Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Lady_Blackrose 11-29-07, 03:59 PM	I'm trying to create a nation, an empire really, that has developed a form of technology that relies heavily on magic to work. I envision them have things like spelljammer style flying ships, and golem "robots" that don't require a high level mage to create and controle. I'm wondering if any of the DMs here can help me create the various bits of technology. I'm having trouble finding a balance between technology and magic, and most of my creations thus far have leaned to heavily on one or the other.
Snubbed 11-30-07, 04:39 PM	post some samples of what you have so far. It'll help for getting an idea of what you are looking for.
Mindolin 11-30-07, 05:39 PM	For the golem robots, look at the Warforged, and make a prototype with no Intelligence. I don't suppose the Magitech has anything to do with Final Fantasy VI, does it? If so, you might want to read up on the Spelltouched template, and let humanoids take it.
taradusis 11-30-07, 05:53 PM	Teleportation circle in every building and on every street corner,Larry Niven-style transportation.Arcologies-big buildings designed to be a town or city in their own right?Organic computer-Something like an illithid elder brain,only not evil.Downloadable personalities-the ability to put a "soul" or "ghost" into any "shell"or"body",this would be like the "ghost in the shell"anime series?Giant Mecha-every town defended by an iron or stone golem of maximum HD carved to look like a samurai,bear,Buddha,etc.based on the Giant Magin monster movies.Universal Translator-Disk with permanent Tounges spell?
CryoSilver 11-30-07, 11:29 PM	I can imagine empty suits of metal being controlled by slightly stronger versions of Invisible Servant as the low-level golems.
Lady_Blackrose 12-01-07, 01:10 AM	post some samples of what you have so far. It'll help for getting an idea of what you are looking for. Well, I don't have anything hard yet, but I have a couple ideas I've been mulling over. One ideas was for a train system useing steam power provided by a dechanter of endless water and stone enchanted to burn with a constant fire hot enough to turn the water to steam quickly. Ofcourse this isn't just about how the tech works, but what it looks like. My vision of this train is mostly glass. A web-like design of metal supporting thick sheets of sea-green glass, rolled to appear wavey. The train would run on tracks of polished metal, or possibly a solid stream of light, not sure which. Another idea was to have tall buildings that use a version of Tensor's Floating Disk as elevators to get from floor to floor. The disks would either be bare (meaning you stand directly on the disk) or set under a fancy wooden or glass platform.
taradusis 12-02-07, 10:18 AM	Healing bed?Lie on the bed while a cleric chants and Cure disease,Blindness,heal or regeneration occurs?
Anuvrix 12-02-07, 12:14 PM	An anti magic spell would devastate such a city, evertthing would stop working, elevators crash, vehicles lose control, airships fall, buildings crumble. Big Mess. Honestly, i say that i would be the one casting it XD. (cus it'd be FUN)
Lady_Blackrose 12-02-07, 12:53 PM	An anti magic spell would devastate such a city, evertthing would stop working, elevators crash, vehicles lose control, airships fall, buildings crumble. Big Mess. Honestly, i say that i would be the one casting it XD. (cus it'd be FUN) While I appreciate your opinion, I'd much prefer some actual help.
Anuvrix 12-02-07, 01:48 PM	While I appreciate your opinion, I'd much prefer some actual help. War Machines: Magically powered cannons with the power to obliterate an entire city. The Magic Golems being mass produced and equipped with anti-magic bombs, Instead of suicide bombers usin actual bombs, they use items that drain magic quickly from the surrounding area and then explode, causing an upheaval of magical energy and the loss of many lives. Arcane radiation, creating mutations in newborns. wizards and sorcerors taking power over the rest. A potent lich could easily hold the world hostage and take it over. The benefits of having a Magi-Tech city can be outweighed by the possible dangers to humanity.
