A giant cloud of dust and ash has filled the sky...

[BenInHB]

A giant cloud of dust and ash has filled the sky blotting out much of the suns light. Plants everywhere are beginner to die and as the weeks turn to months this is beginning to affect the food chains attached to them. The world is dying.

Also all manner of beast and creature that are normally kept at bay by the suns rays are learning that it is safer in the world outside there dark holes. Orc and Goblin raids are becoming more and more aggressive as food sources become more scarce and they are no longer dazzled by the brilliance of the sun as they poor out of the dark crevasses of the earth. Even worse it seems that the undead are much more free to move about during the daylight and vampires are slaughtering people in the streets at high noon without bursting into flames.


As a Druid, As a Cleric, As a Wizard

How do you clear the skies??

What is the lowest level it could be done at??

Could multiple lower level caster do it as fast or faster than a single high level character??

[NichG]

Weather control seems a likely way to approach this problem, trying to get rain to disperse the dust or whatever. Lots of uses of Gust of Wind maybe? Artificial suns might be feasible (tons and tons of Continual Light enchanted objects). Those are all very direct approaches of course, but if we're pushing to the Tippyverse level of cheese you can put them into resetting traps and hand them out to commoners to do cleanup duty. Polymorph Any Object is a high level way to do it, but you still need to get lots and lots of castings of it to do anything planet-wide.

I'd probably try to do it using a series of Energy Transformation Fields combined with a summoning engine to convert spell energy into 50% more spell energy and 50% whatever the cleanup spell was. Then again, at that point we're basically chain-gating solars and off into exponential growth land.

Constant Divinations watch and stop it before it's too late is another one, but not exactly what you asked for.

[noparlpf]

Control Winds, Control Weather? Miracle? Those are the first to spring to mind. I'm sure things like a few Gust of Wind spells could make some progress too.

[Salanmander]

If I were a wizard in that world I would get together with my wizard's college and start research towards a spell specifically designed for that, while a very few wizards try to figure it out with existing spells.

My guess is a spell capable of clearing the skies but doing nothing else in some miles of radius would probably be 5th or 6th level (1-2 levels lower than control weather). Then you just have the massive logistical problem of spreading out your 9th level wizards and keeping them alive.

Alternately, if there is even a single epic spellcaster in the world, an epic spell could certainly do that with a giant circle of wizards supporting them.

[Ravens_cry]

Control Weather would work on a local scale, but to truly solve the problem requires a perilous plot. To complicate matters, Orcs and Drow could form a temporary alliance to try and take over the now darkened surface world.

[vampire2948]

You should also consider that the planet would get much colder after a while.


My plan would be to use Wizards to produce orbital habitats. Eventually the atmosphere clears itself, by that time, the Orcs & Goblinoids would have grown themselves into too large a population to sustain themselves, been preyed upon by the undead, and would solve themselves.
Most of the more powerful undead would die off when the sun's light returned, or be forced into hiding.

Another option is to move plane.

[Bhaakon]

It really depends on why there's all this ash and smoke in the air. Meteor impact? Volcano? Continent-sized wild fire? Some kind of magical civilization-destroying weapon?

[BenInHB]

It really depends on why there's all this ash and smoke in the air. Meteor impact? Volcano? Continent-sized wild fire? Some kind of magical civilization-destroying weapon?

We're basically talking about cleaning up a K-T level impact.

[Rising Phoenix]

We're basically talking about cleaning up a K-T level impact.

Then the ecosystems are screwed. Unless you liberally apply wish/miracle then things are going to change drastically.

And I wouldn't worry about invaders from the undertark, there simply won't be enough food to sustain them unless they are undead.

[Randel]

Well, depending on how this planets ecosystem(s) work, it might not be the end of all life in the world.

Races living in the ocean might have some problems due to the sun giving life to the plant-based plankton near the surface. But life living at the very bottom of the ocean near volcanic vents would just metabolize sulfur or something and would survive with no problems.

Similarly, creatures in the underdark or deep cavernous areas that don't have access to the sun could likely survive just fine (and in fact they are the creatures currently expanding out onto the darkened surface).


What does this mean? If you can't beat em, join em!

