Sunday, October 24, 2010

/tg/ Thread

This morning, I stared a thread where I roleplayed the arcanist Lunhed answering the community's questions. Here I have the results of that thread:

Lunhed: Arcana researcher here. Ask me a question about magic, and I'll answer it. (DnD 3.5 only, please)

Q: How to make a portal? You know, one way in, one way out
A: Apply force to create a bridge made of the boundary between planes. Quite routine, actually.

Q: Animate Dead requires a gem worth 25 gp per hit die of the dead creature. How does a wizard or sorcerer figure out how many hit dice the creature had? How can a gem be worth 25 gp, when it will be worth a different amount depending on the location in the world? What happens if I cast Magic Jar with the Chain Spell metamagic?
A: We look it up in a book. And we pick gems by weight and type. Gems are mostly valued for their magic. People only use gems for jewelry because they are so expensive. [Edit: I never answered his last question. A chained magic jar would fail due to having an illegal target]

Q: Ok, let's see how you deal with this (even if I'm pretty sure it gets more in fluff point of view than crunch...so DM fiat 'n stuff):
Let's presume that I've got a PC/NPC/whatever, that is able to cast the spell "Disguise Self", that is shorter than one feet (through shrink person, normal height, or whatever). Let's say, that with Change self, that person will decide to reduce his apparent height to 0,000001 inches/cm (it doesn't really matter). Is he effectively invisible at that point to human eye? What happens, if he's 9 inches tall, and wants to look 1 foot shorter?
A: A very good question. Yes, they would be effectively invisible for most purposes, although an especially keen eye could spot them. Anyone shorter that a foot could not reduce their apparent size to zero, but they could get as close as they would like.

Q: What spell could accurately depict the old, fairy tale "Turn into a frog until the prince kisses you" spell? Or would that fall under wish?
A: Greater Bestow Curse, I'd say. And permanency for good measure.

Q: Why do you think magic is so common recently? I could understand it being common for, say, castles, where an paranoid king may want protection from everything, but alot of the time, magic is displayed without cost beyond MP. Also, what do you think of the idea of Book Casting and alternative magics that need enchanted items and the ability to use them rather than learning magics yourself, such as Rune Casting and Enchanted Tomes?
A: Magic is becoming more accessible ever since they started those adept training courses. And while I feel that an understanding of magical principles are necessary to do it safely, an increase of the availability of magic will increase the standard of living and prevent undue suffering.

Q: Sorcerers and Wizards, I don't understand, though it may be for not having been in contact with it for a while, I thought that Sorcerers Shaped magic, while wizards used recipes, much like an comparison to picking a couple vegetables or hunting small prey and eating them to making an full hearty meal that is slightly hard to do, but certainly fulfilling. Am I missing something? Also, if true, does this mean that an sorcerer could POSSIBLY create an 'recipe', if not by accident?
A: Sorcerers practice magic through gut instinct, wizards through careful application of basic principles. They can both make new spells, but wizards can teach others how to do it.

Q: What classes and level are you?
A: Whisper Gnome Wizard 4 Archivist 3 Mystic Theurge 7 [This dialog is a little meta, but whatever]

Anon: You got hosed with whoever gave you advice on how to level. If you'd been my apprentice, I would have shown you how to get into Mystic Theurge two levels sooner!
Lunhed: I followed in my father's footsteps. Mother was always against it; she wanted me to go to artificer college like my brother.
Anon: Your mother was right. Your brother is most likely walking around in power armor with a super-gun, and you're at what? 6th level spells max? You could have been a contender!
Lunhed: He's gone. Dispater has him.
Anon: Who has him?
Lunhed: He sold his soul to the Iron Duke Dispater, Lord of the Second Layer of Baator in exchange for power. He took his soul immediately.

