Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Alleine 01-27-08, 04:21 PM	Is quintessence affected by damage of any form? I think my DM might have a problem with making walls of force permanent with quintessence in order to hold back lava.
CrimsonDeath 01-27-08, 05:17 PM	Since Quintessence can be "manually scraped off", just the friction with a viscous substance like lava would probably remove the Quintessence from one side. But let's take a look at the situation. Quintessence produces one ounce per manifestation, enough to cover an "extremely small object". Meanwhile, a Wall of Force has an area of up to ten square feet per level. In the time it would take to produce enough Quintessence to coat a Wall of Force, you could probably use some other spell, power, or effect to produce a more permanent barrier. Also note that Wall of Force can be made with a a Permanency spell (and probably with the Incarnate power as well, since they're almost mechanically identical).
sijigs 01-27-08, 05:58 PM	Why are you trying to hold back lava? (aside from it being fun) If the lava is flowing slowly enough.. counter is with an Energy Wall of ice... Or two if you have solicit psicrystal ;)
Alleine 01-27-08, 06:12 PM	Quintessence would be a cheaper way(XP-wise) to keep some lava from flooding a tunnel I plan on making. Its inside a volcano. I also planned on it collapsing if any enemies got too far along.
Lycanthromancer 01-28-08, 08:28 PM	Use fabricate and a big pile of some heat-resistant material, such as asbestos or granite, to build a wall about 30 ft thick. Then use psionic disintegrate or a sonic energy wall when you want to demolish it.
AntiDjinn 01-28-08, 11:42 PM	Quintessence is permanent and more or less indestructible unless someone or something messes with it. But unfortunately, it is not hard to mess with. The text says if you carefully scrape it away from an object, you can recover it 25% of the time and it dissolves 75% of the time. So if you are interacting with the stuff and are trying hard not to damage it, it still gets destroyed 3 times as often as it is preserved. Anyone or anything that is attempting to get through it (other than from the inside, being completely coated) and being less than careful should destroy it more than 75% of the time. Now, how would it stack up against the heat? Probably pretty well. It does not have hit points and does not have a listed melting or vaporizing point. You could probably set a quintessence-coated object in a pool of lava without harm. How does it stack up against the pressure? Probably not so good. It has a thick, gooey consistency and can be molded around objects. Once molded, it does not harden (does not gain a hardness score, because none is listed). It also does not become fixed in space; a quintessence-coated object sitting on a table can be picked up and moved to another table. So your "wall" of quintessence is simply a large quantity of the stuff and does not take on the properties of a wall, just because you have shaped it like one and are calling it such. It stays a gooey malleable mass, and can be reshaped by pressure just as it was originally shaped by your fingers. Your best bet might be to coat an existing wall to remove it from time, but even at that the pressure of a lava flow will probably eventually remove the quintessence and expose the wall. As far as stopping a full-fledged eruption, I would say not going to happen. A volcanic eruption can throw tons of material over an area of hundreds of mile and can raise or raze an island. I doubt this 4th level power is sufficient to cap that. If you win the lottery, the plug of quintessence might get blown out intact, and if you happen to be standing there you might get coated and removed from time rather than being obliterated.
Lycanthromancer 01-29-08, 01:22 PM	Hmm. If you coat the inside of a container, the rest of the universe could be said to be "inside the outside" of the container, and you could potentially remove the rest of the universe from the timestream while the things inside the container would be still affected. ...Or am I just thinking too hard?
MnemonicSV 01-29-08, 01:58 PM	...Or am I just thinking too hard? Well, yes... but that is literally what psionics is all about, right? :D Anyway, here's a question: What would happen if you managed to capture a tiny bit of lava within a dollop of quintessence? Would it still give off heat? Would it still glow? Would it still be malleable, or is it "frozen" in it's current shape? (My guesses are: No, No, and Unmalleable.) If an impact is sufficient to scrape off enough quintessence, perhaps it's possible to create tiny "lava balls" to hurl at foes. Ouch!
AntiDjinn 01-29-08, 02:25 PM	A coated blob of lava should give off neither heat nor light until the quintessence is breached. The coated object is removed from time, so it does not participate in events that take place in time. For a photon to move from within the mass to its surface, then to leave the surface and move out into space, requires time or there is no sequence of events. In other words, if a dollop of lava is coated and sits for a billion years, it does not change at all. If it had been loosing heat to the environment then it would, by definition, have changed. In game terms, it matters whether or not your DM will consent to a blob of lava being considered an object. You will also need a way to handle it coat it, but there are many options. After whatever it take to obtain, shape, and handle your lava grenades, plus making quintessence and applying it, you probably could have blasted your target directly for a lot less effort.