While some wizards, clerics, and druids and such start working on ways to defeat the clouds there could be other groups working on building safe dungeons or habitats for people to move to (teach peasants to eat cave fungus and live in dungeons so they can survive if plan A doesn't work). Turning people into sapient undead or forming alliances with nations in the underdark could work as well (if the folks down there have plants that don't need the sun and can grow on the surface then learn to grow those plants up here for food).



But anyway, as for actually stopping the cloud it highly depends on how far up the cloud goes and where all the dust comes from. I suppose if there is some way to get water up to where the dust is you use some kind of cloud seeding operation to form clouds that rain (dust tainted) rain downwards and clear the skies.

If you can get some elementals on your side or a significant quantity of water and heat you could boil water to form clouds of steam that rise up, bond with the dust, and rain down. Several decanters of water (or a diverted river) heated by permanant walls of fire (or a volcano) should do it. Or convince a large air elemental to fly up and blow the clouds around to clear areas or drop the dust down.

I'm not sure if there are many monsters with power to deal with the dust... there are lots of dragons with weird breath abilities so at least some of them should be able to take out portions of cloud. At the very least they could carry spellcasters high enough to cast various Fog spells that could mess with the dust. Elementals and genies seem like they could pull off some manual weather controlling (though genies could probably just grant wishes to safeguard areas).


Plus Druids with 5th level spells can cast Control Winds which is good for blowing stuff around. Control Weather is a 7th level spell for wizards, clerics, and druids.

Red Wizards of Thay have access to circle magic which can let them boost their caster level to game-breakingly huge levels (up to 40) so any Red Wizard who can be a circle leader (minimum level 5 wis/5 red wizard) and some dedicated followers can give huge boosts to his spells to accomplish whatever it is he needs to do. If he can somehow apply that boost to a weather controlling spell then that just makes cleaning up the world that much easier.

Lesser Planar Binding is a 5th level spell and I'm sure you can bind some kind of outsider with the power to help out.

And if you can find any kinds of plants that can grow in the new darkened sky then a druids Plant Growth spell can help it thrive (mostly in helping provide food for the frightened populace but then again Create Food and Water spells or items can accomplish similar).

Lantern Archons can cast Continual Flame as a spell like ability, get a few of them to mass produce everburning torches and spread them all over the world to brighten it up (not sure if plants can photosynthesize the light from them considering that the flames are explicitly said to be heatless). That could help plants survive or at least keep morale up.


In short, while there are a few spells that can clear out areas of the sky for a time, there are also quite a few monsters or outsiders with supernatural abilities that could help out. Good-aligned creatures like lantern archons and angels and stuff should be willing to help save the world on account of them being good, dragons and other powerful beasts on account of them enjoying life and the prospect of the gratitude and worship of all the mortals who can't do that stuff, and outsiders and elementals could probably be convinced to do stuff with the right spells or motivations.


Personally, I'm kind of imagining this massive apocolypse thing resulting in alot of powerful monsters singing "Winter Wrap-Up (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z6GFajh3aWI)" while clearing the skies and providing food and shelter to the frightened mortals on the surface while the heroes or whoever try to take out the source of the problem.

[FMArthur]

You should also consider that the planet would get much colder after a while.


My plan would be to use Wizards to produce orbital habitats. Eventually the atmosphere clears itself, by that time, the Orcs & Goblinoids would have grown themselves into too large a population to sustain themselves, been preyed upon by the undead, and would solve themselves.
Most of the more powerful undead would die off when the sun's light returned, or be forced into hiding.

This sounds good. I remember reading that flying buildings (priced by room IIRC) from Stronghold Builder's Guide were a vastly cheaper alternative to airships, so in a world with lots of gold and magic, you could probably get a fairly large amount of farmland and city up in the sky, safe from critters and closer to sunlight. I doubt there would be room for all; you wind up with a Titanic-esque situation where the escape plan covers only a small fraction of the population.

All in all it would be a very interesting campaign scenario.

[Fouredged Sword]

Nah, all you need to support an infinately big floating platform is a tiny airship with a ringgate momentumless couple between a massive riventine scafold (nearly infinatly thin and bought by the pound should allow for massive cheep structures)

The ring gate couple can remove all forces acting on in on one direction, lifitng the whole structure efortlessly. Now just bind a small air elemental to lift it.

