So I am making a Dark Tapestry oracle for a new campaign, and its spell 'Interplanetary Teleport' got me thinking.
What would one do to become a spacefaring explorer and colonist? Exploring other planets is simple, just Interplanetary Teleport and Life Bubble. But what about creating permanent habitable buildings, spaceships, space stations, doing terraforming, that sort of thing?
Aside from the two spells listed above, what would be some good spells and items for a space-conquering oracle to know? Miracle will give her access to most things, but I simply don't know which ones exist that would come in handy.
Catch yourself an Oma. Dive into it's second belly. Cast Magic Jar. Sail away into space. (and don't forget to make that "wish" using "Blood magic", followed by "restoration" every day of the journey) Triiiipy. I'm a space whale! Once you sail around and find all the habitable planets, teleport to whichever you want to explore (or whale sail back, up to you).
Are you looking to keep this high fantasy? Golarion has plenty of space tech laying around for those who want to go that route. I'm waiting for a splat book on just that kind of stuff to ship right now actually. And i believe they have a dark tapestry/space splat coming out right after that. As far as magic goes, a lot of that is going to be somthing to work out with your GM. There are a few creatures that can travel in space that you can ride on or in. Portals to other planets are also in the setting i believe (ala Stargate, which would be an awesome set up for a campaign)
I'm just experimenting with the stuff that already exists. Like, I could use something as simple as Stone Wall to make permanent buildings on any rocky planet, but I don't know of a spell to make the interiors of such buildings permanently habitable (breathable air and viable hydroponics mostly). I also don't know of any way to permanently alter the environments of planets I go to in order to make them suitable for life or magically construct things like space stations, but I feel like there ought to be a way to do it.
I like the idea of the space whale. I question its necessity a bit, though. Interplanetary Teleport allows me to be extremely vague with my teleport destination; I'm assuming I could say things like 'the nearest habitable planet other than this one', or at least use divination to find stars with other worlds and just teleport there. Life Bubble is basically a perfect spacesuit, so teleporting to places like Earth's moon or even safe orbits around assorted celestial objects would be no problem.
Dominating space whales for planetary guardians or other such shenanigans would be excellent though.
Transport options? Oma, all the way. Or some Spelljammer rip-off ship thingy. Robo-space-squid for the win.
You'd need something to terraform planets with first, though. A quick glance at the Wikipedia article teaches us that it's a slow (and rather theoretical) process, but of course, magic would severely speed that up. Wish/Miracle would be the best bet, but perhaps teleporting/planar binding/summoning/gating in certain lifeforms could be of aid as well. Plants could create oxigen; elementals could provide, well, elements, certain outsiders might have usefull SLA's etc...
You could use the Ultimate Campaign (or Kingmaker AP) kingdom building rules to "populate" the planets afterwards.
decanters of endless water perhaps? There is a witch hex to cause plants to grow rapidly and make them healthy, isnt there? There has to be some kind of druid spell to do that too... so just bring along crates of seeds and a few wands :)
Torbyne wrote: decanters of endless water perhaps? There is a witch hex to cause plants to grow rapidly and make them healthy, isnt there? There has to be some kind of druid spell to do that too... so just bring along crates of seeds and a few wands :) Plant Growth, yeah.
The ideal space station would be a demiplane created by a spell and made permanent. You need a wizard cohort for the permanency unless you're going to throw miracles at the problem.
So there you go, decanters of water, seeds and plant growth, mass spammings of gust of wind or the like for air... there are your basics of life. Can you store animals in stasis in a bag of holding or portable hole? This god stuff isnt that hard when you really think about it.
EN Publishing released free GM/Player guides to Santiago: A Myth of the Far Future setting, though the AP is paid-for. Santiago is a sci-fi futuristic setting with PCs as bounty hunters using Pathfinder rules, though alternate classes, conversion of magic to tech, with spells as "code" and magic items as "tech devices" and some alien races, its based on a fictional version of the Milky Way galaxy and inspired by some books written by Mike Reznik.
