Faster than a Speeding Bullet, The Flash [Archive]

ExemplarofAvg

2011-10-28, 06:07 PM

NPC Hero, Optimized for nothing more than speed. I know there's a feat that gives +5 or 10ft movement, Catfolk base has 40ft, and a couple different classes grant bonuses to speed. Are there better ways? (For clarification I want the character itself to be fast, I am well aware of Phantom Steed {Phantom Stag for Druids} having 240ft movement at the highest point.)

Also: Just as something else
If anyone knows of a way to increase/decrease size with relative ease. From say Medium to Diminutive to Gargantuan to Colossal++ ala Ant/Giant Man, that'd be awesome too, (I imagine some form of armour that allows a quick (read: Move Action at the most) way to change size) but if it's the character itself that'd be fine too.

Hirax

2011-10-28, 06:09 PM

A barbarian catfolk with the quick trait (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm) would have a 60' move speed at level 1

ExemplarofAvg

2011-10-28, 06:41 PM

A barbarian catfolk with the quick trait (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/buildingCharacters/characterTraits.htm) would have a 60' move speed at level 1

That is an excellent start point. But I want ubsurd speed by the end of the build, nearing the levels of Phantom Steed/Stag through their own power would be beyond what I could hope for but if possible wow.

kardar233

2011-10-28, 06:47 PM

Grab Xeph or Duskling for best speed. Get levels in Blade Dancer for bonus, grab Shadow template for 1.5x speed, maybe nab Psychic classes for Hustle, add psychic Swiftblade adaptation for another action, maybe Factotum too. Check the Hood handbook (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19872838/Little_Red_Raiding_Hood:_A_Tale_of_38;_Guide_to_th e_3.5_Dragoon) for more ideas.

marcielle

2011-10-28, 06:54 PM

Lesser planetouched swyftling also gives you a base speed of 40 ft.

Hirax

2011-10-28, 06:56 PM

Well, does it need to be permanent? At level 19 Factotum (1 extra level for barbarian, yay!) can mimic 3 different (ex) abilities for a minute. Further, they treat their factotum level instead of the class level the ability comes from. Therefore, grab monk's fast movement for another +60.' I don't think you're going to get a better enhancement bonus than 60,' so you need to start looking for classes like Fist of the Forest that explicitly say their fast movement stacks with other fast movement. Fist of the forest in this case grants us another 10.' The dash feat grants us another 5.' There's 135' per round, and we have room for one more (ex) factotum ability to use, and also if you can find any sorc/wiz spell of up to 7th level that doesn't grant an enhancement bonus, the factotum would also be able to use that.

Noblesse

2011-10-28, 07:04 PM

If you are alright with pathfinder...

Half Elf Summoner(Synthesist-Quadruped) (30, 2 free leg evolutions for+20)
Trait: Quick (+10)
Feat: Fleet of Foot (+5), Extra Evolutions x3
Half Elf alternate favored class: +1/4 evolutions
Total Evolutions: 26+3(feats)+5(AFC) = 34
Evolutions: 17 sets of limbs(legs)
--Add Haste
Move Speed: 30+20+10+5+170+30 = 265 move speed.

Granted... you look VERY rediculous.

Edit: throw in the run feat.
1325 move in a running round. That is just slightly over a mile every 4 rounds.

ExemplarofAvg

2011-10-28, 07:05 PM

ExemplarofAvg

2011-10-28, 07:09 PM

If you are alright with pathfinder...

Half Elf Summoner(Synthesist-Quadruped) (30, 2 free leg evolutions for+20)
Trait: Quick (+10)
Feat: Fleet of Foot (+5), Extra Evolutions x3
Half Elf alternate favored class: +1/4 evolutions
Total Evolutions: 26+3(feats)+5(AFC) = 34
Evolutions: 17 sets of limbs(legs)
--Add Haste
Move Speed: 30+20+10+5+170+30 = 265 move speed.

Granted... you look VERY rediculous.

