centeotl
2013-06-16, 02:56 PM
Disclaimer: I accept no liability for the deaths of any catgirls.
[3.5] Can all of modern/futuristic technology be emulated with magic?
Understandably, D&D's model doesn't quite mesh with the scientific model of the real world. However, by allowing for some vagueness when D&D and science refuse to cooperate (I'm looking at you, commoner railgun), I think we can consider the question to some depth.
Moreover, how would science be done? Most of modern physical sciencees would fit neatly under arcane or divine. Check out commune:
You contact your deity—or agents thereof —and ask questions that can be answered by a simple yes or no. (A cleric of no particular deity contacts a philosophically allied deity.) You are allowed one such question per caster level. The answers given are correct within the limits of the entity’s knowledge. “Unclear” is a legitimate answer, because powerful beings of the Outer Planes are not necessarily omniscient. In cases where a one-word answer would be misleading or contrary to the deity’s interests, a short phrase (five words or less) may be given as an answer instead.
The spell, at best, provides information to aid character decisions. The entities contacted structure their answers to further their own purposes. If you lag, discuss the answers, or go off to do anything else, the spell ends.
So, commune with Boccob. According to Wikipedia:
Boccob promotes the research and creation of new spells and magical items, under the theory that this increases the amount of magic available to everyone.
Cleric: (Communing.) Is P!=NP? I need to know because it allows me to build more efficient instrumentation using magic traps.
Boccob: Yes.
Cleric: Does the Navier-Stokes equation have solutions in R^3? I need to know so that I can manipulate the water from create water.
Boccob: No.
Cleric: Is the universe isomorphic to a Turing machine? I need to know so that I can simulate something cool with magic.
Boccob: Yes.
And so on. But check this one out. Contact other plane.
You send your mind to another plane of existence (an Elemental Plane or some plane farther removed) in order to receive advice and information from powers there. (See the accompanying table for possible consequences and results of the attempt.) The powers reply in a language you understand, but they resent such contact and give only brief answers to your questions. (All questions are answered with “yes,” “no,” “maybe,” “never,” “irrelevant,” or some other one-word answer.)
Oh my.
Wizard: In a perturbative graviton-like field... etc etc ...Why is the angular momentum tensor not spin 3?
Greater Deity: Antisymmetric.
The answer has an 88% chance of being useful to the wizard. If the wizard just compiles a bunch of answers of this form, s/he can easily publish a high quality research paper. With possible error, of course, which can be reduced through repetition.
I'm starting to suspect that Tippyverse wizards have no reason not to be holding diplomas in physics, math, chemistry, all that.
[3.5] Can all of modern/futuristic technology be emulated with magic?
Understandably, D&D's model doesn't quite mesh with the scientific model of the real world. However, by allowing for some vagueness when D&D and science refuse to cooperate (I'm looking at you, commoner railgun), I think we can consider the question to some depth.
Moreover, how would science be done? Most of modern physical sciencees would fit neatly under arcane or divine. Check out commune:
You contact your deity—or agents thereof —and ask questions that can be answered by a simple yes or no. (A cleric of no particular deity contacts a philosophically allied deity.) You are allowed one such question per caster level. The answers given are correct within the limits of the entity’s knowledge. “Unclear” is a legitimate answer, because powerful beings of the Outer Planes are not necessarily omniscient. In cases where a one-word answer would be misleading or contrary to the deity’s interests, a short phrase (five words or less) may be given as an answer instead.
The spell, at best, provides information to aid character decisions. The entities contacted structure their answers to further their own purposes. If you lag, discuss the answers, or go off to do anything else, the spell ends.
So, commune with Boccob. According to Wikipedia:
Boccob promotes the research and creation of new spells and magical items, under the theory that this increases the amount of magic available to everyone.
Cleric: (Communing.) Is P!=NP? I need to know because it allows me to build more efficient instrumentation using magic traps.
Boccob: Yes.
Cleric: Does the Navier-Stokes equation have solutions in R^3? I need to know so that I can manipulate the water from create water.
Boccob: No.
Cleric: Is the universe isomorphic to a Turing machine? I need to know so that I can simulate something cool with magic.
Boccob: Yes.
And so on. But check this one out. Contact other plane.
You send your mind to another plane of existence (an Elemental Plane or some plane farther removed) in order to receive advice and information from powers there. (See the accompanying table for possible consequences and results of the attempt.) The powers reply in a language you understand, but they resent such contact and give only brief answers to your questions. (All questions are answered with “yes,” “no,” “maybe,” “never,” “irrelevant,” or some other one-word answer.)
Oh my.
Wizard: In a perturbative graviton-like field... etc etc ...Why is the angular momentum tensor not spin 3?
Greater Deity: Antisymmetric.
The answer has an 88% chance of being useful to the wizard. If the wizard just compiles a bunch of answers of this form, s/he can easily publish a high quality research paper. With possible error, of course, which can be reduced through repetition.
I'm starting to suspect that Tippyverse wizards have no reason not to be holding diplomas in physics, math, chemistry, all that.