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The Killing Song - Jorlem - 11-24-2009
When This Song Is Over You Will Die by Tom Smith
http://www.thefump.com/embedded_player.swf?fumpID=1229
It probably would be best used in conjunction with I'll Play For You, if it's used at all.? What it would do
is, in my opinion, painfully obvious, though I don't think Doug's metagift would directly kill Doug.? I hope not, anyway.?
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
- Ebony - 11-24-2009
I think that Doug would more likely have copy of "Killing Me Softly with His Song" by Roberta Flack. Assuming that he'd keep a tune that would do
that (which he might, since as he has asserted, he's a soldier, not a superhero).
Ebony the Black Dragon
http://ebony14.livejournal.com
"Good night, and may the Good Lord take a Viking to you."
- Jorlem - 11-30-2009
No reason he can't have both, right?
EDIT: This idea has been sort of percolating in the back of my head for a while now. I see the two songs as having about the same end effect, the death of the
target, but having different means to achieve it. When this Song is Over feels to me to be something of a blunt
object almost, killing the target by whaling on him with raw power until he keels over at the end of the song. Killing Me
Softly, on the other hand, feels more like a rapier being precisely thrust through the enemy's heart. It's far more elegant, and much less
wasteful of energy, but likely less effective against those with the magical equivalent of full plate armor (as the "thrust" would be aimed at the
heart, not at joints in the armor... I think I'm overextending the analogy here.)
Anyway, with regard to visual effects, I can see When This Song is Over creating a countdown timer over the
target's head, like the Doom status effect from Final Fantasy. I'm not sure what Killing Me Softly would
have though.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
- Bluemage - 12-13-2009
Quote: Jorlem wrote:
I'm not sure what Killing Me Softly would have though.
They just get more and more weary, their senses get duller and duller, and then they just... stop, as the same instant the song does.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
- Bob Schroeck - 12-13-2009
I try to stay away from "this makes the target die outright" soings because they can easily be gamebreakers. That said, though, this might be something fun to throw at Glory in DW13 just to see it not work on her...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- nemonowan - 12-13-2009
I suspect this kind of song would be like the "death spells" in a Final Fantasy (or the like) RPG : they only kills targets that are weaker than you.
Against anything stronger than you, high-level monsters, or god forbid, bosses, (that means in any situation where a one-shot kill would be useful) they NEVER
work.
- Bluemage - 12-13-2009
I see there being a tradeoff. The Tom Smith song forces death, but costs a lot of power to use, and is very, very
obvious about it. Anybody with the ability to counter or neutralize effects will do so, and save themselves. Anybody who can't will make a beeline for
Doug, figuring that if the song is stopped, it didn't end, and they won't die. The power requirements make it too expensive to be a cheap kill option,
and anybody strong enough to merit its use will be strong enough to have a good chance of reducing Doug to a fine paste to save themselves.
Killing Me Softly takes less power, and is much less obvious, but far, far easier to resist. It'd only be useful
if Doug could keep the target distracted, because the instant the target notices that they're slowly dying, they'll try to fight it, and anybody with
semi-heroic willpower (virtually every combatant) will be able to fight it off. This limits its usefulness to suicidal targets and the easily distracted.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
- Bob Schroeck - 12-14-2009
Mm. Actually, now that I think of it, I should follow the precedent I set in my notes for the Harry Potter Step, in which I simply am handling the Killing Curse as a standard V&V "Death Ray" attack. Death Ray first must hit its target, then the target saves against both agility and endurance on D20. I don't have the rules handy, but if I recall correctly, both saves mean no effect, and one save means all HP are drained but the target is still alive... or something like that. Upshot of this is that Glory is likely to save handily (Doug can still hit her with the effect; he's used to fighting speedsters as there are several in the Warriors). Then again, Doug defends and saves easily against Death Ray, too, as a very large number of frustrated (and increasingly terrified) Death Eaters will discover.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- The Wanderer - 12-14-2009
I wouldn't have thought that would be an appropriate mechanism for the Killing Curse, myself, given that it is explicitly stated both that it's
unblockable (short of a sufficiently durable physical obstacle) and that before Harry's special circumstances, *no one* has ever survived it.
Unless you have some sufficiently impressive explanation for why no one in the entire history of the wizarding world who's ever been hit with that curse
has been able to make their saving throw, this strikes me as something which would strain plausibility - and my suspension of disbelief - quite a bit.
- Jorlem - 12-14-2009
When we've see it used though, it was usually against squishy wizards, or squishier muggles, who likely didn't have great endurance. I seem to recall
reading somewhere that it could take more than one hit to take down certain creatures, like dragons, basilisks, and maybe giants, though that might have been a
fanfic, so don't quote me on that.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
- Bob Schroeck - 12-14-2009
Death Ray is instakill on non-super targets, or nearly so -- 0 hits in V&V is "not dead yet but will be there shortly"-- and that's shortly as in combat time -- seconds or less. Plus the Wizarding World doesn't have the kind of medical resources a superhero world does.
And remember how Sylia described Doug's field in DW2 -- as "space-time itself conspiring to protect him". Not accurate, but does describe the effect nicely.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Shepherd - 12-14-2009
Quote: Jorlem wrote:Squishy wizards? This is Potterverse we're talking about here, not D&D. Neville's uncle tested him for magic by throwing him out a
When we've see it used though, it was usually against squishy wizards
window. Neville fell off a flying broom at age 11 and suffered no worse than a broken arm. A great many wizard spells seem to inflict massive blunt force
trauma as side effects, and nobody seems to care. Splinching an arm off is a mere annoyance. It seems fairly obvious that Potterverse wizards are physically
reinforced by their magic yet still suffer insta-death from the killing curse.
