Death and Taxes

[Choinski, Burton]

|| On magic ...say a magic user is casting say a thunderstorm
|| ...but a meteor
|| falls
|| on him and kills him.  Does the storm just poof and vanish?

I would rule that the storm is still brewed up (the spell affects the
regional pressure and humidity, putting into motion the formation of a
small, localized thunderstorm).

However, once formed, and without the mage's influence to draw out the
lightning, the storm will most likely just dissapate without major effect
(except for some rain).  I suupose one could roll a flat (EL+1)% chance for
each grouping of potential targets that a strike might be made (and pick a
target at random from that group) just from the power of the potential,
uncontrolled storm. (could be bad if the mage was whistling the storm up for
you before he got ganked -- you may end up with a strike)

|| A MU fires a fireball 20 feet wide (ok..so hes a great mage)
|| but dies on
|| slipping on a banna peel and impales his head on a dagger.  Does the
|| fireball go poof or continue till duration?

Again, I look at the magic in this case as a physical effect put into motion
by the mage.  The mage is actually producing a wall of flame and inducing it
to move out and away from him.  The roiling gasses and plasma will continue
to move, despite his death.

I would use the "concentration" rule of thumb here...if the spell requires
the mage to concentrate or otherwise maintain control over it at all times,
then it goes poof.  Speels that are "fire and forget" are powered up and
continue until the spell expires.  This is especially obvious with Oblivion,
where you can banish some poor schmuck for 400+ years.  Obviously, unless
you stipulate that the spell is limited by mage lifespan (not in the spell
description), it is not stopped by his death.

----------------------------------------
Burton Choinski
Principle Software Engineer, Quality Engineering
email: burton.choinski at matrixone.com

phone: 978-322-2135
fax  : 978-452-5764

MatrixOne, Inc.
Two Executive Drive
Chelmsford, Ma 01824
www.matrixone.com

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