Flashing Lights

[wmasters]

OK, so I'm trying to make a magical lighthouse for an adventure, so I'm hoping EN Worlders can help me out with what I'm having problems with. Essentially I've got a nice tall tower with a hole in the wall pointing out to sea and a continual flame (or a series of continual flames) in the chamber pointing out of the tower.

What I'm wondering is whether it's possible to make them flash. Either by magic and switching them on and off, or with a revolving panel blocking the light in the same way that a lighthouse has a reflector.

I figure something like Permanent Image might serve to do this, although the effect isn't that large. Anyone have any ideas?

 

[Thanee]

I would just use a brighter light, like a permanent Daylight (has to be researched).

Bye
Thanee

 

[Question]

Sure just say whoever has access to the lighthouse controls can turn the light on or off at will.

 

[cmanos]

and remember, real world, ancient lighthouses did not have the fire 'blinking'. It was mainly a beacon for sailors.

 

[Rkhet]

Get a fan in front of your light. Cast a Permanent Gust of Wind. It'll blink on and off.

In fact, since it's windy on the seas, you might even get the effect without magic at all.

 

[wmasters]

and remember, real world, ancient lighthouses did not have the fire 'blinking'. It was mainly a beacon for sailors.

I think they did, having just looked on wikipedia, it looks like it used to be a clockwork device with someone having to turn a winch or something as often as every 2 hours. Presumably this was so that when you're looking at it from the sea you can distinguish the lighthouse light from the stars easily.

I'm looking for a low-level option, so that the spell can be fairly easily dispelled. I think I might just have a green Continual Flame spell cast; possibly requiring some metamagic, that I'm not sure exists, to make it green instead of a normal flame colour. That would make it fairly easily distinguishable from starlight and remove the need to have it flashing.

 

[Vorput]

Oo, the spell you want is in the spell compendium.

It's a 3rd level sorc/wiz spell, 4th level cleric called glowing orb. It creates a permanent glowing orb, which sends light anywhere between a 5 to 60 foot radius (or able to be turned off). It can be controlled mentally by any creature with an int or wis score higher than... 12 I think**

My wizard just made some for the party, and stuck them in Metal tubes... as per a typical flashlight- only it never needs batteries and can be controlled with your mind!

I also gave them a cool name, and enchanted them with various wonderous abilities... but that's neither here nor there.

Vorp

In this case, you could either make it more powerful or else get a bunch of them cast... it requires a glass orb of 50 gp value IIRC.

 

[wmasters]

Hmm... glowing orb looks cool, that means I can leave a large broken glass orb in the lighthouse rather than dispelling any magic. That would mean that I could have a wizard make it flash at will; it shouldn't need terribly advanced version of the spell researched to just make it do that, or several should do the trick to make a brighter light.

Alternatively, I could have a zombie under instructions to push a sheet of metal hung on girders around in a big circle to cover and uncover the light making it flash that way; perhaps that's a little sinister for a lighthouse though.

 

[Vorput]

Alternatively, I could have a zombie under instructions to push a sheet of metal hung on girders around in a big circle to cover and uncover the light making it flash that way; perhaps that's a little sinister for a lighthouse though.

Zombies: Fun and Useful!

 

[Dannyalcatraz]

A waterclock mechanism could easily fill the role of the zombie, with a simple cowl that raises & lowers over the Continual Flame as the gears progress to create the "blink."

All the keeper need do is keep the waterclock's resevoir filled.