Balor vs Solar Q

[GwydapLlew]

Ahhh, Cheiro - always looking out for the Heavenly Host.

I'm hoping our exercise continues tomorrow, but I don't think it will. Once they realized how difficult it would be to defeat the solar, they lost interest.

Since the MM entry on regeneration states that regrowing body parts, etc, is listed under the creature's entry, and the solar only lists what is considered lethal damage, I'm up in the air on it. Personally, I'd say it can reattach or regrow, but I have a vested interest in the answer.

 

[Stalker0]

Rereading it, I'm in the camp that says it cuts off the head, but the Solar doesn't die. All Vorpal says it cuts off a person's head. It doesn't say it instant kills them or anything. Only later does it say that most creature's die from losing their heads. In Solar's case, since it wasn't struck with lethal damage the loss of its head would not kill it.

 

[Cheiromancer]

@HeavenShallBurn

According to the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, decapitation, if it doesn't kill you, needn't interfere with your functioning at all. The legend of Saint Denis agrees: "After his head was chopped off, Denis picked it up and walked several miles, all the time preaching a sermon."

Mind you, Denis eventually died of his injury- I dunno what's up with that.

But there is definitely mythological precedent for decapitation being only a mild inconvenience.

Ahhh, Cheiro - always looking out for the Heavenly Host.

Indeed. Especially against folks with such suspicious usernames as HeavenShallBurn.

I'm unsure about the mechanics of a solar regrowing new body parts, or fastening new parts back on. Since the regeneration rate is faster than a troll's, I'd think a troll would be a good precedent.

But it does seem that there is little the balor and pit fiend can do against the solar. Whereas the solar will eventually be able to imprison them.

 

[Sejs]

You mean the head wouldn't come off? Why not? It just wouldn't kill the solar, that's all.

Sorry, I should have been more clear. The lethal effects of the headlopping would be negated - it wouldn't kill the solar. As vorpal itself states, even against creatures that it doesn't inconvienance, the head still comes off. They're just not impaired by it.

 

[GwydapLlew]

But it does seem that there is little the balor and pit fiend can do against the solar. Whereas the solar will eventually be able to imprison them.

Well...it does help explain why the forces of Good and Evil wage an eternal war.

I wouldn't seriously expect a situation like this to arise. Gil-Galad did not just march down to Morder and attack Sauron on his own, and demons and devils tend to move in groups. Really, all it would take to drop the Solar is to hit him enough times to drop him into unconsciousness and then coup de grace him with an [evil] damage-dealing spell.

Heck, it just takes a fiend with one of the Feats from BoVD or ComDiv that allows you to add the [evil] descriptor to a spell, and the solar would go down.

 

[Thanee]

I would actually say, that a Solar, being a living being similar to a humanoid, dies at that point - Regeneration or not.

Bye
Thanee

 

[Alzrius]

I would say that while the sword goes through the neck, it doesn't actually behead the solar. What'd happen is basically that the flesh and muscles would reattach so fast the head wouldn't have a chance to be flung away; so while the sword does do a decapitating strike, the effect of it doesn't happen.

 

[jasin]

Well, trolls are even more similar to humanoids (not being "embodiments of ideals" and stuff, just hulks with horribly rapid healing), and they don't die when their heads are lopped off.

 

[jasin]

Really, all it would take to drop the Solar is to hit him enough times to drop him into unconsciousness and then coup de grace him with an [evil] damage-dealing spell.

Still, don't you find it annoying that the solar, a monster from the core game, has DR that's not bypassable under the core rules? It kind of feels like cheating.

 

[Thanee]

Well, trolls are even more similar to humanoids (not being "embodiments of ideals" and stuff, just hulks with horribly rapid healing), and they don't die when their heads are lopped off.

I would also let a troll die from that weapon's special strike.

Bye
Thanee