Lord Liaden Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil Over thirteen hours, we get twenty-four replies and eleven different suggested methods. I love this system. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Waters Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil Hey' date=' I went there first! I was the first one to offend Sean! Me! [/quote'] Yes you did, and I can only apologise for not scowling at you as well. I'll make up for that now :scowl: Sorry, they didn't have a scowl icon.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil This is one of those problems where I would break normal consrtuction rules and ask first: what do you want the sfx to be? That might give a clearer idea of the effect you are after.The specific effect is for a 27th-century device that an archaeologist sets up and sets to a particular substance -- either natural soil, or a particular type of rock -- and points into an area. The device then starts eating away at the material, leaving everything else behind. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil Over thirteen hours, we get twenty-four replies and eleven different suggested methods. I love this system. Great, isn't it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Zed-F Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil I still say Change Environment. You're not looking for the device to have any combat effect. It's just sweeping dirt or eating rock away a little at a time. It's not much different from tidying up your room. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil PS: Archaeologist +12 Overall Levels, Only to move Archeology Tasks down the time chart by 4 places (-2), 40 real points. So, it would normally take the Super Archaeologist 1 day to carefully clear the area. Using whatever SFX, it will now take only 1 Turn. Also, if it would normally take 10 years to find a new site, Super Archaeologist can now do it in just 1 day. Super Archaeologist rocks. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Waters Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil How about drain BODY: that's what I tend to use for disintegration attacks, and most materials don't have PowDef. Also you can buy Variable Limitation. I reckon 'only v soi'l, or 'only v a particular type of rock' has to be worth -, so if you buy variable limitation at the -1/2 level, it lets you define what it is used against: it could be any material of a similar type. OK that is using a limitation to your advantage, but it is always LIMITING so I don't feel too bad about it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
OddHat Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil How about drain BODY: that's what I tend to use for disintegration attacks, and most materials don't have PowDef. The object should re-appear after you drain it's BOD, shouldn't it? How about an RKA vs Power Def, Does BOD? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
actingkeith Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil I think it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Anything that removes dirt in an area, but doesn't suspend the 'finds' won't help an archeologist. They need to know how deep something is in the soil so that they can tell how old it is. For a really cool effect, I'd go with Invisibility UAA, AE (any shape), with Fringe effect, only vs Dirt/Soil. with the Special Effect of some sort of Electronic VR Grid thing that strips away the soil, but leaves all the goodies suspended exactly as they are in the ground so that they can be measured precises before being dug up. Peace, keith Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Susano Posted February 13, 2006 Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil Tom Swift had a device like this. A ray that dissolved unwanted matter and left the stuff you wanted behind. I'd call it an RKA; Only Versus Soil, Dirt, Dust, Rock, and so on. Make is One Hex AOE and you can slowly strip away layers of dirt until you expose what you want. Other limitations would be No or Limited Range, Extra Time, Gradual Effect, and No Knockback. Oh, and Focus of some sort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 13, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 13, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil I still say Change Environment. You're not looking for the device to have any combat effect. It's just sweeping dirt or eating rock away a little at a time. It's not much different from tidying up your room.Based on the last remark, I'm liking this option best so far. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lightray Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 EDM Only vs Dirt! Bah. If you're going to abuse the system, really abuse it: EDM - to the dimension where the dirt has already been cleared away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kave99 Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil I think it depends on what you're trying to accomplish. Anything that removes dirt in an area' date=' but doesn't suspend the 'finds' won't help an archeologist. They need to know how deep something is in the soil so that they can tell how old it is.[/quote'] its not just the depth of the artifact thats important . some of the most important stuff is fond in the soil, things like post holes that are little more than discoloration are of great importance. its a little like reading the rings of a tree to look at weather patterns and events. if you simply made the dirt disappear "poof" you would be destroying the sight and in todays world would be breaking a number of laws....... PS OddHat gets my vote for the best build:thumbup: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil The specific effect is for a 27th-century device that an archaeologist sets up and sets to a particular substance -- either natural soil' date=' or a particular type of rock -- and points into an area. The device then starts eating away at the material, leaving everything else behind.