----------------------------------------------------
"Anyone can be a winner if their definition of victory is flexible enough." - The DM of the Rings XXXV
- Jorlem - 12-14-2009
Umm...Whoops? Somehow that completely slipped my mind. Sorry.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
- Bob Schroeck - 12-14-2009
I think the main problem is that we have no clue what the mechanism of the Killing Curse is. Is it a soul-ripper? A neural blaster? Does it coagulate every cell in the body into the equivalent of a hard-boiled egg? All we know is that it appears to be powered by anger and/or hatred.
Oh, and that it's a straight-line non-homing effect, travels slow enough that it can be dodged, and that it splats on sufficiently solid objects.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Bluemage - 12-14-2009
Also that it tends to have some explosive effect, even on tough enough objects to stop it.
I'm fairly sure it's a soul-ripper, or some form of life-force extinguisher. If memory serves me right, AK doesn't leave marks, or any sort of
physical damage, when it kills. We can rule out a lot of methods by this. It also kills instantly, which takes most of the obvious possibilities out of the
equation. Consider that heart attacks leave people some time to act before inflicting unconsciousness and/or death, and that seizures and destruction of the
brain (through things like large-caliber rifle rounds to the head) cause muscle spasms before the body dies. AK doesn't do either of these- it just kills
you.
My Unitarian Jihad Name is: Brother Atom Bomb of Courteous Debate. Get yours.
I've been writing a bit.
- Star Ranger4 - 12-14-2009
Which makes me argue in favor of the neural shutdown theory... basicly what AK does is completly short out the body's nervous system, ergo your heart
instantly stops beating, etc...
Hear that thunder rolling till it seems to split the sky?
That's every ship in Grayson's Navy taking up the cry-
NO QUARTER!!!
-- "No Quarter", by Echo's Children
- Wiregeek - 12-15-2009
Quote:AK does is completly short out the body's nervous system,
Soooo... it's a conductivity enhancer?
"Mr. Sangnoir, would you care to explain why you are casting a Forbidden curse on that computer?"
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
- Jorlem - 12-15-2009
Now that I think of it, the killing curse reminds me somewhat of some Slayers spells. It does damage primarily on the Astral plane, but the damage bleeds over
to the physical world if whatever it hits doesn't have a spirit to take the damage.
Also, if the killing curse does acts against the soul, the three Unforgivables would fit together perfectly. The Cruciatus Curse attacks the body, and the
Imperius Curse attacks the mind, leaving the Killing Curse to attack the soul.
-----
Stand between the Silver Crystal and the Golden Sea.
"Youngsters these days just have no appreciation for the magnificence of the legendary cucumber." --Krityan Elder, Tales of Vesperia.
- Bob Schroeck - 12-15-2009
Actually that's a very clever insight, Jorlem. I like that. It also, strangely enough, makes the Unforgiveables fit nicely in In Nomine, some of which makes up the cosmological underpinning of the Walk...
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- Honorbridge - 12-16-2009
Quote: The Wanderer wrote:I believe that it's not the curse itself that no one has survived. It's Voldemort casting it that no one else has survived. So
before Harry's special circumstances, *no one* has ever survived it.
basically whatever the save normally would be (say, beat 15 on a D20), when Voldemort casts it you have to roll a natural 20.
- Wiregeek - 12-16-2009
Quote:when Voldemort casts it you have to roll a natural 20.
Functionally speaking, I have no D&D experience, but I think even that might not have been enough.
Excepting Harry, of course, who was rocking a +5 from his mom's sacrifice.
(does this enchantment make me look fat?)
"No can brain today. Want cheezeburger."
From NGE: Nobody Dies, by Gregg Landsman
http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5579457/1/NGE_Nobody_Dies
- robkelk - 12-16-2009
To tie back to the In Nomine mechanics, perhaps Voldie's castings need an Intervention to resist?
(Which implies some sort of Infernal backing for everybody's favourite noseless villain...)
--
Rob Kelk
"Governments have no right to question the loyalty of those who oppose
them. Adversaries remain citizens of the same state, common subjects of
the same sovereign, servants of the same law."
- Michael Ignatieff, addressing Stanford University in 2012
- The Wanderer - 12-16-2009
Quote:I believe that it's not the curse itself that no one has survived. It's Voldemort casting it that no one else has survived.This does not fit with either my own memory of the original stories, or the common interpretation I see being used in fandom. The only single time I can recall having seen someone else survive the curse in a fic, it was explicitly with a very similar kind of extremely unusual protective magic.
What's the reference which leads you to believe this?
- Bob Schroeck - 12-16-2009
I have to agree with the Wanderer. It's not Voldemort's use, but any use of the Killing Curse. Here, check the Harry Potter Lexicon, which is accurate and detailed enough that Rowling consulted it while writing the later books. To cite its third point, "Harry is the only known person to survive the Killing Curse (esp. PS1, GF14, also GF34). "
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
- The Wanderer - 12-16-2009
Though IIRC, that's tempered by fake-Moody's comment to the class (having just demonstrated the curse on a spider) that all of them could cast it at
him at once and he probably wouldn't get so much as a hangnail - but that's more a commentary on what it takes to cast it (the desire to kill) than on
anything about the curse itself.