Tsochar 12-02-07, 02:39 PM	Earlier I was looking up some spells which could be useful for such a setting. In the end I came up with a few things: 1) Magic would be supremely awesome if combined with technology 2) It would also provide a sufficient influx of power to catalyze the destruction of the world. Simply put, if one had magic and technology, then the technology could be used to convert magic (or its effects, rather) into usable energy, which could then power the technological aspect, resulting in an endless cycle culminating in an uncontrolled explosion of development, probably something like an ecumenopolis. A magitech civilization using D&D magic wouldn't last long as a modern city; think 'what if crude oil grew on trees?' 'what if a certain type of stone could supply an inexhaustible source of energy?' For one thing, there would be suddenly a much bigger profit to be made making enormous, power-hungry machines, and it would suddenly be advantageous to make them able to create more enormous, power-hungry machines. Pretty soon, you have a city spanning the globe and still growing upward. That's what the laws of physics are for! And now for a solution: Make magic need fuel. Humans can provide fuel all on their own for no extra effort, but they need to work at it to make enchanted items, hence the XP cost. Permanency spells are not really permanent, they just tap into a special demiplanar reservoir that lasts for millennia. Or perhaps all magic comes from some intangible source that seems inexhaustible at first (much like coal during the industrial revolution) but soon it becomes clear that too much magic use will cause it to dry up. It might regenerate at a certain speed, but can only support so much energy.
CandleZ792 12-02-07, 04:44 PM	If this Magitech Nation has a understanding of how electricity can be used the they could generate it by using a decanter of endless water to turn a generator or turbine, plumbing possibilities too?
Space_Dragon 12-02-07, 06:17 PM	Agree about mindless warforged-like constructs as rank and file robots. Basically, take the stats for a first level warforged, give it a construct hit die instead of class levels, and make it mindless and obediant like a golem. Describe them as cheap-looking wood and metal frames held together at crude joints, maybe with a couple of clockwork bits. Floating Discs could be used as public (or private) transportation. You could either have it so that people own their private discs, or that they are just floating around waiting for anyone to grab and ride for a while. For mass transport, you have things like the steam-train you spoke of. Elevators would just be empty shafts with a Levitate spell, allowing anyone in the shaft to float up or down at will. These would help people get up and down the tower-like buildings, which (like those of Sharn in Eberron) are so tall that they require magic to support their own weight.
taradusis 12-02-07, 06:49 PM	FOOD PLATES-A magic box holds and recharges plates.Each plate has a picture of the food it creates?SAW BLADE-A magically animated,never needs sharpening saw blade.If you cut the cost of lumber by 1/4 the cost of wooden buildings goes down as well,increases the size of city?BRICK-LAYER-A machine that if you feed clay into it lays a fire-hardened brick a second?1440 bricks a day.43,200 bricks a month.525,600 bricks a year!You could build a lot of brick buildings with a dozen of these machines.Remember that before Rome was a city of marble it was first a city of brick.DECANTERS OF .....-if a decanter of water is possible why not other liquids?Decanter of endless wine.Pitcher of endless beer.Decanter of ambergris(used in perfumes).Decanter of cooking oil.And so forth.ANYTHING SUIT-Magic armor changes size to fit anybody who wears it and there's a hat of disguise.Imagine a suit of clothing that changes shapes and colors and has permanet mending and cleaning spells?
Dougan Axehammer 12-02-07, 08:52 PM	I would depend somewhat on what source your magic comes from. For instance, Eberron technology used bound elementals and elemental energay to power many of their devices. In Final Fantasy VI, magical beings were entrapped in crystal like stones which was used to power various constructs used for society, such as exosuits. In Forgotten Realms the old empire of Nethiril syphoned magic through large crystals that distributed it to other objects to power its infrastructure. So, in short, how you apply magic to technology defines what kinds of objects you can create. It is what I like to call "applied magic".
