| Post/Author/DateTime | Post |
|---|---|
| Kethean11-18-03, 09:03 PM | I'm a level 4/3 Elven Ranger/Wizard with high Dex. Would it be possible to ride on my Tenser's Floating Disk out onto a lake for example? |
| bolobaby11-18-03, 09:10 PM | I'd rule no. Key wording on this is: "circular plane of force that follows you about" "accompany you at a rate of no more than your normal speed" "If not otherwise directed, it maintains a constant interval of 5 feet" OK, the last one may seem like you can move this thing around, but I'd rule this means you can only control the interval at which it follows. Other than following you, I don't see any form of movement for the disk. You could stop it and get on, but then you couldn't move it from there. It needs to follow. Tough call, but no, imo. |
| ikkonoishi11-18-03, 09:35 PM | Also note that it follows the ground... so it won't float on water. |
| bolobaby11-18-03, 09:59 PM | Originally posted by ikkonoishi Also note that it follows the ground... so it won't float on water. You are technically correct and if a character were trying to do anything overpowered with the disc, I'd stick to the letter of the law. But, as a DM, I might allow a disc carrying their treasure to following a character in a boat as they rowed across a lake. Just to be nice. :) |
| Hogre11-18-03, 10:44 PM | Not really official, but in a dungeon magazine they recommended two wizards using two tensers and push/pulling themselves across a pit of lava or acid. |
| Wizard11-19-03, 12:06 AM | What if you leaned really far forward... |
| Mazarick11-19-03, 01:37 AM | That is a tough call. Apparently in some "gladiator" matches Wizards use that tactic all the time. Also, in one of the Drizzt books, Matron Baenrae floats around on one...if I recall correctly. Imagining it in use is pretty cool, and the use of it as such was creative, so I'd probably allow it. It can't rise above 3 feet anyways. |
| Kethean11-19-03, 02:08 AM | Hey! I just finished reading the Dark Elf Trilogy too! Great book! Anyway... it wouldn't make sense to evoke something you can't control. This is magic after all and the more powerful the wizard, the more powerful the spell should be. However, it is a level 1 spell after all and it is limited. A level 1 Wizard's floating disk would probably be too heavy to get on the disk. Even a level 2 wizard would only be able to stay on it for 2 hours. I'm not expecting to fly around with it or even travel since it can probably only go 30ft per round and can be no more than 3ft above the surface beneath it. I'd rather use a horse to travel. Also, riding it would probably require a balance check. Just like riding a hoverboard - like the one in Back to the Future. |
| Xavim11-19-03, 03:05 AM | I'd say yeah since it says it floats around horizontally within spell range so it would have to be able to move at some point when you don't. It makes for great flavour ideas. |
| da chicken11-19-03, 03:28 AM | I wouldn't allow it to work over water, but I see no problem with allowing it to work over land. We've used it as a platform to get over trap doors and such. The speed is so slow and height so limited I don't see why you couldn't. |
| CaoSlayer11-19-03, 04:14 AM | ummm, this remind me to a topic in another board, the question was if was able to lay on the disk for another kind of riding... |
| Rabe11-19-03, 04:36 AM | Since 1st edition, a wizard could never ride on his own disc, but he could take other people with him on it. The question was raised several times, but since the spell was designed for transporting stuff along and not to allow flying travel (Fly is much weaker and 3rd level), it was always a no-no. Rabe |
| da chicken11-19-03, 04:49 AM | If it bothers you, make it a standard action to direct the disc. That way you can sit on it, but if you want to move you're not going to be able to do much of anything else. It seems to me to be fairly obvious that you can direct it, since you can also control the height off the ground and so forth. Standard action to do it would be in line with a 1st level spell. |
| The_Ditto11-19-03, 09:09 AM | Actually, my wizard used Tenser's to great affect a couple times ... Had Fly spell up, with Haste, Invisibility, and a Tensers's active ... so the dwarf hoped onto the tenser's, and I took off at a quad move!! :angel: .... funny as hell as the opponent's watch this dwarf skim along the ground at a god-awful speed with no apparent means of propulsion .... :rofl: It makes a great Archer's platform ... they always got a full attack action, and the mage can "move" them around as needed .... :angel: |
