gordon@alberta.UUCP (Gordon Atwood) (11/26/85)
This is one of the most original ideas I've seen in quite awhile. 1) What does silvering the end entail? Can someone give a brief description? Can a metalsmith do it, or a jeweller. 2) Different crystals have different refraction indices (Right terminology?) Can someone describe, from worst to best, which types of stones would work? This could be used as a percentage of effectiveness. The best type would give 100% results, and probably cost 100 times or 1000 times that of a type which only yeilds 10% 3) Can the "Laser" be turned off, or shielded safely. That is, if you cast "Permanent Light" into it, can you safely store it? Will the silver eventually burn off? Would it generate heat? 4) From an effect point of view I would suggest it do 1Hd damage per level of the caster. Or if that doesn't suit you, just 1hd damage. (Per round of course). It should to 1 hit point structural damage per (round, turn) choose one. 5) If the crystal is rated in %, then it would do X% damage, depending on the crystal rating. 6) It might be suitable to require the spell-caster to research for a monochrome light spell, perhaps the colour dependent on the type of crystal.
lrj@lasspvax.UUCP (Lewis R. Jansen) (11/27/85)
I'm sorry to have to pop any balloons, but the word from my friend, who is studying lasers, is this: (1) The purity of the crystals needed for a laser is higher than that found in nature... In other words, you'd have to know how to grow/create your own crystals... Would YOU go out adventuring if you could GROW your own rubies??? (2) The light source driving the laser has to be pulsed... That means that a Continual Light spell would just make a pretty red ruby with an internal light source. The period of the pulses depends upon the material, but usually is on the order of nanoseconds... And my conntribution: (3) You have to remember that the people of this world don't have even the FOGGIEST notion of what light is or how it propogates. Remember, this is a fantasy ROLE playing game... Sure, they MIGHT, with the aid of some spell research (for a pulsating light spell) and lots of alchemical work (pure crystals), or the use of a Wish, be able to create a laser. But, who would ever think of it? If you showed a laser to a Mage from a frp world, he'd say 'neato, a wand of fire!' and if you asked him to creat on for you, he'd do it with Flame-based spell research. See what i'm gettng at? You have to get into the role of the character you're playing, and forget todays's world. It's a neat idea, making a laser in a frp world, but i (as DM) would never allow it. This, of course, excepts the Techno class from Arduin. ----- -- Lewis R. Jansen UUCP: {decvax,ihnp4,allegra,vax135}!cornell!lasspvax!lrj ___.-.___ Bitnet: uxhj@CornellA.BITNET [' `(o)' `] Arpa: lrj@lasspvax.tn.cornell.edu.ARPA Fire for'd phasers! (My opinions are mine alone, but are for sale...)
tim@k.cs.cmu.edu (Tim Maroney) (12/01/85)
Apparently my earlier message did not get out. IN AD&D, you can make ANY material object with the eight level spell Polymorph Any Object. This includes perfectly crystalline ruby rods with xenon flash tubes wrapped around them. So forget all this "how do you make the components" stuff; any high-level magic user can do it with the proper spell. As for the information, it is easy enough to picture this: a magic user has an inspiration that light of incredible brightness could possibly be used for more than illumination and blinding; he would know that such a thing might give off heat. So he goes to his grimoires and evokes a demon which gives knowledge of sciences. By making the proper sacrifices and so forth (using the Cacodemon spell if that's how you run it), he is able to learn how such a weapon would be structured. This would probably involve some adventuring to get the necessary sacrifices; the demon would charge out the nose (and might be sufficiently empowered by the sacrifices to make trouble later). Getting the information would be troublesome and perilous, but hardly imposssible. I don't know why people are being so defensive about this. The "laser rifle" of cheap science fiction is an impossibility; it would require a huge power source which modern technology has no way of producing, and which a medieval magic user would be incapable of comprehending, so he couldn't make one with Polymorph. The lasers they're talking about deploying in orbit would be powered by a contained nuclear explosion! Further, lasers are not as effective against living beings (who are water-cooled) as against inorganic objects. A laser would be able to cut through a lock, but probably not through an orc. The laser would hardly be a super-killer weapon; any magic user who could make one already has much more powerful spells, like a sixteen dice fireball. So what's the big deal? -=- Tim Maroney, Electronic Village Idiot, CMU Center for Art and Technology tim@k.cs.cmu.edu | uucp: {seismo,decwrl,ucbvax,etc.}!k.cs.cmu.edu!tim CompuServe: 74176,1360 | CMU. Tomorrow's networking nightmares -- today!