Dust of Dryness + Holy Water

[Orco42]

I just had a player use a Dust of Dryness to absorb 100 pints of holy water.

He then used this on a vampire to do 200d4 damage.

My question is would there be a max damage that this could do?

For 850 gp you can hold 1615 pints of holy water (of course that is another 40,375gp), could all of that water hit one creature?

If you have a great (but expensive) way to take out undead or outsiders.

 

[CRGreathouse]

I just had a player use a Dust of Dryness to absorb 100 pints of holy water.

He then used this on a vampire to do 200d4 damage.

My question is would there be a max damage that this could do?

For 850 gp you can hold 1615 pints of holy water (of course that is another 40,375gp), could all of that water hit one creature?

If you have a great (but expensive) way to take out undead or outsiders.

Being submerged in acid deals 10x the damage (IIRC) of a single vial of acid, but takes much more than 10 vials. I'd cap it pretty severely.

 

[kreynolds]

Re: Re: Dust of Dryness + Holy Water

I'd cap it pretty severely.

I'd cap it too. At the most, I'd cap it at 20d4. When you think about it, unless the vampire is in a pit or a room that will contain the water, so that it doesn't run out of doors, through floor grates, etc, only so much water is going to be in contact with the vampire at any given time.

For example, if you popped him with that much water in one fell swoop, and you did it in an open field, nothing is keeping the water around him. It's going to immediately hit the ground and flow away. Now, the vampire might suffer a lesser amount of damage in the following rounds for having his feet in it, but still...

Think about alchemists fire and lava. Alchemist's Fire deals 1d6 fire damage. Lava deals 20d6 fire damage. It doesn't matter if you fall in 100 gallons of lava or 5 million gallons of lava, as you still only take 20d6 points of fire damage per round.

It's more about the surface area of your body that can be damaged as opposed to the quantity of the substance.

 

[bigdndfan]

Re: Re: Dust of Dryness + Holy Water

Being submerged in acid deals 10x the damage (IIRC) of a single vial of acid, but takes much more than 10 vials. I'd cap it pretty severely. [/B]

Just like a DM, to punish a player who is thinking smartly.

I too came up with this idea, though have never had the chance to use it.

To do this is VERY expenisve, no one is going to max it out. If they do, the DM is giving the party way too much money.

Sure the rules for acid submerging is underpowered, that doesn't mean this mistake should be doubled.

If a creature is submerged in acid for six seconds, its all over, no matter how many hit points they may have.

Also acid and holy water work very differently, so comparing them is a mistake.


I would say however, if someone did spend the 40,000 gp, it all shouldn't be able to hit one creature. Sure when the water expands it could hit one person wave after wave. How much is up to you.

 

[CRGreathouse]

Re: Re: Re: Dust of Dryness + Holy Water

Just like a DM, to punish a player who is thinking smartly.

Don't you realize what kind of 'can of worms' this opens up on higher levels?

This will become the dominant tactic for powerful creatures -- why risk life and limb when a ranged touch attack will do? 40,000 gp is a lot on low levels, but quickly drops in importance. By ~17th level, they'll get more per encounter!

What's more, it makes sense. Players shouldn't expect to deal more damage than by immersal. As far as holy water != acid, are you saying that a vampire dropped in an ocean of holy water would dry it up entirely while taking damage for every flask's worth?

 

[Orco42]

Thanks guys.

I knew I should cap it but it just caught me by suprise. From now on I will only let the "Undead Nuke" (as the player calls it) do 20d4 (same as 10 flasks).

Edit- Oh and by the way this game is at mid-high (14th level) so while it is not cheap for this tactic it is feasible.

 

[kreynolds]

Re: Re: Re: Dust of Dryness + Holy Water

Just like a DM, to punish a player who is thinking smartly.

Or not thinking at all, depending upon how you look at it. The overall tactic was ingenius, I can't deny that. The damage expectation was just a bit off though.

 

[Xarlen]

If a creature is submerged in acid for six seconds, its all over, no matter how many hit points they may have.

Kinda like a creature falling off a hundred foot cliff, it's all over, no matter how many hit points they may have?

I have to agree; there's no way the vampir ewould've been steadily submerged. Sure, the water would've exploded around him, and filled the area, but then it would've fell to the ground and then if he's still standing, he's not going to die. There's only so much of it that can touch his body.

An example would be when that vampire in the Lost Boys is knocked into the bathtub of holy water. He took 20d6 points of damage (Though he was a vampire spawn, so there's no way he could've walked away from that), but if it was a bathtub of scalding hot water (About 10d6), if you fell in, you could throw yourself out after about a round or two. If that didn't kill you, then bam, you live, man.

 

[med stud]

I wouldnt cap it at 20d4, I think the imagination to come up with the idea is worth more damage then that

 

[kreynolds]

I wouldnt cap it at 20d4, I think the imagination to come up with the idea is worth more damage then that

I'm pretty sure a player would argue otherwise when a DM devises a nasty lava pit trap that deals 200d6 points of damage...and the PC is the victim.