This would be a pretty good example of how people ignore the major thrust of a comment and focus instead on some trivial throwaway side comment... Love the interwebz...
Great post, Mr. Dragon, and I'm not surprised at all you turn out to be a physicist.
As for cantrips, I get a lot of use out of ghost sound (which is extremely flexible and hugely rewards creativity), and I also really like launch bolt from the 3.5 Spell Compendium. Used at level 1, it allows you to keep your hands free while still firing off crossbow bolts, and lets you save some of that precious first level starting gp to buy stuff besides a crossbow. And if you have any archery feats like Point Blank Shot, it works with those too! It's a really handy little spell at low levels.
This would be a pretty good example of how people ignore the major thrust of a comment and focus instead on some trivial throwaway side comment... Love the interwebz...
I generally only respond to things I disagree with.
More discussion to be had out of disagreement than agreement IMO.
And you learn new things. Like that concentrated peroxide is rocket fuel.
Go check out the concentration of hydrogen peroxide in that bottle Rynjin. Or better yet, do some research on hydrogen peroxide.
Highly concentrated hydrogen peroxide is a highly reactive substance and was used widely as rocket fuel. It is considered a highly toxic caustic agent.
Highly concentrated ANYTHING is pretty dangerous though. You could probably distill marshmallow fluff into a dangerous substance if you were truly determined to do so.
But if you're "carrying around a bottle of" hydrogen peroxide it's not very likely to be a high grade, high concentration propellant.
I was just asking because I remember a few people in my high school Chem class making a similar mistake, mixing up hydrogen peroxide and hydroxide (which, if I recall, mixes with pretty much ANYTHING to produce caustic substances, like lye?).
Though now I think of it, you're a physicist of some kind aren't you? Not likely to make that mistake lol.
Moving on. =)
Rynjin, if you are "carrying around a bottle" of hydrogen peroxide for the purpose of accelerating an acid reaction, it's not going to be the .05% solution in your bathroom, because that would have a trivial effect. It would be the concentrated stuff because that's what you need.
<<makes note for his next rogue-character's trap-busting kit>>
Hey now, don't be insulting my peroxide. It's got a whole 3%.
Hey now, don't be insulting my peroxide. It's got a whole 3%.
That's actually more than I've usually seen. If you use that for disinfecting cuts or scrapes, you might be doing more tissue damage than healing. I would probably dilute that with more distilled water before using as a disinfectant.
I usually use it to dissolve sap (on my feet or my car). Lotta pine sap around here.
Thanks for the tip though, in all seriousness.
Dragon bloodlines sorcerers can get an early +1 dmg to energy spells associated with its particular type. Could be a slight boost to one of your cantrips.
There are so many ways to analyze and resolve the attempts to use cantrips in "creative" ways. Especially for those who want to walk the line between "real world physics" and "magic".
(...)good-stuff(...)
Now, having said that, I like creativity and tend to reward players who come up with clever ways to utilize their resources. But I also run my own world and in my world the world does follow real world physics when I can, just for consistency's sake. So in my game if someone ever tried to acid splash a lock, I'd probably tell them that it's very, VERY slow going, and the rest of the party might want to go out for dinner and a show while the cantrip is being cast until the caster is hoarse. Unless they figure out how to accelerate the process. One of the drawbacks of being a physicist is that if someone wants to play the "physics" card, I can pull out the whole deck.
That's my spin on things too. I also have a good deck with mechanical engineering vs the "If I can do X I must be able to do Y" argument cards. A cantrip is a cantrip: cool tool but not a joker card...
Not all physicists are doctors, though if Mr. Dr. Dragon wishes me to address him as Dr. Dragon, one Dr. should always be willing to respect another ;-)
No, I never got my doctorate. I decided I liked programming more than school so once I had my BS, I got a job and have been working ever since.
Big Bang Theory aside, doctorates aren't required to be physicists. Two of my college professors weren't phDs. And one of those worked at NASA and was a literal "rocket scientist" during the space race. He had some stories...
So it sounds like Mr. Dragon is fine. But I've never been one to equate a title with being deserving of respect anyway. I know too many Drs for that.
Just to note...
An Admixture Evoker could cast Ray of Frost, adding half their level to it, all day long. That's actually likely to damage even masonry (Hardness 8) at higher levels. And if it's something that can take extra damage from cold (anything that can shatter if it's cold enough, like glass or ceramics or even possibly metal), then it might not get hardness.
Note that damage boosters work on this! So things like Point Blank Shot (+1 Damage on ranged attacks within 30 feet, rays are considered weapons remember), Weapon Specialization +2 (Requires level dip into fighter or martial artist monk, my fave for this).
