Re: Druid Spell - Beanstalk

In <URL:news:local.spelljam> on Thu 04 May, Adam Miller wrote:
> I'm WAY behind (100+ messages so) but I figured I'd
> toss out another of the spells I've been working on.
> 
> Beanstalk
> Transmutation 
> Level: Druid 4
> Components: V, S, M, DF
> Casting Time: 10 minutes
> Range: Touch
> Target: Special (see below)
> Duration: 1 hour/level
> Saving Throw: None
> Spell Resistance: No
> 
> You cause an enormous beanstalk to burst out of the
> ground and grow straight up to a height that it
> pierces the atmosphere of the planet.  A circular
> platform, 20 feet in diameter, is created under the
> feet of the caster, and is carried along with the
> beanstalk.  The platform remains perfectly level
> during the entire trip from a planet’s surface to low
> orbit.  The beanstalk grows at a rate of 80’ per round
> until it reaches wildspace or the caster commands it
> to stop growing.  On a standard terrestrial world, it
> would take about 8 hours to reach orbit.  The platform
> creates a bubble of air around it such that protects
> everyone on the platform from the effects of wind and
> thin air.  The beanstalk remains for one hour per
> level of the caster.  Once the spell ends, the
> beanstalk vanishes, stranding the anything on the
> platform in wildspace.  The Beanstalk spell is
> commonly used to travel from the surface of a planet
> to an awaiting ship in orbit.  The beanstalk can lift
> up to 200 lbs of material or passengers per level of
> the caster.
> 
> The beanstalk spell can also be destroyed by
> inflicting 100 points of damage to any single section
> of the beanstalk.  Each section grows with the plant,
> so a section at ground level will be 80’ in the air at
> the start of the next round.  The beanstalk has
> hardness 5.  Doing so ends the spell, causing it to
> vanish.  If the beanstalk has not reached full height,
> anyone on the platform falls back to the ground to
> suffer falling damage, as determined by the height
> they were at.
> 
> Material Components: Three beans.

I like it!

I'm not sure that it is only 4th, though.  At 7th this means you
can lift nearly two-thirds of a ton to orbit.  Would 5th be
better?

I assume that the duration of one hour per level is from the end
of the 8hrs that it takes the beanstalk to reach orbit. 
Otherwise a 7th level druid's spell doesn't last long enough to
get you to the top.

What do you mean by orbit?  There are lots of orbits possible. 
Do you mean high enough that drag from the residual atmosphere
will not pull you down too quickly?

I'm assuming that is 80 feet per round which is about 9 mph, so
your 'orbit' is 72 miles high.

Can you see a way this spell could be adapted to get things from
orbit to the ground?  You can bet people will ask this.

Is the air bubble self-renewing, or is the spell duration such
that this is not really relevant?

Do you see people wanting a magic item which produced an instant
one of these?

Or, a permanent one of these, that would grow to orbit, and
shrink again as instructed (I am not sure if a shrinking plant is
properly druidic)?

Could you use a Transport via Plants spell to step into the
beanstalk, say at the top, and then step out at the bottom, or
visa versa?  Maybe a Tree Stride spell would be good enough? 
Maybe a magic item that let you do this, maybe with another
person, or carrying a certain maximum weight?

-- 
Dreamer
dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk
http://www.romsys.demon.co.uk/