New Special properties

[Cheiromancer]

I would like to propose a few special properties useful for defining planes:

No Air: Winged creatures cannot fly without a medium. Creatures capable of magical flight or levitation can move normally. Creatures who need to breathe will have to hold their breathe in a no-air environment. Speech and hearing is impossible; spells with verbal components cannot be cast, and sonic damage is negated. Odors are undetectable; the Scent ability is useless. Normal fires cannot exist, though magical fire functions normally. There is no wind or weather in a no air environment. Created vapors or clouds dissipate in one round.

No metabolism: All living things are effectively objects here. Creatures do not need to eat, drink or breathe. Nor do creatures age. Diseases neither heal nor worsen; poisons are inert for as long as they remain in a no metabolism plane. Death attacks do not function, and level or ability drains are ineffective. Attacks which require a fortitude saving throw are only effective if they also affect objects.

Warm: The ambient temperature is above 90 degrees Fahrenheit (see DMG 86).

Hot: The ambient temperature is above 110 degrees Fahrenheit (see DMG 86).

Chilly: The ambient temperature is below 40degrees Fahrenheit (see DMG 86).

Cold: The ambient temperature is below 0 degrees Fahrenheit (see DMG 86).

Thin air: Creatures who need to breathe suffer the effects of Lack of Air/High Altitude (DMG 88).

Smoky: Environmental conditions include heavy smoke )DMG 89).

 

[Telgian]

Cool.

Any thoughts on what would happen, say on an elemental plane of water with the "no gravity" property?
I've been struggling with this one. If the plane is a "space" then there are boundries for the water, would there be any form of pressure exerted then?
This seem more your area of expertise than mine.

Thoughts?

Regards,
Telgian.

 

[ax0n]

Notes on Special Properties

Before we begin this I'd like to point out a couple of things about special properties:

• The pre-defined special properties are not supposed to be an exhaustive list, merely a list of those special properties most likely to be used. Really, when you say you are creating new special properties, you are creating new predefined special properties.
• Special properties should always be flexible and, more importantly, customisable - that is, they should always include methods of customizing them to a GM/cosmolgist's needs.
• Special properties are not supposed to be realistic. That is not to say that realism is not wanted, just that realism should not be the predominant design focus. Fun and ease of use should always be the main design focus.
• Special properties should also be succinct.
  [/list=a]
  So, for example, your excellent rules for gravity are too long to be put into one special property. It would be better if you created a shorter version for a special property, and put the rest into a a side-bar or foot-note with details for more complicated rules on gravity.
  
  Similarly, your 'No Metabolism' special property is similar to the 'No Time' special property. Also, how often would it be used in plane creation? Its remit is fairly limited, so do you think it has a broad enough use to put in the predefined properties list?
  
  I like the idea of using the DMG environment properties for the various environmental 'types'. Remember, we can't reference the DMG so perhaps we should just copy the environment 'types' from the SRD?

 

[Cheiromancer]

We can't reference the DMG? That's odd. I would have thought that WotC would want to ensure that people are using their products. A DMG page number does that, a verbatim quote from the SRD doesn't. But if that's the way they want it, I'm fine with it.

Can you change your environment if the no-time special condition applies? Or is it like trying to affect something while you are in a Time-Stop and they are in a Temporal Stasis? Can you get fatigued or exhausted? Can you regain spells?

What I was thinking of was to grant the immunities of undead and constructs to all animate creatures in a certain plane. As kind of a short-hand for rules interpretations. A "land of the dead" might have this property, or any plane which is eternal, but not static.

I agree with your points, especially c and d, but I am not yet quite sure how to apply it to high gravity. The thing I didn't like about the rules as originally presented was that three high gravity increments would immobilize a PC (two if they were a dwarf), but would not significantly hamper their physical ability scores.

Maybe your rules but each increment takes off 10% of the base movement rate? (Talk about a minor change! Changing 10' to a 10% )

 

[ax0n]

We can't reference the DMG? That's odd. I would have thought that WotC would want to ensure that people are using their products.

Well, you can reference the DMG, but its a complicated matter, like all things d20/OGL. First of all, you can't use WotC trademarks unless you have a licence to do so. The d20 licence allows provisions to reference the DMG, but we're not using it as the price is too steep (i.e. my soul ). Under the OGL I believe you can reference core rulebook I and so forth, but I think its simpler just to rip the material from the 'safe' SRD and use that, refering to the 'core rules' where absolutely necesary.

I agree with your points, especially c and d, but I am not yet quite sure how to apply it to high gravity. The thing I didn't like about the rules as originally presented was that three high gravity increments would immobilize a PC (two if they were a dwarf), but would not significantly hamper their physical ability scores.

I totally agree that the high/low gravity rules are limited, and what I suggest is we use your rules. If you could write a simplified version for a special property, and an advanced version as some sort of aside/side bar that would be the best of both worlds. Also, you need to release all your material using the PA and with a Statement of Authority to Contribute. You can do that to this list as long as you publish it along side a Statement.

 

[KChagga]

Any thoughts on what would happen, say on an elemental plane of water with the "no gravity" property?
I've been struggling with this one. If the plane is a "space" then there are boundries for the water, would there be any form of pressure exerted then?

Telgian

I believe that yes you could feel pressure. The water being in a bound space allows it to have a pressure without gravity.

Let's have an example. On earth we feel 14.7 pounds per square inch of pressure due to the weight of the air above us. You say,"But that's due to gravity!" and you are correct, but the earth's atmosphere is an unbound region. If you get in a space craft and fly into space you still feel pressure(hopefully unless you want to be scraped off the walls). The pressure is due to the fact that the inside of the craft is a bound region with a certain amount of air in it.

The elemental plane of water if it is bound and has no gravity could have pressure. The pressure comes from trying to squeeze in that last amount of water into your space. With the bound region gravity adds an up direction. You would be able to sense up and down and the pressure would increase or decrease accordingly. With no gravity there is no discernable up or down and not only that the pressure would be mostly constant(minding things like vortices adding or taking water away making regions of high or low pressure. Also things like portals, bags of holding, and portable holes would create whirlpools.)
Assume you have an infinite plane with no boundries. Then your water will just disperse without a force like gravity to make it clump up.

I believe the stereotypical elemental plane of water would be a bound infinite plane with gravity.

Hope this helps. I knew that BSME would come in handy sometime

 

[glaucon]

Well, you can reference the DMG, but its a complicated matter

I guess it depends on what you want to reference; if you take a look at the d20 SystemGuide, particularily at "Defined Game Terms", if I'm interpreting the legalese properly, you are free to use those terms....

 

[ax0n]

if you take a look at the d20 SystemGuide, particularily at "Defined Game Terms", if I'm interpreting the legalese properly, you are free to use those terms

But you're only allowed to use those terms if you are using the d20 licence. Unforuntately we aren't using the d20 licence, just the OGL.

 

[glaucon]

D'OH!

Excellent point.

Hmmm... now where was that eraser...

 

[Telgian]

KChagga:

Thanks, that helps a lot.
You confirmed what I suspected might be the result, but in much more concrete terms than I would have been able to come up with. Glad to have folks around with a better grounding in the sciences than me.

Regards.
Telgian.