17 sets of legs.... Extreme Human Centipede :sigh: ugh.
I was kind of hoping for something more like "The Flash" y'know bipedal.
But no as a rule for all of this nothing wrong with Pathfinder.

Viktyr Gehrig

2011-10-28, 07:11 PM

Dragons fly ridiculously fast and have Sorcerer caster levels as a racial feature. Once a dragon has an effective caster level of 3, they can easily qualify for Enlightened Fist, gaining the equivalent of the Monk's speed bonus and trading in their highest level spells for the Swiftness Draconic Aura.

True dragons are one of the few cases that are actually worth their Level Adjustment for pretty much any purpose except spellcasting.

edit: Arguably, this might work for Dragonwrought Kobolds since they use dragon age categories.

The Underlord

2011-10-28, 07:12 PM

I believe that you cant beet being able to run 49.1 times around the earth in one round. ANd you are faster than light. and you can do 74 quadrillion point of damage in one round. (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19861942/Chuck_E._Cheese)

Mr.Bookworm

2011-10-28, 07:16 PM

This (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19866466/The_CO_response_to_fastest_possible_speed?pg=1) and this (http://community.wizards.com/go/thread/view/75882/19861942/Chuck_E._Cheese) are the threads you want for the actual speed record reached in D&D.

At 1st level, though? LP Swyftling Barbarian 1 with a flaw (netting you the Dash and Run feats) and the Quick trait gets you a 65 ft. base, with a running speed of 325 ft.

There might be ways to cheese that out more beyond the basic stuff. You can take another flaw for another feat.

EDIT: Zap reminded me of something else.

LP Swyftling Ardent 1, Freedom mantle, Dash, Run, and Speed of Thought feats (Flaws!), and the Quick trait. 40+10+10+10+5= 75 ft. speed, running speed of 375. Manifest dimension hop and you can move 385 ft. in a round.

Alternatively, go Psion 1 with aforesaid traits/feats, and pick up skate and dimension hop as two of your first level powers, for a total of 80/400 ft. while skate is up, +10 ft. with dimension hop.

Iceforge

2011-10-28, 07:35 PM

Feats to help movement:

Dash, CWar p97, +5 movement, no medium or heavy armor and no more than lightly encumbered
Run, PHB, 5x movement when running and other bonuses.
Fleet of Foot, ???, requires Run and 15 dex, Can make upto a 90 degree turn during a full run or charge, for a charge to work, last 10ft must be straight line, canno wear more than light armor or be more than lightly encumbered.
Speed Of Thought, requires wis 13, +10 movement as long as you got psionic focus and is not wearing heavy armor, insight bonus

One level dips:

Barbarian - +10 movement,

Templates:

Feral Creature, corporal humanoid or monsterous humanoids only, +1LA template, +10 movement, untyped bonus
Half-minotaur, +1LA, +10 movement
Shadow Creature, +3LA, speed increase by 50%

Race
Catfolk, 40ft base movement, +1LA

Psionic Power:
Hustle, allows an additional move action through a swift action.

General Class:
Monk.

Fear Half-minotaur Shadow Catfolk with the Quick Perk, Barbarian 1/Psionic Warrior 4/Monk 9
ECL 20
Feats: Dash, Run, Fleet of Foot, Speed of Thought, +1 feat.
Movement 187.5ft(40base, +10 quick perk, +10 half-minotaur, +10 feral, +10 fast movement), +5 dash, +10 psionic focus (speed of thought), +30 monk, +50% shadow))
Run: 937.5ft
Run+Hustle: 1125ft

Dumbledore lives

2011-10-28, 07:41 PM

There is also incarnum for some added speed (Cerulean Sandals), as well as a one level dip into cleric with the celerity domain.

Claudius Maximus

2011-10-28, 07:42 PM

There's a spear in Ghostwalk that doubles speed, and a helmet in A&EG that doubles again and adds a gore attack (I guess The Flash's head dealies are sharp...). The Feathered Wings graft in Fiend Folio gives you a fly speed equal to double your land speed. If these things stack in the right order you can get pretty fast.