CrimsonDeath 01-29-08, 03:27 PM	Well, merely touching lava only does 2d6 damage per round, so Resist Energy or Specified Energy Adaptation would make it relatively safe even at minimum caster/manifester level. As for whether the lava blob could be seen inside the quintessence, I'd say it can because quintessence is transparent from certain angles. IRL, this would mean the lava was losing heat as per the 0th law of thermodynamics, but as evidenced by such spells as Fireball and Make Whole, thermodynamics doesn't seem to exist in D&D as we know it IRL.
AntiDjinn 01-29-08, 09:27 PM	True, whether or not an object coated with quintessence can be seen in any given game depends on DM fiat, not physics. If your character begins scraping away quintessence, can he clearly see that is it a ring inside or a blob of green slime? Or do you find out when you open it like a holiday cracker? One option makes finding a Q-coated object more exciting and more potentially dangerous. The other may lead to players feeling like they are being hosed or them seeking to use the quintessence surprise factor to their advantage.
Lokiyn 01-30-08, 01:06 AM	actually these questions are answered, in part, in the "Masters of Eternal Night" (2e). Quintessence is described as being used as an ablative substance. According to the descriptions of how it works in the adventure, it was used to absorb the impact from reentry, Basically any physical damage is the same as scraping. However any items coated in Quintessence are structurally fixed, an example of this was on page 20 where a buried segment maintained its integrity until the Quintessence was removed after which it collapsed (not having the strength on its own to hold back the earth. Also sever bubbles of Quintessence are mentioned with their contents revealed only after removal. So basically Quintessence described as is silvery and opaque in all mentioned instances and aside from general shape gives no clue as to its contents. In short it looks like Quintessence alone in "dollop" form can look transparent, however once its spread it "Polarizes". at least i can't find a single instance where a Quintessence coated object was identified before the Quintessence was removed. Quintessence coated objects are immune to basically everything and maintain their form regardless of external conditions. (so if you could somehow "coat" a blob of water it would effectively be solid until the Quintessence was removed.) Physical damage causes Quintessence to retract the same as scraping, (however energy damage is never mentioned so it probably wouldn't be to far to say that Quintessence itself is immune to energy damage) At least thats what i gather from reading the only instance i can find of Quintessence being used in an adventure. (admittedly 2E, but still.)
Lycanthromancer 01-30-08, 12:01 PM	I guess I should clarify this, too. I never thought I needed to, as I always assumed it remained as the description of quintessence always said it did (transparent from some angles, reflective from others). :( Quintessence (NA) Metacreativity (Creation) Level: Shaper 4 Display: Material; see text Manifesting Time: 1 round Range: 0 ft Effect: 1-inch-diameter dollop of quintessence Duration: Instantaneous Saving Throw: None Power Resistance: No Power Points: 7 You collapse a bit of time from the continuum, forming a 1-inch diameter, 1-ounce dollop of thick, gooey material called quintessence. Quintessence resulting from your own manifestations of this power does not subject you to the time-warping effects (unless you are completely immersed), nor does it deal hit point damage, though its other effects still apply. See below for information on the properties of quintessence. Augment: 1. For every additional power point you spend, you can improve the chances of a dollop of quintessence surviving its removal by 10%. This also increases its hp and “hardness” by 1, increases its energy resistance by 2, and increases the Strength check necessary to remove it by 1. Multiple dollops of quintessence touching each other permanently take on the properties of the weakest dollops present. 2. For every 2 additional power points you spend, you create an additional ounce of quintessence. 3. [Negative augment] If you spend 4 fewer power points, this power’s manifesting time becomes “1 minute.” Quintessence This substance shimmers like a silver mirror when viewed from some angles, but is transparent from others, and has the consistency of slightly warm, sticky gelatin. Properties: Quintessence has 1 hp per ounce and 1 point of hardness. Since it exists partially outside of the time-stream, it has energy resistance 20 to positive and negative energy, acid, cold, fire, electricity, and sonic energy; nondamaging effects of those energy types do not affect it or anything completely coated by it. Quintessence is not magical or psionic in nature, can not be dispelled or disjoined, and is unaffected by effects such as dismiss ectoplasm or null psionics field. Effects of Quintessence on the Body: Quintessence is a dangerous substance, and acts in some ways like a poison. Contact: The substance of a living creature with only partial contact with quintessence is partially pulled out of the time stream (the manifester is immune to this effect). This disruption deals 1 point of damage per