Lava - What is it?

[pawsplay]

There's a spell (from Frostburn, of course!) called flash-freeze (p. 94) that only affects earth, stone, and water so I'm contemplating whether to allow it to affect lava.

Unless the spell is forbidden from working on NOT-stone, then it would work. Lava is earth/stone, as well as fire. Therefore, it would affect it.

 

[darthkilmor]

Ditto The_Ditto.

The spell freezes a relatively small block of lava. Of course, if there is more lava around and underneath, that block won't remain frozen for very long at all.

Even better than that, it won't stay on the surface. Water is relatively unique in thats it solid form is less dense than its liquid form, hence it floats. A suddenly solid piece of stone on any lava greater than 1ft deep (thats how deep the spell effect..effects) would immediately sink into the lava.

Linky to Q and A about stone floating on lava (hint: it doesnt)

 

[Nail]

It's not a spell, it's a "Load-Bearing Boss". They are all over in movies.

I've never heard that phrase before. Interesting!

 

[lukelightning]

On the topic of lava; you know that people won't sink in lava? Molten rock is pretty much just as dense as regular rock (it would only be a tiny bit less dense); people would float in it.

And therein lies a problem. Ice floats in water because water is one of the very few substances which is denser in liquid form. A "frozen" block of lava (regular stone) wouldn't necessarily float in lava, and would certainly sink if someone stood on it.

 

[pawsplay]

On the topic of lava; you know that people won't sink in lava? Molten rock is still just as dense as regular rock; people would float in it.

Most things are less dense in liquid form, actually (water is an exception).

 

[Nail]

A suddenly solid piece of stone on any lava greater than 1ft deep (thats how deep the spell effect..effects) would immediately sink into the lava.

In case anyone's interested, I did my graduate work on measuring magma densities. The typical density of a basaltic magma (the black stuff!) is 2.1 g/cm3. The typical density of a rock formed from the basaltic magma is 2.6 g/cm3.

IOW: Rock formed from magma sinks in the magma....barring viscosity, surface tension, and convection effects, that is.

 

[RigaMortus2]

Give those options, I would go Fire. I would consider it Earth/Fire in terms of energy types.

 

[Arkhandus]

All earth, stone, and water in the spell's area is drained of heat. Earth, mud, and stone become everfrost and water freezes. You affect a 10-foot-square area to a depth of 1 foot. Magical, enchanted, dressed, or worked stone cannot be affected. Earth, stone, or water creatures are not affected.

Alright, so the portions of the lava that are Elemental Earth are frozen. The other half of the material, being Elemental Fire since this is D&D and magma is a paraelemental mix of the two in D&D, just continues to be insanely hot and superheats the frozen bits of elemental earth in an instant, quickly reabsorbing them into the molten mass of liquid lava.


Though, that said, since the spell says 'earth, stone, and water', and not simply 'earth and water' or the like, it seems clear to me that the designers' intent is that the use of these terms does not mean the broad elemental definitions of earth and water. In which case they mean earth as in dirt, soil, sand, etc. Which is why stone is also mentioned initially, as the spell also affects solid rock, not just the particulate bits of rock in soil. In which case, with these distinctions, I wouldn't expect it to function on molten, liquid stone, that being lava. It differentiates between loose earthen matter (earth and stone), and mud, and water, but does not mention other forms/states of earthen matter, so I would assume it does not work. Or, as above, it just works on the tiny, separate bits of stone amongst the lava, but only for the second or two that it takes for fire element in the mass to reheat those tiny bits of stone and re-liquify them as molten lava.

 

[lukelightning]

...Rock formed from magma sinks in the magma....barring viscosity, surface tension, and convection effects, that is.

You left of "magic", or did they not cover that in you university?

 

[IcyCool]

I've never heard that phrase before. Interesting!

I believe I got that particular label from "The Grand List of Console Role Playing Game Cliches", number 86. (Google Cache link)