Using their ability to turn it into other damage (like ray of fire, or ray of acid) and negating hardness can work well too, although they can only do it a few times a day (based on INT and level). But it could still be very useful.
Granted, all of this is situational and mostly just for fun, but if you're playing an evoker blaster, you're probably going to have Point Blank Shot & Precise shot, and you're also likely to have Weapon Focus (Rays). The level dip is kind of sucky, although going the Martial Artist route at least gives you bonus AC (which a caster always needs).
Plus it's kind of fun to sit there and do damage to a door or something over and over again without being able to be deprived of the spell. :)
Hey now, don't be insulting my peroxide. It's got a whole 3%.
The stuff I work with is about 30%. If you get it on your hands (which you should not) the skin turns white. We use it to boost chemical reactions. And while I do sometimes carry the stuff around I try to be as careful as possible when hauling the 90lbs cans.
Why it is so dangerous (apart from being corrosive) is that it is a strong oxygen donator which means is boosts fires to burn hotter and faster. Don't smoke when you work with it.
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Hey now, don't be insulting my peroxide. It's got a whole 3%.The stuff I work with is about 30%. If you get it on your hands (which you should not) the skin turns white. We use it to boost chemical reactions. And while I do sometimes carry the stuff around I try to be as careful as possible when hauling the 90lbs cans.
Why it is so dangerous (apart from being corrosive) is that it is a strong oxygen donator which means is boosts fires to burn hotter and faster. Don't smoke when you work with it.
I may or may not have caused a small napalm like fire in one of my chem classes involving a high concentration hydrogen peroxide solution and a polymer.... On top of it causing hotter and faster flames, it also makes it HARDER to knock the flames out. Pretty dangerous stuff.
Also I have a scar from dropping a bit of the 80%(I think) solution on my hand. That one was definitely NOT my fault. My lab partner got super careless when she read hydrogen peroxide and spilled it everywhere as she thought it be harmless as she uses it to color her hair. Course she also picked up a red hot crucible with her hand and tossed it at me...have a scar from that too. Also she spilled hydrogen bromine on me and poisoned me with that as well. I believe the term worst lab partner EVER comes to mind....but meh...off topic.
Hey now, don't be insulting my peroxide. It's got a whole 3%.The stuff I work with is about 30%. If you get it on your hands (which you should not) the skin turns white. We use it to boost chemical reactions. And while I do sometimes carry the stuff around I try to be as careful as possible when hauling the 90lbs cans.
Why it is so dangerous (apart from being corrosive) is that it is a strong oxygen donator which means is boosts fires to burn hotter and faster. Don't smoke when you work with it.
My step-father (RIP) used to work at a plant that made refrigeration components, and they had vats of this stuff they used to dip parts in. They weren't supposed to, but if someone got cut or something, and the supervisor wasn't looking, they'd dip the hand or finger or whatever got cut into the vat. Turned their skin chalk white, but the cut usually healed up really fast. Probably because they killed off every germ, bacteria, microbe, and exposed tissue cell.
They weren't supposed to, but if someone got cut or something, and the supervisor wasn't looking, they'd dip the hand or finger or whatever got cut into the vat. Turned their skin chalk white, but the cut usually healed up really fast. Probably because they killed off every germ, bacteria, microbe, and exposed tissue cell.
The stuff is really good for killing off germs and such. But you really don't need the high % for this. We have a little flask at home and I guess that is 1-3%. Works far better than pure alcohol in most cases.
But when you work long enough with dangerous stuff you learn what you can do with it (sometimes this knowledge is flawed, leading to accidents.) I don't do everything according to the rules, too. And I tend to be the careful guy when it comes to hazardous material.
And you learn new things. Like that concentrated peroxide is rocket fuel.
And used to launch V1s and as fuel in V2s. The germans called it T-Stoff.
Hey now, don't be insulting my peroxide. It's got a whole 3%.The stuff I work with is about 30%. If you get it on your hands (which you should not) the skin turns white. We use it to boost chemical reactions. And while I do sometimes carry the stuff around I try to be as careful as possible when hauling the 90lbs cans.
Why it is so dangerous (apart from being corrosive) is that it is a strong oxygen donator which means is boosts fires to burn hotter and faster. Don't smoke when you work with it.
Just one final thought on this. We used to keep anything more than 10% solution of H202 in the refrigerator. The chemistry prof who owned the chemicals used to tell me that H202 above about 60% concentration at temperatures above 80 degrees is prone to spontaneously begin to break down, and the reaction is exothermic so it generates more heat, which can lead to explosive results.
Never actually saw that happen, but was careful to keep the concentrated stuff chilled....