Prime32

2011-10-28, 08:09 PM

A post or two with stuff I did while trying to stat Aya Shameimaru (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-JKBeqpTJw):
http://brilliantgameologists.com/boards/index.php?topic=9500.msg384509#msg384509

Tokuhara

2011-10-28, 08:31 PM

Science Question: What exactly would happen if someone exceeded the speed of light? Exceeding the speed of sound causes a Sonicboom, so what happens when you exceed the speed of light?

Wings of Peace

2011-10-28, 08:47 PM

Science Question: What exactly would happen if someone exceeded the speed of light? Exceeding the speed of sound causes a Sonicboom, so what happens when you exceed the speed of light?

Time would stop for one, because you're moving so fast that everything else would appear to be standing still relative to you. A sonic boom would likely also occur because of the rapid displacement occurring. Probably lots of destruction as well due to friction. Not being a science man those are just the simple bits that come to mind.

Tokuhara

2011-10-28, 08:52 PM

Time would stop for one, because you're moving so fast that everything else would appear to be standing still relative to you. A sonic boom would likely also occur because of the rapid displacement occurring. Probably lots of destruction as well due to friction. Not being a science man those are just the simple bits that come to mind.

AKA: Nodon'tdoitbutifyouaregonnabreakthespeedoflightdoi toustidesoyoudon'tdamagethegoodchinaorlightthecato nfirebecauseyouknowthecat'llburnthedamnhousedownan dyourdadwillbemadatyouforexceedingthespeedoflighti nthedamnhousesopeasedon'tdoit...

Arundel

2011-10-28, 08:55 PM

Science Question: What exactly would happen if someone exceeded the speed of light? Exceeding the speed of sound causes a Sonicboom, so what happens when you exceed the speed of light?

Reality breaks.

Relativistically speaking you would become a pocket of energy with inconsequential mass. Maybe recreate the big bang I guess?

Dusk Eclipse

2011-10-28, 08:59 PM

Chuck E.(mbraced) Cheese is no longer legal due the Footsteps of the Divine errata, is is no longer persistable.

And IIRC theoretically you can't exceed speed of light.... but I think they found a particle that moved faster so I don't know really...

Dragonsoul

2011-10-28, 09:27 PM

Who brought physics into this?
I want you to look at what you just killed, you tit.

http://animotaku.tripod.com/Gallery/1999/images/catgirl.gif

Tokuhara

2011-10-28, 09:28 PM

Who brought physics into this?
I want you to look at what you just killed, you tit.

http://animotaku.tripod.com/Gallery/1999/images/catgirl.gif

??????????

Lateral

2011-10-28, 09:30 PM

And IIRC theoretically you can't exceed speed of light.... but I think they found a particle that moved faster so I don't know really...

The neutrino thing? Yeah, it's almost certainly a fluke. The excitement was that it was measured to be faster than the speed of light by a large enough margin that it can't be attributed to statistical error. That's not the same as 'we know they go faster than the speed of light;' it's possible that these measurements were correct and that muon neutrinos are tachyons, but it's incredibly unlikely- there are no studies with similar results, and if it were true we'd have to rewrite a good chunk of the theory of relativity.

??????????

I believe she meant this.
http://img22.imageshack.us/img22/9851/74604godkillscatgirl.gif

Who brought physics into this?
I want you to look at what you just killed, you tit.
[SPOILER]
I like physics.

Tokuhara

2011-10-28, 09:36 PM

Aegis013

2011-10-28, 09:37 PM

The neutrino thing? Yeah, it's almost certainly a fluke. The excitement was that it was measured to be faster than the speed of light by a large enough margin that it can't be attributed to statistical error. That's not the same as 'we know they go faster than the speed of light;' it's possible that these measurements were correct and that muon neutrinos are tachyons, but it's incredibly unlikely- there are no studies with similar results, and if it were true we'd have to rewrite a good chunk of the theory of relativity.

I'm not certain that's the case. CERN, the group that preformed the test said they were highly confident in their results, and my understanding is, there simply isn't another science group out there to peer review and remake their experiment due to the size and scope of the procedure (they shot neutrinos from a lab in one country to a lab several countries away with incredibly accurate time keeping machines).