[BlueInc]

Can I please steal this campaign world or build one similar? This sounds absolutely awesome.

[NOhara24]

More than anything, this sounds like the onset of an Elder Evil. If I were a non wizard/sorcerer/druid PC in this campaign I'd be doing some reading.

[only1doug]

The Lowest Level solution is Presitidigitation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/prestidigitation.htm) but You'd need to be able to fly up to the dust clouds and Presitidigitate there so...


....Lets create some automation to deal with it.



Sky Brush:

Appearing as a mundane dustpan and Brush, thousands of these items were created for the express purpose of cleaning up the Dust-pocalypse.

When the command word is issued the Skybrush will seek out arial Pollution and collect it for disposal.



Moderate transmutation; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, fly, Locate object, Prestidigitation, shrink item; Price ????? gp; Weight 1 lb.

[OracleofSilence]

well, this is where DnD physics become hilarious. gates to the plane of Fire and Air are useful. fire heats the ash and causes it to rise... right into the gate to the infinite plan of air which aabsorbs it without even a smudge.

[riccaru]

This is a lot like the campaign I've been working on. Except the ash is held in place by god-leveled epic magic, so they can't do anything about it. It's apocalyptic in the extreme, since the only reason the underdark and undead and such haven't overrun the world is because they can't attack during the daylight, and a lot of undead don't need to sleep...

Going above the cloud would be right out due to atmospheric conditions. It would probably be way too cold to live there, and flame wouldn't grop plants at all. The best bet might be multiple gate spells to some abandoned plane, and then wind to push the ash into the gates, sending it off to be someone else's problem.

[Fouredged Sword]

Gate to the plane of fire just under the dust cloud. Create a new sun.

[BenInHB]

Can I please steal this campaign world or build one similar? This sounds absolutely awesome.

Of course you can : )

This is a setting I'm working on and I just wanted to put the problem out there for playgrounders to try and solve so i could get a rough idea of the things my players might come up with.

The second part of this setting jumps about 2000 years forward as a post-post apocalyptic world where much recovery has begun but there are still lasting scars. For the longer lived races it is still a very recent memory. The world has been changed by going through this crucible, like an accelerated survival of the fittest.

[Midnight_v]

The Lowest Level solution is Presitidigitation but You'd need to be able to fly up to the dust clouds and Presitidigitate there so...
....Lets create some automation to deal with it.
Sky Brush:
Appearing as a mundane dustpan and Brush, thousands of these items were created for the express purpose of cleaning up the Dust-pocalypse.
When the command word is issued the Skybrush will seek out arial Pollution and collect it for disposal.
Moderate transmutation; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, fly, Locate object, Prestidigitation, shrink item; Price ????? gp; Weight 1 lb.
Dude! Thats brilliant.
Sometimes the simplest measures are the best. How long that would take I dont' know but within a few years most likely i'd be fixed.

Also: I find that it relly does sound like an elder evil onset. Though it wouldn't have to be, there are a few apocalypse's that can ruin a atmosphere.

[only1doug]

Dude! Thats brilliant.
Sometimes the simplest measures are the best. How long that would take I dont' know but within a few years most likely i'd be fixed.

Also: I find that it relly does sound like an elder evil onset. Though it wouldn't have to be, there are a few apocalypse's that can ruin a atmosphere.

Thank You.

Another good feature of this is that Volcanic ash when mixed with water and allowed to dry will set like concrete, The Sky Brushes will store quite a lot of volcanic dust (20 cubic feet, after it has been compacted by presitidigitation) so you can re-build your civilisation with the collected by-product.

[vampire2948]

Sky Brush:

Appearing as a mundane dustpan and Brush, thousands of these items were created for the express purpose of cleaning up the Dust-pocalypse.

When the command word is issued the Skybrush will seek out arial Pollution and collect it for disposal.



Moderate transmutation; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, fly, Locate object, Prestidigitation, shrink item; Price ????? gp; Weight 1 lb.

Costs a minimum of 49.5k each, from your local Magic-Mart. For an item that works all day, every day. I didn't include shrink item, since a simpler way of removing the dust would be to just dump it through a gate to an infinite plane. For example, the plane of dust - where they won't mind a little extra.

