Terraforming Athas

[Malroth]

You are a high OP Lv 17 Druid from a generic setting when the POWERS THAT BE inform you that in one week you will be sent to attempt to revive the dying world of Athas.

The rules
ECL 17 normal WBL with druid as highest casting class, If also an arcane caster will have to Defile to regain arcane spells once in Athas.
Build must have been viable in original world before being assigned terraforming duty.
Create Water and Decanters of Endless Water will not function on other side.
You will be transported with all the gear you can carry and any willing minions that are in your space when 1 week of prep time is up.

What build/tricks would you use to rebuild a planet?

[Flickerdart]

How does Planar Shepherd interact with the cosmology on Athas - do you get to keep your old plane, or are you boned cause it's no longer in the setting?

[Malroth]

I'd say you keep your old plane which will probably make the entire exercise incredibly easy but it'll be fun to see what happens.

[JeminiZero]

Create Water and Decanters of Endless Water will not function on other side.

Well, water is clearly one of your biggest concerns, and the inability to simply conjure it into existence will be problematic. So the first thing I would try to do is to circumvent this limit in some fashion. I was thinking of opening a gate to the plane of water, but it might not exist/no longer be accessible in Athas cosmology.

So instead try this: Use Rock to Mud to turn the limitless supply of barren rock into wet mud. Maybe add on Purify Water to turn the mud into drinking water.

[Flickerdart]

So instead try this: Use Rock to Mud to turn the limitless supply of barren rock into wet mud. Maybe add on Purify Water to turn the mud into drinking water.

To be fair, nothing in the spell suggests that the mud is wet. Dry mud is a perfectly adequate result of the spell.

[Gildedragon]

There is a spell that summons a tsunami. Doesn't seem to need water existing beforehand, so there is that... but there is the problem of washing out the soil, so less good

Summoning water elementals maybe?

Make goodberry based fertilizer?

[Ravens_cry]

To be fair, nothing in the spell suggests that the mud is wet. Dry mud is a perfectly adequate result of the spell.

You know, except the part that describes creatures as sinking into it. Try that with dry mud.
Or the line near the end that says

Evaporation turns the mud to normal dirt over a period of days.

If it's not wet mud, what is being evaporated?

[JeminiZero]

To be fair, nothing in the spell suggests that the mud is wet. Dry mud is a perfectly adequate result of the spell.

The last line does suggest the mud is wet-ish

Evaporation turns the mud to normal dirt over a period of days. The exact time depends on exposure to the sun, wind, and normal drainage.

[Flickerdart]

You know, except the part that describes creatures as sinking into it. Try that with dry mud.

One can sink into a great many dry substances, including quicksand, gravel, loosely packed soil, debt...

[Rakaydos]

Quicksand is NOT a dry material. Far from it.

[Flickerdart]

Quicksand is NOT a dry material. Far from it.

Isn't it though?

[Baroknik]

1) Spam flashflood from Sandstorm -- 8th level spell to create 100,000 cf of water.

2) Look into the prestige class Lord of Tides to help carry 850 lb of water at a time back.

3) Buy a bunch of Dust of Dryness (Sandstorm) that can absorb and release water. Interesting note: this stuff stores water at 1:1, but every 10,000 gallons produces a flashflood (as the spell) for a turn. Since 1cf = 7.2 gal water, you can have exponential growth of you water amounts (every 10,000 gallons yields 720,000 gallons after use).

[Ravens_cry]

Isn't it though?

Would you describe that as 'mud' though? Silt, certainly, but mud? Also, how would evaporation change that into dirt?

[Coidzor]

Isn't the real question what the reaction of the sorcerer kings would be? And Borys, for that matter.

IIRC, the Mind Lords are the only other real potential source of trouble for a high level character and their neck of the woods doesn't need terraforming, so they can be avoided.

Maybe the Thri-Kreen have some kind of threat though?

[Chronos]

Even using every spell slot you have every day for creating water in the most efficient way available is going to be too slow. A problem like this, we need to address at the source, not just treating the symptom. And that means that we need to figure out what blasted Athas in the first place, and reverse it. Killing all of the defilers would be a good start, but that still doesn't address why arcane magic is based on defiling to begin with.

[ArcaneGlyph]

Shape shift into a creature that is good at sniffing out water.
Shape shift into a tunneling creature and look for artisan wells.
Start making connected under ground tunnels to connect the wells.

That would be my line of thinking.. once you gt the water above ground start using plant growth spells and knowledge nature / survival to get things going.

Not the best plan, but maybe a point to start thinking off..

[DigoDragon]

Killing all of the defilers would be a good start, but that still doesn't address why arcane magic is based on defiling to begin with.

There's a spell that kills the target by drawing out all the water from the body. Could cover two issues this way.