As far as having to rewrite relativity, I'm pretty sure that isn't true at all. Neutrinos and Photons both have negligibly small masses, which doesn't mean they have 0, it means their mass is so low we can't accurately measure it, but they do still have mass is my understanding.

We've already got problems though since the LHC (owned by CERN) showed us there's a pointed absence of Higgs bosons.

NOTE: This is simply my understanding and may not be entirely accurate.

byaku rai

2011-10-28, 09:39 PM

As you approach the speed of light, your mass increases exponentially, so at the point when you reach that speed, you would literally have infinite mass. Time also slows down as you approach C (the shorthand term for "speed of light"), slowing down to precisely zero when you hit C. Theoretically, going faster than C makes you go back in time, although that is impossible for anything with mass (except negative mass, but that's... complicated).

In DnD terms, if any PC actually exceeded the speed of light (rather than circumventing it via teleportation or similar magic), the universe would break.

It's entirely possible that if we managed to do this irl, the universe would break. Personally I'd rather not try it.

... Sorry for derailing the thread further. Carry on.

Tokuhara

2011-10-28, 09:41 PM

As you approach the speed of light, your mass increases exponentially, so at the point when you reach that speed, you would literally have infinite mass. Time also slows down as you approach C (the shorthand term for "speed of light"), slowing down to precisely zero when you hit C. Theoretically, going faster than C makes you go back in time, although that is impossible for anything with mass (except negative mass, but that's... complicated).

In DnD terms, if any PC actually exceeded the speed of light (rather than circumventing it via teleportation or similar magic), the universe would break.

It's entirely possible that if we managed to do this irl, the universe would break. Personally I'd rather not try it.

You know you are a nerd when all of what is stated above makes perfect sense

Edit: Of course, subatomic quantum physics tells Newtonian and Einsteinian physics to take a hike. Like wizard

Lateral

2011-10-28, 09:47 PM

I'm not certain that's the case. CERN, the group that preformed the test said they were highly confident in their results, and my understanding is, there simply isn't another science group out there to peer review and remake their experiment due to the size and scope of the procedure (they shot neutrinos from a lab in one country to a lab several countries away with incredibly accurate time keeping machines).
That's true; that doesn't make their result anywhere near absolute, either.

As far as having to rewrite relativity, I'm pretty sure that isn't true at all. Neutrinos and Photons both have negligibly small masses, which doesn't mean they have 0, it means their mass is so low we can't accurately measure it, but they do still have mass is my understanding.
Photons are strictly massless, as far as we know. Neutrinos are either massless or are of negligible mass; we're not exactly certain either way. Besides, that shouldn't have anything to do with whether neutrinos move faster than light.

We've already got problems though since the LHC (owned by CERN) showed us there's a pointed absence of Higgs bosons.
So far. Remember, the LHC isn't operating at full yet.

You know you are a nerd when all of what is stated above makes perfect sense

Edit: Of course, subatomic quantum physics tells Newtonian and Einsteinian physics to take a hike. Like wizard
It's not really that complicated. (Well, it is, but not put the way Byaku said it.) And quantum physics doesn't so much tell Einsteinian relativity to 'take a hike,' so much as it does make us wonder how to combine the two. Einsteinian relativity is still perfectly valid; its predictions are all still perfectly valid. That's actually the problem; quantum physics and relativity are both obviously functional in a general sense, but they're near impossible to reconcile.

Mr.Bookworm

2011-10-28, 09:48 PM

I'm not certain that's the case. CERN, the group that preformed the test said they were highly confident in their results, and my understanding is, there simply isn't another science group out there to peer review and remake their experiment due to the size and scope of the procedure (they shot neutrinos from a lab in one country to a lab several countries away with incredibly accurate time keeping machines).

They were highly confident that what they had checked was working, and the paper they published was pretty much "this can't be right, SCIENTISTS OF THE WORLD ASSEMBLE FOR FACT AND REPEATABLE RESULT-CHECKING."