[only1doug]

Costs a minimum of 49.5k each, from your local Magic-Mart. For an item that works all day, every day. I didn't include shrink item, since a simpler way of removing the dust would be to just dump it through a gate to an infinite plane. For example, the plane of dust - where they won't mind a little extra.

Creation cost is 1/2 the Magic mart cost, and the creators had a vested interest in making them. Is gate access cheaper than built in shrink item?

I think its better to make it a continuous item than a x / day.

I Expect the Tippyverse would already have continuous items of prestidigitation (Cleaning) but adding flight and some method of disposal is necessary for cleaning the skies.

[mootoall]

Er, wouldn't just constantly having every wizard, cleric and druid summon air elementals to go tornado and gather all the dust up be the lowest level solution? From level 1, if they can reach ...

[vampire2948]

Creation cost is 1/2 the Magic mart cost, and the creators had a vested interest in making them. Is gate access cheaper than built in shrink item?

I think its better to make it a continuous item than a x / day.

I Expect the Tippyverse would already have continuous items of prestidigitation (Cleaning) but adding flight and some method of disposal is necessary for cleaning the skies.

Depends how many you have, as to whether gate access is cheaper.

You could get it down to somewhere around a third of that price if you had some artificers abusing cost reduction feats and such. More if you set up Liquid Pain farms.

Also, the price I wrote above is for a continuous item.

For an item that works all day, every day.

[Andreaz]

If all the dust up there was shaken into its new position, then all wind ideas won't help: They'll only ensure the dust remains airborne.

Maybe sweeping the skies with filters.

Either way if you can't rely on high level magic (high level being pretty much anything past a fireball), the best bet is to rely on massive numbers, crafting and lesser tricks.

[only1doug]

Depends how many you have, as to whether gate access is cheaper.

You could get it down to somewhere around a third of that price if you had some artificers abusing cost reduction feats and such. More if you set up Liquid Pain farms.

Also, the price I wrote above is for a continuous item.

Heck, lets make Lots.

Artificers Abusing Cost reduction? They better do so if they want to see any sunlight!


Yes, I was agreeing with your decision to cost it as such.

The problem with gates as a trash removal solution is the question of how often the skybrush would need to go to empty itself and how far away the gate would be from an individual skybrush.

I guess continuous shrink item would practically double the item cost, how about adding a bag of holding instead?
(oddly a bag of holding uses a continuous version of a L5 spell, so shrink item should be cheaper)

[vampire2948]

I guess continuous shrink item would practically double the item cost, how about adding a bag of holding instead?
(oddly a bag of holding uses a continuous version of a L5 spell, so shrink item should be cheaper)

It'd add another 18k or so to the price.

An item of gate / permanencied gate would be very expensive. But not really out of the 'Save the World' budget that a usual D&D setting would have.

Cheapest / Easiest way is probably just using control weather to move the dust over the sea / uninhabited areas, then make it rain there. So the dust sticks to itself in the atmosphere, and falls to the ground/water. Eventually the skies would become clearer.

[Ravens_cry]

Thank You.

Another good feature of this is that Volcanic ash when mixed with water and allowed to dry will set like concrete, The Sky Brushes will store quite a lot of volcanic dust (20 cubic feet, after it has been compacted by presitidigitation) so you can re-build your civilisation with the collected by-product.
Hmm, Sounds like a perfect name for it would be Weather and Atmospheric Lint Laminator and Eliminator.

[only1doug]

Hmm, Sounds like a perfect name for it would be Weather and Atmospheric Lint Laminator and Eliminator.

Or WALL-E for short.

It can drop the cubes of compressed volcanic ash in a designated location, building towers from it....

[ericgrau]

It would quickly become a winter night all the time, but besides that the temperature wouldn't drop much at first. Basically the warmth stored in the earth would last a very long time and it could take years for a more serious drop. Not that winter nights wouldn't cause widespread freezing.

As for fixing it, bralanis and avorals get gust of wind at will and a fast fly speed. Get an army and tell them to get to work. Not sure if this or any of the weather tactics would actually work though. You might need something to annihilate the cloud somehow. Maybe air element whirlwinds and somebody with plane shift to ferry them back and forth as they dump the cloud somewhere.

[Deimess]

Maybe not the best, but multiple Widened Storm of Vengeance would certainly clear a lot.

