Alexander123
First Post
If any of you have read the Dragonlance series, I think there is a novel where a few of the heroes of the lance go on an adventure on the moon so it is not impossible.
Searing Light
- Thread starter Dandu
- Start date
Greenfield
Adventurer
http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/featherFall.htm
Well, several suggestions made so far have been depending on the idea that velocity is maintained, so let's continue to roll with that.
Feather Fall, as written, will slow your descent. It doesn't actually address what happens to lateral motion.
(Humorous note: In 4th Ed it doesn't actually slow you at all, it just lets you land safely.)
So how would one reliably describe a place that has absolutely no physical features, no reliable landmarks or reference points, absolutely nothing to distinguish it from anyplace else in space? Considering the literally infinite number of points in space that all look the same to the human eye, how would any description not qualify as "misleading"?
Just asking.
(Yeah, I know, I'm being a bastitch again. It's a hard habit to break.)
Greenfield
Adventurer
Ah. Thanks. I'd never really considered the various novelizations to be actual rules sources, but it's something to think about.
Greater Teleport to the moon would work. You have a reference point, landmarks. You even have a valid frame of reference so the DM can hand wave differences in orbital velocity.
As a note for the orbital platform folk: It doesn't take a knowledge of Plutonium to destroy the platform. All it takes is the ability to achieve orbal altitude, and a Force Cage.
The Force Cage is the legendary "immovable object" Your Death Star isn't the correspondingly "irresistible force". Think of the ugliest car crash you've ever seen, and expand it a few thousand times.
Dandu
First Post
Unless there's something in the air, you can fly around the skies like Superman for a while.
There's probably a spell that would hold you in place, but that solution seems to take care of things for now.
Alternate solution: You're actually on the planet. You have been carrying out your work in orbit via an Astral Projection.
I was talking about the moon. Quoting the part about you talking about a player who wanted to teleport to the moon.So how would one reliably describe a place that has absolutely no physical features, no reliable landmarks or reference points, absolutely nothing to distinguish it from anyplace else in space? Considering the literally infinite number of points in space that all look the same to the human eye, how would any description not qualify as "misleading"?
Just asking.
Last edited:
Greenfield
Adventurer
Would you care to try "flying like Superman" at 18,000 mph (geosynchronous orbital velocity) without Superman's invulnerability? All you do is become a lower altitude meteor show. You'd be torn to pieces by the wind, even if you had enough Fire Resistance to survive the heat.
So you grabbed and teleported a stone foundation via Astral Projection? Then somehow accelerated it to orbital velocity? And somehow managed to keep up with it long enough to cast all those Wall of Stone spells to convert it into an orbital platform, all from another plane? Have you looked at the movement rules for Astral space? It's driven by Intelligence, and a +14 isn't going to take you to the speeds you need.
Most of what you've proposed can't be cast across planes, so this one is a non-starter.
Have you considered this idea? Astral Projection to separate body from spirit, then Plane Shift to bring the spirit back to the Prime Material in a material form. Relatively cheap life insurance.
As for Overland Flight to orbital heights: Overland flight has a speed of 40 feet per round. That's about 4.5 mph, give or take a few decimal places. You're going several thousand miles, at least. Let's play with 22,500 (Geosynchronous orbit) instead of 231,000 (Moon at Perigee), just to be nice.
You need to stay flying, and awake, 5,000 hours, which is 208.33 days, or a bit more than eight months.
Oh wait, double that, since you climb at half speed. Lends a whole new meaning to the phrase "fall asleep", doesn't it?
And Overland Flying to the moon? Multiply 10, to keep things simple.
Consider a Carpet of Flying instead. Same speed, 800 lb carrying capacity for the largest one, and it never has to rest, even if you do. It can even respond to commands given when you aren't on it, so long as it's within the sound of your voice. And we'll ignore the problem about the "sound of your voice" having a zero range in the vacuum of space.
It's still going to take you years each way to even start creating a master weapon that can be destroyed with a slingshot.