It is still almost certain that something was wrong in the process, but we'll see.

As far as having to rewrite relativity, I'm pretty sure that isn't true at all. Neutrinos and Photons both have negligibly small masses, which doesn't mean they have 0, it means their mass is so low we can't accurately measure it, but they do still have mass is my understanding.

That is actually why it would require rewriting relativity.

Nothing with mass can accelerate to the speed of light (c). Furthermore, nothing ever can accelerate past c.

Photons have no mass (among other properties), which is why they can move at c.

Neutrinos do have mass, even if it is extremely negligible, and thus it would require infinite energy to accelerate them to c.

We've already got problems though since the LHC (owned by CERN) showed us there's a pointed absence of Higgs bosons.

No, they are in the process of conducting experiments, and there has been nothing close to a conclusive evidence, only a narrowing down of possibilities.

Tokuhara

2011-10-28, 09:50 PM

They were highly confident that what they had checked was working, and the paper they published was pretty much "this can't be right, SCIENTISTS OF THE WORLD ASSEMBLE FOR FACT AND REPEATABLE RESULT-CHECKING."

It is still almost certain that something was wrong in the process, but we'll see.

That is actually why it would require rewriting relativity.

Nothing with mass can accelerate to the speed of light (c). Furthermore, nothing ever can accelerate past c.

Photons have no mass (among other properties), which is why they can move at c.

Neutrinos do have mass, even if it is extremely negligible, and thus it would require infinite energy to accelerate them to c.

No, they are in the process of conducting experiments, and there has been nothing close to a conclusive evidence, only a narrowing down of possibilities.

From what I read, gamma radiation in a vacuum still has a negligable mass, so technically, the speed of light is relative

Mr.Bookworm

2011-10-28, 09:56 PM

From what I read, gamma radiation in a vacuum still has a negligable mass, so technically, the speed of light is relative

Gamma radiation cannot have a mass, or it would not be radiation, nor would it be light.

The speed of light is variable based on the refractive index of what it is traveling through. c is the speed of light in vacuum.

RedWarrior0

2011-10-28, 09:56 PM

You don't want to go the speed of light. You want to go faster, since in that case you have imaginary mass and at least whatever happens is really trippy, rather than just crushing the universe together. Of course, the nature of gravity means it is limited to the speed of light.

If you traveled at the speed of light for an infinitesimal time, for that tiny amount of time mass, and thus force exerted, would be infinite. Impulse, or change in momentum, is equal to the force times the time. So what happens is what happens when you multiply an infinite by an infinitesimal; it's an indeterminate. The only other possible "infinite times infinitesimal" in existence would be (and only hypothetically) the length of a circle's edge times the number of edges, and that turns out to be pi.

However, I think one of the rails of this thread has wandered over to another section of the forums.

Lateral

2011-10-28, 09:59 PM

From what I read, gamma radiation in a vacuum still has a negligable mass, so technically, the speed of light is relative

The speed of light is relative; C denotes the speed of light in a vacuum, which is constant. Light traveling through a medium is slower, and the speed varies between wavelengths; in a vacuum, it's uniform. Where did you read that?

You don't want to go the speed of light. You want to go faster, since in that case you have imaginary mass and at least whatever happens is really trippy, rather than just crushing the universe together. Of course, the nature of gravity means it is limited to the speed of light.
This is true. Although ridiculously infeasible, since your particles are all massive bradyons and therefore cannot reach the speed of light, let alone exceed it.

Aegis013

2011-10-28, 10:00 PM

the length of a circle's edge times the number of edges, and that turns out to be pi.

I thought Pi was the ratio of circumference to diameter. Considering a perfect circle has an infinite number of (straight) edges, that number times the circumference equals infinity, or if you consider it a single edge, equals 1... neither of which equal pi.

Siosilvar

2011-10-28, 10:27 PM

I thought Pi was the ratio of circumference to diameter. Considering a perfect circle has an infinite number of (straight) edges, that number times the circumference equals infinity, or if you consider it a single edge, equals 1... neither of which equal pi.