Q: You have been mocked several times for your build and your usage of class, but I would like to know, has it been worth it? Even after mocked by your mother, and loss of your brother, is the trail you blaze the path that you like?
A: Yes. I get to travel a lot, in order to train people in the ways of the adept and spread my faith. So many nomad communities have thanked me for helping them receive the knowledge they need to survive better in the wild. I've seen beautiful sunsets and wondrous landmarks. If I could live my life again, I wouldn't change anything

All in all, it was a good thread. I might do another one sometime. Amd please, I need your questions, so send them to DnDCheistry@gmail.com

Friday, October 22, 2010

Hello and Welcome

Hello, I'm Chris and I'll be using this blog to answer questions on exactly how things work in Dungeons and Dragons 3.5 Edition. I will be giving special attention to the functioning of spells, supernatural abilities (Including magic-like systems, like psionics or incarnum), and the planes. If you have any questions you want answer, send me an email at DnDChemistry@gmail.com. The following is the chemistry system, the basis of all that occurs in the Dungeons and Dragons world, from dog to drake, spice to spell, goat to god:

Chemistry

Chemistry is the science concerned with the composition, behavior, structure, and properties of matter, as well as the changes it undergoes during chemical reactions. Chemistry began as a rigorous discipline only a few decades ago, when Lunhed Ettinhaal, a mystic theurge and cleric of Nebelun, did a series of experiments that provided support for his energy-matter typing theory.

Sub-Disciplines

Arcane chemistry: The study of the physical properties of spells, rituals, invocations, prayers, evocations, and magical objects; the fine structure of their effects; and the roles material components and focuses play.
Mundane chemistry: The study of non-magical substances, and the non-magical components of magical substances and objects.
- Organic chemistry: The study of the chemicals used by, in, and on non-elemental living and undead creatures.
- Elemental life chemistry: The study of the chemicals used by, in, and on elementals.
- Sub-molecular chemistry: The study of the basic elemental particles, positive, negative, fire, water, earth, and air.
  - Aggregate chemistry: The study of heteromolecules, compounds containing three or more different elements.

Basic Concepts

Matter is comprised of a combination of elements. There are 6 different elements: Positive, Negative, Fire, Water, Earth, and Air. These elements exist in the form of spherical particles. These particles emit a field of force that pushes and pulls on nearby elemental particles. These particles can then be positioned so their relative distance is constant. Such an arrangement is called a bond. Particles tend to repeal as they approach each other, until they reach the bonding distance. If they are pushed together further one of three things can happen.

If they are the same element, the particle will combine into a bigger particle.
If they are opposing elements (air opposes earth, fire opposes water, positive opposes negative), they will annihilate, creating force, and either disappear or have the excess remain.
Otherwise, it will require more and more force to bring them together and the particles will never touch.

Each particle comes in different sizes; the size and element influences the bond strength, the amount of energy it takes to separate two bonded particle. Some sizes are stable, some sizes are metastable, and some sizes are unstable.

If a particle is a stable size, it takes energy to break it down.
If it is a metastable size, it can be apart of a compound, but will split if it doesn’t have enough bonds.
If it is an unstable size, it will split into smaller particles spontaneously.

Properties

Positive and negative particles are the lightest. They tend to form many bonds with each other, creating a lattice of positive or negative particles.
Fire particles tend to be lighter, so fire-containing compounds are less dense. It tends to readily bond with other elements.
Water particles bond loosely, allowing molecules to flow past each other.
Earth particles make really strong bonds; earthen things tend to be either very strong or brittle due to inflexibility.
Air particles like to have only one bonds, and the bond is weak. Air compounds are volatile and tend to react with most things when heated.
Opposing elements rarely bond with each other, and when they do, they is always a third type of element present. For example, fire, water, and negative particles of roughly the same size arranged in a triangle forms soda ash, a common detergent.
Quasi-elemental compounds are compounds that contain either positive or negative particles and exactly one other type of particle. Para-elemental compounds are compounds that contain exactly two different types of particle and aren't quasi-elemental compounds.

Table: Para- and Quasi-Elemental Types

	Positive	Negative	Fire	Water	Earth	Air
Positive	----	----	Radiance	Steam	Mineral	Lightning
Negative	----	----	Ash	Salt	Dust	Vacuum
Fire	Radiance	Ash	----	----	Magma	Smoke
Water	Steam	Salt	----	----	Ooze	Ice
Earth	Mineral	Dust	Magma	Ooze	----	----
Air	Lightning	Vacuum	Smoke	Ice	----	----