Clock spell and GPS Spell?

[Chaldfont]

Has anyone seen a spell that reveals the exact time of day and/or date? How about a spell that gives your precise location (latitude & longitude or the D&D equivalent)?

I thought I'd make cheap magic items replicating a watch and a GPS unit for Eberron. It sounds like something that would fit right in.

If I had to create the spells myself, I think I'd make the "clock" spell a 0 level divination. But the "GPS" spell might have to be higher level. With a precise map, you would never get lost. This sounds like 1st or 2nd level divination magic to me (as it would essentially be something like a +5 bonus to Survival checks to take 10 and beat a DC 15).

This leads me to another idea. How about a magical map that shows your exact location?

 

[Kerrick]

I've got one called Timekeeper - L1 spell. Gives you the exact time of day, and (for one minute/level) keeps track of elapsed time - handy for spell effects and such.

I've thought about doing a "GPS"-type spell, but I couldn't think of anything that wouldn't be hideously broken (i.e., the PCs get teleported and they don't know where they are - cast the GPS!). I also though about the map, but how many characters carry around tons of maps? Might still be useful in a limited sense - say, you have a huge dungeon and the creator made a series of maps so that he wouldn't get lost...

 

[index]

GURPS does this

Chaldfont wrote:

> Has anyone seen a spell that reveals the exact time of day and/or
> date? How about a spell that gives your precise location (latitude &
> longitude or the D&D equivalent)?

In the real world, navigation drove the development of truly
accurate timepieces.

Latitude is easy to check every night unless the stars are
obscured. If your calendar is accurate, you can also check
it at local noon.

Longitude was always more difficult until accurate clocks
were developed. Then you could compare local time (based on
sunrise and sunset, or based on noon) with time back home
where you set the clock.

> I thought I'd make cheap magic items replicating a watch and a GPS
> unit for Eberron. It sounds like something that would fit right in.

Don't make it too easy. Remember that GPS depends on
external 'beacons' - the GPS satellites. Before GPS,
navigation was usually based on various different radio
beacons scattered in various places around the globe. LORAN
is still used as a GPS backup in critical systems such as
airplane navigation. Inertial navigation was and still is
used as a backup, but it's not really accurate enough for
one-shot-one-kill artillery. Before all of these was dead
reckoning, star readings for latitude, and clocks for
longitude.

In GURPS, there's a spell to tell the time. I very quickly
wondered if that was 'local' time or time at a known point,
and decided that there were two different versions of the
spell, and that between the two, longitude was easy to
measure.

Assuming that you measure local noon accurately, a clock
that is one minute off will give you a longitude error of
four degrees. At Earth's equator, that's less than 300
miles, I think.

Another option, that more closely resembles LORAN, is to
cast several new fifth level spells at known locations to
set up beacons. (Make them permanent.) Then, anyone who
visits one of these beacons can later cast a 0-level spell
to tell which direction the beacon is in. Cast the 0-level
spell twice to narrow your location down to two choices, or
three times to narrow it down precisely. Since the
accuracy is unlikely to be near perfect, learn as many
beacons as you can, and back up your navigation with a
sextant and a good clock.

> If I had to create the spells myself, I think I'd make the "clock"
> spell a 0 level divination. But the "GPS" spell might have to be
> higher level. With a precise map, you would never get lost. This
> sounds like 1st or 2nd level divination magic to me (as it would
> essentially be something like a +5 bonus to Survival checks to take 10
> and beat a DC 15).

I assume you mean that with a precise map and a GPS spell you'd never
get lost? In the US Army, I was always painfully surprised by how
easily other soldiers could get lost during land navigation training.
(Good map to compare to the terrain features around you and a magnetic
compass, and supposedly you've measured off how many steps you take to
travel 100 meters.) I never got lost, of course.

I'm not sure why most D&D world don't have good maps. In 3e edition,
you could, on a clear day, look down from several miles high with
Clairvoyance and draw an accurate map. With the 3.5e nerfing of
Clairvoyance, this is no longer possible, but you can still Levitate
very high up and draw your map that way.

Most DMs still allow Scrying to be used to look from a
specific location rather than forcing you to pick a target
creature even though that's been officially nerfed, so
that's still an option for map making.

> This leads me to another idea. How about a magical map that shows your
> exact location?

Makes things too easy for the PCs. And for NPCs with
similar magitech. Are you thinking of the Marauder's Map
in Harry Potter? Wonderful, and I had much fun with such a
map in a GURPS game long before Harry Potter, but you need
to be prepared to have such an item become an extremely
important part of your game.

NPCs can and will kill each other and your PCs for such a
map. Even if it merely shows your exact location, with only
ten miles or so of zooming out, without showing any other
creatures, it would still be worth fighting over.

off-topic :
One thing that disappointed me about Eberron was the
mechanics for the Dragon Mark Houses. Considering the vast
utility of even low-level spells, I think a better way to
handle it would have been to let Dragon Marked people
develop 1st level in a spellcasting class very easily, with
initial spells depending on which House. I'm very
disappointed that they chose a new (feat-based) mechanic
instead of using a pre-existing mechanic.

(Above I've already shown how useful 0-level spells can be
for a large number of people with a 9th level ally or
ruler.)

--index

 

[index]

maps

Kerrick wrote:

> [....] but how many characters carry around tons of maps?
> Might still be useful in a limited sense - say, you have a huge
> dungeon and the creator made a series of maps so that he
> wouldn't get lost...

Most games I've played in had the usual horribly medieval
maps despite magic, so usually my characters MAKE good maps
and sell copies. In my last game, my Ranger/Wizard had one
book for his spells, one for his maps and journal, and three
books back home for previous maps and journals. Every time
he found a good library (not often), he was able to gain
access by letting them copy his journals and maps. (He kept
the sensitive information on removable pages expressly for
this purpose.)

I don't think the creator of a huge underground complex
would make maps to keep from getting lost -- he already
knows the place. However, if multiple people are
cooperating, then the probably WOULD make maps. Especially
if they want to be able to charge rent from new residents.

Why would anyone want to live underground? Near constant
temperature, controlled weather, easy to keep biting insects
out, with enough Continual Flame spells you can grow lots of
crops... Lots and lots of reasons. With a 2nd-level spell
(Soften Earth and Rock?) that makes digging solid rock easy,
and with the relative durability of underground homes, I
don't know why so many D&D houses are above ground.

(IMC, the reason there are a noticeable number of
underground complexes for delving is because the
above-ground cities of the Ancients have already been looted
or destroyed in wars. The Ancients built underground for
security (a few hundred meters of rock will stop a lot) and
obscurity (IMC, ten feet of rock will block all mid- and
low-level scrying).) Most of the 'dungeons' that people can
find are ancient military complexes, 'factories' (why spoil
the wilderness when you can build under it) and bomb
shelters from the manors of rich ancients. Abandoned mines
are not common as 'dungeons' IMC because I assume that
mining technology progresses somewhat like the real world,
so that people dig the same old mines over and over, using
previously bad ore. Most ancient 'dungeons' have not yet
been found IMC, but wizards with various excavation spells
have done the same over the past three thousand years, and
many of those complexes have been abandoned, then found by
others.)

--index