Re: list of short questions

>From: smu anonymous <sxoa@?????.com>

>Heres a list of small questions I have, most of them concern crystal
>spheres

To preface this, I have always assumed that crystal spheres don't actually
exist.  They are simply the boundry line of the "real", and "passing
through" a crystal sphere is actually passing into a primordial chaos that
exists outside of reality.  The phlogiston is only "on the other side" of
the crystal sphere in a very metaphorical sense.

That said, here's how *I* would answer these questions.

>What happens when a sphere of annihilation runs up against a crystal
>sphere?  (i.e. something that destroys anything is brought to use against
>the indestructable)

The sphere of annihilation can only destroy things that exist - it can't cut
a hole through the limit of existence.  So the sphere of annihilation simply
halts, and cannot progress any further.  (Alternatly, the sphere of
annihilation could rebound from the surface of the crystal sphere in a
random direction and travel its full movement for a round before coming back
under control.)

>Glue probably can't  to a crystal sphere, right?  A suction cup would I'm
>guessing and so would sovereign glue I would think but what are other
>peoples thoughts on that?

A suction cup *might*.  I wouldn't allow sovereign glue to work, though.

>What happens if you stretch a portable hole across a portal to the
>phlogiston?  (i.e half is in the flow and half isn't.  Can you only access
>half the extradimensional space?

I'd rule that you could reach in through the portion "inside" a crystal
sphere, assuming that portion is big enough to fit through.

>How thick is a crystal sphere anyways?  Does it vary from sphere to sphere?

It has no thickness.  It's an event, not a thing.

>When a portal through a crystal sphere closes does it cut through things or
>does it just expel the matter to one side?  What would happen if you tried
>to hold open a portal with a wall of force?

If I remember the Lorebook of the Void correctly, it just throws the item
out on whichever side most of the mass happens to be.  That's probably what
I would do anyway, even if it doesn't say that.

And I doubt you cold hold a portal open with a wall of force, any more than
you could hold a gate to the Abyss open with a wall of force.

>Can someone with the Use Magic Device skill from 3rd edition emulate a Thri
>Kreen and use a crystal throne?  I'd say yes, but it seems a might too
>good.

I can't think of a technical reason why not.  But I think I'd require the
skill check every time the player tried to do something new with the ship
the throne is mounted on (like turn, or change speed), and for every hour of
piloting.

Richard Gant
"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that
English is about as pure as a cribhouse whore. We don't just borrow words;
on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them
unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
     -James Nicoll

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