Holy Water Bomb for 4000 hp of Damage

[Moon-Lancer]

logicly it would do as much damage as being submerged in acid, however, considering the price (dust+holywater), i don't thing dc 18 vs death would be unreasonable.

 

[TarionzCousin]

The other thing that stopped my players was when I pointed out that many acids also contained substantial amounts of water, and asked if they would be okay with me as the DM using a pellet loaded with 100 gallons of acid.

Good point. I, as the DM, can afford many more acid pellets than they can. I should point that out.

The main problem I see is that you are assuming a rule to exist, but which does not exist. There's no rule that says that the damage from multiple vials of holy water is cumulative. In fact, we have similar rules for acid which is quite different. If you're immersed in acid and add one more pint of acid on top, you will not take any additional damage. So, these vials are not strictly cumulative.

Another good point. I hadn't thought of that. Thanks!

 

[Destil]

Dust of Dryness: 850 gp.

4,000 pounds of powdered silver: 20,000 gp.

800 castings of bless water: 8,000 gp.

The look on the balor's face: priceless.

__________________
There are some things money can't buy. For everything else there's Kundarak Notes. Accepted whenever you see the wevyrn.

 

[Goolpsy]

It might just be me, but i think math went out the window in the first post..
Average Damage = 400 correct...
1 pint = 2d4 Damage
8 pint = 1 gallon
Dust of dryness arbsorps 100 gallons...

8 x 100 = 800... so damage is =(800x(2d4)) ... Average of 2d4 = 5, so 5x800 = 4000

Dunno where ther number 1600 came from? (unless im missing something?)
Which would make the cost about half of previously calculated.

So its only about... 20k gold for instant kill of certain monsters... useful^^
How about splash?

 

[Harrowed]

The main problem I see is that you are assuming a rule to exist, but which does not exist. There's no rule that says that the damage from multiple vials of holy water is cumulative. In fact, we have similar rules for acid which is quite different. If you're immersed in acid and add one more pint of acid on top, you will not take any additional damage. So, these vials are not strictly cumulative.

Makes damn good sense, I'd go with the submersion in acid mentioned above and if the players cries ... give him the above quote.

 

[mvincent]

Since the description of Holy Water mentions that it works "almost as if it were acid", and acid deals 10d6 on total immersion I'd treat a giant holy water bomb (which isn't cheap) as total immersion for one round, dealing 10d6 no save.

Total Immersion seems to do x10 normal damage. Examples:

"Corrosive acids deals 1d6 points of damage per round of exposure except in the case of total immersion (such as into a vat of acid), which deals 10d6 points of damage per round."

and

"Lava or magma deals 2d6 points of damage per round of exposure, except in the case of total immersion (such as when a character falls into the crater of an active volcano), which deals 20d6 points of damage per round."

So I would rule that total immersion in holy water would do 20d4 (instead of 2d4).

I've discussed this situation before in other threads, and this was the conclusion we came to. I've also used this ruling during a game (for this exact tactic), and it seemed to work fine.

 

[phindar]

I like the 10d6 (or 20d4), using "total immersion" as the cap. I mean, completely submerged in a harmful substance is about all you can do... it doesn't matter if your in a swimming pool or an ocean.

I like the Ranged Touch attack. (Actually, my heart of hearts keeps whispering for a Reflex save instead, but for the amount of gold it costs, it isn't worth it for some vampire rogue to wire-fu his way out of a 100gallon splash bomb.)

 

[EvilPheemy]

for 28,850 gold (and all the man-hours required to get 800 bless water castings) you can either get the "one shot kill" just in case the party runs in to a CR20 Fiend or Undead, or a +3 weapon or +5 Armor or shield with change. It's an awfully expensive and time consuming tactic.

What's worse is if when the moment of truth comes, and you miss.

 

[Ridley's Cohort]

(emphesis mine)
So the idea is to absorb 100 gallons of holy water, then throw the pellet at an undead, which will cause the pellet to break, releasing all 100 gallons of holy water on the undead.

By an extremely literal reading of the item description, the dust will convert 100 gallons of holy water into 100 gallons of normal water. FYI.

I think that 10d4 is in the right ballpark. IMO "immersion" in holy water is quite different being merely thoroughly soaked. YMMV.

 

[Mistwell]

I cannot believe some of you would think it's reasonable for a player to spend a MASSIVE amount of gold on a one-shot item that might miss entirely, and still rule it does the damage of a first level spell (5d6).

I mean come on guys, let the player get something useful from all that gold! Heck, he could probably do more damage if he dropped the actual gold pieces on the head of the undead target!