Defense vs. Time Stop

[Jack Simth]

Defense against passwall: fortified walls. Passwall doesn't work through objects as hard or harder than metal. If you're primarily being assaulted in your headquarters then shame on you for not having exotic/hard materials for defensive walls. If you're rolling in money, time, and resources then you could do something crazy -- like have all your walls double-layered with walls of force sandwiched between them (I seem to recall something like this being in the Strongholder's Guidebook?)

...

Wall of Iron is almost perfect for that. 50 gp/pop, and as you're doing it for the metallic quality of "no passwall" rather than the hit points, you can do the double area for half-thickness thing, and simply plate everything. It has to be vertical and flat, so you can't do the roof and floor that way (or at least, not readily) but otherwise....hmm...

 

[cheshire_grin]

"but you will never get there, since there is no force that moves you through the Gate, only up to it, then it stops"

One thing you are forgeting is Newtons law of motion:

"things in motion stay in motion unless acted upon by an outside force."

This means that even it the reverse gravity effect stops at the gate, and normal gravity kicks in, MOMENTUM will carry the victims through the gate.

SO if they fall 3 feet upto the gate (and edge of reverse gravity) then they will keep traveling 3 up until normal gravity stops them.

If there is no other gravity to slow them down, then they will keep traveling up(but not accelerating).

Yeah, I was about to mention the same thing. One clarification: they will fall until their center of gravity reaches the same distance from the other side of the gate as it started from this side of the gate.

That is, if there was 3' between their head and the gate when they started falling upwards, they won't stop until they have passed all the way through the gate and then 3' further.

 

[ninja.assassin]

Yeah, I was about to mention the same thing. One clarification: they will fall until their center of gravity reaches the same distance from the other side of the gate as it started from this side of the gate.

That is, if there was 3' between their head and the gate when they started falling upwards, they won't stop until they have passed all the way through the gate and then 3' further.

Unless the area they are transferred to has abnormal gravity, a gate to the astral plane might be interesting since you can't easily move around their without something approximating flight and there is no gravity to stop your momentum.

Of course, this begs the question, does the gate spell actually transfer momentum? Teleport doesn't (because if it did a character teleporting from their garden onto the bow of, say, a fast moving pirate ship would take damage equal to getting rammed by the ship from the sudden momentum shift), so I could easily see a ruling either way.

 

[Elethiomel]

Of course, this begs the question, does the gate spell actually transfer momentum? Teleport doesn't (because if it did a character teleporting from their garden onto the bow of, say, a fast moving pirate ship would take damage equal to getting rammed by the ship from the sudden momentum shift), so I could easily see a ruling either way.

Not to mention the velocity difference of the ground at any two teleportation points significantly far from each other in relation to the planet's spin. But Gate and Teleport are two very different sorts of magic.

I would rule that the momentum you enter the Gate on from one side is the momentum you have out from the other side of the Gate, relative to the Gate on both ends.

 

[irdeggman]

Unless the area they are transferred to has abnormal gravity, a gate to the astral plane might be interesting since you can't easily move around their without something approximating flight and there is no gravity to stop your momentum.

Of course, this begs the question, does the gate spell actually transfer momentum? Teleport doesn't (because if it did a character teleporting from their garden onto the bow of, say, a fast moving pirate ship would take damage equal to getting rammed by the ship from the sudden momentum shift), so I could easily see a ruling either way.

Actually per the FAQ:

Does an object with momentum maintain that momentum if teleported?

Nothing in the rules suggests that the rules of physics wouldn’t continue to apply, so it appears that momentum is maintained. If you’re plummeting toward the ground when you
cast teleport to reach a safe spot, you’d still be “falling” and would therefore take damage as appropriate to the distance you actually fell before teleporting.

 

[Patryn of Elvenshae]

Actually per the FAQ:

... and that is one more straw in the stack of "Things the FAQ is Wrong / Stupid About."

 

[Nail]

... and that is one more straw in the stack of "Things the FAQ is Wrong / Stupid About."

The World is flat and doesn't move....problem solved!

 

[ninja.assassin]

Yeah, I generally agree with the FAQ, but not in that instance. Using a fifth level spell to avoid falling damage isn't that over powered so probably shouldn't be ruled against.