Re: New Spell: Endless Atmosphere

--- Dreamer <dreamer@??????.?????.??.uk> wrote:

> I think Autumn can get a lot of people like that... 
> Assuming your problem was climate related! [grin]

Naw, work-related. :p  Basically I'm stuck working on
the one system NOBODY else wants ;)


> I don't want to imply any authority to the spell -
> it was just one of the new spells we hacked together
> for 3rdEd SJ, earlier this year:

NP, I was looking for similar air-creating spells to
use as a starting point.


> The spell Create Air (0th or 1st) cast at 18th gives
> you a maximum of 10 refreshed personal air
> envelopes, which we calculated was about 20
> man-hours of air.
> 
> If your spell did the equivalent of one of those
> every round then it would keep air fresh for 12,000
> people, assuming my mental sums are correct!

Sounds reasonable.  That's the type of numbers I was
thinking about.  Hmmm, one spell is enough to keep the
Rock of Bral going...:/


> The normally largest ships are 100 tn, with a
> standard 100 crew - the number which gives two
> man-months of air for all the crew, i.e. 200
> man-months, a bit more than ten thousand
> man days.

Actually, its 4 standard months of fresh air the ship
carries, and a 100 tn limit really isn't :)  I do want
it usable on citadels, dreadnaughts, and other like
big ships that are incapable of landing (like with HJ,
I like to make ships' tonnage match their actual size,
not an arbirtary number :)


> With standard sized crews 1/56 of the air is used
> every day, or about 2%.

A little less than 1%, assuming 120 days of air per
crewman.


> Maybe the spell should renew some multiple of the
> caster's level in man-days per day?  Five times
would
> then mean a 20th level caster would give a ship or
> spacestation crewed by up to 100 human-equivalents
> indefinite air.

Hmmm, I think I'll use the tact that this spell
basically creates enough air for 1,000 people, which
is enough to cover all the things I want it to cover. 
It'd take multiple castings to work on something as
big as Bral, but one is enough for even the largest
dwarven citadel.


> This introduces the interesting question of where is
> the Permanent magical effect of the spell cast on? 
Is
> it the ship/spacestation?  If so, does destroying
this
> wreck the spell? 

It should.  Destroying the ship destroys the spell.


> I'd suggest that it not work on larger than size
> class A (Fine) bodies, i.e. things less than 10ml
across
> diameter?

That sounds reasonable.   I considered putting that
limit there, but didn't want something too complex.


> I'm guessing that you'd want a Druid to properly
> turn a lifeless body into something covered in
living
> plants, probably with small animals, that
regenerates
> its atmosphere?

Yup.  :)


> The only answer to the Underdark ecology that I've
> ever been reasonably happy with is the Thermo Fungi,
> but some areas with a spell like this doesn't sound
like
> too bad an idea!

Heh, and they call SJ hokey. ;)


> The only risk there is the cultural issue - people
> might not know what you are referring to in some
> places, and if they get replaced by something else
in
> future, it'll be _really_ obscure! 

Bah.  That's the least of my concerns :D


> I did think of one other point - quite a lot of the
> 3rdEd spells with a Permanent effect seem to require
> you to 'burn' XP - you might want to think about
that.

Good point.



 
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