RE: A couple of things.

[Jevan Furmanski <furmansj@expert.cc.purdue.edu>]

The way I always saw mutate was that it couild only bring about changes
that could occur in nature.  These would be non magical (natural), and
seemed to be dependant on DNA.  If we expand our scope of mutate to be
independant of DNA, then maybe whether the change is "natural" can still
be adhered to.

If an air elemental's air is taken away, what happens?  Is it a spirit
manifested as air, or a spirit that can only travel in air and manipulate
it?  One means that his body can be consumed by a natural fire, and that
he has a finite volume, the other means the spirit just moves through air
and could exchange bodies with a cloud of poison at will. 

Instant death scenerio #1, the air elemental mutates to be pure nitrogen,
and crawls down the windpipe of the target, suffocating him.
Not poison, but deadly none the less.

Jevan

On Tue, 13 Oct 1998, Daniel Lawrence wrote:

> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From:	Wright Frazier [SMTP:khelek@ns1.cioe.com]
> Sent:	Tuesday, October 13, 1998 1:33 PM
> To:	gmlist@cioe.com
> Subject:	A couple of things.
> 
> 
> Hey guys, a couple of things.
> 
> b) This past weekend, a player some how became an air elemental.  Said
> 	character now wants to get mutated so they are poison gas.  What
> 	the character wants to be mutated to doesn't matter, what does
> 	matter is that should such a creature(one without DNA and no
> 	physical form) be mutateable.
> 
> 	It has been ruled innumerable times by Dan and every other GM that
> 	mutate alters the DNA of the target.  The character asked practically
> 	every GM present at saturday's game, and every single time was
> 	told 'no'.  The most common reason is the above, mutate changes
> 	the subjects DNA, and elementals have no DNA.
> 
> 	Is that correct?  Or did the 10 or so of us make a mistake?
> 
> Given what you heard... no. But understand this... up until now everything 
> that has been mutated has been
> A living creature with DNA. We have never applied this spell to a spirit 
> which manifests itself as air molecules, or rather a mix of  gas molecules 
> which are in the proportions of air.
> 
> I believe given this... there would be 2 possibilities. If the spell really 
> modified DNA, it would not work at all on him. If we broaden our internal 
> definition to something more akin to what the spell might have been 
> intended as, it can re-adjust the relationship and proportions of the 
> molecules making up its target..... he could concentrate all the oxegen at 
> one spot, and the nitrogen at another. Now, since our adventures do not 
> have this concept of gases, at least this specifically, we could say they 
> could not control this.......
> 
> Given this one might be inclined to say he could simply change the 
> proportion of existing gases that make up his"body", as those more coporeal 
> mutatee's are having changed the proportion of bone, blood, skin and other 
> tissues making up their bodies.
> 
> I understand this action is pretty out in left field,,, so I am interested 
> in hearing your opinions on the subject. At the moment I have already 
> brought up the .... If you are going to start using poisons a lot, so are 
> the actors... which is a legitimate convern, so he is not likely to even 
> try this.... But I would rather make a more firm determination in this 
> case.
> 
> 							Dan
> 
> 
> Later,
> 
> Wright
> 
>