The Aethernet!

[TechnOkami]

So, I've had a sudden surge of creativity, and I want to know how I could do this using the 3.5 rules. I basically want to make my own version of the internet in D&D, except powered by magic, hence, the Aethernet.

What classes would enable me to make such a wondrous monstrosity?

Will I have to make a plane to keep magical memory servers in and keep the information flowing?

Just how?

Play on little Giants, play on.

[KaganMonk]

Not sure there's a way to do this by the books, but someone (Fax maybe) had plans for it in an Artificer game that nearly started. It was all homebrewed, and I'm not sure it had costs, but its been conceptualized.

[hotel_papa]

The autonomy of the Internet actually lends itself to a more outer-worldly source. An outsider race that can cast "sending" at will... I'm seeing a sort of altered Formorian that speaks in a fantasy parallel of binary, enslaved en-masse Matrix style to transfer packets of information along their hive-mind. The wizards that did it could stand to make an insane amount of money off of it, and the dark origin could lend itself to an exceptional plot hook, especially if the 'net itself is being used for some good...

Just what came to mind, messing with the shapesand in the playground....

[Ranielle]

Consider these ideas stolen!

[tahu88810]

There was a thread on this once, but my search-fu fails me.

Basically, someone decided that a bunch of commoners or semi-intelligent undead (like ghouls) standing next to each other could become a rough approximation of the very early internet. Though I only see it in the sense that 1's and 0's are exchanged.

[Fuzzie Fuzz]

I don't think that it would work very well for a player creation mid-game, (though it might be doable) but would make a brilliant idea for some world background from a DM's campaign-designing perspective.

[Tyndmyr]

I believe we previously used a large rock with a grid pattern on it and prestidigitation as a data storage medium, contingency abuse as logical operators, and designed a turing complete system within D&D. Obviously, you need a decently leveled caster to engage in such shenanigans, but once you can replicate computers, there's no particular reason you can't also use contingency for sending information and the rest.

Searching might turn it up.

[gallagher]

what ever happened to having a bard? i mean, they are practically wikipedia...

in a game that i am currently running, i gave the party an item called the broken clock. it is right twice a day. twice per day you can ask it a question, and it makes a bardic knowledge check of like +28 (10th level, full skills, 20 INT).

yeah, i like throwing stupid items at them. i also gave them a bouncy ball that would always return from the exact point at which it was dropped. soooooo useful...

[Claudius Maximus]

twice per day you can ask it a question, and it makes a bardic knowledge check of like +28 (10th level, full skills, 20 INT)

Wouldn't that only be +17?

[Arbane]

You could always steal Terry Pratchett's Clacks Network - it's not quite the Internet, but a multinational network of semaphore towers could be very useful for fast communication.

For a Internet-like thing, how about this?

A set of books, all enchanted so that anything written in one appears in all the others. Potentially useful for anyone who needs to send long messages or diagrams over a distance. (The big problem is filling up the book and having to make more, and possibly adding more books to the 'set'.)

Hm... are there any spells in D&D that would make sense for making those?

[DragonOfUndeath]

The big problem is filling up the book and having to make more.

autowipe pages 30 days old and just copy stuff you want to keep onto regular books

[gallagher]

Wouldn't that only be +17?

isnt it 5 (intelligence) + Bard Level (10) + Skills ranks (13)?

[Reluctance]

The internet is defined largely by the huge numbers of people on it. Magical internet, unless you can bring the masses of low-level nobodies to it, won't do much that magical telephone doesn't do better. And magical telephone is much easier to reproduce.

[Claudius Maximus]

isnt it 5 (intelligence) + Bard Level (10) + Skills ranks (13)?

Bardic Knowledge

A bard may make a special bardic knowledge check with a bonus equal to his bard level + his Intelligence modifier to see whether he knows some relevant information about local notable people, legendary items, or noteworthy places. (If the bard has 5 or more ranks in Knowledge (history), he gains a +2 bonus on this check.)

So it's level (10) + int mod (5) +2 (synergy with K: History). Knowledge skills are otherwise not involved, and it might be possible to roll both a knowledge skill check and a bardic knowledge check about the same thing.

[Noircat]

Maybe feature it as a sentient demiplane that requires some sort of gold/animal sacrifice/feat to graft into it/ritual to use. Shouldn't be available until level 5 just to keep it from utterly changng the setting.

[Ormur]

It depends on how accurately you want to simulate the internet as a ubiquitous decentralized and chaotic environment filled with everything there is to know.

A simpler more centralized version could be like some kind of a extra-planar library that you could borrow from remotely. There would be shelves of books organized by subject and all the content would be provided by the users. You call a book to you (like instant summons) after finding the relevant category (with a magical map or an index), write in a query or an article on the proper page, return it and the next person responds. Something like usenet except with books.

The next step could be some kind of an real-time updating illusion that functioned like a computer screen. There could be more demiplanes to store the information, users could add sections to it by interacting with their illusion and so forth.

You just have to establish the mechanics of this. A sentient demiplane, a race of outsiders, a cabal of public minded high level wizards? Are they using instant summons, sending, programmable image scrying, divinations or will you homebrew it?

[Yuki Akuma]

I believe we previously used a large rock with a grid pattern on it and prestidigitation as a data storage medium, contingency abuse as logical operators, and designed a turing complete system within D&D. Obviously, you need a decently leveled caster to engage in such shenanigans, but once you can replicate computers, there's no particular reason you can't also use contingency for sending information and the rest.

Searching might turn it up.

This sounds awesome and I must know more.

[Cipher Stars]

I would lawl if there was a % chance penalty of getting addicted to strange images of nude elves....


EDIT:

http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Archive

[Souhiro]

what ever happened to having a bard? i mean, they are practically wikipedia

Evolve or Die..


