The Quintessence of conservation [Archive] - Wizards Community

The Quintessence of conservation [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Sylvaroth
04-03-07, 11:56 AM There is Quintessence (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/quintessence.htm) and there is the Unguent of Timelessness (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#unguentofTimelessness) .

While the first is the effect of a power (1 ounce of a 'material' that can protected objects or creatures from the effects of time), the latter is a magic item (an ointment that can cover up to two Huge objects or once alive matter and preserves them, so that each year of actual time affects the substance/object as if only a day had passed).

I have two questions regarding these:

How many manifestations of the power are needed to create a quantity of quintessence sufficient to cover an object/creature of a certain size (Fine, Diminutive, Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge, Gargantuan, Colossal), since the power's description states that 'you can smooth a dollop of quintessence around any extremely small object' (what's extremely small, is it Fine size?)
If I wanted to create Unguent of Quintessence (one flask of which contains enough material to coat eight Medium or smaller objects, four Large object, or two Huge objects), what would this 'universal item's' specifics be?
Lycanthromancer
04-03-07, 12:42 PM I'm working on a rather large overhaul of some of the more wonky powers from the XPH (including hundreds of custom augmentations and negative augmentations, and a balanced version of Metamorphosis as a 1st level power), which I shall then release under DSP. One of the powers that's getting some severe clarification is Quintessence.

I'd say that 1 ounce of Quintessence can cover up to 1 square foot of material, which means that about 20-25 ounces should be able to completely engulf the average adult human. I'll come up with a simple calculations for how much Quintessence is needed for various things of various sizes. We'll see how it goes.
Lokiyn
04-03-07, 01:04 PM I Disagree

We should try to stick inside existing rules as much as possible, converting quintessence to a square foot based system causes more problems than its worth

Going by the example of say, a key. we set the starting coverage of the material at fine and move up, doubleing the surface area with each size increase

Fine 1
Dimin 2
Tiny 4
Small 8
Medium 16
Large 32
Huge 64
Gargan 128
Colos 256

As an added piece i would toss in this

Area of Hinderence

Size Doses Radius Area
Medium 16 5 78.53981634
Large 32 7.07 157.0796327
Huge 64 10 314.1592654
Gargan 128 14.14 628.3185307
Coloss 256 20 1256.637061

Rounding to

Size Doses Radius
Medium 16 5
Large 32 7.5
Huge 64 10
Gargan 128 15
Coloss 256 20

Also looking at the illithiad adventures from 2e, I would add in a sentence about "Any area completely enclose in quintessence is also sealed off from time" and "Although the object is sealed off from time the quintessence itself provides a boundary layer that can be affected. Any physical damage dealt to the boundary causes the material to coalesce as if scraped away. The item does not take any damage."

I think i've got the adventures around here somewhere if you want me to scan and send you the pages referencing quintessence and its effects.

Or i belive in 2e the hinder effect was more pronounced with 1 cubic foot (950-1000 ounces) of quintessence creating a 20 foot anti psionics field. I'll need to hunt that down
Lycanthromancer
04-03-07, 01:15 PM I suppose that would definitely be simpler, but Diminutive things (like a frog or a key) should be coatable in a single manifestation of Quintessence. Fine things are like flies and such. Really tiny ones.
Lokiyn
04-03-07, 07:06 PM ::Shrugs:: In that case just use Size Dose Radius
Fine 1
Dimin 1
Tiny 2
Small 4
Medi 8
Large 16 5
Huge 32 7.5
Gargan 64 10
Colos 128 15

Its just using a square foot aproximation is what they did in 2e and he new object sizes mostly replace that.

There of course is always going to be those exceptions.
Lycanthromancer
04-05-07, 12:36 PM Works for me. I shall be using that for my rewrite of the Quintessence power (including augmentations :D).
AntiDjinn
04-05-07, 12:55 PM This power could use clarification in other regards. It says if you carefully scrape it away from an object you have a 25% chance to recover it for re-use (so you loose it 3/4ths of the time even when you are trying to save it). What are the odds if you are not being careful? 24%? Automatic loss? Define "careful" in game terms. What about the guy who has had it applied to his back and is just rolling around on the ground trying to scrape it off? He isn't trying to save the stuff for future use, so does it automatically evaporate?