Tsochar 12-03-07, 04:53 AM	FOOD PLATES-A magic box holds and recharges plates.Each plate has a picture of the food it creates Why couldn't the plate recharge itself? And why couldn't it just take vocal instructions? That sounds better to me. SAW BLADE-A magically animated,never needs sharpening saw blade.If you cut the cost of lumber by 1/4 the cost of wooden buildings goes down as well,increases the size of city Why cut wood when plant domain spells exist that can grow trees into whatever shape you desire? Probably cheaper too. BRICK-LAYER-A machine that if you feed clay into it lays a fire-hardened brick a second?1440 bricks a day.43,200 bricks a month.525,600 bricks a year!You could build a lot of brick buildings with a dozen of these machines.Remember that before Rome was a city of marble it was first a city of brick. First of all, those figures are for minutes. There are 86400 seconds in a day, and 31536000 seconds in a year. Second, I don't see why anyone would need bricks when Wall of Stone can be cast by any reasonably competent caster. These are big cities, after all, and probably employ such methods. Even out of big cities, wood would probably be cheaper to obtain than infinite bricklayers. These ideas are good, but when you consider what magic can do already there are better ideas. Also, I'd prefer 'all-purpose enchanted vestment' instead of 'everything suit.' And would it kill you to put spaces after punctuation? It makes me think the ideas are going to be bad ones, before I even read them.
taradusis 12-07-07, 05:46 PM	Now,if your empire is like the British empire here are some flavor bits.Men would wear top hats with a version of the shield spell that repels water. Women who wear different hats and can't afford to enchant them all carry a Bumpershoot/Parasol/Umbrella that has a similar shield effect, for flavor add a Feather Fall effect for that Mary Poppins feel?A Refridgerator or ice box could created using Chill Metal? A Cone of cold could create ice for Ice boxes while the refridgerator relies on a Chill metal spelll controled by a thermometer? An oven relies on a bi-metallic thermometer to gauge heat. The stove top is also heated thru an Heat Metal Spell, this is cast on the top or bottom of the stove top depending on whether you want to heat the stovetop or oven. A Heat Metal Spell can fry an adventurer in his armor, why not eggs and bacon for breakfast?Before they built airplanes the Wright Brothers were bicycle mechanics. Suppose your society developed a faddish desire for bicycles and unicycles? I'm picturing a 400 lb cop on a unicycle chasing after PCs like a Keystone cop? I think a unicycle could be made magic thru Animated Objects,ordinary unicycles add +10 to movement? I also picture a magical air horn that sounds like a godzilla scream. Horns have a legal noise limit now but you used to be able to have a loud blaster and use it day or night. A newly evolved technolgy could take a while to legislate?Police should have a method of signaling? A signal whistle that can be blown and send a magical signal that can be heard for blocks. Cops within a three block radius have their whistles rise and point in the direction of the signal whistle,this allows them to converge on trouble spots. Helmet Lamps would be useful as well. In 2 ED. we had Continual Light instead of Continual Flame, this could be cast on a helmet with a shutter attachment to make something like a headlight. So we have a cop on a unicycle or bicycle who drives with a helmet lamp after dark and uses a signal whistle.Some people have opined that the only way a fantasy city could survive is if it had a "Big Dog". The typical creature suggested for this role ranges from dragon to sphinx,from Demigod to Leviathan. I personally like the idea of a super-sized golem carved to look like the ruler of the nation. Imagine Queen Victoria standing on top of a 60 FT tall gargantuan version of herself,giving a stirring speech, before marching it into war against the Spanish army that has a gargantuan version of Ferdinand to lead their army? A real clash of the Titans. A bandwagon with sixty instruments that are played with a combination of magic and technology? The axles of the wagon has bumps and dips like the cylinder of a music box, as the wagom rolls it lifts drum, violin and cello arms. Can axles be changed for different tunes? A steam Mephit is compelled to blow puffs of steam thru trombones,trumpets and coronets in tune with the percussion and string instruments? This can be pulled by draft horses,golems or the mega golem of queen victoria?Just a few thoughts.