D&D General Fantasy Equivalent of the Nuke

[Reynard]

I am a big fan of cold war espionage surrounding nuclear secrets -- mostly the real world stuff (but some fiction, too). I have long toyed with the idea of trying to create a fantasy campaign that fits embraces that genre, but I often get stuck on what the right equivalent of the bomb should be. Assuming D&D-isms (even if the game that I would use isn't strictly D&D), what do you think would make a good stand in for the nuclear weapon in such a scenario?

The one I keep going back to is dragon eggs. Like, the presumption is dragons are gone but eggs remain behind. Someone has figured out how to hatch them, though, and once hatched the dragons are loyal servants of the crown that hatched them(I am assuming some sort of "land magic" in the explanation). Also, these are not just dragons, but city buster dragons.

What do you think would make a good "nuclear weapon" equivalent in a D&D inspired fantasy setting? Remember, the pointof the thing is to drive espionage and fun spy action to try and acquire or preserve such secrets.

 

[Jack Daniel]

The deplorable word from The Chronicles of Narnia.

Alternatively, the killer joke from Monty Python.

 

[Mad_Jack]

Well, back in the old days, there was the possibility of the scry-and-die trick - using divination spells to remote-target cites with big area-effect spells like Earthquake or teleporting in some sort of plague vector...

I seem to recall that it used to be canon lore (or maybe it was in one of the video games) that either Waterdeep or maybe it was Neverwinter had laws preventing individuals from selling complete and accurate maps of the city for just that purpose.

 

[Oofta]

In my world it would be a bomb that contained crystallized aether in super concentrated form. Aether is the source of all magic and supernatural power. Set it off and you get a massive explosion of magical energy that primarily causes a sphere of destructive force anf fire damage over several square miles but also turns the surrounding area into a wild magic zone.

In other words, I just made a magical nuke when I had a similar idea. I ended up not using it yet, other than my DM notes that it's ancient magic that nearly destroyed the world once. Some people are try to recreate it.

 

[Cordwainer Fish]

The Ritual of Desecration.

 

[Mad_Jack]

I once did something similar to Oofta - but mine had the sole effect of turning any magic currently functioning in the blast area into a living spell. It was meant to be targeted against a magocracy or other high-magic nation - one of the kingdoms in the campaign world was essentially run by (although not actually ruled by) their society's spellcasters, who basically controlled the economy since so much of their infrastructure was magic-dependent.

 

[Reynard]

Necrobomb? Like, a massive bomb that not only kills everyone in the area but turns them into a hungry ghost/zombie/whatever at the same time?

 

[Mull Ponders]

It exists, the Twin Cataclysms: Baklunish-Suloise Wars - Greyhawk Wiki

Specifically, they were the Invoked Devastation and the Rain of Colorless Fire.

 

[humble minion]

A ring of wishes would do the job quite nicely, to be honest, especially in a world where very high-level magic is scarce. Make it a variant that can only grant destructive wishes, but will grant them sincerely and without twisting, if you like.

 

[tetrasodium]

The day of mourning in eberron is pretty much the result of a Hiroshima type thing nobody claimed responsibility for in eberron

edit: aimed->claimed

 

[gamerprinter]

Ever wonder what happens when you pull a portable hole out of a bag of holding? You get a rip in the fabric of reality, which can be 'nuclear', if you let it go unstopped...

 

[Reynard]

The day of mourning in eberron is pretty much the result of a Hiroshima type thing nobody aimed responsibility for in eberron

I think it is more of a Manhattan Project type thing gone all kinds of wrong. That's a bit different.

Importantly, though, if it's not reproducible it doesn't fill the niche.

 

[Reynard]

A ring of wishes would do the job quite nicely, to be honest, especially in a world where very high-level magic is scarce. Make it a variant that can only grant destructive wishes, but will grant them sincerely and without twisting, if you like.

That's interesting. What's the mechanism for making rings of wishes such that the information can be stolen?

EDIT: What's extra interesting about this is if the wishes aren't restricted to being destructive. A cold war of people trying to stop their rivals from creating a better/perfect world is a neat idea.

 

[Unwise]

Why not just use a nuke? A spell that can split an atom, destroy a cornerstone of existence and make a huge explosion as a result. It is the cutting edge of arcane science and only a few mecha-mages are even aware of the possibility. These mad scientists are now in very high demand. Cold War style extractions and kidnapping abound.
You require fantasy plutonium for it to work. Some kind of rare prismatic residuum. So you have the Cold War trope of tracking the rogue arms dealer selling plutonium to a rogue nation.

 

[TheLibrarian]

In Greyhawk lore there were the Baklunish and the Suloise empires. (The equivalent of the USSR and the US.) They were locked in a struggle that ended in The Twin Cataclysms: One nation cast The Invoked Devastation and the other used The Rain of Colorless Fire. Basically, they nuked each other.

Eberron lore has the cataclysm that created the Mournland out of the nation of Cyre which ended their equivalent of a world war. For some reason I seem to remember it was always foggy in the Mournland so it could be some kind of gas. Maybe vampyric gas!

The race to rediscover/recreate what cause those cataclysms could make for interesting espionage.

There's also always the ability to unlock some kind of Cthulhu-like entity that ends the world.

Really any kind of spell I suppose. But it wouldn't have to be a spell. The ability to forge stuff out of lighter, more durable metals like mithril could be a tipping point in world power. Not as dramatic as a big boom, but the ability to wield iron instead of bronze caused nations to fall in the real world.

Or weaponizing a tarrasque!

You could also use an actual nuke, although its a bit of a stretch. The old mod City of the Gods (as well as Expidition to the Barrier Peaks?) involved a crashed starship. Pathfinder has a something similar in its nation of Numeria. There's probably some kind of engine or missile or power source or something that factions could be racing toward that is a literal nuclear device.

 

[Reynard]

Why not just use a nuke? A spell that can split an atom, destroy a cornerstone of existence and make a huge explosion as a result. It is the cutting edge of arcane science and only a few mecha-mages are even aware of the possibility. These mad scientists are now in very high demand. Cold War style extractions and kidnapping abound.
You require fantasy plutonium for it to work. Some kind of rare prismatic residuum. So you have the Cold War trope of tracking the rogue arms dealer selling plutonium to a rogue nation.

Because if I just wanted nukes I would run a cold war technothriller?

 

[Bacon Bits]

Why not just use a nuke? A spell that can split an atom, destroy a cornerstone of existence and make a huge explosion as a result. It is the cutting edge of arcane science and only a few mecha-mages are even aware of the possibility. These mad scientists are now in very high demand. Cold War style extractions and kidnapping abound.
You require fantasy plutonium for it to work. Some kind of rare prismatic residuum. So you have the Cold War trope of tracking the rogue arms dealer selling plutonium to a rogue nation.

Because atoms as we known them don't exist. Everything on the prime planes is composed of a mixture the four base elements. Those things given the power of life and growth are animated by the power of the positive energy element, while those given the power of death and decay are animated by the power of the negative energy element.

 

[MoonSong]

MTG has the Silex, an artifact that when activated can decimate or even erradicate a plane. The strength of the blast depends on the user, and can go from nuking a small island to a huge explosion that causes a nuclear winter.

Spoiler

Specifically the user pours all of their emotions and experiences on it, the more intense the stronger the explosion.

 

[Umbran]

Time travel magic.

 

[Bill Zebub]

A ring of wishes would do the job quite nicely, to be honest, especially in a world where very high-level magic is scarce.

Especially in a world with a really evil DM.