round beginning 1 round after partial contact occurs (no save). Ingestion: Quintessence is especially damaging to a creature’s sensitive digestive tract, immediately dealing 1 point of Constitution damage per round for 1d6 rounds before enzymes and stomach acid destroy it (Fort DC 25 each round negates this damage, but does not destroy the quintessence). It takes 1/16 the amount necessary to immerse a creature for this effect. Creatures that are immune to poison only take damage as though they are in contact with the quintessence. Injection: It takes 1/4 the amount of quintessence noted above to immerse a creature when injected into its blood-stream (but only if it eats and breathes-see types and subtypes in the Monster Manual for details). The only way for such a creature to rejoin the time-stream is to use a teleportation effect to remove the quintessence from its body (see below). Creatures that do not have circulatory systems (generally non-living and elemental creatures) are immune to this effect. Inhalation: A breathing creature that inhales 1/16 the amount necessary to immerse it begins drowning (ie, it must begin making Constitution checks immediately); it can cough up the quintessence with a DC 25 Fortitude save each round, and can do nothing but take a single move action each round. In all cases, any effect with the teleportation descriptor can teleport the creature while leaving the quintessence behind, if the originator desires. Immersion in Quintessence: Subjects sealed within quintessence are protected from the effects of time; in practical terms, they enter a state of stasis. The amount of quintessence needed to seal a subject outside of the time-stream depends on the size of the subject: 1 ounce: 4 Fine subjects or 1 Diminutive subject. 256 ounces: 1 Large subject. 4 ounces: 1 Tiny subject. 1,024 ounces: 1 Huge subject. 16 ounces: 1 Small subject. 4,096 ounces: 1 Gargantuan subject. 64 ounces: 1 Medium subject. 16,384 ounces: 1 Colossal subject. 4 ounces of quintessence, if rubbed on a surface, covers approximately 1 square foot. A container coated with quintessence also affects all of its contents. Completely-submerged creatures are considered objects; they gain energy resistance 20 as noted above, and gain complete immunity against a single attack that manages to damage the quintessence coating it (as they are outside of the time-stream). Once so much as a single ounce of quintessence is destroyed or evaporated, the creature rejoins the time-stream, and this no longer applies. Removing the Quintessence: Quintessence can be manually scraped away from a protected object with a DC 5 Strength check, freeing it to rejoin the time stream. When you do this, there is a 75% chance that the quintessence evaporates back into the continuum. Otherwise, it coalesces again into a 1-inch-diameter bead, available for later use. A single point of damage that gets through the quintessence’s resistances destroys it, forcing it to evaporate automatically. Teleportation Effects: Effects with the teleportation descriptor affect a subject held in stasis normally (and treat creatures as creatures or objects, whichever the originator prefers). If you are aware of the quintessence’s presence, you can teleport a subject touching or containing quintessence (even one fully immersed) without teleporting the quintessence. This is the only way to remove quintessence injected into a creature’s body (see above). In Large Quantities: Accumulations of quintessence weighing 16 ounces (1 pound) or more hinder psionic activity within a 5 ft radius of the accumulation; powers, spells, and spell- and psi-like abilities automatically fail if the manifester fails a manifester level check (DC 25), and powers require twice as many power points to manifest, unless the manifester makes a successful Will save (DC 16) each time he or she attempts to manifest a power. Manifesting a psi-like ability or casting a spell-like ability in this area is a full-round action, rather than a standard action. For every additional pound of quintessence present, the radius of this zone of psionic hindrance increases by 5 ft and the Will save DC increases by 2. This emanation is blocked by 3 ft of wood or soil, 1 ft of metal or stone, or 1 inch of lead.
McPoyo 01-30-08, 02:39 PM	You know, True Create a syringe large enough to hold 32 gallons of Quintessence, and you can remove the Tarrasque from the Time Stream. Seems like an interesting way to get a pet tarrasque as a guard animal. contingency a teleport to remove the quintessence when you give a certain command-word, and you have the most awesome Self-Destruct mechanism for your Super Secret Lair (tm) ever. The possibilities.... edit: If the negative augment is stackable, in 34 1/8 hours you could manifest 32 gallons of Quintessence in one go :P
Lycanthromancer 01-30-08, 06:25 PM	Nope. No negative augment stacking. Sorry?
MnemonicSV 01-31-08, 01:01 AM	If the negative augment is stackable, in 34 1/8 hours you could manifest 32 gallons of Quintessence in one go :P Nah.. use the 10th level Metamind + temporal reiteration loop to create as much Quintessence as you need. Or, create a psionic object that automatically activates the quintesssence power a number of times per day, and drips it into a large vat. Adventure for a year or so, then come back to it.