Is a ring of anti-magic field possible?

[Zerovoid]

I don't see why you can't have this item. Since the Antimagic Field spell doesn't instantly negate itself when cast, why do you think a ring would work that way? I don't think such a ring's Antimagic effect would dispel itself.

Is it balanced? Probably not, but that's why the item creation rules in the DMG need DM adjudication.

 

[Destil]

Two antimagic fields have no effect on each other. An antimagic ring could be powered by 'antimagic' rather than magic, it would be an antimagical item, and this not affected by magic, sort of like psionics (thought not the core psionics, the variant rules).

That's one way it would be plasuable, at least.

 

[Steverooo]

FTL

Anyone else remember the recent ado about one of Beetoven's symphonies being transmitted faster than light?

When a photon travels, its path is highly mobile, and it doesn't even remain a photon over the whole course. It changes into other particles, moving randomly.

The experimenters "speeded up light", transmitting the signal (IIRC) 4.5x C by passing the signal between two metal plates which were so close together that an electron could not be formed between them. By disallowing the photon to become electrons, the transmission of the information was made at greater than light speed!

So what?

So maybe magic (which we know is supposed to come from the Positive and Negative Material Planes) can be blocked by interposing some sort of whatsits (plates, needles, super-sub-micro-spheres, whatever) in a tiny, regular pattern too small to affect matter, but just big enough to prevent "mana particles" from forming...

Or then again, perhaps magic works by forming micro-wormholes to the Positive/Negative Material Plane, whereas an Anti-Magic Shell creates a field (anchored only at the edges) which prevents the formation of micro-wormholes...

I love to have PCs overhear Clerics, Mages, and Druids debating the current magical theories on such things! I do the same thing with scientists, in Sci-Fi games!

I have a "Ring of Ultimate Mundanity" in my games, though. It doesn't negate magic, it just creates a thin "film" around the wearer, disallowing magic to pass through it. Thus, the wearer can use his magic items, potions, cast spells on himself, and even be affected by weapons which penetrate the field, but can't cast spells at others, nor be affected by theirs.

Almost always, the first time a PC uses one, they forget to take it off before the Cleric heals them... This usually leads to consternation, but occassionally to confusion: "Huh? What do you mean the spell does nothing?" Sooner or later, they figure out that the ring has to be taken off!

As for the "Ring of Anti-Magic Field", there is no good reason why it cannot exist as a permanent magic item, if you like... It continuously casts Anti-Magic Field, WHEN IT OPERATES. Naturally, it suspends operation inside such a field, but upon leaving, casts another one...

Interestingly enough, tracking someone wearing one of these would be pretty easy, with a Detect Magic spell, as even "background radiation" of magic would be missing, for the duration of the Field spell!

If you want one in your games, go for it!

 

[Bastoche]

I wouldn't allow it.

I would allow someone to try and use a Ring of Spell Storing for that though.

The reason I wouldn't allow it is simple: what mage is going to hand such a ring over to anyone. Most mages wish the spell was never created, it makes them so helpless. Now you want one to create a ring that would allow any country bumpkin with a sword to shut down their magic?

Not likely to happen.

Any wizard with a 8 wisdom ability score would be "wise" enough to make one.

 

[Bastoche]

Re: FTL

Anyone else remember the recent ado about one of Beetoven's symphonies being transmitted faster than light?

When a photon travels, its path is highly mobile, and it doesn't even remain a photon over the whole course. It changes into other particles, moving randomly.

The experimenters "speeded up light", transmitting the signal (IIRC) 4.5x C by passing the signal between two metal plates which were so close together that an electron could not be formed between them. By disallowing the photon to become electrons, the transmission of the information was made at greater than light speed!

So what?

As a physicist myself I say "?!?!!?!?!?". Where did you get that "credible" information ? Photon turning into random particles?!?! WTF? I haven't heard of that experiment. This looks bogus in the best cases. You gotta love those reporters

 

[Victim]

A wizard might build some with a secret "off switch" that the he could activate. Then the wizard equips his elite minion and sends him off to kill the wizard's rivals.

A wizard might create one if they fear attacks from more powerful spellcasters. They might not be able to have the spell ready all the time, so they put it in an item for easy access.

A cleric might create one. He can still take out many enemies with just his combat skills, and the AMF is high enough level that he might not always want to prepare it. Similarly, a fighter mage type might create such a ring. Against pure spellcasters, they activate the field and start hacking, but against more mundane enemies, they can probably gain the advantage with their own magic abilities.

It looks like the by the book cost is 132k. While the ring is powerful, Antimagic has inherent drawbacks. The cost is probably pretty close.

 

[Sixchan]

Re: Re: FTL

As a physicist myself I say "?!?!!?!?!?". Where did you get that "credible" information ? Photon turning into random particles?!?! WTF? I haven't heard of that experiment. This looks bogus in the best cases. You gotta love those reporters

Maybe it was a misinterpretaion of the thing sbout Photons and other particles being both a wave and a particle, so a Photon particle sort of doesn't stay a particle, since it's a wave at the same time.

 

[Bastoche]

Re: Re: Re: FTL

Maybe it was a misinterpretaion of the thing sbout Photons and other particles being both a wave and a particle, so a Photon particle sort of doesn't stay a particle, since it's a wave at the same time.

Sorry for making the thread slip off topic but:

We can't measure an electron's size so small it is. Therefore it's more or less impossible to place two metal plate closer than an electron size. Without saying that it doesn't makes sense at all (since you would have to take many "metal particles" closer to one another than an electron diameter). An electron could not be formed ? Formed from what ? Photon to become an electron ??? Highly mobile path ? It's more than just a wave-particle duality misinterpretation... The whole paragraph didn't make any sense...

It's not magic, it's physics

 

[Galfridus]

Heh, this reminds of the old "Ring of Gaseous Form"...putting on the ring turns you gaseous until you remove it. With Model 1, the ring immediately falls off (since you are gasous, remember?). With Model 2, the ring has been "upgraded" to turn gaseous with you...making it rather hard to take it off.

 

[Cygnus]

There is no paradox for the spell. The spell is cast and a sphere is formed. The sphere is a barrier that prevents the operation of magic within. This isn't the only nonparadox answer, but it works well enough. The barrier can only last for a bit, so at the end of the spell duration, it goes away. I don't really know why an antimagic ring wouldn't work under the same concept. Perhaps for the field to stay in place, using "an Antimagic Ring" rather than a ring of spell storing, there must be a conduit from the ring to the functioning area of the effect, which would be impossible from within the antimagic field.