What happens to all that positive energy?

[Starglim]

Energy cannot be destroyed, but it can be converted into another form. When positive energy is drawn into the material realm, it transforms to a different energy: call it serpent power or the force of dragon's blood. Hence the increase of half-dragons and sorcerers.

 

[Thurbane]

 

[LightPhoenix]

I mean, duh. You're doing something with the energy, you're not spraying it around like out of a garden hose or something.

Well, some spells aside...

If you really want to get technical, in the case of CLW, positive energy probably converts ADP to ATP, thus energizing many molecules for use in the healing process. Positive energy is converted into potential energy, rapidly converted into kinetic energy.

 

[Cheiromancer]

[Sblock=Originally posted by Celebrim]Knowledge (Arcane): DC 14

Positive Energy is extremely unstable on the prime. It has a very very short 'half-life', and it almost immediately breaks down much like unstable high energy 'strange matter' in our own universe.

Most often, positive energy experiences a process called cascade where seemingly at random quantum of positive energy immediately transform themselves into four atoms of positive quasi-elementals - electricity, radiance, mineral, and mist atoms - through a process called meta-crystallization. What encourages a particular qauntum of positive energy to transform into a particular combination of atoms is not well understood. These atoms proceed to shed energy in the form of motion and secondary energization of the surrounding matter, eventually transforming into air, fire, earth, and water atoms and transforming and recombinging briefly into various paraelementals (and in the presence of negative energy deteriorating further still). This process is very rapid and defies detailed study because the strata which can be used to record the motion of the cascade also appears to influence the meta-crystallization process through a process called 'templating'. In other words, lab experiments which can record the passage of positive energy (typically in glass, ice, or with gemstones) generally have no bearing on what will happen in a different situation. What is known is that in the presence of living tissue the meta-crystallization process appears to be guided by the orderly pathways of the tissue to repair breaks or tears in the tissue, restore missing tissue, and to infuse the tissue with the orderly motion we refer to as 'life'. The template onto which this crystallization occurs is referred to as the 'tree of life' and is the process of much study - and no small amount of reverence by those of a more naturalistic bent.

In addition to speed, one of the big problems with studying positive energy in real world situations is the extremely small scale over which individual atom cascades operate. Examining these cycles requires extremely powerful divination technique to enhance microscopic vision and transformative magic to slow the passage of time. Both of these abilities are far outside the powers of all but the most advanced archmages. This further slows the study in that these figures are often justifiably paranoid about gaurding thier secrets from thier rivals, and often leave only the most obscure and difficult to obtain records of thier experiments.

The ability to control positive energy is the 'holy grail' of arcane magic; it is speculated that improved control of positive and negative energy would allow arcane spellcasters to duplicate the effects of any divine spellcaster. So far research into this area has prove quite difficult, though thus far - through Necromancy - arcane spell casters have had much more success controlling negative energy than positive energy. Some arcane spellcasters, and in fact probably the majority of all Necromancers, believe the good aligned gods are deliberately thwarting research into positive energy control in order to selfishly maintain a monopoly on the power themselves, forcing mortals to worship them. Still, despite this research into positive energy control continues apace in the hopes that somehow some caster will coax the secrets of life from the universe.[/sblock]
DC 14? What does a DC 20 Knowledge (Arcana) check look like?

(j/k. A very impressive piece of bafflegab, Celebrim.)

 

[Henrix]

Since energy can't be destroyed, what happens to it?

You are confusing the physicist's term energy with the D&D term energy. They sound the same, but have very little in common.

In D&D terms acid, fire, sonic, etc, are energies. They can be destroyed, easily, and are not everlasting.
Fire is the D&D energy that is perhaps closest to physicist energy (heat). Yet a fire is generally easy to put out - light a match and pour some water on it if you don't believe me. The "fire" is destroyed, but the energy is transformed into other forms - slightly warmer water, for instance.

That said, positive energy might be indestructable in your game. In such case an area where a cleric had turned undead would be inimical to undead ever after (unless the energy dissipates somehow).

 

[Celebrim]

DC 14? What does a DC 20 Knowledge (Arcana) check look like?

(j/k. A very impressive piece of bafflegab, Celebrim.)

You wouldn't be able to understand it. Assume it would look something like a published physics paper on quantum mechanics, only that you would be reading it from the perspective of someone who doesn't know anything about physics. Actually, above about DC 16, I'd have a hard time making stuff up and even when I did, I woldn't understand it either. It's not like I actually have ranks in knowledge (arcane) either. Fortunately, anyone that has ever asked gets bored with the explanation long before then.

 

[Celebrim]

Fire is the D&D energy that is perhaps closest to physicist energy (heat).

Unfortunately, even this isn't true. In D&D, 'fire' is a material object made up of fire atoms. When something gets hot in D&D, it actually gets more massive. (It does not however get heavier. I leave the explanation for this up to the interested student.)

Yet a fire is generally easy to put out a light a match and pour some water on it if you don't believe me. The "fire" is destroyed, but the energy is transformed into other forms - slightly warmer water, for instance.

This is actually closer to the truth, but not exactly. When fire is added directly to water, or vica versa, they mutually annihilate (they are opposing elements on the elemental table) and release positive and negative elemental energy (slightly more positive than negative, but also slightly less positive energy than was required to produce the fire and water atoms in the first place). The negative elemental energy and the positive elemental energy then quickly annihilate each other producing secondary cascades that are for these purposes irrelevant. Eventually the negative elemental energy is completely consumed by the excess positive. But since the net positive energy has decreased the net energy of the 'water + fire' system has decreased. The positive energy then recombines with the remaining water (fire is the lightest of 4 elementals and thus most easily destroyed) to produced quasielemental mist, and templates on the environment to produce cascades of (most typically) fire and water.

Note that this violates all sorts of things we'd think of in this universe as the 'laws of physics'. For example, mass and energy have been destroyed. The net mass and energy of the fire + water system is slightly less than before.

This is one of the reasons why you can't just mix up gunpowder in a D&D and expect it to work just because that's how gunpowder is made in this universe.

 

[tensen]

Were one able to stop all the healing in the world, one would kill all the undead....

joe b.

Wait.. so in the modern worlds we'd have more undead around if only we could find more of the faith healers that weren't charlatans? Neat!!!

 

[GreatLemur]

Hence the increase of half-dragons and sorcerers.

I would think you'd blame the dragons for that.

In D&D terms acid, fire, sonic, etc, are energies.

Yeah, that's always been pretty hilarious.

 

[GSHamster]

Where do you think all the undead come from?

Every time you cast a healing spell, somewhere in the world a zombie or skeleton arises from the dead. More powerful heals bring forth more powerful undead.

All things have a price. Is the price worth paying?