Re: Brothers and Sisters ... Ayh have THE ANSWER (Touch the screen with me)

[John Hogg <johnhogg@expert.cc.purdue.edu>]

On Thu, 5 Nov 1998, Steve Ames wrote:

> > > I step into my
> > > air pocket (no earth here boys and girls) and do the blue fielding
> > > from here. 
> >
> > 1)	Wow, sucks to do casting in a pocket dimension opposed to your
> > 	element.
> > 	How well do the fire spells that let you light torches and such work
> > 	underwater?
> 
> *sigh* dodge the question by attacking the details of the example rather
> than the actual question. Droll.
>

Not really, you were VERY specific in your details.  As such, I was
pointing out that the first thing I would look at is how, IN ELEMENTAL AIR
(which I believe the little pocket dimension is said to be made of ...
dont have the book on campus) ELEMENTAL EARTH spells will function.  I'm
not sure they would.  They're opposed.
 
> > 2)	Now you're extradimensional.  i.e. outside the bounds of the Jearn
> > 	setting (much like outer space).  Ergo, any ruling applicable to
> > 	Jaern may or may not be applicable to your new dimension.
> 
> Crap. Not PC but thats the way of it. The rules don't change just because
> you leave the planet. 

You didn't just leave the planet, you left the dimension/phase of reality.
It's not unheard of for adventureres to end up in a dimension where
certain divine spells don't function ... why is it so hard to extend this
to elemental?

> And this backup of belief systems points back to a
> day when we didn't need rules at all because GMs could just make things up.
> Unfortunately we are commited to consistency here, right?
> 

That's why we're supposed to discuss things civilly here, correct.

(and yes, I am unfortunately consistently committed ... just ask the
gentlemen with the big white coats!)

> > 	In short, let the GM adjudicate ... more to the point, go to DAN.
> 
> GMs must adjudicate the same way everytime. A simple rule such as:
> 
> It moves relative to the nearest EARTH.
> 
> is a simple and consistent ruling and can be applied _EVERYWHERE_. The
> bickering now is to find a simple rule like the above that has affects
> that everyone can agree upon.
> 
> Wright offers a pretty good compromise:
> 
> It moves relative to the largest object within 100' and will transfer
> its relativity if a larger object enters the 100' sphere.
>

It ought not be that easy to move a blue field.

They are intended to be immeterial and immobile.

Putting as small a radius as 100-300  feet is simply too easy to tweak.

Ex: mage with a pebble and fly/leap/giant stride, etc.

If we NEED a mass (of earth) requirement make it PLANETARY.  
i.e. people can't pick them up and move them.

If we NEED a distance requirement for the nearest PLANETARY EARTH MASS
make it BIG.  Millions of mets, parsecs, something.
i.e. people need to be able to manipulate big, unwieldy objects that far
away.

Yeah, I know it doesn't make it impossible ... once you CAN tweak with
orbital patterns of planetary bodies, it's downright EASY to play with
level 12 spells ... it just makes it more difficult.

> This, I think, makes most people pretty happy. If the water depth is
> 100' or more you move wiht the boat.. otherwise you move with the
> planet. I'd go with an even smaller number like 20' or so but you
> get the picture (you do don't you?).

Yes, you want blue fields to be mobile.

> 
> To state that there does not need to be such a rule when most of us
> don't even agree on how _SKILL CHECKS_ work is silly and backward.
> 
> 						-Steve
>

You're absolutely right, Steve.  Once I add about 5-10 caveats and
conditions to a 2-3 sentence statement, it becomes so much simpler. 

And here I thought "Blue fields are immobile" was pretty simple.  What WAS
I thinking?