[unseenmage]

A Spellclock of Wish: Create Magic Item: Spellclock of (insert spell that creates water as a side effect here; I suggest metamagic-ed Iceberg (Fr) or Fimbulwinter (Fr)) sitting next to a Spellclock of Awaken Sand (Sa) next to a Magic Mouth-style resetting trap that tells your newly created sand friend to take a water-making-clock and go wet the world could definitely do it.

And the more of the original two Spellclocks you start with the faster your job gets done.

TLDR: Two Spellclocks, one for Wishing up Spellclocks of water making and another for magic-ing up minions to carry watermaking Spellclocks across the land.

[Inevitability]

Fimbulwinter could work. It'd make it rain for at least four weeks in a 17-mile radius, so spend all your 9th and 8th spells on it, cast it in an area, move on to the next, return when the spell ends. A few weeks of continuous rain and snow should be enough to create water.

[Larkas]

If your objective is merely creating water, the above methods should work. Maybe your master is an Archduke of Water that wants to reverse the loss of power to Silt or something?

Regardless, you'd be just replacing a sandy desert with a watery one. Athas' problem isn't the lack of water, or at least not primordially. The problem with Athas is that apparently the world has a limited supply of life, and for whatever reason arcane magic there siphons life around the caster (even for preservers; it just happens much more slowly). That probably has something to do with the lack of conduits to the Outer Planes. Maybe the Brown Tide severed that connection and created the Gray, who's to know. You have to solve THAT before you try adding life to Athas. That solution probably will include shutting down every arcane caster, specially defilers, beforehand. Good luck dealing with the sorcerer-kings, and even the Dragon, though: those are epic spellcasters you will have to deal with just as a starting point, and their powers don't come only from arcane magic. If you manage to do that (pretty big IF there), you will have to find a way to add more life to the world, probably destroying the Gray in the process, and even creating/resurrecting/awakening/beating some sense into the sphere's Overdeity. That's no easy feat, and it certainly doesn't involve a simple 9th level spell. That's a real deep epic campaign right there. A pre-epic Druid have no real hope for success.

And let's entertain for a moment the thought that a Druid CAN simply create life from thin air, even in Athas. Do you really think it could escape the grasp of a sorcerer-king and prevent being turned into a sort of "magic battery"?

[Inevitability]

This is the first time I've seen someone on this forum refer to 9th level spells as 'simple'.

[Lord Haart]

the POWERS THAT BE inform you that in one week you will be sent to attempt to revive the dying world of Athas

sent to Athas

Crap your pants. For a whole week. Then fertilise Athas with what you've got.

[Larkas]

This is the first time I've seen someone on this forum refer to 9th level spells as 'simple'.

Weird, right?

[Ravens_cry]

Weird, right?

Reminds me of that TNG episode where Q suggests as a solution to a problem to 'Change the gravitational constant of the universe'.

[Gildedragon]

Reminds me of that TNG episode where Q suggests as a solution to a problem to 'Change the gravitational constant of the universe'.

Which they then did; for a loose definition of universe
So what ways have we got to change athas's plane's fundamental constants... For a loose definition of plane

An acorn of far travel in a plane like the plane of radiance, wood, or water might allow yours spells to work as if you were boosted by that plane. If not maybe planar bubble (cleric spell though) or precipitate planar breach (arcane)

Or spellclocks of controll weather, slowly cool the land; and induce rain.
Spelltraps of Irresistible (if you're gonna be hopping across broken planes stop by Kalamar to get that metamagic) Preserver's Bane to hurt anyone trying to harm your works.
Probably want to War spell both of these.

Summon a nitrogen elemenatal: get their help to make fertilizers

[Phelix-Mu]

There are actually a couple spells unique to Athas that are kosher 3.5 material that really help with this process.

Nurturing Seeds
Abjuration
Level: Drd 0
Components: V, S, M, DF
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Touch
Target: Up to 10 seeds touched
Duration: Permanent
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: No
You render up to 10 cuttings or seeds dormant and
suitable for transport. The seeds or cuttings can
then be taken to an area where inclement weather,
lack of moisture, or other problems have kept
plants from growing. The dormant seeds or
cuttings are planted there and will magically take
root and can be used to start new patches of
vegetation, anchoring the soil and creating an
environment suitable for more plants to survive.
This spell protects the transplants from normal
weather conditions, but defilers, hungry animals, or
unnatural phenomenon (like Tyr-Storms) can still
destroy the plants.
Material Components: A tiny bit of dung and a
drop of water.