| Tzor11-19-03, 11:24 AM | The simple answer is NO. For the reasons given above and for the fact that it also because, "If not otherwise directed, it maintains a constant interval of 5 feet between itself and you. " Then there is also te definition of surface as defined by the spell. Would the surface of the lake count as the "surface" for purposes of the spell or does the bottom of the lake count? Of course if you want a complex answer, design a cantilever device centered on the disk, which you can place yourself in to extend you about 3' - 7' away from the disk. If you extend youself 7' away it will push you forward, while 3' will pull you backwards. Changing direction might be a problem, and you would probably need counter balances equal to your own weight, so it doubles the weight requirements that the disk can hold thus you have to be high level to do this. It's probably more effort than it's worth. |
| ikkonoishi11-19-03, 11:39 AM | Yeah when I first saw this spell a few months ago (yes I'm a newbie) I planned out a skyboard. My current campaign has airships so I was going to make a board with expiditious retreat, feather fall, and floating disk on it. Basically you would jump out of an airship, FF right before you hit ground then ER and FD so you could glide along the ground at 60 feet per second. Then I realized that FD only works with your NORMAL movement so ER wouldn't help it, and it just wouldn't be as cool to glide along the ground at walking pace after jumping out of an airplane. :( |
| Gold Katana11-19-03, 11:45 AM | Actually, in 1E, the magic-user could direct the TFD around, not just shorten or lengthen the intervening distance. As it is now written, the spell does not make accomodations for riding. However, IMC, "ground" is not taken to mean only soil, it would work above any "surface" (per spell description) and this would include water. Also, IMC, you can ride your disk, although at no greater speed than a walk. It's not an overpowered use of the spell. |
| Mazarick11-19-03, 12:03 PM | Whole heartedly agree. |
| Amaranthine11-19-03, 12:42 PM | Also, in one of the Drizzt books, Matron Baenrae floats around on one...if I recall correctly.You don't. :D She rode a physical disk that levitated. It was basically a horseless, wheeless, seatless, carriage. |
| phb11-19-03, 01:06 PM | You can of course ride your own disc around if you have a flying familiar. |
| HeWhoRoams11-19-03, 01:33 PM | Originally posted by Mazarick Also, in one of the Drizzt books, Matron Baenrae floats around on one...if I recall correctly. Imagining it in use is pretty cool, and the use of it as such was creative, so I'd probably allow it. It can't rise above 3 feet anyways. ACtually this is called a driftdisc and is different its in a Forgotten realms book, maybe underdark or Campaign setting |
| Kethean11-20-03, 06:44 PM | Oh well... this is quite a useless spell then to just evoke something slow to follow you around. I'd rather use the Mount spell instead. It could probaly carry more and it's faster. |
| Kenkai11-20-03, 09:24 PM | "If not otherwise directed, it maintains a constant interval of 5 feet between itself and you. " IF NOT OTHERWISE DIRECTED as in, you CAN tell it to not keep a constant interval of 5 feet and instead let you stand (or sit or whatever) on it. maybe i'm missing something but it seems like you can tell the disc to stay wherever you want it to... |
| Maaz, Technomancer11-21-03, 07:23 AM | Originally posted by Mazarick Also, in one of the Drizzt books, Matron Baenrae floats around on one...if I recall correctly. The Disc which your talking about is actually an item. with a speed of 180 ft, and perfect manuverability. It costs like 120,000 gp i think according to the new Underdark book. I want to get one for my Psion. ^.^ |
| da chicken11-21-03, 08:30 AM | Originally posted by Kenkai "If not otherwise directed, it maintains a constant interval of 5 feet between itself and you. " IF NOT OTHERWISE DIRECTED as in, you CAN tell it to not keep a constant interval of 5 feet and instead let you stand (or sit or whatever) on it. maybe i'm missing something but it seems like you can tell the disc to stay wherever you want it to... Indeed, the spell does have "Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)", not "Range: 5 ft.". |
| True Balance11-21-03, 11:48 AM | my group plays it with the ability to travel over water. it doesnt unbalance the game at all. we do use the statement da chicken made earlier in that its a standard action to navigate so if in a bad situation the caster couldnt use it to move around and cast spells. i dont see why a DM would argue this anyway...its one less offensive spell the wizard has in memory....unless the spell is in an item i know. how many people bother putting it in memory? if not many then thats a testament to it not being overpowered. so in closing, allow it to move over water, allow it to carry the caster, its no big deal. |
