VirgilCaine
First Post
mir said:
It also means cities don't have to worry about having enough water for all of their people and animals. One decanter can easily support a metropolis easily.
civic magic items
- Thread starter mir
- Start date
It also means cities don't have to worry about having enough water for all of their people and animals. One decanter can easily support a metropolis easily.
Nifft
Penguin Herder
Anyone worried about a Decanter flooding the world: just get your city some Ring Gates, hang them (behind grates) along the local canal / sewer / etc. and shut waste-water above a certain line directly into the Abyss.
(This would also explain why so many icky things are hiding in the typical city's sewer system...)
-- N
(This would also explain why so many icky things are hiding in the typical city's sewer system...)
-- N
WayneLigon
Adventurer
I have one campaign centered in a large desert city. They have five double-strength Decanters of Endless Water, one at each major gate, powering a large fountain. That section of the city uses the fountain for it's main drinking and washing water. There is also a Decanter of Endless Wine in one courtyard; the wine it produces is drinkable but not very good.
Thanks for all the responses so far. I can’t believe some of the items I missed from my quick glance at the DMG (how could I have forgotten the lyre of building?!) Here are a couple of other (cursed) items a state could find useful:
Robe of Powerlessness: how else are you going to force all those criminal high level wizards to stay in jail?
Amulet of Inescapable Location: makes for the magical equivalent of those ankle braclets they make parolees wear.
For non cursed items:
The town guard could get a lot of mileage out of a chime of opening.
Somebody who owned a Rod of Metal and Mineral Detection would be a very popular guy in a minnng town. Saving minners hours of back braking, dangerous work.
A Ring of Sustence costs less than two suits of full plate, and in return you never have to eat and only have to sleep 2 hours a night. Messengers, kights on crusade, and all sorts of other people would find both of those features well worth the price.
Robe of Powerlessness: how else are you going to force all those criminal high level wizards to stay in jail?
Amulet of Inescapable Location: makes for the magical equivalent of those ankle braclets they make parolees wear.
For non cursed items:
The town guard could get a lot of mileage out of a chime of opening.
Somebody who owned a Rod of Metal and Mineral Detection would be a very popular guy in a minnng town. Saving minners hours of back braking, dangerous work.
A Ring of Sustence costs less than two suits of full plate, and in return you never have to eat and only have to sleep 2 hours a night. Messengers, kights on crusade, and all sorts of other people would find both of those features well worth the price.
The Edge
First Post
Ive forgoten the name, but imagine several sets of those dimensional rings used to hold up a floating palace or other interesting building.
Heres what you'd do;
set down several of the ring portal things with their counterparts set up on a tall scaffholding or tempory structure(bigger versions of the rings would work even better).
Construct a building around them and lower down strong suports through the portals, held firmly by the surrounding building (which could be part of the palace, or some other place anywhere within range).
Working on the 'suports' from the scaffhold build your special building 'hanging' from them. Build up, down, where ever; as long as the frame can take the weight. Use another person sized portal for access. Demolish the old saffhold and just float.
With this you could build all sorts of amazeing structures. I also just realised that the rings would have to be levitated or something similar, but because thats just the weight of the rings and not the whole building, no problem.
There might be a catch, Id have to check the item.
Heres what you'd do;
set down several of the ring portal things with their counterparts set up on a tall scaffholding or tempory structure(bigger versions of the rings would work even better).
Construct a building around them and lower down strong suports through the portals, held firmly by the surrounding building (which could be part of the palace, or some other place anywhere within range).
Working on the 'suports' from the scaffhold build your special building 'hanging' from them. Build up, down, where ever; as long as the frame can take the weight. Use another person sized portal for access. Demolish the old saffhold and just float.
With this you could build all sorts of amazeing structures. I also just realised that the rings would have to be levitated or something similar, but because thats just the weight of the rings and not the whole building, no problem.
There might be a catch, Id have to check the item.
Sturtevant
First Post
Certainly alot of magic items and spells would have a great effect on the average city. But the expense of things like enough Sovereign Glue to glue a building wouldn't make it cheaper. Build a dam with a wall of force, and there are lots of ways (not just Dispel Magic from a passing troublesome/evil caster) that it could end in disaster.
But sure, even in a magic-poor campaign, items will have an interesting effect.
Sturt
But sure, even in a magic-poor campaign, items will have an interesting effect.
Sturt
Sigurd
First Post
I'm surprised no one has mentioned the societal effect of:
raise dead & resurrect - just think Kennedy might _still_ be president
almost perfect desease healing - Dont really know what it was but the clerics zapped it.
Fabricate
Undead labour force - we don't know anything about 3rd world labour, would we know if they were undead?
sigurd
raise dead & resurrect - just think Kennedy might _still_ be president
almost perfect desease healing - Dont really know what it was but the clerics zapped it.