I like how most aspects to the Pathfinder RPG aren't really converted, rather you just have to change your perspective in how it appears in game. If you can think of a Wand of Detection as a tricorder instead, but working exactly the same as the magic item, just that its tech instead, and uses code instead of a spell to work.
Its an interesting way to Pathfinderize sci-fi concepts.
So it was kind of mentioned before, but there is this coming out soon http://paizo.com/products/btpy95d3?Pathfinder-Player-Companion-People-of-th e-Stars
and it is hyped with things like this:
•Details on each of the most important celestial bodies in the Pathfinder campaign setting, complete with tips and rules options for amateur and experienced star-travelers alike.
•New magic items and adventuring equipment that make your journey across the void of space just as exciting as the destination.
•New astronomical feats, space-inspired spells, suggestions for playing adherents of the Dark Tapestry, and much, much more to turn your space-faring adventurer into an interstellar star.
Might be relevant to your interests.
There's also Distant Worlds, which talks about it a bit.
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Those books both look pretty excellent. If I actually get into space travel, rather than just the theory behind it, I'll have to look them up.
Also...what about making a demiplane that opens into an ona's stomach for make a habitable starship? Eh? Ehhhhhhhhhh?
Probably doesn't work, but a fun idea :P
Also, in terms of permamency...as an oracle with a wis of something like 5, it is not just my perogative but practically my obligation to abuse miracle until physically restrained :P Only real question is, how to afford the expense of a permanent demiplane. Those things are not cheap.
Nevinz wrote: Those books both look pretty excellent. If I actually get into space travel, rather than just the theory behind it, I'll have to look them up.
Also...what about making a demiplane that opens into an ona's stomach for make a habitable starship? Eh? Ehhhhhhhhhh?
Probably doesn't work, but a fun idea :P
Also, in terms of permamency...as an oracle with a wis of something like 5, it is not just my perogative but practically my obligation to abuse miracle until physically restrained :P Only real question is, how to afford the expense of a permanent demiplane. Those things are not cheap.
Find a BBEG with one and... "re-appropriate" it.
Take a Padded armour suit. 5 gp.
Make it masterwork. +150 = 155 gp.
Enchant it with a +1 enhancement bonus. +1000 = 1155 gp.
Enchant it with Endure Elements as a continuous effect. +1000 = 2155 gp.
Enchant it with Air Bubble as a continuous effect, treating it as a similar ability. +3000 = 5155 gp.
Space suit. Done. You're welcome. ;)
An advanced version could add some flashlights (Light spell, user-activated, different, +2250 gp), add environmental protection (+2 equipment bonus to Fort, different, +4000 gp) and/or install maneuvering jets (+5 competence bonus to Fly, different, +3750 gp).
EDIT: Had to revise spell effecg costs based on original spell duration. Did this from the top of my head; some other math might be off as well - for instance, when does an ability count as similar or different? Does this change the spell-likes because it's an armour? Anyway, it's just an idea to work with.
EDIT 2: Gah. Forgot for a second you need at least a +1 enhancement enchantment before you can start adding other stuff. But hey, you still get the idea, right? Fixed it.
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Might as well:
Basic Space Suit
Aura faint abjuration and conjuration; CL 3; Weight 12 Lbs.; Price 5,155 gp
DESCRIPTION
This +1 padded armor has been enchanted for space travel. In addition to the +1 enhancement bonus to AC and -1 to its armor check penalty, it offers the wearer continuous protection from the void of space, as per the Endure Elements and Air Bubble spells.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Air Bubble, Endure Elements; Cost: 2,655
Advanced Space Suit
Aura faint abjuration, conjuration and evocation; CL 3; Weight 15 Lbs.; Price 15,155 gp
DESCRIPTION
This magical padded armor works just like a Basic Space Suit (see above), except that it has a number of extra systems installed. It provides a +2 equipment bonus to Fortitude saving throws, a +5 competence bonus to Fly skill checks, and the wearer can choose to shed light like a torch in a 90-degree cone straight ahead of him/her at will.
