Solar Eclipse in D&D

[Deeds]

What are your thoughts on solar eclipses in a game setting? What possible plot point could be made like panic in the city, pelor clerics losing spellcasting, or something else?

[Long_shanks]

I had an idea of a setting where the dark side of the moon was basically the shadow plane on steroids, where Chtuluesque nightmare creatures resided. And then, when a total eclipse occurs, they could ride the "dark" highway and invade the Material Plane. Never went around to actually flesh out a campaing out of it though.

[Drakevarg]

I don't have rules for "regular" solar eclipses, but I have an event in my setting called the True Eclipse. Basically, the planet the story is set on has two moons, and every 500 years these moons eclipse the sun simultaneously. Whichever moon is closest to the planet (they alternate) essentially has full sway over the world, and since these moons are the physical locations of heaven and hell that means that something big always happens. Some of the biggest events in my setting's history are an indirect result of these True Eclipses.

[KillianHawkeye]

The solar eclipse is basically Halloween for vampires, drow, and other nasty things who fear and/or despise the light. Except instead of asking for candy, they go around killing people or causing mayhem or whatever they are wont to do.

[Fouredged Sword]

It is a good time for all the undead nastiness that Palor keeps locked up in seals powered by sunlight to weaken, and for old horrors to rise. Liches with unbreakable soul-housings, vampires of unspeakable age, shadows large enough to blot out the sky...

[INoKnowNames]

The Eclipse makes for a good dead-line for quests. Rituals to be completed on them, seals to be broken on them, so on and what not. Hell, ever read Berzerk? (If you haven't, I wouldn't unless you've over 20. :eek:)

[ExLibrisMortis]

If solars are close enough to blot out the sun, I typically ready my +1 unholy angelbane arrows...

[hamishspence]

There's an epic spell for creating artificial eclipses:

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/spells/eclipse.htm

[CIDE]

If solars are close enough to blot out the sun, I typically ready my +1 unholy angelbane arrows...



https://i.ytimg.com/vi/VGg_HTls8ME/hqdefault.jpg

[Palanan]

Originally Posted by KillianHawkeye
The solar eclipse is basically Halloween for vampires, drow, and other nasty things who fear and/or despise the light. Except instead of asking for candy, they go around killing people or causing mayhem or whatever they are wont to do.

…for about three or four minutes, until totality passes, and they’re caught out in the open to wither and burn.

[Goaty14]

The Solar Eclipse is either...
A: The presence of a wizard is the area, because they are known for making solars.
B: The time to start running for your life; because it means Atropus is coming.

[Crake]

I ran this as a major plot point in my last campaign. The drow, using magic, managed to get the moon in a perfect orbit with the planet and the sun, getting a constant solar eclipse. Now obviously the moon was too small to completely block out the sun across the whole planet, which is why there was a ring of faezress radiating out to dim the sun's light, bathing the whole planet in a sickly purple glow that was basically as bright as glowing fungus in the underdark.

The players solved the issue by making a ring gate array in front and behind the moon, essentially letting the sun's light bypass the moon, until they actually managed to defeat the drow and restore the moon to it's (almost) proper orbit. Now things aren't quite as they used to be anymore, and in my current game, one of the players was infected with lycanthropy, and turned 2 days earlier than they were expecting, because there hasn't been a worldwide published journal to explain to everyone that the lunar cycle is no longer as regular as it used to be :smalltongue:

[Sagetim]

What are your thoughts on solar eclipses in a game setting? What possible plot point could be made like panic in the city, pelor clerics losing spellcasting, or something else?

"Behold as the great and powerful Moon God consumes the Sun! It is Our Time! Rise Brothers! RISE AND CONSUME THE WORLD!"

"Behold my faithful, as the Moon God foolishly tries to consume the Sun. But our Faith is Strong, and our God The Stronger, Watch as he throws off the Moon God who so foolishly acts against him, and pray with me as we use our faith to shield the city from the Moon God's equally foolish followers! Praise Be!"

You know, things like that come to mind. Of course, depending on the setting, there may be no celestial mechanics in place that have a measurable sequence to them. Rather, the apparent orbits of planets, stars, moons, and the sun may well be individually controlled by the assigned god of said thing, and quite capable of acting independently when powered by the fervent faith and prayers of the followers of that god.

Remember- Dungeons and Dragons is not necessarily a scientifically based setting. It can be entirely faith based, magic based, belief based, or some combination thereof. Answers to questions like "Why does the Sun rise?" might have truthful answers of "Because Apollo drives his chariot on time each day", while Eclipses may be rare events that are only caused by the dark magic of cults or extremely powerful arcanists attempting to usurp or interrupt the power of the sun.

So if you're going to have an Eclipse happen, make sure you've already hammered out an explanation for why things happen in your game setting. Is it just part of the celestial mechanics of the universe and is nothing to worry about? Is if just part of the celestial mechanics of the universe, but it interrupts the sun god's power? Is it literally caused by the actions of an evil cult or a spellcaster? Is it even a true eclipse, or is it just some trickery using magic that doesn't shift the moon around? How big are the sun and moon in your world? Do they actually orbit the Earth, or is it a proper heliocentric celestial model? And so on, and so on.

Also: I like the moons as physical locations of heaven and hell thing. That sounds pretty wicked, and also makes it rather easier to get to them (greater teleport and a telescope, rather than planeshifting or what have you)

[Psyren]

An eclipse in D&D would be a bit more of an auspicious event I think - like the trigger for Mythic power, or the ideal conditions for a ritual of some kind. Not really the kind of thing the players themselves should be throwing around like it's just another ability.

[EldritchWeaver]

I don't have rules for "regular" solar eclipses, but I have an event in my setting called the True Eclipse. Basically, the planet the story is set on has two moons, and every 500 years these moons eclipse the sun simultaneously. Whichever moon is closest to the planet (they alternate) essentially has full sway over the world, and since these moons are the physical locations of heaven and hell that means that something big always happens. Some of the biggest events in my setting's history are an indirect result of these True Eclipses.

Would the orbits even work in reality?

[Fouredged Sword]

Would the orbits even work in reality?

Both moons would have to be on deviant orbits with a periodic switching what moon was closer to the planet than the other. The crossover point would have to be exactly in the the path of the sun...

It's possible, but even more complex than our system.

[Drakevarg]

Would the orbits even work in reality?

I've considered trying to get someone to work out the orbits in a way that would make sense, but ultimately concluded that seeing as how my setting is a heliocentric hypersphere universe and the moons are literally the physical location of heaven and hell, which were produced by a volcanic eruption so powerful it basically turned the crust into soup for a period, and the laws of physics are animist in nature and genuinely function closer to the natural philosophy of antiquity... I figured I could probably get away with not caring too much about the specifics.