[/quote'] My question would be, how do you plan on usng this as a plot device? Is some vile villain going to attack the sleeping archaeoligists, steal their finds then tie them up under the device and set it for human flesh (only to have the brilliant doctor kick the machine and have it luckily reset to rope due to a malfuction mentioned previously in the episode)? If it doesn't actually do anything important (for the story), than it's really no more important than a library card. And I don't care how fancy your library card is, and even if you can check out a book by just walking into the library, whispering the title and have it appear in your hands so you can walk right out, it's still just a library card and doesn't cost anything. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Waters Posted February 14, 2006 Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil The object should re-appear after you drain it's BOD' date=' shouldn't it? [/quote'] How cool would that be? You 'disintegrate' the matrix, walk into the hole and get the artefacts out then, slowly, the martix re-appears, leaving the site apparently undisturbed. OK not so good for ancient cities, but terribly terribly ecologically friendly Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 14, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 14, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil My question would be' date=' how do you plan on usng this as a plot device? Is some vile villain going to attack the sleeping archaeoligists, steal their finds then tie them up under the device and set it for human flesh (only to have the brilliant doctor kick the machine and have it luckily reset to rope due to a malfuction mentioned previously in the episode)?[/quote']It's not so much its effect directly, but ways -- such as what you mention -- that it can be affected, sabotaged, Suppressed, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dust Raven Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil It's not so much its effect directly' date=' but ways -- such as what you mention -- that it can be affected, sabotaged, Suppressed, etc.[/quote'] I'd just say it's PS: Archaeology and a really expensive tool then. If you need it sabotaged, any Mechanics, Electronics or Systems Operation roll can do that, and if it really must be Suppressed, any Any One Electrical/Technological Power At A Time" should do it (regardless of the effect roll). If you're not gonna try and melt the PCs, or at least their DNPCs, it's probably not worth the time working out stats for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sean Waters Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil The object should re-appear after you drain it's BOD' date=' shouldn't it? How about an RKA vs Power Def, Does BOD?[/quote'] (with thanks to Steve Long): page 151 of 5er - GM may rule Body drained objects don't recover normally but need 'repair' - so potentially the soil will go away and not return until repaired (perhaps the machine transports it to an extradimensional space or phases it out of reality, but can be returned....unfortunately living objects (if it is tuned to flesh) can't be 'repaired......) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solomon Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil PS: Archaeologist +12 Overall Levels, Only to move Archeology Tasks down the time chart by 4 places (-2), 40 real points. So, it would normally take the Super Archaeologist 1 day to carefully clear the area. Using whatever SFX, it will now take only 1 Turn. Also, if it would normally take 10 years to find a new site, Super Archaeologist can now do it in just 1 day. Super Archaeologist rocks. That was what I was thinking, too. To look even cooler, add Ranged to it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Teflon Billy Posted February 15, 2006 Report Share Posted February 15, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil PS: Archaeologist +12 Overall Levels, Only to move Archeology Tasks down the time chart by 4 places (-2), 40 real points. So, it would normally take the Super Archaeologist 1 day to carefully clear the area. Using whatever SFX, it will now take only 1 Turn. Also, if it would normally take 10 years to find a new site, Super Archaeologist can now do it in just 1 day. Super Archaeologist rocks. I all this would do is make the Super Archaeologist faster, but it would still physically require him to do the heavy lifting. I think from the SFX described you are still going to need a power. TB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prestidigitator Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil How about Disciminatory, Analytic, Microscopic, Telescopic N-Ray Vision. Then you don't even have to clear away the dirt. Just walk over the ground, peer below you, and start taking notes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil How about Disciminatory' date=' Analytic, Microscopic, Telescopic N-Ray Vision. Then you don't even have to clear away the dirt. Just walk over the ground, peer below you, and start taking notes. [/quote']It's not for seeing down there; it's for taking the stuff away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prestidigitator Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil It's not for seeing down there; it's for taking the stuff away. Yeah, yeah. I was going past the direct effect and going straight for the professional application, baby! Wouldn't it be an archeologist's dream power? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BobGreenwade Posted February 16, 2006 Author Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil Yeah' date=' yeah. I was going past the direct effect and going straight for the professional application, baby! Wouldn't it be an archeologist's dream power? [/quote']Oh, absolutely... I'm looking for the archaeologist's other dream power. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prestidigitator Posted February 16, 2006 Report Share Posted February 16, 2006 Re: Clearing Away Soil Oh' date=' absolutely... I'm looking for the archaeologist's [i']other[/i] dream power. Okay. Okay. Anyway, I'd probably go with the Change Environment. Can't see much argument with such a specific use of that Power. Pretty hard to abuse and all that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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