Weakest chars to survive the following trials

[Beadle]

I'm unsure if it scales in a linear fashion like that - dead is dead, really, and it's not like the commoner 'absorbs' damage to save people behind him, does he. So Tiamat's breath basically kills anything incapable of withstanding 26d6 fire damage (assuming failed saves) out to the end of its range (which is...what?) is maybe a better way of looking at it. And is somewhat better than 'hey, does 100 times the damage of a housecat!' ^_^

I admit, this is a hilarious discussion that illustrates why RPG rules do not break down well into feats.

I had hoped it was obvious I wasn’t exactly being serious.

But yeah, Tiamat’s actual damage would be an average of 91 points (apparently) to everyone in a 90’ cone.

I mean, a nuclear explosion in Anima, if we go by straight maths, 'only' does 1100 points damage, on average, to a 'farmer' standing within the point-blank explosion range, killing him 'only' ~15x over (with some left over from #16*). Granted, I assumed he got a dodge roll and that did some good - upon reflection, I shouldn't have, and we end up with 1320 Edit: which is JUUUUUST under 19 farmers, last guy eats one hell of a critical.

But that 1320 points basically kills anything in the game that doesn't have some kind of weird existential protection (there is not a single thing in the game with that much health, aside from an insanely min-maxed, super-high-level Weaponmaster, but haha, yes, Garon could if he reached a high enough level), truly vast Encasement/Damage Resistance, etc etc. And I'll note that if it hits everyone's favourite Dragon of Gaira in the face (Manah R'azz), she takes some Edit; forgot her armor, it's 19 200 damage and dies instantly.

So maybe better scaling, there. Also, better for feats, because it IS a nuclear weapon, so there's some comparison.

.....

Actually, hang on. There's an argument to be made that Manah takes only about half of that, possibly less, because it takes the full explosion to cover her entire body. The 300' radius, point-blank area that does 300 base damage is probably enough to...I don't know, cover her head? Maybe?

Anyway, I'd guess that Manah would therefore 'only' take 1/3-1/2 of that (due to the varying damage of the weapon - it does 200 base damage out to 300-1000' as I recall, and 100 base damage after that out to 5000'), which means...she's still dead. O_O Edit: But it's close. Give her some time to throw up magical defenses, and she'll walk it off.

Solomon clearly did not mess around when making their technomagickal thermonuclear missiles.

And yet, like their fellow Magitech Morons, Imperium (and yes, I know Solomon were far, far more effective, comparatively speaking), it all came back to bite them in the arse when someone competent opposed them.

* Yes, farmers have 70 life points, everyone point and laugh at Serafyna.

Shut up. She’s not been well. >_>

[BitVyper]

Easiest absolute to use in D&D, I think, is terminal fall damage, since it's pretty hard to argue that someone is just "rolling with it," and real world situations where someone survives any fall bigger than a couple stories intact are basically miracles. Damaging objects has all kinds of problems because it comes with a bunch of weird meta depending on the edition and objects are treated very differently for people for physical effects. Probably a better way to analyze spells like Fireball or Meteor Swarm is to hold them up against damage sources that we can understand in real world terms independent of character abilities, like siege weapons and bombs, which *usually* cap out way below what a 3rd level spell can do. Anyway, I didn't play 4 or 5, but otherwise, terminal velocity has pretty consistently been 20d6 damage, or an average of 60 damage, or "the barbarian stopped caring about fall damage by level 8." Taken to the extreme end of someone who might have death ward cast on them... well I don't know 5th ed enough to say what their HP would be, but like a level 20 dwarven barbarian can probably survive tremendously more than a terminal fall, and death ward would be a step beyond that at least. Most editions have at least one ridiculously gigantic monster or another, and I would personally not accept an argument that being stepped or fallen on by something like that doesn't play into the damage abstract where death ward should apply. Still well below something like a punch from Saitama.

On the other hand, there are multiple spells that will completely obliterate a person, and at least one that will obliterate them beyond possibility of resurrection without multiple reality altering spells being cast, so while if you think of Death Ward as an actual physical barrier, a lot of this stuff can probably punch through it, if it's just something that says "actually that didn't kill you," well then there's already evidence that it can overcome complete obliteration. We could argue that that's down to fluff, but without actually researching any further, I'm personally willing to bet that there's some spell or effect that will probably demonstrate that it can't just be a barrier. Not gonna try and hold anyone to that point though.

Pathfinder has rules for getting up to some much bigger explosions, and it has stuff like kaiju, but Death Ward doesn't work like that in Pathfinder. Explosive spells in D&D/Pathfinder don't work anything like real explosions, so I think their size is more a feature of the spell than particularly dependent on the force of the explosion; they do damage of a specific intensity in a specifically limited area.

At the end of the day, rules aren't really characters, so they're hard to parse in a rumbles context without an actual story that has an actual character doing something. Especially with D&D and derivatives, since their rules are usually pretty non-narrative. Something like Exalted is easier because like every charm comes with some little story.

[Nik Hasta]

the other byproduct of this thread is it has me trying to think of a good match-up for Killy.

Problem is, dude is like... one of the highest examples of a glass cannon.

Not because he's particularly fragile, just because his firepower capacity is so much higher than all other relevant stats.

Like, comics Superman could take being shot with the GBE but he could also flick Killy's head off without trying.

He's very all or nothing.

[Cthulhu_of_R'lyeh]

So in a match with him it's... Killy or be Killy'd

[Beadle]

So in a match with him it's... Killy or be Killy'd

*sniff*

They grow up so fast…

[Beadle]

the other byproduct of this thread is it has me trying to think of a good match-up for Killy.

Problem is, dude is like... one of the highest examples of a glass cannon.

Not because he's particularly fragile, just because his firepower capacity is so much higher than all other relevant stats.

Like, comics Superman could take being shot with the GBE but he could also flick Killy's head off without trying.

He's very all or nothing.

I hate to say this then, but… Storm…?

[Nik Hasta]

I hate to say this then, but… Storm…?

Eeeh... maybe...? I don't recall how quick Storm is and Killy can quickdraw pretty well.

He will one-shot her if her hits her, GBE isn't something Storm wants any of, but she might be able to dodge or throw off his initial shot, take off and break line of sight and work on wearing him down with big weather.

Possible but if he lands the quickdraw she's definitely dead.

[Little_Mac]

Eeeh... maybe...? I don't recall how quick Storm is and Killy can quickdraw pretty well.

He will one-shot her if her hits her, GBE isn't something Storm wants any of, but she might be able to dodge or throw off his initial shot, take off and break line of sight and work on wearing him down with big weather.

Possible but if he lands the quickdraw she's definitely dead.

How about one of the Straw Hats (not the monster trio)? Franky, Usopp or Brooke might be a good fight.