Re: Regular Day-Night - proposed SJ spell

On Thu, 24 Aug 2006, Dreamer wrote:

> As several poeople have pointed out, day and night also have a
> mystical and supernatural nature in the SJ universe, as well as
> whether you have light to grow your crops.
>
> Maybe the spell should be able to shift just a little to remain
> in sync with whatever is the local regular day-night cycle,
> whether it be shorter or longer.  Or, it should be 23hr to 25hr,
> to lock best to the natural pattern.
>
> As for small changes - this spell will not disrupt an existing
> 'natural' day - there would be far too much mystical and
> supernatural pressure to overcome.

Ehm. If you can't disrupt a natural day, then what is the point of the 
spell? I thought the sole purpose was to break the natural day and night 
cycle with something that is more convenient? Me confused.


> No smart ruler wants to depend on imported food.  SJ mostly runs

Sure, if you have a choice.

> on the pseudo-medieval setting of DnD, which means about two
> acres under cultivation per member of population (so I'm told),
> 90% of the population involved in food production, and very
> little in the way of fresh food storage.

Yeah, great ain't it, they can travel to other solar systems, they have 
magical control over the elements, and yet the idea of a fridge escapes 
them. *sigh* Summon ice elemental to keep the dwarven ale fresh, mate.

> Breeding plants to be able to take 14-days of light followed by
> 14-days of dark would be ... likely difficult.

Surely there'd be other planets with plants that live in conditions that 
are a closer match. Still, you got the idea.


> Yes, GM fiat will do.  But, the GM had better be ready with some
> answers when the players have the characters visit from somewhere
> like Maj - GM fudge can make pretty poor glue to hold a campaign
> together.

As long as the GM is consistent, I find GM fiat to work perfectly well.

> Please compare Control Weather - yes I looked at Daylight, etc. -
> and I think a Night spell would also be desirable - one doesn't
> exist, that I've seen.

Okay, I see where you're coming from. That is a powerful spell, and it 
compares better. Actually, tbh, I never understood how making light could 
be considered to compare to casting fireballs. I think Adam - was it Adam? 
- was right when he pointed out that daylight has effects on undead, etc.

So how about this: Remove your artificial restriction on day length. 
Instead, the spell works as desired in creating any day/night cycle the 
caster might set (up to the duration of the spell, and of course modified 
by metamagic feats). (KISS-principle)

However, since it is magic, the daylight will not negatively affect undead 
or other creatures that are normally harmed by it. It won't blind, hurt, 
whatever. The nights, likewise, are not so dark that a human would be 
helpless; say, about the brightness of a night of a full moon. The spell 
will not affect great temperature changes. The nights will be mild and not 
cold; the artificial days will be at best a little warmer than the nights 
they replace. The spell can't change the climate and it can't change the 
season. If you want additional weather effects, you can cast Control 
Weather.

Also, remove the flashy "night sky as desired" thing. It sounds cool, but 
it would imply that the entire area is covered in a magical dome. Instead, 
the spell simply blocks out the sunlight (or somehow warps space to 
provide sunlight). The result is that the sky during the day/night looks 
pretty much like a normal day/night in the region. If you want additional 
visual effects, cast normal illusion spells for them.

Now, the spell is much less useful in affecting game balance, but on the 
other hand it is universally usable.

I still don't like the whole idea much, but it's your world. :)


>> walls too (relatively easy in a lighter gravity), and you'd have many
>> small farms instead of huge fields, but that's okay in my eyes; it shows
>> you're on an alien world and not just outside Adventurersdale (and over
>> time, when enough light-spheres get enchanted, you COULD have huge
>> complexes of those farms too).
>
> You would need to have both Daylight and Night spells say on
> poles, then maybe have a 'clock' enchantment to control them.

Why? Cast the light on the sphere. Put sphere in bag. The light emitting 
from the sphere can't penetrate the bag. (it's light afterall.) Also works 
great on ships.


> Really, you want this to work outdoors, not just in caverns.

You do, I am perfectly happy with cave-farms. ;)

> Selene does not have lighter gravity - it has the standard SJ
> 'binary' gravity - 1G everywhere there is gravity, so you can't
> take advantage of that.

Okay, the guy with the variable gravity is me. ;) Sorry.



- Nils