Rejuvenate
Transmutation
Level: Clr 6, Drd 5
Components: V, S, M
Casting Time: 1 round
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Area: Circle of ground extending out to range
Duration: Instantaneous
Savings Throw: None
Spell Resistance: None
You grant the ability to support vegetation to an
area of ground. In the case of ground made sterile
by defiler magic, rejuvenate dispels the ground’s
sterility, making it immediately capable of
supporting vegetation. A circle of ground extending
out from you is enriched and moistened, and a
blanket of fine grass appears instantly. The soil and
grass are not magical, however, and are subject to
normal weather conditions. However, the grass will
survive for at least a week, even in the worst of
weather.
The spell may also be cast on any ground short
of solid rock. If cast on an area that can already
support plant life, rejuvenate increases the ground’s
fertility as the enrichment effect of the spell plant
growth, and the range is a half mile.
Material Components: A seed (any kind) and a
drop of water.


Return to the Earth
Necromancy
Level: Clr 2, Drd 3, Dance of Decay 1, Tem 2
Components: V, S
Casting Time: 1 standard action
Range: Close (25 ft. + 5 ft./2 levels)
Targets: Corpses or corpse-like creatures
Duration: 1 round/level
Saving Throw: None
Spell Resistance: Yes
You can decompose a body just by casting dust or
earth at it. You need to spend 4 rounds to
decompose a Medium corpse. (Double the time
required for each size category larger than Medium;
halve the time for each size category less than
Medium, to a minimum of 1 round). Corpses
decomposed by this spell can still be restored to
life, but cannot be turned into undead.
You may throw earth or dust as a ranged touch
attack (maximum range 10 ft., no range increment);
the earth deals 1d12 points of damage to corporeal
undead and constructs that are composed of dead
flesh or bones.

The source for these spells was Athas.org, which was granted some manner of licensing rights by WotC to be an "official" 3.5 source, so they should function just fine in that world's strange planar structure and limits on magic. Enough spamming of the first two will solve a huge part of the problem.

The corpse disposal is mainly useful in case you have a way to come up with corpses, and at RAI turns the corpse into organic material (the normal result of when a body is "decomposed"). A large problem on Athas is the supply of organic material, severely limited due to the lack of life generally. So, if you could spam stone to flesh, for instance, you might have a good supply of organic materials that bypasses the normal need for a lifeform to be involved in the process.

Water creation has pretty much been covered. A number of spells explicitly create water that remains after the main effect of the spell ends. A small problem will be that spells like blizzard, flash-flood, and tsunami will devastate the area they are cast on, since soil not anchored down will be washed away quickly, likely exposing rock and leaving the area worse off than it started. Also, note that control weather may not work the same on Athas, since their weather is different; storms created on Athas may not result in rain, or may cause more damage than their otherworldly counterparts. Not sure if that is RAW, but I'd be surprised if there wasn't something in the Athas material that already addresses ways in which the standard core spells that could fix Athas' problems.

But, I agree with the above posters that note that anyone that shows up and rocks the boat will be ruthlessly hunted down by the powers that be and that have an interest in preserving the existing balance of power. While a well-equipped and prep'd druid can probably handle the average defiler, the real problem, as noted, are the sorcerer kings and creatures of that scale and might.

[Gildedragon]

The solution to that is starting far from the other fellas. Rock the boat gently, killing defilers and nurturing the land (and teaching folks about crop rotation) for XP into epic levels. Form a band of adventurers (if you didn't bring one as part of your equipment; and even then the more the merrier) including a couple of artificers (their magic isn't arcane so: yay!) and psions (or pianos if autocorrect is right).
Trick is getting into Epic all stealthlike

[Chronos]

Nurturing Seeds is way too easy, since, as written, that spell could terraform Mars, much less Athas. That's far too powerful to make any sense as a level 0 spell.

And scouring the land with your water-making spells shouldn't be a problem, if you start by carving out basins that you're going to turn into lakes.

[John Longarrow]

To be fair, nothing in the spell suggests that the mud is wet. Dry mud is a perfectly adequate result of the spell.

See the definition of MUD

On topic, use Tsunami to clear out spaces in the wastes. Once you have bedrock, Stone to Flesh to give you basic organic material. Pour some good soil on top to start decomposition. Move to the next spot.

[Coidzor]

I suppose there are locations outside of the Tablelands that they don't really pay attention to, so there's potential to lay down the groundwork for something, I suppose?

Not quite sure how powerful the halflings actually are, but they scare the generally higher level Athasians, so they might be a threat or at least problematical to take control of. I can't remember if the Thri-Kreen are powerful enough to be a problem or if they're just geographically isolated enough that they don't have any influence from the Sorcerer Kings and the like.

Granted, if this is after Borys and all but 3(4?) of the Sorcerer-Kings have died, that changes things up to some extent, I'm sure.

What is the "average" Defiler and "average" Templar anyway?