In fact, there IS a proto-aethernet, and is the Spellpool of the "Mage of the Arcane Order" PRC. As I remember, any Mage of the Order must pay some taxes and spend some of their XP working for the order (Imparting courses to the novices, writing scrolls, dousing fires in farms... whatever boring task they take) but received a trinquet that is both the "Membership Badge" and the way to access the SpellPool.


So, the AetherNet can be a corporatio... er... a guild of psychics, and for a small fee, they can rent you a trinket wich gives you access to whatever you search. If you have banks, you can even make avaiable to have an "Ae-Bay", and for another little fee, they can teleport whatever junk you buy.

But beware! as a GM you should use the Aethernet wisely, or your campaing will turn too 4ed-like.

[faceroll]

Wouldn't that only be +17?

+17 is like +28 in that they are both positive integers.

The internet is defined largely by the huge numbers of people on it. Magical internet, unless you can bring the masses of low-level nobodies to it, won't do much that magical telephone doesn't do better. And magical telephone is much easier to reproduce.

Aren't there an infinite number of very magical outsiders in existence?

Evolve or Die..

What a silly phrase.

[Prime32]

There was a thread on this once, but my search-fu fails me.

Basically, someone decided that a bunch of commoners or semi-intelligent undead (like ghouls) standing next to each other could become a rough approximation of the very early internet. Though I only see it in the sense that 1's and 0's are exchanged.

It was an extension of the commoner railgun - I was the one who pointed out that undead chokers could ready two actions per round, allowing for routing. They're undead so that they don't need to take breaks. Just keep a bunch of them in a demiplane where time goes faster, and you can use the portal as a calculator.

The Society Mind (and related classes) also has something like this.

[faceroll]

It was an extension of the commoner railgun - I was the one who pointed out that undead chokers could ready two actions per round, allowing for routing. They're undead so that they don't need to take breaks. Just keep a bunch of them in a demiplane where time goes faster, and you can use the portal as a calculator.

The Society Mind (and related classes) also has something like this.

You would need 200 square feet per byte. You'd need something bigger than a demiplane.

[Prime32]

You would need 200 square feet per byte. You'd need something bigger than a demiplane.

Or you could shrink them down and have them stand on top of each other.

[faceroll]

Or you could shrink them down and have them stand on top of each other.

You could, but there are more elegant solutions that don't require stupendously large amounts of space to replicate a pocket calculator's capabilities.


[edit]
There's a FR monster that eats creatures and creates clones of them. You could have them eat a Chronotryn. Those could then cast Wish to emulate that Wu Jen spell that makes you fine. They also get 2 actions/round, along with 20th level wizard casting (or something close). That'd be one hell of a computer.

[The White Knight]

autowipe pages 30 days old and just copy stuff you want to keep onto regular books

Ha! Usenet!

I love this thread!

[Cipher Stars]

http://fairytail.wikia.com/wiki/Archive

Comment, darn it!

Archive is the perfect example of a magical mimic of tech- Internet.

[Jack_Simth]

Just how?

Depends on what, exactly, you wish to do.

If you simply wish to be able to post information in such a way that anyone equipped can see it if they know the address? Third Eye Sense for the reader, Permanent Image to make the pages (which the caster can update later on).

[panaikhan]

I like the idea of the next-generation Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - an artifact-level 'book' that contains immense amounts of information, and can exist in multiple places at once.
Anything added to the book, would be instantly available to all the other 'owners'. The book would ALWAYS have ten blank pages at the back, no matter how much information was added, and the spine never grew over 2" thick (it stored pages in an alternate universe / pocket dimention)

[Radar]

I believe we previously used a large rock with a grid pattern on it and prestidigitation as a data storage medium, contingency abuse as logical operators, and designed a turing complete system within D&D. Obviously, you need a decently leveled caster to engage in such shenanigans, but once you can replicate computers, there's no particular reason you can't also use contingency for sending information and the rest.

Searching might turn it up.

So very much this. Contingency loops are a great basis for computer programing. They can even fork without limitations thanks to Arcane Fusion and Sanctum Spell abuse!
So the library server has a main loop [1] that will essentialy catch events (somebody trying to connect) and activate other loops for the client from a prepared list of instructions (visual interface, search engines etc.). The client will then interact with the interface loop and through it could scry on specific books and things like that. He might also have access to some shared memory on the server and generate content. It all goes down as usual from that.

[1] Contingency: If signal X is detected, then cast Greater Arcane Fusion (Contingency [1] + Contingency [User Interface with variable: sender of signal X])
(Or something along these lines. It might require substantial RAW abuse, to overcome limitations of Greater Arcane Fusion)

The only problem is the communication. I'd figure, that clients would have some sort of a node device, that would have it's own Contingency loop system inside. Most long-distance communication spells have a creature as a target, so those nodes and some part of the server might have to be constructs (mindless would suffice). The most efficient would be Message spell (0th level, no long casting time and long duration). Make it a transdimensional spell (metamagic feat for that) and place large ammount of rally points on the Ethereal Plane around the whole planet. For serious transdimensional access, more complicated spell would be needed.

Screen is actually realy easy: it's either a Silent/Minor/Major Image or just a bunch of pixels colored with Prestidigitation.

[SlyGuyMcFly]

There was a thread on this once, but my search-fu fails me.

Basically, someone decided that a bunch of commoners or semi-intelligent undead (like ghouls) standing next to each other could become a rough approximation of the very early internet. Though I only see it in the sense that 1's and 0's are exchanged.

I seem to recall a similar thread (or, more probably, thread derail) that involved using severed chunks of a Troll as an instantaneous communication medium. Don't remember any details beyond that.