis Super Psionic Power, some Fire Elemental Magic Spells to IIRC) will also work.
NOTE: this is repost from the Rifts forum on the same topic.
Re: Burning oil or tar
Having seen a guy (a former co-worker) whose now ex-wife poured a boiling hot can of Crisco on him while he slept I can say that Hotrod's definitely in the right about how damaging such hot liquids can be. The scars were especially obvious as he was black and the scars were white, I think he said it took him something like six months to a year to recover (depressing that he didn't send her to prison over it). Definitely HP damage due to how extreme it is, it's like having a hot brand applied to a significant portion of your body and without some kind of extraordinary aid you WILL have scars if you manage to survive it.
Fair warning: I consider being called a munchkin a highly offensive slur and do report people when they err in doing so.
'Reality is very disappointing.' - Jonathan Switcher from Mannequin
It's 'canon', not 'cannon'. A cannon is a big gun like on pirate ships, canon is what you mean when referring to something as being contained within one of the books such as how many dice to roll for a stat.
'Reality is very disappointing.' - Jonathan Switcher from Mannequin
It's 'canon', not 'cannon'. A cannon is a big gun like on pirate ships, canon is what you mean when referring to something as being contained within one of the books such as how many dice to roll for a stat.
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zyanitevp
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Re: Burning oil or tar
Nightmask wrote:Having seen a guy (a former co-worker) whose now ex-wife poured a boiling hot can of Crisco on him while he slept I can say that Hotrod's definitely in the right about how damaging such hot liquids can be. The scars were especially obvious as he was black and the scars were white, I think he said it took him something like six months to a year to recover (depressing that he didn't send her to prison over it). Definitely HP damage due to how extreme it is, it's like having a hot brand applied to a significant portion of your body and without some kind of extraordinary aid you WILL have scars if you manage to survive it.
Wow, that is a frightening story....
Re: Burning oil or tar
zyanitevp wrote:Nightmask wrote:Having seen a guy (a former co-worker) whose now ex-wife poured a boiling hot can of Crisco on him while he slept I can say that Hotrod's definitely in the right about how damaging such hot liquids can be. The scars were especially obvious as he was black and the scars were white, I think he said it took him something like six months to a year to recover (depressing that he didn't send her to prison over it). Definitely HP damage due to how extreme it is, it's like having a hot brand applied to a significant portion of your body and without some kind of extraordinary aid you WILL have scars if you manage to survive it.
Wow, that is a frightening story....
Even more frightening when you can see the scars and you imagine what they had to look like fresh when they were still so obvious long after healing and that was just a small amount (relatively speaking) of boiling liquid, using that kind of thing as a weapon in a game would be in the range of catastrophic, certain fatality level damage like an SDC creature being hit by an Mega-damage attack. Even if they survive the initial dousing they aren't going to last long without extraordinary (i.e magical/psionic) means.
Fair warning: I consider being called a munchkin a highly offensive slur and do report people when they err in doing so.
'Reality is very disappointing.' - Jonathan Switcher from Mannequin
It's 'canon', not 'cannon'. A cannon is a big gun like on pirate ships, canon is what you mean when referring to something as being contained within one of the books such as how many dice to roll for a stat.
'Reality is very disappointing.' - Jonathan Switcher from Mannequin
It's 'canon', not 'cannon'. A cannon is a big gun like on pirate ships, canon is what you mean when referring to something as being contained within one of the books such as how many dice to roll for a stat.
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Boethermsbrukan
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Re: Burning oil or tar
Evening, cubs and elders!
I suspect for Wolfen and our kin, having fur would probably make it even more...interesting to get burning pitch or oil tossed down onto us. As for actually having a tub of burning cooking lard dumped on a body IRL, that does not sound like anything a body would want to have happen. Am hoping your friend recovered from such a state, Nightmask!
Decent enough cover (in the form of shielding or, better, leather or metallic armour) would lessen how much pitch would be stuck to the wearer's living tissue with or without fur involved, but anything that's hot enough to burn and is in the process of burning would be curing up enough smoke to make breathing more difficult. If hot tar got stuck to a Wolfen's muzzle and nose and impeded speech or breathing, that would be unpleasant in and of itself, besides any burning damage; of course, the heat would make any direct contact quite painful, so getting on a snout in general would be less than pleasant.
-Boe.
I suspect for Wolfen and our kin, having fur would probably make it even more...interesting to get burning pitch or oil tossed down onto us. As for actually having a tub of burning cooking lard dumped on a body IRL, that does not sound like anything a body would want to have happen. Am hoping your friend recovered from such a state, Nightmask!
Decent enough cover (in the form of shielding or, better, leather or metallic armour) would lessen how much pitch would be stuck to the wearer's living tissue with or without fur involved, but anything that's hot enough to burn and is in the process of burning would be curing up enough smoke to make breathing more difficult. If hot tar got stuck to a Wolfen's muzzle and nose and impeded speech or breathing, that would be unpleasant in and of itself, besides any burning damage; of course, the heat would make any direct contact quite painful, so getting on a snout in general would be less than pleasant.
-Boe.