So I have been running my party through the Jade Regent adventure path and we are on the 3rd book where they have the chance to go up against the young adult white dragon. I have made it VERY clear to my group that this was an optional encounter and if they decide to pursue it I will use EVERY dirty trick I can within the rules and not hold back. My belief has always been that dragons should be tough and you do not mess with them. Being your typical group they have decided to ignore me so I get to pull out all the stops. =)
That said I already have some dirty tricks in mind but I was quite interested in the Ice Shape spell like ability. The rules say that it works just like stone shape except it only works on ice and snow. Can you use the ability to say encase someone in ice if you touch the ice around them and activate the ability? If so how would this work? I am assuming that they would begin to suffocate and other party members would need to somehow break them out before they die. How would a situation like this be handled by the rules? While I plan to mess them up as much as possible even tpk if it happens but if it does I want to make sure I am not messing up the rules to their disadvantage.
Just remember that it is a touch range spell. Otherwise, here are some stone shape threads that may inspire you and help you to better understand:
Just remember that it is a touch range spell. Otherwise, here are some stone shape threads that may inspire you and help you to better understand:
Some interesting stuff thanks for the links. So after some calculations if you have a person that is 6' high and is 2.5 feet wide and about 10 inches thick it takes about 3.5 cubic feet of material to encase them fully in 1 inch of material.
Break it all down into cubic inches
Front and back would be 6 feet high by 2.5 feet wide = 72 inches by 30 inches =2160 cubic inches each (4320 cubic inches total)
Left side and right side would each be 6 feet high by 10 inches wide = 72 inches by 10 inches = 720 cubic inches each (so 1420 cubic inches total)
Top (no bottom just fuse it to the floor) 2.5 feet wide by 10 inches thick = 30 inches wide by 10 inches thick = 300 cubic inches
Total is 6040 cubic inches to encase the average 6 foot high person. Now remember a cube is with * length * height so to convert it from cubic inches into cubic feet you take the total and divide it by 12 then divide it by 12 again and divide it by 12 once more.
This gives us 3.49537037 cubic feet. For simplicity sake lets just call it 3.5 cubic feet.
So 3.5 cubic feet will then encase an average 6' person in 1 inch of material on all sides.
2 inches is 7 cubic feet, 3 inches is 10.5 cubic feet, 4 inches is 14 cubic feet, 5 inches is 17.5 cubic feet and 6 inches is 21 cubic feet.
So an 11th level caster (10+1 per level) which is what the caster level is of the above young adult white dragon could encase an average person in a cube of ice about 6 inches thick.....my party is so screwed!!!
And just to be fair I had to call up one of the players in my game who is a math teacher to figure out how to solve this problem lol. Using their own knowledge against them =)
I think the obvious use would be to fight inside a glacier, then use prepared collapsible ceilings to crush intruders.
Another interesting idea. Wonder how I would rule the damage from it though.
So how much damage would 21 cubic feet of ice cause to someone say 60 feet below it?
Depends on whether it falls as one big block, or as a rain of hail.
Depends on whether it falls as one big block, or as a rain of hail.
Would be one big rock or maybe even a big spike.
And just to be fair I had to call up one of the players in my game who is a math teacher to figure out how to solve this problem lol. Using their own knowledge against them =)
Well, it's a rough approximation, but as you increase the thickness of the ice, you expand the radius at the same time, so the amount of ice you need to encase more thickly does not actually scale linearly.
Yar.
The Environmental section does indeed have rules for cave-ins, dungeon collapses, and avalanches. It also has rules for falling objects and the damage they do, based on both their size and how far they fall.
~P
|
Slightly more advanced, but certainly not beyond the abilities of a dragon: combining fluid and frozen water.
You have a pocket of water that's just warm enough not to freeze, with a layer of ice on top. When adventures walk over it, make a hole to drop them through, then seal up the ice above them again. When they try to cut their way out, just keep adding more ice on top. Using fire magic to escape is pretty hard too, because casting fire spells underwater is it's own problem (as described in Environment::Water).
Or: descending hallway in an ice dungeon. Pocket of water above (maybe even a surface lake). Party comes along, you melt the ceiling, releasing the water to flush them away.
And just to be fair I had to call up one of the players in my game who is a math teacher to figure out how to solve this problem lol. Using their own knowledge against them =)Well, it's a rough approximation, but as you increase the thickness of the ice, you expand the radius at the same time, so the amount of ice you need to encase more thickly does not actually scale linearly.
Dam you are right I did not take that into account. So new calculations.
Front and back would be 6 feet high by 2.5 feet wide = 72 inches by 30 inches =2160 cubic inches each (4320 cubic inches total)
Left side and right side would each be 6 feet high by 10 inches wide = 72 inches by 10 inches = 720 cubic inches each (so 1420 cubic inches total)
Top (no bottom just fuse it to the floor) 2.5 feet wide by 10 inches thick = 30 inches wide by 10 inches thick = 300 cubic inches
Total is 6040 cubic inches to encase the average 6 foot high person. Now remember a cube is with * length * height so to convert it from cubic inches into cubic feet you take the total and divide it by 12 then divide it by 12 again and divide it by 12 once more.
This gives us 3.49537037 cubic feet. For simplicity sake lets just call it 3.5 cubic feet.
Next
Front/back = 73 inches by 32 inches = 2336 cubic inches x2= 4672 cubic inches
Left/right sides = 73 inches by 12 inches = 876 cubic inches x2= 1752 cubic inches
Top = 32 inches by 12 inches = 384 cubic inches
Total = 6808 cubic inches /12, /12, /12 = 3.939, round up to 3.94 cubic feet
Next
Front/back = 74 inches by 34 inches = 2516 cubic inches x2 = 5032 cubic inches
Left/right sides = 74 inches by 14 inches = 1036 cubic inches x2 = 2072 cubic inches
Top = 34 inches by 14 inches = 476 cubic inches
Total = 7580 cubic inches /12, /12, /12 = 4.386, round up to 4.39 cubic feet
Next
Front/back = 75 inches by 36 inches = 2700 cubic inches x2 = 5400 cubic inches
Left/right sides = 75 inches by 16 inches = 1200 cubic inches x2 = 2400 cubic inches
Top = 36 inches by 16 inches = 576 cubic inches
Total = 8376 cubic inches /12, /12, /12 = 4.847, round up to 4.85 cubic feet
Next
Front/back = 76 inches by 38 inches = 2888 cubic inches x2 = 5776 cubic inches
Left/right sides = 76 inches by 18 inches = 1368 cubic inches x2 = 2736 cubic inches
Top = 38 inches by 18 inches = 684 cubic inches
Total = 9196 cubic inches /12, /12, /12 = 5.321, round to 5.32 cubic feet
That gives us 3.5 + 3.94 + 4.39 + 4.85 + 5.32 = 22 cubic feet.
So I would be just 1 cubic foot shy of encasing the player in 5 inches of ice. Close enough for government work. Ice only has 3 hp per inch of thickness so I guess I can cut it down to 14 hp instead of the normal 15 hp to be fair.
