redking
2021-02-22, 10:30 PM
The 3.5e Genesis spell (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/epic/spells/genesis.htm) (and the Genesis psionic power (https://www.d20srd.org/srd/psionic/powers/genesis.htm)) creates dead demiplanes with very little capacity for life.
The spellcaster determines the environment within the demiplane when he or she first casts genesis, reflecting most any desire the spellcaster can visualize. The spellcaster determines factors such as atmosphere, water, temperature, and the general shape of the terrain. This spell cannot create life (including vegetation), nor can it create construction (such as buildings, roads, wells, dungeons, and so forth). The spellcaster must add these things in some other fashion if he or she desires. Once the basic demiplane reaches its maximum size, the spellcaster can continue to cast this spell to enlarge the demiplane, adding another 180 feet of radius to the demiplane each time.
There is no indication that the soil has any nutrients that can support plant life. So not only do you have to bring in plants, you have to enrich the soil somehow. Its not even clear that a druid can do that with spells.
It would seem that the Pathfinder equivalent of Genesis, Create Greater Demiplane (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/create-demiplane/), was given more thought.
Bountiful: Your demiplane gains a thriving natural ecology, with streams, ponds, waterfalls, and plants. The demiplane provides enough plant-based food (nuts, grains, fruit, fungi, and so on) to support one Medium creature for every 10-foot cube of the demiplane. The demiplane does not have any animals unless you transport them there, but the ecology can sustain itself for as long as the demiplane exists without requiring watering, gardening, pollination, and so on, and dead organic material decays and returns to the soil in the normal manner. If your demiplane has ambient light, these plants are normal, familiar surface plants; if it is a realm of twilight or darkness, these plants are fungi and other plants adapted to near-darkness or underground locations.
How did you handle Genesis? Did you allow the bountiful trait like that in Create Greater Demiplane? One quibble with Create Greater Demiplane. It is a permanent spell effect (via permanency), rather than instantaneous, which means that it can be dispelled.
The spellcaster determines the environment within the demiplane when he or she first casts genesis, reflecting most any desire the spellcaster can visualize. The spellcaster determines factors such as atmosphere, water, temperature, and the general shape of the terrain. This spell cannot create life (including vegetation), nor can it create construction (such as buildings, roads, wells, dungeons, and so forth). The spellcaster must add these things in some other fashion if he or she desires. Once the basic demiplane reaches its maximum size, the spellcaster can continue to cast this spell to enlarge the demiplane, adding another 180 feet of radius to the demiplane each time.
There is no indication that the soil has any nutrients that can support plant life. So not only do you have to bring in plants, you have to enrich the soil somehow. Its not even clear that a druid can do that with spells.
It would seem that the Pathfinder equivalent of Genesis, Create Greater Demiplane (https://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/c/create-demiplane/), was given more thought.
Bountiful: Your demiplane gains a thriving natural ecology, with streams, ponds, waterfalls, and plants. The demiplane provides enough plant-based food (nuts, grains, fruit, fungi, and so on) to support one Medium creature for every 10-foot cube of the demiplane. The demiplane does not have any animals unless you transport them there, but the ecology can sustain itself for as long as the demiplane exists without requiring watering, gardening, pollination, and so on, and dead organic material decays and returns to the soil in the normal manner. If your demiplane has ambient light, these plants are normal, familiar surface plants; if it is a realm of twilight or darkness, these plants are fungi and other plants adapted to near-darkness or underground locations.
How did you handle Genesis? Did you allow the bountiful trait like that in Create Greater Demiplane? One quibble with Create Greater Demiplane. It is a permanent spell effect (via permanency), rather than instantaneous, which means that it can be dispelled.