| | Ref | Ouvrage | Question | | Reponse |
|---|
| 31. | DR118 | Dragon #118 | Aren’t the DSG grappling hooks
(page 56) a bit expensive at 76 gp? | | Well, maybe. How does 15 gp sound? |
| 32. | DR043 | Dragon #43 | As listed in the Monster Manual, the larva and
the su-monster have incomplete alignments. What are they
supposed to be? | | The larva’s alignment is neutral evil, and the su-monster
should be chaotic neutral. |
| 33. | DR039 | Dragon #39 | Aside from the obvious ones (pole arms and bows), which of the listed weapons are two-handed? | | A battle axe, spear, morning star and bastard sword can
be, and a bo stick, quarterstaff, two-handed sword and a trident
always are. |
| 34. | DR071 | Dragon #71 | ASTRAL, Encounters: it was mentioned that insanity might be present in “special”
encounters involving persons lost in astral space. How would
this work? | | In a way, floating around in the Astral Plane can be described
as a form of sensory deprivation. There is little to look at,
nothing to hear but oneself (if alone), and nothing to do if one is
lost. Time becomes meaningless, and a second passed may
seem like a year (or vice versa). If a lost NPC is encountered, he
or she will be insane if a saving throw vs. magic (including
wisdom bonuses) is failed prior to the encounter. Lost player
characters, for simplicity’s sake, are assumed to be immune to
the insanity-producing effects of astral space, though the conditions
may certainly make them uncomfortable. The most
common sort of insanity found in lost astral travelers would
likely be catatonia (as per the Dungeon Masters Guide). |
| 35. | DR071 | Dragon #71 | ASTRAL, Encounters: What about lycanthropes? | | Whether an NPC is a lycanthrope or not is up to the DM.
However, lycanthropes will find it impossible to assume animal
shape in astral space (there’s no natural darkness), and will
appear completely human if met. |
| 36. | DR071 | Dragon #71 | ASTRAL, Encounters: What other races of spell casters besides human may be
encountered? | | Very few. Elven wizards (11th-level magic-users) might be
discovered using an astral spell from a scroll, but no demihuman
clerics or spell casters of other sorts would likely be
found. The DM may have an encounter take place with a party
of NPC’s that includes a 7th-level gnome illusionist (possibly
multiclassed) who successfully used an astral spell from a
scroll of illusionist spells. A party might also meet a high-level
thief (10th or greater) of any race except half-orc, who also
used some scroll spell to be taken to astral space, with or
without partners. For all practical purposes, assume that 95% of
all spell casters responsible for bringing a group to the Astral
Plane are human. The other 5% may be set up as special
encounters as the DM chooses, along the examples given
above. |
| 37. | DR071 | Dragon #71 | ASTRAL, GENERAL TOPICS: Are people able to talk in astral space? | | Yes. All one has to do is inhale the “air,” or astral medium, and
then speak normally while exhaling. Normal conversation can
be heard up to 60 feet from a speaker, and shouted commands
can reach 240 yards. The environment is permeated by a
sound-deadening effect, resulting from the lack of anything to
produce echoes and amplify the sounds made, so astral space
seems abnormally silent. If one wanted to get complicated
about it, one could set up rules which specify that the direction
a speaker is facing makes a difference in how well he is heard,
but this seems like too much work. |
| 38. | DR071 | Dragon #71 | ASTRAL, GENERAL TOPICS: Does the Astral Plane contact the Elemental Planes? | | Not as far as can be told from the literature. It was pointed out
by a questioner that if spell-users could summon walls of stone
on the Astral Plane (as well as poison gas, water, and fireballs),
then why not let them bring elementals as well? This was a hard
point to resolve; it was assumed that the former sorts of spells
do not necessarily draw power from the Elemental Planes, and
that in casting such spells as wall of stone, fireball, etc., the
spell caster is spontaneously creating material from nothing.
Others may point out that there are at least two known types
of elementals — aerial servants and invisible stalkers — known
to roam astral space. It could be conjectured that they got there
by being summoned to the Prime Material Plane and then sent
into astral space on some mission. They might also have been
gated to astral space by their respective rulers on the elemental
planes. Taking a cue from Module Q1, however, it appears that
the elemental-conjuring spells are not powerful enough to
bring elementals to the Astral Plane directly from their home
planes. A spell caster might try to develop a different type of
elemental-summoning spell that attracts elementals who happen
to be on the same plane as the summoner (this would be
good for getting aerial servants and invisible stalkers to come to
you astrally) — but the referee should consider the possibility
that such a spell would actually enrage the summoned creature
if it saved against the spell, making it very likely that the creature
would then seek out and attempt to slay the summoner.
If a spell caster just has to have an elemental on the Astral
Plane, then a magic-user could summon an invisible stalker on
the Prime Material Plane and command it to follow him into
astral space while he uses some other means (spell, psionics,
device, etc.) to get there. Or, characters could cast a gate spell,
linked directly with the Elemental Planes (and the rulers thereof),
and then could try to negotiate for the temporary use of an
elemental or two. This could obviously be very expensive, as
well as incredibly dangerous, so it isn’t recommended.
In most cases, if an elemental is to be conjured, there must be
a medium at the place of summoning in astral space appropriate
to the type summoned (a water sphere for water elementals,
stone or earth for earth elementals, or flame for fire elementals).
Only air elementals would require no special medium
to move through; they can travel naturally through astral space,
just as aerial servants and invisible stalkers do. |
| 39. | DR071 | Dragon #71 | ASTRAL, GENERAL TOPICS: How are psionics and psionic powers affected by travelling
the Astral Plane? | | See DRAGON #67 for comments on astral projection and
probability travel. As for other disciplines, body equilibrium
affects the user as per a feather fall spell; cell adjustment allows
healing astrally; mind over body, suspend animation, dimension
walk, and etherealness have no effect if used astrally; and
teleportation is described further as per the spell teleport in
DRAGON #67 and in this article. All other psionic attacks,
defenses, and disciplines function as normal or as similar magical
spells do, as described in the original article. Psionic
strength points are recovered at a varying rate, as follows:
points recovered during hard exertion (fighting), none; when
moving by mental effort, 6 pts/hour; when “floating” without
thinking of moving, 12 pts/hour. |
| 40. | DR071 | Dragon #71 | ASTRAL, GENERAL TOPICS: How does one drink potions in a weightless condition? | | Inventive characters can come up with many ways of circumventing
the problems of weightlessness (see Gary Gygax’s
excellent suggestion for write spells in DRAGON #67.) Using
normal potion bottles can be time-consuming, since the liquid
contents will not naturally flow out of them all at once unless
one shakes the bottle like we normally shake ketchup bottles;
unfortunately, shaking a bottle makes it hard to drink the potion
at the same time, and too much liquid may flow out at once,
making the user choke. This may be simulated by stipulating
that someone using a regular potion bottle needs 1-4 rounds to
get a full dose of the fluid, and there is a 5% chance per round of
drinking (non-cumulative) that the drinker chokes and loses all
the potion’s effects.
Squeezable bottles may be invented, similar to those used by
astronauts and cosmonauts nowadays, so that the rate of flow
of the liquid within can be controlled by the drinker. Potion
drinking would take only one round, as usual, if such a bottle
was used. Other systems might be devised involving straws,
syringe-like pumps, and so forth, that would work just as well. |
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