CONSTRUCTION REQUIREMENTS
Craft Magic Arms and Armor, Air Bubble, Cat's Grace, Endure Elements, Light, Resistance; Cost: 5,155 gp
I like those space suits :D
I wonder if we could make an actual spacecraft in a similar way.
Nevinz wrote: I like those space suits :D
I wonder if we could make an actual spacecraft in a similar way.
Get creative with permanency, Air Bubble, Reverse Gravity and plate your ship in red dragon scale or that metal that channels heat away from you. This is off the assumption that Reverse Gravity could be used to control your major direction of travel by rotating the center point of the spell or the like.
If you're mythic, there's always this: Terraform
Might need to figure out a way to make it permanent. Wish/Miracle/Nice GM would work.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned Starfaring Robes for transport. There's also the ring of sustenance so you don't have to worry about rations.
As for terraforming... endure elements, plant growth, terraform, decanters of endless water, wish/miracle... really, it depends on the planet's composition and climate.
I believe the space suit in Distant Worlds was cheaper and better, but I can't be asked to go check at the moment.
Nevinz wrote: Those books both look pretty excellent. If I actually get into space travel, rather than just the theory behind it, I'll have to look them up.
Also...what about making a demiplane that opens into an ona's stomach for make a habitable starship? Eh? Ehhhhhhhhhh?
Probably doesn't work, but a fun idea :P
Also, in terms of permamency...as an oracle with a wis of something like 5, it is not just my perogative but practically my obligation to abuse miracle until physically restrained :P Only real question is, how to afford the expense of a permanent demiplane. Those things are not cheap.
Weeeeell, depends on how far you want to redline the rules.
Create a demiplane that is just a big room with lights, air, and a giant block of diamond. Shatter it (with spell) use Fabricate to further grind the chunks into dust, use the dust in conjunction with other created demiplanes.
To take it a few steps further, you can save a 25k chunk and use it to cast a Wish, wishing that your dominate monster spell would affect the Oma permanently. Admittedly this is DM fiat territory but there's a chance it'll work and all it really does is reduce the "maintenance" of commanding it to fail its save and re-casting the spell every couple of days.
But we still aren't done, you want the critter to LIKE you so it stops constantly fighting your commands. Not only is it a significant investment, it's less dickish to make it like serving you. A druid or ranger can use Wild Empathy, and arguably if you manage to snag one in infancy you can domesticate it (or at least train it) with Handle Animal. You can certainly do it with other magical beasts like the hippogriff and the Owlbear.
But as I mentioned, this paracritter is a significant investment, so along with colossal (and colossally expensive) barding you want to equip it with weapons. While you can keep your stomach-mounted demiplane doorway, it would be a good idea to have a "bridge" on the creature's belly and "turrets" on various sections of it's armor. Use-activated lightning-throwers, acid-blasters, and the like can throw up walls of force and shielding spells on your Oma. Teleportation of one method or another should be feasible to get you to the various spots on it.
As for how to build the bridge? Well you used to be able to create walls of force that were shaped but now they're stuck on vertical planes and you might not be able to anchor them to the Oma/its armor. Still if you've gotten this far you can either research a higher level "shaped magical force bulkhead" that can be made permanent, or just travel to Verces and buy whatever they make their starship windows out of.
Because they have big powerful starships. Hmm...
Setting up a space base is pretty easy too. Let's say you're on Aballon (basically Mercury). Permanent walls of force can make the walls and support beams for the ceiling, which you make out of walls of iron or stone. You fill it with air via a portal to the plane of Air or just a bottle of air and a lot of time breathing. You keep it cool with sealed metal containers of Brown Mold. You keep the air fresh with regular old plants and give them necessary light with either continual flame or a tiny fraction of the sunlight beating down on your rooftop.
Actually the biggest challenge I'm hitting so far is finding a transparent material that is strong as stone (or stronger) to make your domes, windows, and portholes out of.
Although really, we all know you're just going to go to Castrovel to try and bang the Amazon Women of Not-Venus.
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