[faceroll]

We don't clear the skies. Instead, we conspire to become gods among men, the only source of sustenance and protection to those who submit themselves to our will.

[Tyndmyr]

As a Druid, As a Cleric, As a Wizard

How do you clear the skies??

Prestidigitation. It explicitly does exactly what you ask.


What is the lowest level it could be done at??

First. A fair bit, for every single caster, on every single day.


Could multiple lower level caster do it as fast or faster than a single high level character??

Possibly. Depends.

But where it gets fun is magic traps, see? Magic traps of cantrips are dirt cheap. ludicrously so. We could make piles of them that are always, always on.

And hell, you could just control weather to blow winds through the cleaning areas.

There's no particular reason a single wizard couldn't fix this.

[Vemynal]

Look, faceroll has mastered 1st level necromancy spells =D

[Madwand99]

Sky Brush:

Appearing as a mundane dustpan and Brush, thousands of these items were created for the express purpose of cleaning up the Dust-pocalypse.

When the command word is issued the Skybrush will seek out arial Pollution and collect it for disposal.

Moderate transmutation; CL 10th; Craft Wondrous Item, fly, Locate object, Prestidigitation, shrink item; Price ????? gp; Weight 1 lb.

We can do this cheaper than requiring Fly, Locate Object, and Shrink Item. Prestidigitation doesn't need to store the dust it removes anywhere, it just goes away. No need for Shrink Item. Instead of Fly and Locate Object, require instead Unseen Servant. This "Brush" will clean anything you tell it to... including dust in the sky.

[Drachasor]

There's a tremendous amount of No Sense of Scale in this thread. Reminds me a bit of Dragonball Z where the next step up from blowing up a mountain is blowing up a planet (Yeah, that makes no sense).

Nothing short of Epic Magic will due here. The planet is just too big. All these "eventually will work" plans are on the order of decades at least, and probably hundreds of years.

Control Weather? 2 Mile Radius. That's about 6.2 square miles. There Earth is about 196940400 square miles on the surface. Ignoring the fact that the ash is probably higher than two miles above the surface of the earth, this will still take just under 32 million castings, or 87 thousand years, assuming one casting per day.

100 castings per day? That's 870 years, and that's being pretty optimistic since the ash will spread around a lot.

You know, overall, the ash might clear itself before the players do anything.

[BlueInc]

There's a tremendous amount of No Sense of Scale in this thread.

Nothing short of Epic Magic will due here. The planet is just too big. All these "eventually will work" plans are on the order of decades at least, and probably hundreds of years.

Control Weather? 2 Mile Radius. That's about 6.2 square miles. There Earth is about 196940400 square miles on the surface. Ignoring the fact that the ash is probably higher than two miles above the surface of the earth, this will still take just under 32 million castings, or 87 thousand years, assuming one casting per day.

100 castings per day? That's 870 years, and that's being pretty optimistic since the ash will spread around a lot.

You know, overall, the ash might clear itself before the players do anything.

Excellent math. Mind if I use it in explaining my campaign world?

[Drachasor]

Excellent math. Mind if I use it in explaining my campaign world?

Sure. Now depending on the weather, some careful planning might be able to keep a small area somewhat clear of ash, assuming the casting is done every day. A specialized spell might be developed to keep the air over an area clear as well, but again, this is pretty limited. You aren't going to easily clear the entire planet this way.

And I don't want anyone to ever ask me if they can use any math I do on here ever again. It's weird.

[Coidzor]

There's a tremendous amount of No Sense of Scale in this thread. Reminds me a bit of Dragonball Z where the next step up from blowing up a mountain is blowing up a planet (Yeah, that makes no sense).

Nothing short of Epic Magic will due here. The planet is just too big. All these "eventually will work" plans are on the order of decades at least, and probably hundreds of years.

Part of it is that several of the ideas involve staking out an area and keeping just that area clear, I imagine.

Besides, chain-gating solars works fine for this and barely inconveniences them for time.

Funny what summoning a horde of angels can do for the environment.

[Thespianus]

1) Put some work into a modified Handy Haversack that works like a vacuum cleaner filter.
2) Make it a lot bigger.
3) Patent the idea for Profit.
4) Make about a million of them.
5) Fly across the skies, use elementals for assistance, collect the dust, dumping it all in some ocean. Repeat 5 until done.

