The Baghdad Battery

[Quickleaf]

A cattle fence?? Eek!

I'm going for a middle-magic feel, with only the holiest figures in a church possessing divine spellcasting abilities. And since sorcery is usually viewed as wicked, that effectively drops the number of spellcasters to a handful.

The PCs are mistaken for saviors (think "life of brian"), and have ample opportunities to debunk the priesthood or other so-called saints. They'll be especially convincing with their vast magical power...

 

[tarchon]

Ironically enough, that was another theory they had on Mythbusters...that the Battery was used to cause "religious experiences", exactly as you describe.

There's no reason why it wouldn't work...though, it's possible that RW ancients were a lot more impressed by an electrical tingle than D&D characters would be, in a world where magic can have *much* more impressive effects.

You'd have to have at least a dozen or two of them in series to get any real tingle. The 1 volt or so potential one of those can generate doesn't produce much of a sensation even on the tongue.

 

[Tonguez]

I've come across the battery before and though of incorporating it to make 'lightning spear' type taser

There is an Egyptian stelae which seems to depict a 'tesla' coil which some have theorised was used by priest to create 'lightning bolts' which were actually harmless static discharges (which are impressive enough)

Of course along the same lines there is also a theory that the Ark of the Covenant was a big electrical generator too

 

[Hand of Evil]

They just pissed on it for a cheap thrill

There are a number of things like this in history.

 

[The_Fan]

I was worried this thing had been lost in the looting.

There's also the possibility that it was meant to be a device like Leonardo da Vinci envisioned that would have held a papyrus scroll and, if opened improperly, destroyed it with vinegar.

 

[kenobi65]

You'd have to have at least a dozen or two of them in series to get any real tingle. The 1 volt or so potential one of those can generate doesn't produce much of a sensation even on the tongue.

Yup; on Mythbusters, I believe they had a dozen of them linked up in series...and even then, it was just a tingle. A noticeable tingle, but just a tingle.

 

[SWBaxter]

Yeah, Arthur C. Clark was talking about how the greeks had steam power technology and understood gears and such at the same time as the "Battery" was around.

Before then, in all likelihood - the first steam engine dates from the 1st century AD (invented by Heron of Alexandria), and Greek engineers had been working with steam as much as 250 years earlier than that. But to say they "had steam power technology" is a bit of an overstatement - Heron's device, the aeolipile, was a novelty that wouldn't have generated much power, and it doesn't appear that anyone thought to try. In part, this is because at the time most civilizations had slave-based economies, and labour-saving devices would actually have destabilized society by putting slaves out of work.

The Greeks also had a pretty decent understanding of static electricity, but again there was no real impetus to refine that knowledge into practical inventions. So the world could have been a very different place if they'd kicked off the industrial revolution more than 1500 years early, but OTOH it would have to have been a different place before then in order for that to occur. Everything's linked.

BTW, Heron also built coin-operated vending machines, automated puppet theatres, and various other cool things. He's also supposed to have designed a machine gun(!), but never built it due to lack of materials.

 

[Quickleaf]

I was worried this thing had been lost in the looting.

There's also the possibility that it was meant to be a device like Leonardo da Vinci envisioned that would have held a papyrus scroll and, if opened improperly, destroyed it with vinegar.

Hey, I like this idea! *yoink* A fantasy version could basically be a trap with some sort of puzzle/code on the outside of the scroll jug, which, if improperly done, results in acidic vinegar destroying the scroll. (see below)

I also wonder what a society with access to electric fish/eels would use the up to 300V that could be generated by the eel for. Electric fish appear to mostly be used as a pain-killer by being applied to the feet. But that's at a lower voltage. How do you control the voltage of an electric eel? Hmm...

Scroll Jug (can you think of a cooler name?)
Designed to protect important documents from tampering, the scroll jug is a simple clay vessel with a circular opening at the top. It is filled with acidic vinegar. Then a copper tube containing the papyrus scroll itself (wrapped around an iron rod), is sunk into the vinegar, and the device is capped. The device is capped with asphalt such that the iron rod sticks out slightly through the top. When opened improperly, the vinegard pours into the copper tube, thus eating away at the scroll in a matter of seconds.
How to properly open it: ??? A DC 15 Knowledge (Engineering) check discovers how to properly open the jug.
Crafting a scroll jug: A DC 15 Craft (Alchemy) check is required to make one of these jugs. The base cost is 2 gp.
Breaking it open: (Hardness 2, Hit points 3) This approach might work. If done with a controlled strike which doesn't damage the copper tube, or simply puncturing a hole in the jar, all the vinegar solution drains out. Thereby disabling the trap.
Basic Scroll Trap: CR 1; mechanical; touch trigger (improperly opening); manual reset; Special: The scroll must make a DC 20 Fortitude save or be destroyed in 2 rounds (after 1st round 50% legible, after 2nd round completely dissolved); Search DC 20; Disable Device DC 20. Market price: 2 gp.