@AHF, you miss my point. Are the vampires immune because they are undead and immune to poison as a result (thus making at least one Vampire in the game not immune)? Or are they immune for the simple fact of their Hit Dice, thus making the first one you encounter not the anomaly you would have her be? All things being equal, I'd say because of their hit dice.
To put it another way, I'd bet that the code was written so that all vampires fall under the encounter class of Vampire. Further, I'd bet that all monsters of that class ARE effected by CloudKill (meaning that if they were low enough level, they would die as well). That seems eminently more plausible than that one vampire being coded completely different. If you could level drain other vampires (and I laugh just thinking about that), I'd bet that any vampire sufficiently lowered would succumb to Cloudkill.
But we don't know. And I for one am not going to argue the point any more.
@AHF, you miss my point. Are the vampires immune because they are undead and immune to poison as a result (thus making at least one Vampire in the game not immune)? Or are they immune for the simple fact of their Hit Dice, thus making the first one you encounter not the anomaly you would have her be? All things being equal, I'd say because of their hit dice.
To put it another way, I'd bet that the code was written so that all vampires fall under the encounter class of Vampire. Further, I'd bet that all monsters of that class ARE effected by CloudKill (meaning that if they were low enough level, they would die as well). That seems eminently more plausible than that one vampire being coded completely different. If you could level drain other vampires (and I laugh just thinking about that), I'd bet that any vampire sufficiently lowered would succumb to Cloudkill.
But we don't know. And I for one am not going to argue the point any more.
It is a distinction without a difference since they are all immune other than the one uniquely coded vampire in Irenicus' dungeon that you are not intended to fight.
The point is that saying that "Vampires in BG2 aren't immune to cloudkill" is very misleading.
No, it's incredibly misleading. If you don't understand the difference between "1 single vampire in BG2 isn't immune to cloudkill" and "Vampires in BG2 aren't immune to cloudkill," then I would like to brag to you about how all women are willing to sleep with me.
You can't even say VampireS if there is only one, singular vampire that isn't immune.
But in the interest of going forward, here's a thought. If the thought is that vampires are immune to cloud kill because they are undead, then how do other undead respond to the spell? Does it work on skeletons?
If the thought is that the one vampire isn't immune because of hit dice, how do other low hit dice undead respond to the spell? Is there a difference between a lowly skeleton and a much more mighty skeleton warrior?
Undead generally use ring95 to provide a standard batch of undead immunities, including immunities against poison, level drain, and the slay effect used in Cloudkill. (There's a bunch more, but these are the ones relevant to the thread.) So Ulvaryl's real bug is not her low level, as I claimed in the other thread, but the lack of this item.
Its not described as being carbon monoxide, and the last time i inhaled that stuff i did not instantly die. My con is average at best and i am barely 4 hit die.
It's described as a cloud of extremely toxic vapour. What do you think a magically created cloud of carbon monoxide would be? A cloud of toxic vapour perhaps?
I don't think you were inhaling a magically created cloud.
The carbon monoxide example doesn't translate very well to a video game, IMO. If there is no oxygen in the air, it doesn't matter how experienced you are at fighting with a sword. Everyone dies in that scenario if they can't leave the area before they need to inhale. That doesn't make sense when characters at higher levels can stay in the area indefinitely without suffering the instant death effect. It just doesn't translate well to BG.
I mentioned the 4th level priest spell Poison earlier. It's necromancy, and the save is vs. poison. Would anybody argue that the spell does in fact cause poisoning? Of course not. So cavaliers would be immune to this poison. "But OMG it's MAGICAL poison teeheee!" Yeah well cavaliers are immune to magical poison too. Because of the...you know...immunity??
So if the spell cloudkill causes poison (which it does), then....
The carbon monoxide example doesn't translate very well to a video game, IMO. If there is no oxygen in the air...
There is a reason it is called carbon monoxide 'poisoning'.
What is technically carbon monoxide poising doesn't instantly kill a healthy person, though, so I am assuming we are talking about lack of oxygen leading to instant death to the extent it is anything that translates to real life. Symptoms of carbon monoxide poisoning are typically more like flu symptoms in significant exposure and death in up to 20 minutes if you are sucking on pure car exhaust.
When the Nazis used carbon monoxide to gas people to death it was a relatively slow death - again up to 20 minutes.
It doesn't translate well to a video game instant death mechanic, and so using that real life science is of somewhat limited value as far as interpreting that mechanic, IMO.
The point is that saying that "Vampires in BG2 aren't immune to cloudkill" is very misleading.
Only to you my friend.
On a separate and unrelated note, did everyone know that 25th level fighters are immune to Cloudkill?
In Baldur's Gate 2 or just in PnP?
That was a joke. Officially in 2E, levels are capped at 20. A supplemental book allowed for higher levels, but that was ALL optional material and came along years after the core rules.
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To put it another way, I'd bet that the code was written so that all vampires fall under the encounter class of Vampire. Further, I'd bet that all monsters of that class ARE effected by CloudKill (meaning that if they were low enough level, they would die as well). That seems eminently more plausible than that one vampire being coded completely different. If you could level drain other vampires (and I laugh just thinking about that), I'd bet that any vampire sufficiently lowered would succumb to Cloudkill.
But we don't know. And I for one am not going to argue the point any more.
The point is that saying that "Vampires in BG2 aren't immune to cloudkill" is very misleading.
On a separate and unrelated note, did everyone know that 25th level fighters are immune to Cloudkill?
"Creatures X are not immune to Y."
This fails to add up only to me? Really?
You can't even say VampireS if there is only one, singular vampire that isn't immune.
But in the interest of going forward, here's a thought. If the thought is that vampires are immune to cloud kill because they are undead, then how do other undead respond to the spell? Does it work on skeletons?
If the thought is that the one vampire isn't immune because of hit dice, how do other low hit dice undead respond to the spell? Is there a difference between a lowly skeleton and a much more mighty skeleton warrior?
I don't think you were inhaling a magically created cloud.
So if the spell cloudkill causes poison (which it does), then....
When the Nazis used carbon monoxide to gas people to death it was a relatively slow death - again up to 20 minutes.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gas_van
It doesn't translate well to a video game instant death mechanic, and so using that real life science is of somewhat limited value as far as interpreting that mechanic, IMO.