Oh, agreed, you could Greater Teleport to the moon. I thought I already agreed with that idea. It was popping into a point in empty space that I objected to.
Dandu
First Post
Didn't you acknowledge the plan to use Masachoism and a means of surviving large amounts/infinite damage as being "well played"?
Yes, that was exactly what I was implying when I said that the caster was carrying out his work through an astral projection.
Greenfield
Adventurer
Does Masochism actually allow you to survive infinite damage? I'm not that familiar with it, and to be honest, I thought you were joking.
As for Astral Projection then transiting back to Prime Material as a way to get a spare body: Wouldn't Similacrum do the same thing? Then use Magic Jar to possess your own double, and away you go at full power. And you wouldn't go leaving that nasty silver cord around, just waiting to be cut.
And, no matter which body you're in, you still face exactly the same basic problems in achieving orbital height and velocity.
Additional curiousity: Fabricate lets you convert 20 cubic feet of sand, caustic soda and silver into mirror. It doesn't say it lets you bypass this limit to create multiple mirror segments, then join them together. Each segment would then become new "raw materials" for the next Fabricate spell needed to join them, and you're over your volume limit at the start.
So the idea of crafting a single huge mirror is out. It simply can't be done, at least not by Fabricate. At 1/2 inch thickness you get 960 square feet. That's a shade over a 30x30 mirror, which while quite respectable (and actually structurally sound in a free fall environment) is well short of being "the size of Delaware". It isn't even enough to make a good solar power plant, in fact.
BTW: Do you know why we don't use glass mirrors on orbital solar power panels? We can make them survive the launch, but we can't make them survive the stress caused by temperature extremes. Direct sunlight and black shadow, with no atmosphere to help buffer or distribute the heat differential makes them shatter like a dropped Christmas tree ornament. And the larger they are, the greater the total expansion and contraction, and the more easily they break. That's why we use polished aluminum reflectors.
If only Aluminum existed in a non-industrial world like D&D. But it doesn't.
As for Astral Projection then transiting back to Prime Material as a way to get a spare body: Wouldn't Similacrum do the same thing? Then use Magic Jar to possess your own double, and away you go at full power. And you wouldn't go leaving that nasty silver cord around, just waiting to be cut.
And, no matter which body you're in, you still face exactly the same basic problems in achieving orbital height and velocity.
Additional curiousity: Fabricate lets you convert 20 cubic feet of sand, caustic soda and silver into mirror. It doesn't say it lets you bypass this limit to create multiple mirror segments, then join them together. Each segment would then become new "raw materials" for the next Fabricate spell needed to join them, and you're over your volume limit at the start.
So the idea of crafting a single huge mirror is out. It simply can't be done, at least not by Fabricate. At 1/2 inch thickness you get 960 square feet. That's a shade over a 30x30 mirror, which while quite respectable (and actually structurally sound in a free fall environment) is well short of being "the size of Delaware". It isn't even enough to make a good solar power plant, in fact.
BTW: Do you know why we don't use glass mirrors on orbital solar power panels? We can make them survive the launch, but we can't make them survive the stress caused by temperature extremes. Direct sunlight and black shadow, with no atmosphere to help buffer or distribute the heat differential makes them shatter like a dropped Christmas tree ornament. And the larger they are, the greater the total expansion and contraction, and the more easily they break. That's why we use polished aluminum reflectors.
If only Aluminum existed in a non-industrial world like D&D. But it doesn't.
At .0006" thick, you could create a circular mirror about 200' across. Time to enslave some Gnomish mathematicians!
Alexander123
First Post
I question the wisdom and sanity of the creators of such spells as sadism, masochism, consumptive field etc. etc.
You could just persist Sadism and go on a killing spree.
There is no such thing as a world like D&D, there are many settings within D&D, some industrial (Eberron), some non-industrial. (Dragonlance)
You could just persist Sadism and go on a killing spree.
There is no such thing as a world like D&D, there are many settings within D&D, some industrial (Eberron), some non-industrial. (Dragonlance)
