Last night a pc decided to fly in the lightening strikes above yester hill I explained there was lightening, and made it clear it could hit him, when it did hit him his response was I'm not grounded it would have no effect, I pointed out it was "magic" neither of us were happy with that response , any thoughts on this?
TL;DR "Magic" is the right answer, and being "grounded" is irrelevant.
Also, flying things aren't immune to lightning. Planes that get struck keep the passengers safe because they have a conductive shell that routes the electricity. Your player isn't an airplane.
It's also not so much about grounding as about finding the path of least resistance. The player, who is presumably made of meat and water, is a much MUCH better conductor than air. Extra so if they have anything metallic or otherwise magnetic. As such they would be the perfect place to start a lighting strike to conserve on the energy needed to get the strike from its source to the ground, again, extra so if they have metal on them in any capacity.
Grounding just makes it easier and doesn't really apply for situations where there is enough charge to cause arcing in the air anyway. It's more of a thing when electricity runs from a solid to a solid like a circuit. In fact, if they would have been grounded they would have been safer.
Technically, the lightning would pass through his body and continue down to the ground.
The human body is a better conductor than air, so if there is lightning passing within a few meters of you, it will prefer going through you. But the human body not being a ground means it will continue until it reaches the ground. Only then will the discharge (flash/crack) occur and fry everything it passed through.
Cloud to cloud lightning and lightning that discharges into the atmosphere will also favor passing through humans than air.
Last night a pc decided to fly in the lightening strikes above yester hill I explained there was lightening, and made it clear it could hit him, when it did hit him his response was I'm not grounded it would have no effect, I pointed out it was "magic" neither of us were happy with that response , any thoughts on this?
mom mom mom Molach is getting science in my D&D! This is up to you. As you did warn him, have him save for half damage.
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Last night a pc decided to fly in the lightening strikes above yester hill I explained there was lightening, and made it clear it could hit him, when it did hit him his response was I'm not grounded it would have no effect, I pointed out it was "magic" neither of us were happy with that response , any thoughts on this?
There is another thread on this already.
TL;DR "Magic" is the right answer, and being "grounded" is irrelevant.
Also, flying things aren't immune to lightning. Planes that get struck keep the passengers safe because they have a conductive shell that routes the electricity. Your player isn't an airplane.
It's also not so much about grounding as about finding the path of least resistance. The player, who is presumably made of meat and water, is a much MUCH better conductor than air. Extra so if they have anything metallic or otherwise magnetic. As such they would be the perfect place to start a lighting strike to conserve on the energy needed to get the strike from its source to the ground, again, extra so if they have metal on them in any capacity.
Grounding just makes it easier and doesn't really apply for situations where there is enough charge to cause arcing in the air anyway. It's more of a thing when electricity runs from a solid to a solid like a circuit. In fact, if they would have been grounded they would have been safer.
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Technically, the lightning would pass through his body and continue down to the ground.
The human body is a better conductor than air, so if there is lightning passing within a few meters of you, it will prefer going through you. But the human body not being a ground means it will continue until it reaches the ground. Only then will the discharge (flash/crack) occur and fry everything it passed through.
Cloud to cloud lightning and lightning that discharges into the atmosphere will also favor passing through humans than air.
mom mom mom Molach is getting science in my D&D! This is up to you. As you did warn him, have him save for half damage.
No Gaming is Better than Bad Gaming.