Corporeal Undead and BACK criticals

[Riltus]

Anyone have an insta-death back critical vs corporeal undead, or know if they have immunity? Attacks against other body locations act normally.

Here's some examples:

You hurl a hissing stream of acid at a zombie!
AS: +282 vs DS: +118 with AvD: +29 + d100 roll: +87 = +280
... and hit for 127 points of damage!
Acid eats away the zombie's spine and most of what's under it.
The zombie is knocked to the ground!

Acid - Rank 9 BACK: no insta-death (I've been able to determine that this results in a level 3 injury, knockdown and 15 round stun.)

You gesture at a monastic lich.
CS: +222 - TD: +115 + CvA: +15 + d100: +56 == +178
Warding failed!
You blast a monastic lich for 99 points of damage.
... 70 points of damage!
Back erupts in a bloody display of bone and gore!
It is knocked to the ground!
The monastic lich is stunned!

Vacuum: Rank 9 BACK: no insta-death

You gesture at a ghoul master.
CS: +222 - TD: +48 + CvA: 0 + d100: +50 == +224
Warding failed!
You blast a ghoul master for 50 points of damage.
... 60 points of damage!
Flame engulfs back: a ghoul master flambe!
The ghoul master is knocked over by the blast!

Fire - Rank 8 BACK: no insta-death

This next attack is a Vacuum, Rank 9 Abdomen critical which is fatal vs Zombie

You blast a zombie for 23 points of damage.
... 70 points of damage!
Abdomen erupts, blood and bile splatter everything!
You hear a sound like a weeping child as a white glow separates itself from the zombie's body as it rises, disappearing into the heavens.
The zombie falls to the ground, a lifeless lump of flesh.


Mark

[Xaerve]

Hella data crunching. GL Marky mark.

[Stanley Burrell]

That's like ... if I fired a rocket-propelled holy hand grenade at an undead, say, naked mole rat. From hiding. And it hits its back. And ... that's dumb.

^Pulitzer Prize post.

[Back]

That's like ... if I fired rocket-propelled at an undead, say, naked mole rat. From hiding. And it hits its back. And ... that's dumb.

As the jubilant din of the crowd overjoyed at the literary transcendence of Stan's last post diminished into a glowing hum of approval a single whisper of genuine bewilderment postulated, "How will he ever top that one??"

[Stanley Burrell]

As the jubilant din of the crowd overjoyed at the literary transcendence of Stan's last post diminished into a glowing hum of approval a single whisper of genuine bewilderment postulated, "How will he ever top that one??"

Well, I'd have to make a post before that so it would be on top.

Fuck yeah, I want a pet undead naked mole rat.

[Tgo01]

Fuck yeah, I want a pet undead naked mole rat.

I'm sure if you offered to pay 20 bucks for one in WoW Blizzard would make it in a heartbeat.

[Riltus]

After a bit more research, it seems very likely that ALL corporeal undead are immune to fatal back criticals, regardless of the critical damage type, i.e., puncture, lightning, acid etc. The list includes murky soul siphons and lichs.

Mark

[Merala]

Somewhat unrelated:

The fact that golems are immune to death crits but still give the messaging of death, sucks.

I think you can knock a zombie's head off though right? I didn't realize different crits would effect creatures differently.

[Riltus]

Somewhat unrelated:

The fact that golems are immune to death crits but still give the messaging of death, sucks.

I think you can knock a zombie's head off though right? I didn't realize different crits would effect creatures differently.

Zombies and other corporeal undead are critible. They can be insta-killed with attacks to the head, neck, eyes, chest and abdomen just like living critters, however, unlike living critters, they cannot be crit killed with back hits. Zombies, and apparently all other corporeal undead, have either been designed with a special immunity to fatal back criticals or this is a bug.

Mark

[Reltov420]

I've been turning fallen crusaders corporeal with 704, and then hitting them with DC. I got that 'flames engulf back, a crusader flambe!' crit a few times last night, it was definitely killing them. ::shrug::

[Riltus]

I've been turning fallen crusaders corporeal with 704, and then hitting them with DC. I got that 'flames engulf back, a crusader flambe!' crit a few times last night, it was definitely killing them. ::shrug::

This looks more complicated than I first thought.

Corporealized Pookas:

You blast a ghostly pooka for 76 points of damage.
... 60 points of damage!
Flame engulfs back: a ghostly pooka flambe!
The ghostly pooka is knocked over by the blast!

Fire - Rank 8 Back: Non-fatal

You blast a ghostly pooka for 9 points of damage.
... 50 points of damage!
Poke to the left eye continues into the brain!
The ghostly pooka is knocked over by the blast!

Impact - Rank 8 Eye: Non-fatal

and then this...

You hurl a chunk of ice at a ghostly pooka!
AS: +240 vs DS: +94 with AvD: +37 + d100 roll: +30 = +213
... and hit for 77 points of damage!
Strong shot to head messes up brain fatally.
You hear a sound like a weeping child as a white glow separates itself from the ghostly pooka's body as it rises, disappearing into the heavens.
The ghostly pooka ceases all attempts at movement.

Impact - Rank 5 Head: Fatal

Note: The last attack is minor cold (1709) from a slender blue wand which will do either cold or impact critical damage.

This could be fully researched if bolts and CS spells could be aimed, but with minimally 10,000 (critter/damage type/body location) combinations I'm going to put this in my RSN file. :)

Mark

[Hightower]

I believe the official explanation for why golems, undead, and other non-living creatures are immune to death by back critical is that it isn't actually the back critical that kills you. If you're on the receiving end of one of these criticals, you also receive rank 3 nervous system damage. That's what kills you, the massive trauma to the spinal cord.

Golems, undead, etc. have no functioning nervous system. Apparently, their movements are governed by whatever force reanimated them.

~Taverkin

[Riltus]

I believe the official explanation for why golems, undead, and other non-living creatures are immune to death by back critical is that it isn't actually the back critical that kills you. If you're on the receiving end of one of these criticals, you also receive rank 3 nervous system damage. That's what kills you, the massive trauma to the spinal cord.

Golems, undead, etc. have no functioning nervous system. Apparently, their movements are governed by whatever force reanimated them.

~Taverkin

Ha! That makes perfect sense. Thanks for the explanation.

Coporeal undead R9 Back critical (non-fatal) without nervous system damage:

You blast a zombie for 91 points of damage.
... 70 points of damage!
Back erupts in a bloody display of bone and gore!
It is knocked to the ground!
A zombie slowly pulls herself back up to her feet.
>l zomb

You see a fairly typical zombie.
She has deep gashes and serious bleeding from her back.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Living target R9 Back critical (fatal) with nervous system damage:

You blast a hill troll for 11 points of damage.
... 70 points of damage!
Back erupts in a bloody display of bone and gore!
The hill troll falls to the ground and dies.
The deep blue glow leaves a hill troll.
Cast Roundtime 3 Seconds.
>l troll

You see a fairly typical hill troll that is lying down.
He appears to be dead.
He has deep gashes and serious bleeding from his back and a case of uncontrollable convulsions.

Mark