It's a calculus thing. Limit of an infinite series is not necessarily infinity, or calculus wouldn't work at all. For example, consider the sum of 1 + 1/2 + 1/4 + 1/8 + ...; it comes out to 2.

But I always heard circumference to diameter, as well, but the limit of the length of sides * the number of sides as the number of sides goes to infinity sounds like it'd work to find pi.

From what I read, gamma radiation in a vacuum still has a negligable mass, so technically, the speed of light is relative

1) Gamma radiation is a photon and therefore travels at the speed of light (in whatever medium it's in; this is never the same number as c, even in a vacuum, because light travels slower through particles, and IRL there will always be some particles floating around no matter how perfect a vacuum you make).

2) Even photons have mass, because they carry energy. However, a photon only has mass because it carries energy, so it doesn't really have its "own" mass. If you could make a photon stand still, its mass would be 0.
1Catgirl killing aside, there's a list of ways to get free movement (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showthread.php?t=103358). Not quite what was asked for, but it's something to take a look at if you're looking for usable movement while doing something else instead of just maximum speed with a move action.

Lateral

2011-10-28, 10:34 PM

But I always heard circumference to diameter, as well, but the limit of the length of sides * the number of sides as the number of sides goes to infinity sounds like it'd work to find pi.[quote]
It's both. The first is the most commonly used definition, though, since it's simpler and you can teach it to third graders.

[quote]2) Even photons have mass, because they carry energy. However, a photon only has mass because it carries energy, so it doesn't really have its "own" mass. If you could make a photon stand still, its mass would be 0.
This is pretty much what I was trying to say earlier- their rest mass is 0. Listen to Siosilvar, he knows what he's talking about.

Tvtyrant

2011-10-28, 10:45 PM

ExemplarofAvg

2011-10-28, 11:21 PM

Would a polymorphing Swiftblade count? Take the form of a Cheetah and make a charging attack on an opponent 500ft. away. You technically only get 3 attacks, but with a mouth pick you can make it do a lot more.

No, sadly, there was a post earlier (Before all of the awesome science that seriously deserves some recognition) about a factotum using Class Features to get a high speed for 1 minute, and while Polymorph is 1 Min/level. It's still not as long a duration as always.

So science people from earlier, Armour that increases the size of the character (Fine-Colossal++), how do and how would different variations in size affect the speed they would travel?

Mr.Bookworm

2011-10-28, 11:42 PM

So science people from earlier, Armour that increases the size of the character (Fine-Colossal++), how do and how would different variations in size affect the speed they would travel?

Absolutely none whatsoever, as enlarge person-type stuff doesn't give you a speed boost. D&D doesn't run on real world physics or anything close, just a reasonable approximation of reality that's easy to work with for game purposes.

Attempting to apply physics to D&D is a total mess and they are basically irreconcilable unless you rewrite the rules or selectively import certain parts into D&D.

Deophaun

2011-10-28, 11:43 PM

I've actually got a Dragonfire Adept in another campaign that's pretty fast. It allows for custom magic items though, so YMMV, but as Draconic Wings lets you get a fly speed based on your land speed, you can get to high speeds without trying very hard (assuming any of this hasn't been errated).

Dragonwrought Kobold, at least 8th level Dragonfire Adept.
Base speed: 30'

Invocations:
- Humanoid Shape (Lesser): Varag, base speed 60'
- Draconic Wings (Lesser): Fly speed = base land speed, good maneuverability

Magic Items:
- Boots with continuous Expeditious Retreat: +30 enhancement bonus to land speed (90' Land, 90' Fly)
- Continuous Collar of Umbral Metamorphosis (Tome of Magic): +10 to all movement speeds. (100' Land, 110' Fly)
- Continuous Wings of Swift Flying: +30 to fly speed for temporary fly effects, +40 if you have the dragonblood subtype. (100' Land, 150' Fly)
- Continuous Cloud Wing: +30 to fly speed (100' Land, 180' Fly)
- And I want to say there was another spell (level 4?) or magic item that granted an additional 30' to fly speed and improved maneuverability by 1, but I can't find it.

