An STGOD power...

[SirNitram]

It's been a while since I've STGOD'd, so I'm bored, and throwing together this. It'll probably verrrrrrrry slooooooooowly fall off the front page and be dug up when one starts up. And before any of you monkeys ask, no, you can't bother it.

Empire of Netheril

Government Type: Meritocracy. Leadership is defined by skill at magic, specifically, passing the tests of becoming an Archwizard.

Population: Primarily human, with small(>10%) halfling presense, scattered(>2%) halfbreeds.

Time in Space: While Netheril has had spacefaring and superliminal capabilities for over a thousand years, official Imperial expeditions were halted after just a century of operation in the Old Empire. Following the mad plot of Karsus The Vain, however, interstellar exploration and colonization has begun in earnest. Two hundred years later, and space is now the next great frontier.

Technological Base: Magical in nature, Netherese technology is whimsical in form. While the Spheresail spell has replaced Helms as the means of propulsion for all but the smallest trading ships, it has led to a variation in ships that almost baffles the mind, as anything seaworthy can be rendered spaceworthy. While their engines appear reactionless, the ships instead drag themselves along the natural flow and ebb of thaumaturgical energy.

Mundane items mirror many nuclear and early space socities in function, if not engineering. Communication through crystal balls, preprogrammed illusions providing entertainment, and freezer's kept cold by tiny fragments of the supernatural 'blue ice' interspiced into the box all make for an easy life, allowing for the societal equality enjoyed now in the Phoenix Age.

Early in the revival of space exploration, some magi attempted to utilize Prismatic Sphere and variations of it for defense, seeking to render their ships invunerable. To their dismay, it took only weeks for opposition forces to learn that a conical blast of ice shards will remove the protections against kinetic impactors. Since that time, a modified version of Wall Of Force, cast onto the hull, provides a skintight protection better than adamantine. While it can be worn down, present generation versions will regenerate if allowed sufficient downtime out of battle conditions.

Offensively, weaponry has gone from a massive array of spells, variants, and metamagics to a standardized, mass produced form of lightning projector. Since it does not require air like a fire-based spell, it proves useful against ships not projecting an air envelope. Better still, it has an ionizing effect against technological ships once through their defensive fields.

Attempts to weaponize disintigration rays for combat in space have failed to produce useful results, but by incorporating the related spell Black Ball Of Disaster(OOC: Think a temporary Sphere Of Annihilation) into a self-propelled guided drone, an answer to technological 'missiles' has evolved. Though it's targets must be 'tagged' by a longer-range variant of Magic Missile to ensure a hit, these weapons are devastating, especially against craft who rely on hull integrity to hold in atmosphere.

Ground combat and boarding operations utilize fire-based spells instead, for a variety of reasons, the primary being an almost innate feeling of fear towards flames present in most sentient lifeforms. In addition, inside technological ships, fire produces the maximum enemy kills with minimum destruction of potentially salvagable equipment. Even a failed boarding operation can spell doom for a ship, as the smoke generated by pyromancers fouls the air and clogs filtration systems.

When a gentler touch is necessary, the Empire still pulls through. The spell 'Wonderbringer's Bane' was developed after a disasterous meeting with a technological species on a settled planet, modelled and mimicing the circuitry-frying 'EMP' used by their initial assaults. The invisibility spells have also been refined, allowing individuals or specially trained ships to vanish from all but the most sophisticated and sensitive of sensors. Charm spells are the preferred weapon of the undercover, allowing them to render even the most suspicious friendly, without the inherent warning signs that rendering them a mindless automata would bring.

Comments and critiques would be appreciated.

[Comrade Tortoise]

I think that disintegrate could be weaponised. It probably would not work against shields,but it could easily be used as the equivalent of a particle cannon against unshielded ships, as it removes a set volume of material If nothing else it would work in ground combat for anti-armor.

[SirNitram]

I think that disintegrate could be weaponised. It probably would not work against shields,but it could easily be used as the equivalent of a particle cannon against unshielded ships, as it removes a set volume of material If nothing else it would work in ground combat for anti-armor.

'Unshielded Ship' is a fairly absurd concept in space war, is the problem. However, a torpedo that rams it's way through via kinetics and then applies it's destruction is fairly logical.

[Cynical Cat]

Well if we're going to go all D&D, disintegrate works against energy (like walls of force and most shields) as well as matter.

[Comrade Tortoise]

I think that disintegrate could be weaponised. It probably would not work against shields,but it could easily be used as the equivalent of a particle cannon against unshielded ships, as it removes a set volume of material If nothing else it would work in ground combat for anti-armor.

'Unshielded Ship' is a fairly absurd concept in space war, is the problem. However, a torpedo that rams it's way through via kinetics and then applies it's destruction is fairly logical.

I mean a ship who's shields have been brought down. It is a weapon that punches through a set amount regardless of armor. That bypasses all other defenses like point defense... I imagine that would be usefull

[SirNitram]

The goal is less to perfectly emulate D&D but to make a power that is compatible with an STGOD and not ridiculously overpowered despite it's use of a very strange methodology.

If it makes you feel better, the inability to weaponize Disintigrate rays to the ranges necessary for space war is a matter of range.