It would be better if there was a d20 skill DC to determine if it stays congealed or evaporate back to the timestream. It should also have hit points per unit volume and damage resistance parameters for those who are just trying to remove the stuff or who are otherwise exposed. For example, if it is swallowed does the acid and mechanical damage of the GI track make it evaporate or not?
Lycanthromancer
04-05-07, 01:06 PM That's the kind of thing I was wanting to clarify. I'll simplify the Quintessence power greatly (ie, "You create 1 ounce of quintessence," then the augments), but I'll define the substance itself in much greater detail. What happens vs certain energy types, how many hp per volume, what happens if it is injected or eaten, how it functions if it coats an object with interior volume, what other effects happen if it is gathered in huge volumes, the effects of scraping it off, adding it to weapons, how much you can coat per ounce, etc, etc, etc.

On a related note, why don't we come up with a rather extensive list of all of the things you want me to clarify that aren't here? Is there something y'all think it should be able to do? Are there situations you'd like clarification on?
Lokiyn
04-05-07, 01:34 PM If you are working with quintessence you will want these

Original power (http://lokiyn.pbwiki.com/f/Illithid%28Collapse%20Time%29.pdf)
Official Use in an adventure (http://lokiyn.pbwiki.com/f/Masters%20Of%20Eternal%20Night%20%28Shor tened%29.pdf)

More specifically the examples laid forth in the adventure and the original power imply that only direct physical damage (slashing or bludgening) cause it to condense.

Edit

Oh and using the original volume with the weight, the density of quintessence is 3.304045244 G/cc

So quintessence is 3.3 times more dense than water.

( 1 ounce) / (1 inch in diameter is a sphere of .523599 cubic inches) = 1.909859 Ounces per cubic inches which converts to 3.304 grams per cubic centimeter.

So a 3 foot volume is a sphere with a radius of .8947 feet or 10.7364 Inches, or 9900 Doses of regular quintessence and would weigh about 618 pounds.

:shrugs::
Ilikan Holyaxe
04-05-07, 02:36 PM Now, one thing that I am uncertain about, is this: Say you gather enough Quintessence to fill a Portable Hole (Around seven feet deep), is the weight of a falling being enough to "submerge" them into it without having to have it smoothed over them? If so, then I could use a Time Hop + deploy Portable hole combo for great fun.
Lycanthromancer
04-06-07, 04:09 PM I've done some calculations, and as-is, 8 years of manifesting half of my character's power points away as Quintessence (after gaining approximately 1 level / year) meant that the portable hole was less than a foot deep.