Feats:
- If you can get the 13 Str to qualify, Improved Speed: +20 fly, +10 to all other movement modes (110' Land, 210' Fly)
-Draconic Aura, Swiftness: +20 fly speed by level 20 (110' Land, 230' Fly)

Combine with the Quick trait and other multiclass shenanigans as you like. Me? I'm stopping at 150' fly speed.

kardar233

2011-10-29, 12:20 AM

Science Question: What exactly would happen if someone exceeded the speed of light? Exceeding the speed of sound causes a Sonicboom, so what happens when you exceed the speed of light?

We've already been observing this for 70-odd years; we can do this because the speed of light is effectively slower when passing through materials, so high-energy photons can actually move faster than the local speed of light. The effect caused by this is kinda what you might think of a "light boom". It's called Cerenkov Radiation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Čerenkov_radiation) and it's what you see when you see a nuclear reactor in movies and it's got that cool blue glow.

Lateral

2011-10-29, 09:16 AM

We've already been observing this for 70-odd years; we can do this because the speed of light is effectively slower when passing through materials, so high-energy photons can actually move faster than the local speed of light. The effect caused by this is kinda what you might think of a "light boom". It's called Cerenkov Radiation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Čerenkov_radiation) and it's what you see when you see a nuclear reactor in movies and it's got that cool blue glow.

True, but she probably meant something that moves faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, c. It's important to make that distinction; c is a constant, and it isn't determined by the speed of light- if light were found to have more than 0 rest mass and therefore travel slower than c, c would still be the same number.

Tokuhara

2011-10-29, 10:11 AM

True, but she probably meant something that moves faster than the speed of light in a vacuum, c. It's important to make that distinction; c is a constant, and it isn't determined by the speed of light- if light were found to have more than 0 rest mass and therefore travel slower than c, c would still be the same number.

So nothing bad would happen. And Lateral, I'm a guy...

Quietus

2011-10-29, 10:40 AM

Science Question: What exactly would happen if someone exceeded the speed of light? Exceeding the speed of sound causes a Sonicboom, so what happens when you exceed the speed of light?

So, while there's a lot of interesting science being thrown around here, I want to definitively state that we've seen the results of this. I call it Hypothesis : Sonic Rainboom.

Essence_of_War

2011-10-29, 10:51 AM

So, 'c' is a hard limit on the velocity of massive objects, but the speed of light in a medium can be broken by matter.

If you manage to throw a particle, say, an electron, through water faster than the speed of light in water (remember v_light = c / n_water), the electron sheds cherenkov radiation (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cherenkov_radiation) with a frequency distribution given by the Frank-Tamm formula (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frank%E2%80%93Tamm_formula).

Cherenkov radiation is the moral equivalent of a sonic boom, and since air has a non-unity refractice index, it should be possible to exceed the speed of light in air, but not exceed c, and throw around waves of high energy cherenkov radiation everywhere you go :smallamused:

Lateral

2011-10-29, 11:40 AM

So nothing bad would happen. And Lateral, I'm a guy...
From something going faster than the speed of light through air? Of course not. From something with mass going faster than c? Probably.
And... huh. I could've sworn Kardar was quoting someone else. :smallconfused:

Zaq

2011-10-29, 01:25 PM

If it's not too gauche to talk about the original topic at this point, a 1-level dip in Cleric for the Celerity domain will give you a +10' untyped speed boost, and a 1-level dip in Ardent for the Freedom mantle will also get you a +10' untyped speed boost, not to mention the PP necessary to qualify for Speed of Thought.

PersonMan

2011-10-29, 04:12 PM

For a base race, I'd suggest the Varag(from MM3 or 4, has 60' base movement speed but something like 3 RHD and 2 LA or something). Add the Shadow template for 90', barbarian for 100', the 2 dips below for 120' and you can Run(you have it as a bonus feat) at 600' already.

If you have no limits on ECL, CR, etc. then a Paragon Shadow Varag is at 270' base speed, running for 1,350 feet in a round.