Yeah, it'll still take some time, but you'll be able to sweep large areas with it. Combine with Widened Control Weather spells to focus the dust into the MegaHaversack, and you'll be done in, well, a few years. ;)

[Thespianus]

Control Weather? 2 Mile Radius. That's about 6.2 square miles. There Earth is about 196940400 square miles on the surface.


Excellent math. Mind if I use it in explaining my campaign world?

It's not excellent math! It's wrong! ;)

The area of a circle is radius x radius x pi, or in this case 2x2x3.14, or 12.5 square miles. ;)

With a Widened Control Weather (get some meta magic reducers), you control a 4x4x3.14, or 50 square mile area. 50 square miles is 128 square kilometers (I can't think in Imperial) or, 4 million castings to control the entire surface of the Earth.

However, let's bring in a Druid to cast the spell. The normal spell extends to a 3 mile radius if a Druid casts it, and its duration is doubled. Widen that, and we get a 6 mile radius, or 289 square kilometers, and we're down to 1.7 million castings. Still a lot of work, but not impossible to manage in a few years time. 100 castings a day from a bunch of casters means 46 years.

Now, the spell lasts for 4d12 hours, or just over 24 hours in the vernacular, (twice that if the caster is a druid) and it is centered on the caster. So if the caster moves, the weather moves with him, allowing the caster to sweep a larger area with his spell during this time.

Granted that the caster is a level 9 Druid, I'm sure transportation won't be a big problem.

[Drachasor]

Part of it is that several of the ideas involve staking out an area and keeping just that area clear, I imagine.

Besides, chain-gating solars works fine for this and barely inconveniences them for time.

Funny what summoning a horde of angels can do for the environment.

Point is, the area kept clear is going to be very, very small. Even keeping 100 square miles clear is going to be horrendously difficult.

As for chain-gating solars...might as well propose pun-pun.

[Thespianus]

Point is, the area kept clear is going to be very, very small. Even keeping 100 square miles clear is going to be horrendously difficult.
One Druid with Widen Spell clears 113 square miles with one casting.

[Drachasor]

It's not excellent math! It's wrong! ;)

The area of a circle is radius x radius x pi, or in this case 2x2x3.14, or 12.5 square miles. ;)

Eh, a silly math mistake. In any case, a factor of 2 doesn't make much of a difference, nor even something along the lines of a factor of 10 (roughly what widen + my math error does).

That said, I'll admit I didn't look at this in detail earlier...


With a Widened Control Weather (get some meta magic reducers), you control a 4x4x3.14, or 50 square mile area. 50 square miles is 128 square kilometers (I can't think in Imperial) or, 4 million castings to control the entire surface of the Earth.

However, let's bring in a Druid to cast the spell. The normal spell extends to a 3 mile radius if a Druid casts it, and its duration is doubled. Widen that, and we get a 6 mile radius, or 289 square kilometers, and we're down to 1.7 million castings. Still a lot of work, but not impossible to manage in a few years time. 100 castings a day from a bunch of casters means 46 years.
Now, the spell lasts for 4d12 hours, or just over 24 hours in the vernacular, (twice that if the caster is a druid) and it is centered on the caster. So if the caster moves, the weather moves with him, allowing the caster to sweep a larger area with his spell during this time.

Granted that the caster is a level 9 Druid, I'm sure transportation won't be a big problem.

Here's the thing, you can't use control weather to magically clear the air. You have to make it do something with all that ash. What are you going to do with it? Have it rain down? Pretty horrible idea (though it'll do that on its own). Hope the animal life enjoys chocking to death on the ash. Looking over the spell effects, I don't actually think Control Weather will work at all. Not in any positive way.

Even if it did, I don't think a single INSTANT clears the area, so flying through it as quick as possible is an awful idea.

Second, ash doesn't actually sit in the atmosphere all that long. It'll come down in rain and the like well before anyone can clear it out. It won't have long-term atmoshperic effects more than a span of years. That's long enough to devastate a lot of life of course.

