Can a Tornado on land cross a river ?

Diabolists, Techno-Wizards & Psionicists, Oh my! All things that are Magics and Psionics in all Palladium Games.

Moderators: Immortals, Supreme Beings, Old Ones

Lenwen

Can a Tornado on land cross a river ?

Unread post by Lenwen »

Can a Tornado on land cross a river ?

OR not ?
User avatar
drewkitty ~..~
Monk
Posts: 17782
Joined: Sat Sep 30, 2000 1:01 am
Location: Eastvale, calif
Contact:

Re: Can a Tornado on land cross a river ?

Unread post by drewkitty ~..~ »

yes it can.

however, while over the river it turns into a waterspout.
May you be blessed with the ability to change course when you are off the mark.
Each question should be give the canon answer 1st, then you can proclaim your house rules.
Reading and writing (literacy) is how people on BBS interact.
User avatar
Lord Z
Hero
Posts: 1513
Joined: Fri Jan 02, 2009 12:53 am
Comment: Court of Tarot author
Location: Saint Augustine, FL, U.S.A.

Re: Can a Tornado on land cross a river ?

Unread post by Lord Z »

Correct, the major difference between a tornado and a waterspout is surface over which it is passing. A tornado could pass from land, over a body of water, and back to land again. Thus it turns from a tornado to a waterspout and then back to a tornado. Semantically, it could be argued that when a tornado passes over water, it isn't a tornado anymore.

If your GM said that your tornado can't pass over a river, you should just accept it. Your GM is doing the best that he or she can and should not be expected to know everything.
Currently recruiting for Beyond the Supernatural games in 2019 which I am running on Discord: voice, text, and play-by-post. Here is the non-expiring server invite link: 418BQSLG

“All would be well. All would be heavenly— If the damned would only stay damned.”
-- Charles Fort, The Book of the Damned, 1913
User avatar
Nekira Sudacne
Monk
Posts: 15608
Joined: Sun Oct 19, 2003 7:22 pm
Comment: The Munchkin Fairy
Location: 2nd Degree Black Belt of Post Fu
Contact:

Re: Can a Tornado on land cross a river ?

Unread post by Nekira Sudacne »

Lord Z wrote:Correct, the major difference between a tornado and a waterspout is surface over which it is passing. A tornado could pass from land, over a body of water, and back to land again. Thus it turns from a tornado to a waterspout and then back to a tornado. Semantically, it could be argued that when a tornado passes over water, it isn't a tornado anymore.

If your GM said that your tornado can't pass over a river, you should just accept it. Your GM is doing the best that he or she can and should not be expected to know everything.


Not logically. That the exsact same thing has a different name depending on it's location dosn't make it something else. it's like saying summon and control rats dosn't work in mexico because there they're called "Rata"
Sometimes, you're like a beacon of light in the darkness, giving me some hope for humankind. ~ Killer Cyborg

You can have something done good, fast and cheap. If you want it done good and fast, it's not going to be cheap. If you want it done fast and cheap it won't be good. If you want something done good and cheap it won't be done fast. ~ Dark Brandon
User avatar
taalismn
Priest
Posts: 48662
Joined: Tue Sep 02, 2003 8:19 pm
Location: Somewhere between Heaven, Hell, and New England

Re: Can a Tornado on land cross a river ?

Unread post by taalismn »

I'd think that a magically-conjured tornado should have no problems jumping a river.
-------------
"Trouble rather the Tiger in his Lair,
Than the Sage among his Books,
For all the Empires and Kingdoms,
The Armies and Works that you hold Dear,
Are to him but the Playthings of the Moment,
To be turned over with the Flick of a Finger,
And the Turning of a Page"

--------Rudyard Kipling
------------
User avatar
The Beast
Demon Lord Extraordinaire
Posts: 5959
Joined: Sun Apr 03, 2005 3:28 pm
Comment: You probably think this comment is about you, don't you?
Location: Apocrypha

Re: Can a Tornado on land cross a river ?

Unread post by The Beast »

drewkitty ~..~ wrote:however, while over the river it turns into a waterspout.


Are you sure that applies when they're crossing rivers? I'd agree if it's crossing a river the size of the Mississippi, but what about narrower ones?
User avatar
glitterboy2098
Rifts® Trivia Master
Posts: 13547
Joined: Wed Aug 06, 2003 3:37 pm
Location: Missouri
Contact:

Re: Can a Tornado on land cross a river ?

Unread post by glitterboy2098 »

The Beast wrote:
drewkitty ~..~ wrote:however, while over the river it turns into a waterspout.


Are you sure that applies when they're crossing rivers? I'd agree if it's crossing a river the size of the Mississippi, but what about narrower ones?


yep. all a waterspout is is a tornado that's sucking up water. usually the term is used to refer to tornado's that show up over really large bodies of water, like oceans or the great lakes. very rarely does it show up in reference to rivers or smaller bodies of water., usually because those tend to quickly pass over onto land.

the two terms refer to exactly the same phenomenon.
Author of Rifts: Deep Frontier (Rifter 70)
Author of Rifts:Scandinavia (current project)
Image
* All fantasy should have a solid base in reality.
* Good sense about trivialities is better than nonsense about things that matter.

-Max Beerbohm
Visit my Website
Locked

Return to “Guild of Magic & Psionics”