Are there compasses in D&D?

[trancejeremy]

Well, a planet would probably need a magnetic field, because otherwise everyone would get irradiated. Well, depends how much cosmic radiation there is. In something like Planescape, in Sigil, probably none. (And I guess if the Spelljammer cosmology still applies, then that's not a problem, since everything is in a crystal sphere. But it probably doesn't anymore, since 3e)

And IIRC, the direction of the field would generally always be North/South roughly, if it's like our universe and was generated by a spinning core. Since that's the axis of the spin (it's not exactly because it's liquid, which sloshes around, and the earth also wobbles).

But of course, in a fantasy world (or even an science fiction one, like an artificial planet), the magnetic field could simply be because someone buried a really really big magnet in the planet. Or monopoles.

 

[Asmo]

I run a normal 3.5 Planescape game and one of my players tried buying a compass in the last session. I couldn't find prices for a compass in any of my books. I wouldn't have thought this was a more modern item. There's sextants & magnets in the typical D&D world, but no compass?

Weird, I was thinking about the same thing yesterday. In my case it was triggered by the cover of the Complete Adventurer. She has something hanging from her belt that looks like a primitive compass. It´s probably something else

Asmo

 

[Necrohazard]

I used to run the Plane Scape Campaign some years ago and I don’t believe that a compass does work out on the planes, for there really is not a true north or south on a given plane. The planes have there own laws that they go by and even the more normal planes don’t often go by the laws of the material plane. But I do seem to recall a planer device that worked something like a compass, but it was not really based off of the primes N, E, S, and W. , set up. If I get some time I may try and find out something more solid on the matter.

 

[Greylock]

Also, remember that most folks would use the stars as a way of reckoning distance and direction as well as familar landmarks too. Unless they were nomadic, most folks tended to stay in one place.

Survival five Ranks. Or play a Raptoran.

 

[Vrecknidj]

I would think a fairly low-level spell could accomplish the task of "find north," and so making a magical compass would be relatively cheap.

Dave

 

[drothgery]

I would think a fairly low-level spell could accomplish the task of "find north," and so making a magical compass would be relatively cheap.

Dave

Know Direction, Bard 0/Druid 0 does this.

 

[Sanackranib]

in a fantasy world a compass is even easier to have then in a low tech world. basically there are several low level spells that grant acces to "north" or a direction ie: locate object, true north etc. in a lot of the 3.0 or 3.5 books and supplements. you just use permenancy and place that spell in ny item with a needle or arrow. as I recall one such spell is actually cast on an arrow which when placed on the ground rotates to point north. these types of items would cost in the 50-500 gold range in my game depending on quality/accuracy if non magical. a magical version shouldnt be more then 1000 gold or so depending on spell level.

 

[Oryan77]

I used to run the Plane Scape Campaign some years ago and I don’t believe that a compass does work out on the planes, for there really is not a true north or south on a given plane.

Yeah, I just wanted to find a price on a compass to base my "planar compass" on, but I couldn't even find a normal compass in the books.

The compass would only work on the plane it was designed for. Instead of pointing in the directions of N/S/E/W, it would point to the direction of a well known landscapes. They would also be 3-Dimensional depending on which plane it was made for.

But when I couldn't find a compass in the books, I wondered if even a normal compass was too high tech for D&D.

 

[Linus Lennox]

in a fantasy world a compass is even easier to have then in a low tech world. basically there are several low level spells that grant acces to "north" or a direction ie: locate object, true north etc. in a lot of the 3.0 or 3.5 books and supplements. you just use permenancy and place that spell in ny item with a needle or arrow.

This in turn raises interesting Eberron-type questions about the integration between magic and technology in various campaign settings. MAkes perfect sense, but something about it says "Harry Potter!!!!" to me, and the grognard in me rejects it. One reason I don't like Eberron, I guess.

 

[Whizbang Dustyboots]

Compasses sell for 50g in Praemal (the world of Ptolus), which is entering a dark age and technology is being forgotten. That's probably an appropriate price for something so simple.