That's going to take awhile...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Sylvaroth 04-03-07, 11:56 AM	There is Quintessence (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/quintessence.htm) and there is the Unguent of Timelessness (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/wondrousItems.htm#unguentofTimelessness) . While the first is the effect of a power (1 ounce of a 'material' that can protected objects or creatures from the effects of time), the latter is a magic item (an ointment that can cover up to two Huge objects or once alive matter and preserves them, so that each year of actual time affects the substance/object as if only a day had passed). I have two questions regarding these: How many manifestations of the power are needed to create a quantity of quintessence sufficient to cover an object/creature of a certain size (Fine, Diminutive, Tiny, Small, Medium, Large, Huge, Gargantuan, Colossal), since the power's description states that 'you can smooth a dollop of quintessence around any extremely small object' (what's extremely small, is it Fine size?) If I wanted to create Unguent of Quintessence (one flask of which contains enough material to coat eight Medium or smaller objects, four Large object, or two Huge objects), what would this 'universal item's' specifics be?
Lycanthromancer 04-03-07, 12:42 PM	I'm working on a rather large overhaul of some of the more wonky powers from the XPH (including hundreds of custom augmentations and negative augmentations, and a balanced version of Metamorphosis as a 1st level power), which I shall then release under DSP. One of the powers that's getting some severe clarification is Quintessence. I'd say that 1 ounce of Quintessence can cover up to 1 square foot of material, which means that about 20-25 ounces should be able to completely engulf the average adult human. I'll come up with a simple calculations for how much Quintessence is needed for various things of various sizes. We'll see how it goes.
Lokiyn 04-03-07, 01:04 PM	I Disagree We should try to stick inside existing rules as much as possible, converting quintessence to a square foot based system causes more problems than its worth Going by the example of say, a key. we set the starting coverage of the material at fine and move up, doubleing the surface area with each size increase Fine 1 Dimin 2 Tiny 4 Small 8 Medium 16 Large 32 Huge 64 Gargan 128 Colos 256 As an added piece i would toss in this Area of Hinderence Size Doses Radius Area Medium 16 5 78.53981634 Large 32 7.07 157.0796327 Huge 64 10 314.1592654 Gargan 128 14.14 628.3185307 Coloss 256 20 1256.637061 Rounding to Size Doses Radius Medium 16 5 Large 32 7.5 Huge 64 10 Gargan 128 15 Coloss 256 20 Also looking at the illithiad adventures from 2e, I would add in a sentence about "Any area completely enclose in quintessence is also sealed off from time" and "Although the object is sealed off from time the quintessence itself provides a boundary layer that can be affected. Any physical damage dealt to the boundary causes the material to coalesce as if scraped away. The item does not take any damage." I think i've got the adventures around here somewhere if you want me to scan and send you the pages referencing quintessence and its effects. Or i belive in 2e the hinder effect was more pronounced with 1 cubic foot (950-1000 ounces) of quintessence creating a 20 foot anti psionics field. I'll need to hunt that down
Lycanthromancer 04-03-07, 01:15 PM	I suppose that would definitely be simpler, but Diminutive things (like a frog or a key) should be coatable in a single manifestation of Quintessence. Fine things are like flies and such. Really tiny ones.
Lokiyn 04-03-07, 07:06 PM	::Shrugs:: In that case just use Size Dose Radius Fine 1 Dimin 1 Tiny 2 Small 4 Medi 8 Large 16 5 Huge 32 7.5 Gargan 64 10 Colos 128 15 Its just using a square foot aproximation is what they did in 2e and he new object sizes mostly replace that. There of course is always going to be those exceptions.
Lycanthromancer 04-05-07, 12:36 PM	Works for me. I shall be using that for my rewrite of the Quintessence power (including augmentations :D).
AntiDjinn 04-05-07, 12:55 PM	This power could use clarification in other regards. It says if you carefully scrape it away from an object you have a 25% chance to recover it for re-use (so you loose it 3/4ths of the time even when you are trying to save it). What are the odds if you are not being careful? 24%? Automatic loss? Define "careful" in game terms. What about the guy who has had it applied to his back and is just rolling around on the ground trying to scrape it off? He isn't trying to save the stuff for future use, so does it automatically evaporate? It would be better if there was a d20 skill DC to determine if it stays congealed or evaporate back to the timestream. It should also have hit points per unit volume and damage resistance parameters for those who are just trying to remove the stuff or who are otherwise exposed. For example, if it is swallowed does the acid and mechanical damage of the GI track make it evaporate or not?
Lycanthromancer 04-05-07, 01:06 PM	That's the kind of thing I was wanting to clarify. I'll simplify the Quintessence power greatly (ie, "You create 1 ounce of quintessence," then the augments), but I'll define the substance itself in much greater detail. What happens vs certain energy types, how many hp per volume, what happens if it is injected or eaten, how it functions if it coats an object with interior volume, what other effects happen if it is gathered in huge volumes, the effects of scraping it off, adding it to weapons, how much you can coat per ounce, etc, etc, etc. On a related note, why don't we come up with a rather extensive list of all of the things you want me to clarify that aren't here? Is there something y'all think it should be able to do? Are there situations you'd like clarification on?
Lokiyn 04-05-07, 01:34 PM	If you are working with quintessence you will want these Original power (http://lokiyn.pbwiki.com/f/Illithid%28Collapse%20Time%29.pdf) Official Use in an adventure (http://lokiyn.pbwiki.com/f/Masters%20Of%20Eternal%20Night%20%28Shor tened%29.pdf) More specifically the examples laid forth in the adventure and the original power imply that only direct physical damage (slashing or bludgening) cause it to condense. Edit Oh and using the original volume with the weight, the density of quintessence is 3.304045244 G/cc So quintessence is 3.3 times more dense than water. ( 1 ounce) / (1 inch in diameter is a sphere of .523599 cubic inches) = 1.909859 Ounces per cubic inches which converts to 3.304 grams per cubic centimeter. So a 3 foot volume is a sphere with a radius of .8947 feet or 10.7364 Inches, or 9900 Doses of regular quintessence and would weigh about 618 pounds. :shrugs::
Ilikan Holyaxe 04-05-07, 02:36 PM	Now, one thing that I am uncertain about, is this: Say you gather enough Quintessence to fill a Portable Hole (Around seven feet deep), is the weight of a falling being enough to "submerge" them into it without having to have it smoothed over them? If so, then I could use a Time Hop + deploy Portable hole combo for great fun.
Lycanthromancer 04-06-07, 04:09 PM	I've done some calculations, and as-is, 8 years of manifesting half of my character's power points away as Quintessence (after gaining approximately 1 level / year) meant that the portable hole was less than a foot deep. That's going to take awhile...