Fabricate
Undead labour force - we don't know anything about 3rd world labour, would we know if they were undead?
sigurd
Thornir Alekeg
Albatross!
Lanterns of Revealing at gates or entrances.
Ring Gates for messengers
Ring Gates for messengers
DreadPirateMurphy
Explorer
Well, think about it this way.
Hunter-gatherers settle into villages and towns when agriculture produces a better yield than hunting and gathering. Lots of inventions at that point are about feeding yourself and/or your community -- writing, wheels, roads, plows, horse collars, etc. Anything that produces food/drink, processes it, or sends it on its way are going to be of great use to any society. These items may be used indirectly to this purpose. A Decanter of Endless Water or three allows a nation to grow crops on otherwise marginal land, for example.
Agriculture allows folks to specialize into craftsmen, priests, warriors, etc. Magical tools and weapons are going to be big on the list.
With nations and empires, you need to project power. The easiest way for the Romans to do this was to build a massive network of roads. D&D civs have magic portals for the same purpose. Portals are also safer, because you can turn them OFF. Anybody can use a road.
Keeping order in a large society requires laws, courts, and police. Mercy weapons that do nonlethal damage, gems of true seeing, zones of truth, etc., will all be hugely useful.
People have already touched on the whole construction capabilities. Keep in mind that one of the reasons to build huge monuments and such is to KEEP PEOPLE EMPLOYED. Instead of works getting done faster, some of them will just become more amazing and grandiose in scope. Fast construction will be reserved for fortresses and such.
Any medical technology will be critical. Human societies in the real world have been periodically ravaged by plague, typhus, small pox, and other diseases. Some societies have been wiped out completely. A Wand of Cure Disease is enough to change the course of history (just zap the carriers with the wand when the signs first start to show).
Any king or emperor with any sense is going to have a clone, or a ready-to-go resurrection option. Even in lower-magic areas, raise dead is only a 5th-level spell. Any assassin will have some option for trapping the target's soul, or at least destroying a body. Otherwise, death is just an inconvenience.
I think the best way to develop a unique feel is to try and think through the nuances of magic, rather than just apeing modern inventions in a medieval setting. Modern technology has a number of limitations (conservation of energy, square-cube law, limitations of materials, speed of light) that magic does not have. Don't create an imp-powered vacuum cleaner...create a room that disintegrates anything smaller than 1/8 inch that hits the floor.
Hunter-gatherers settle into villages and towns when agriculture produces a better yield than hunting and gathering. Lots of inventions at that point are about feeding yourself and/or your community -- writing, wheels, roads, plows, horse collars, etc. Anything that produces food/drink, processes it, or sends it on its way are going to be of great use to any society. These items may be used indirectly to this purpose. A Decanter of Endless Water or three allows a nation to grow crops on otherwise marginal land, for example.
Agriculture allows folks to specialize into craftsmen, priests, warriors, etc. Magical tools and weapons are going to be big on the list.
With nations and empires, you need to project power. The easiest way for the Romans to do this was to build a massive network of roads. D&D civs have magic portals for the same purpose. Portals are also safer, because you can turn them OFF. Anybody can use a road.
Keeping order in a large society requires laws, courts, and police. Mercy weapons that do nonlethal damage, gems of true seeing, zones of truth, etc., will all be hugely useful.
People have already touched on the whole construction capabilities. Keep in mind that one of the reasons to build huge monuments and such is to KEEP PEOPLE EMPLOYED. Instead of works getting done faster, some of them will just become more amazing and grandiose in scope. Fast construction will be reserved for fortresses and such.
Any medical technology will be critical. Human societies in the real world have been periodically ravaged by plague, typhus, small pox, and other diseases. Some societies have been wiped out completely. A Wand of Cure Disease is enough to change the course of history (just zap the carriers with the wand when the signs first start to show).
Any king or emperor with any sense is going to have a clone, or a ready-to-go resurrection option. Even in lower-magic areas, raise dead is only a 5th-level spell. Any assassin will have some option for trapping the target's soul, or at least destroying a body. Otherwise, death is just an inconvenience.
I think the best way to develop a unique feel is to try and think through the nuances of magic, rather than just apeing modern inventions in a medieval setting. Modern technology has a number of limitations (conservation of energy, square-cube law, limitations of materials, speed of light) that magic does not have. Don't create an imp-powered vacuum cleaner...create a room that disintegrates anything smaller than 1/8 inch that hits the floor.
I prefer to think that Decanters don't just create water from scratch - they draw water from the environment in some fairly large radius.WayneLigon said:
So if you use so many decanters that some of the water actually flows out of the area, or use them for irrigation, thereby causing increased evaporation of what was previously groundwater... the surrounding area will actually turn *more* arid over time, and once the place has been turned into a desesrt, the decanters themselves will start to run out of water.
Excellent premise for a lost civilization!
![:]](http://www.enworld.org/forum/images/smilies/devious.png "Devious :]")
