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View Full Version : Make Your Own Atlantis [Spell]



Lysander
2009-08-07, 10:35 AM
Air Bubble
Transmutation, Water
Level: Clr 7, Drd 7, Sor/Wiz 7
Components: S, M, DF
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Centered on self
Area: Sphere with 10/ft level diameter
Duration: 10 min./level (D)
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No

This spell creates an invisible field that repels water. Any loose water in the area will immediately flow away.

If cast on land it can create an area of refuge in the midst of a flood or shield against a tidal wave. If cast on the surface of water it can create a bowl shaped depression in the liquid. If cast underwater it creates a bubble of breathable air that filters in fresh air from the surrounding water. Any creatures swimming in the area will find themselves swimming on the surface at the bottom of the bubble. Creatures can enter and exit the bubble freely, and swim around and above it. Moving within the center of the bubble requires climbable surfaces or the ability to fly. Casting it on the ocean floor creates a small patch of dry land beneath the sea.

Material Component
A tiny blue diamond worth 1,000gp, which is turned into a less valuable 500gp white diamond.

Maintained Bubble
Using an exquisitely valuable blue diamond worth 10,000gp or more makes the spell last for 1/day a level. This utterly destroys the diamond. Air Bubble's special longer duration can be reset to its start by any spellcaster by casting Air Bubble again without any material component, allowing long term maintenance of a bubble without cost. Without regular maintanence any air bubble will eventually collapse.

DracoDei
2009-08-07, 10:48 AM
The extensible duration thing is a very interesting mechanic, and I like the whole thing over-all. Might be over-leveled, but I would have to compare it to Raise/Lower Water or whatever they are calling that spell these days, since it can be used for most things that can be, and more. In any case, I am too lazy to look it up. Surviving a Tsunami without even getting wet is pretty boss, but it doesn't come up that often.

Origomar
2009-08-07, 11:49 AM
The real question is if you use it at the bottom of the ocean, is it the same preassure as the bottom of the ocean and will you or will you not implode upon exiting said bubble :smallamused:

Lysander
2009-08-07, 12:17 PM
The real question is if you use it at the bottom of the ocean, is it the same preassure as the bottom of the ocean and will you or will you not implode upon exiting said bubble :smallamused:

The surrounding water is at the normal pressure for that depth, so that could be dangerous to enter if you're very deep. Bubbles in fatally pressurized water are rare though because the caster would have to survive in that environment long enough to cast the spell. It's not physically harmful to enter (other than being underwater) if it's at a shallower depth that a scuba diver might explore.

Also even if the water is safe you can suffer the bends rising to the surface too quickly, so if you're more than a few meters deep you'd need a way to breathe underwater to make all the necessary decompression stops.

DracoDei
2009-08-07, 12:27 PM
The surrounding water is at the normal pressure for that depth, so that could be dangerous to enter if you're very deep. Bubbles in fatally pressurized water are rare though because the caster would have to survive in that environment long enough to cast the spell. It's not physically harmful to enter (other than being underwater) if it's at a shallower depth that a scuba diver might explore.
For a 7th level spell I would assume it would take care of any safety problems with the difference between the bubble and the air around it pressure-wise.

Also even if the water is safe you can suffer the bends rising to the surface too quickly, so if you're more than a few meters deep you'd need a way to breathe underwater to make all the necessary decompression stops.

Or, you know, the partner Clerical spell that needs to get written Immunity to Bends.

Lysander
2009-08-07, 12:52 PM
Yeah, the bends wouldn't come into play entering the bubble. Only going from the bubble to the surface (if it's very deep), no different than ascent from very deep water at that level.

And leaving a bubble and getting squished by the water would be difficult to pull off, because how would you get that deep in the first place without getting squished? You'd have to teleport there, travel there in some kind of craft, or swim in an alternate shape.

Water breathing magic definitely should grant immunity to the bends as a side effect.

DracoDei
2009-08-07, 12:57 PM
But what about the OPPOSITE of getting squished? If the pressure in the air is 1 ATM (I forget what the deal is supposed to be), then your ears might pop so hard your eardrums go flying out to make a very very small splat on the nearest surface, and the effects on the rest of your body would be equally non-fun. If, OTOH, you have the pressure of the air in the bubble equal to the water pressure, then you only have to worry about narcosis (Insanity, not wracking pain).

(I think we at least have a cat-girl on life-support here...)