Then the ash comes down. Anything breathing it in will have it cling to their lungs. Too much and they'll suffocate. An impact big enough to cover the earth in a cloud? We're probably talking about a 500 or so mile radius or MORE covered in ash around point of origin (modified by atmospheric effects). Everything in there is dead. Ash raining from the sky over the next few years won't be pretty, but it probably won't be that devastating. Still, chocking to death on ash is going to be a major problem.

[Thespianus]

Here's the thing, you can't use control weather to magically clear the air.
Depends on what you read into this statement from the spell:

Control weather can do away with atmospheric phenomena (naturally occurring or otherwise) as well as create them.


You have to make it do something with all that ash. What are you going to do with it? Have it rain down?
Collect it in huge Haversacks. ;)

Once you get it onto the ground, it's not as bad anymore. It will ruin this years harvest, for sure, but it will (depending on it's composition, ofcourse) allow things to grow through it.

It's not like if volcanic ash always ruins everything. It depends on the amount (unspecified) and if you can magically invent a way to move it. Moving ash on the ground from one place to another sounds like Prestidigitation 101 ;)

[Drachasor]

Depends on what you read into this statement from the spell:

I guess if you weren't reading the spell up to that point. It's clearly talking about the extremely limited list of options on the table.


Collect it in huge Haversacks. ;)

You're not going to have enough room. We're easily talking about millions of tons of ash.


Once you get it onto the ground, it's not as bad anymore. It will ruin this years harvest, for sure, but it will (depending on it's composition, ofcourse) allow things to grow through it.

It's not like if volcanic ash always ruins everything. It depends on the amount (unspecified) and if you can magically invent a way to move it. Moving ash on the ground from one place to another sounds like Prestidigitation 101 ;)

Unspecified? UNSPECIFIED? It's enough to blot out the sun over the entire planet. It's not some trivial amount you can put into a dozen magic bags or effectively move around with a prestidigitation.

Let's be clear, it's going to kill off almost all plant life currently on the planet, because they won't have light. Eventually things will grow back, but for bigger plant-like like trees that is going to take a long time. Massive amounts of acid-rain aren't going to help matters, since where it does rain it won't be helping plant-life much either.

This is an Extinction-level event, and non-epic magic can't stop that. One year of the sun being blotted out is quite enough to kill most things on the planet. At best magic will be able to support some survivors.

[Thespianus]

Unspecified? UNSPECIFIED? It's enough to blot out the sun over the entire planet. It's not some trivial amount you can put into a dozen magic bags or effectively move around with a prestidigitation.
Yes, it's unspecified. "Blotting out the sun" is not a definition of mass. Black soot can "block out the sun" fairly quickly.

Yes, it becomes a lot when spread over the entire planet, but it doesn't have to mean that there's much more than a foot in thickness once you get it all onto the ground.

A volcanic ash cloud "blots out the sun", but doesn't have to leave much more than a foot or two of ash on the ground once it falls down.


This is an Extinction-level event, and non-epic magic can't stop that. One year of the sun being blotted out is quite enough to kill most things on the planet. At best magic will be able to support some survivors.
All depends on what the setting is. We, unless you are the OP, don't know.

If all that is required is that it should "blot out the sun", it doesn't need 2 mile thick layers of ash.

EDIT: And why bring up "Acid Rain"? Why should there be acid from dust?

[Coidzor]

As for chain-gating solars...might as well propose pun-pun.

The point is that you're wrong about it taking Epic Spellcasting when an army of simulacra can do it.

Real questions are, what filters are good for catching the ash, how much of it needs to actually be removed, how dispersed it is by the time one learns about it, and how quickly it disperses from there.

[ShneekeyTheLost]

Costs a minimum of 49.5k each, from your local Magic-Mart. For an item that works all day, every day. I didn't include shrink item, since a simpler way of removing the dust would be to just dump it through a gate to an infinite plane. For example, the plane of dust - where they won't mind a little extra.

I think you slipped a digit...

In the rules for Creating Magic Items (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/creatingMagicItems.htm) a cantrip is considered to be a 1st level spell for purposes of calculation.

Use-activated or continuous Spell leve1 × caster level × 2,000 gp

So that would be 1 * 1 * 2,000 = 2,000 gp.

Then, just for grins and giggle, we tack on the doubling of cost for no space limitations.

Your total cost is 4k. Per item.