You're looking at Less Wrong's discussion board. This includes all posts, including those that haven't been promoted to the front page yet. For more information, see About Less Wrong.

Phigment comments on Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality discussion thread, February 2015, chapter 111 - Less Wrong Discussion

3 Post author: b_sen 25 February 2015 06:52PM

You are viewing a comment permalink. View the original post to see all comments and the full post content.

Comments (173)

You are viewing a single comment's thread. Show more comments above.

Comment author: Phigment 25 February 2015 07:24:07PM *  5 points [-]

This is a completely excellent suggestion.

Dumbledore, knowing that Harry was an expected pawn in Voldemort's plans, just booby-traps all the personal possessions that Voldemort would logically want to deprive Harry of, like the cloak, his wand, his pouch, his time-turner, Hermione's corpse...

In the same vein, booby-trap the Philosopher's stone. Coat it in a fine layer of contact poison, so that anyone who managed to retrieve it from the mirror and handled it with bare skin would get whammied. Then, if you actually win, wear gloves.

Comment author: Alsadius 25 February 2015 08:43:49PM 0 points [-]

Is poison really a good attack against someone who holds the Philosopher's Stone?

Comment author: Phigment 25 February 2015 09:04:04PM 2 points [-]

Depends on the poison.

If it's something that prevents the poisoned person from noticing he has been poisoned, sure. Doesn't matter if you could fix the problem, if your brain has been prevented from realizing there IS a problem.

Alternately, if the "poison" is some sort of deleterious transfiguration effect upon the subject, which the stone will immediately make permanent, it would be hilarious. Snape, at least, thinks this way. Remember his attempt spike Voldemort's resurrection components with LSD?

Comment author: linkhyrule5 25 February 2015 08:56:23PM 1 point [-]

It is if the poison's effect is to make the person a complete drooling moron.

Google Bahl's Stupefaction, and then Idiot Ball.