| tear_of_primus11-21-03, 12:55 PM | This seems to be entirely up to the DM. Mine let me use it as a hovering carpet. It fit my character and the situation. The surface part is somewhat sketchy, after giving us a tenuous cliff to get over, I built a force ladder bridge and ferried my group over it with TFD. It was a lot of fun, and I had to make a couple of concentration checks during the ride, but it hasn't seemed to unbalance things, heck I got introduced to TFD by a sorceror making a rather indignant me ride it. |
| IceFractal11-21-03, 11:32 PM | As written, you can't move around on it, although you could make it follow at 0' to sit on it. However, there is no limit to how much force the TFD can support, for which reason I introduce the TFD Drive! The way it works is: 1) Get a hovercraft, basically a metal boat with a magic item to make it hover built in (based of levitation for light loads or reverse gravity for heavy ones*). 2) Get someone to make an item which is basically a box with a dial on it, a TFD (continually active) follows the box around and the dial determines distance. 3) Have the caster be speeded up during the entire creation process (expeditious retreat, etc...). 4) Install the TFD Drive inside the hovercraft, 2' from the back, set the distance to 3' and make sure the back wall of the craft is reinforced. 5) To move, set the distance to 1', to stop set it to 3'. 6) This should push as big a craft as you want at the item creator's base speed, which is why the creator had ER or better on the whole time. 7) You'd use TFD Drives for steering also, but those wouldn't have to be fast, 30' is more than enough. 8) Even assuming a 30' base speed creator and ER being the only boosting spell, thats 60' movement for your hovercraft that can shove through anything as long as the hull stays in good shape (use adamantium, with glasssteel for the windows, and mount a couple of "guns" (rods of fireball or whatever), and you have a kick-ass hover-tank, at least until you run into an anti-magic field). And yes, this is a complicated way of doing it, and the same thing could be accomplished with a 3rd level wizard and a cart. * Note that Reverse Gravity could lift any amount of weight, as long as the top of the zone was level with the center of mass of the object. If the area of the spell enclosed the object, it could also be used as an antigravity drive. |
| True Balance11-23-03, 06:44 AM | icefractul, unless you know of official comments on this spell you're making a call on something thats both unfounded and subject to interpretation. as written it reads that unless directed it stays within 5 feet. many, many people will take that to mean that the caster could stand on it and direct it to go where he wants. |
| Doctor Sarcasm11-29-03, 06:40 PM | If your DM rules that you cannot be ON the disk AND have it move, just do the following: Cast another Tenser's Floating Disk-- Then you can move, using the disks as one would walk along stepping stones, moving the disk you just left to be in front of the one you are currently standing on. Repeat. <edited for comprehensibility> |
| IaijutsuMaster#111-29-03, 07:14 PM | sorry to burt your bubble, icefractal, but in phisics, force equals mass times acceleration and weight equals mass times a constant accelaration(gravity) therefore force equals weight. |
| Darkwin611-29-03, 09:14 PM | sorry to burt your bubble, icefractal, but in phisics, force equals mass times acceleration and weight equals mass times a constant accelaration(gravity) therefore force equals weight. and where does magic figure into this? |
| Ankheg11-30-03, 12:51 PM | It's easy. If you're evil, get a trained slave to use a scroll you created and have him walk and you ride, then you can be as lazy as you want. If you're good and have followers, do the same but give them a reward. Simple! |
| LordOfHavoc11-30-03, 10:05 PM | Why not just cast the spell on/ share the spell wtih your Raven (or other flying) familiar and the disc can follow the familiar around while u and the party ride along in style? :D :angel: |
| Doctor Sarcasm12-01-03, 01:03 AM | Why not just cast the spell on/ share the spell wtih your Raven (or other flying) familiar and the disc can follow the familiar around while u and the party ride along in style? Because the spell is anchored on the caster, not on anyone or anything else. As was pointed out to me recently, you could do as you suggest through the use of certain magical items (e.g., Ring of Spell Storing). |
| Dungeon Master's Pillow12-01-03, 01:49 AM | The caster can share spells with his familiar. |
| Kenkai12-01-03, 01:58 AM | thats only for things that effect the caster (buffs), tenser's disk doesn't effect the caster. It just follows behind. i hate to bring down the idea cause i love the idea of disk surfing. |
| True Balance12-01-03, 02:40 AM | its cool, your not bringing down the idea, my group allows the caster to ride it. we dont see the big deal because there is none. |