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Dragonmuncher
2008-03-16, 12:14 AM
(I'll be posting this to the Homebrew forums as well, but I figured I might as well give the RAW junkies a shot)


Is there any spell, build, or class, that uses Quintessence?

By Quintessence I mean



Quintessence
Metacreativity (Creation)
Level: Shaper 4
Display: Material; see text
Manifesting Time: 1 round
Range: 0 ft.
Effect: 1-inch-diameter dollop of quintessence; see text
Duration: Instantaneous
Saving Throw: None
Power Resistance: No
Power Points: 7

You collapse a bit of time from the continuum, forming a 1-ounce dollop of thick, gooey material called quintessence. This substance shimmers like a silver mirror when viewed from some angles but is transparent from other viewpoints. You can smooth a dollop of quintessence around any extremely small object.

Objects sealed within quintessence are protected from the effects of time; in practical terms, they enter a state of stasis. Living flesh with only partial contact with quintessence is also partially pulled out of the time stream (the manifester is immune to this effect). This disruption deals 1 point of damage per round beginning 10 rounds after partial contact occurs.

Quintessence can be manually scraped away from a protected object, freeing it to rejoin the time stream. When you do this, there is a 75% chance that the quintessence evaporates back into the continuum. Otherwise, it coalesces again into a 1-inch-diameter bead, available for later use.

Large quantities of quintessence could theoretically be gathered to preserve large items or structures (or even a complete living creature; if completely immersed, a living creature would not take the damage associated with partial contact). However, psionic characters and creatures are generally loath to do so because accumulations of quintessence weighing 1 pound or more hinder psionic activity within a 5-foot radius of the accumulation: Powers require twice as many power points to manifest, unless the manifester makes a successful DC 16 Will save each time he or she attempts to manifest a power. Also in these circumstances, manifesting a psi-like ability that is usable at will is a full-round action rather than a standard action.

It's always struck as me as an incredibly iconic psionic ability, yet its usually ignored by the general D&D population.

So... any thoughts? Any uses for quintessence, combat or otherwise? Homebrew classes? Third-party classes? Et cetera and so forth?

CockroachTeaParty
2008-03-16, 01:22 AM
I once heard about the Quintessence Delayed Blast Fireball Nuke.

The idea is, you make a lot of quintessence, say a nice sized jar's worth. Then, you fill the jar of quintessence with Delayed Blast Fireball beads with a single round left until detonation. You cram as many of these beads as you possibly can, then you place the lid on the jar.

Then, you find something, or someplace, or some group of people that you REALLY want destroyed. Call up your best wizard or psion friend, then get a catapult. Place the QDBF nuke in the catapult, then have a third friend throw the switch, but not before you and your caster friend ready an action to cast 'disintegrate.' One disintegrate destroys the jar, the other disintegrate destroys the gob of quintessence. The little DBF beads are free to fall upon the designated target.

Boom.

FlyMolo
2008-03-16, 03:12 PM
I once heard about the Quintessence Delayed Blast Fireball Nuke.

The idea is, you make a lot of quintessence, say a nice sized jar's worth. Then, you fill the jar of quintessence with Delayed Blast Fireball beads with a single round left until detonation. You cram as many of these beads as you possibly can, then you place the lid on the jar.

Then, you find something, or someplace, or some group of people that you REALLY want destroyed. Call up your best wizard or psion friend, then get a catapult. Place the QDBF nuke in the catapult, then have a third friend throw the switch, but not before you and your caster friend ready an action to cast 'disintegrate.' One disintegrate destroys the jar, the other disintegrate destroys the gob of quintessence. The little DBF beads are free to fall upon the designated target.

Boom.
Very, Very, awesome. You would destroy anything that was inside the fireball radius, leaving everything else untouched.

You could enchant a dungeon to drip quintessence from the ceiling. The PCs would continually be scraping it off themselves. It could be interesting. And of course, if a PC started to die, they could just roll him/her in the quintessence, then lug him/her out to heal later, at their leisure. Of course, it would build up on the floor in huge lumps and gobs. If it's a little unpredictable, then the PCs could run across battles frozen in the stuff. Could be awesome.

Da King
2008-03-16, 03:35 PM
@FlyMolo: I'm stealing this idea for the dungeon I'm building. Thanks for the idea!

I think I'll design an NPC who was trapped in the stuff for a thousand years... he would make a very interesting cohort.

Illiterate Scribe
2008-03-16, 03:46 PM
Another quintessence trick which is, as far as the CharOp boards at WotC is concerned is invincible is the use of great jars of the stuff to excise anything you want from space/time.

Enter timestop, upend jar over enemy, profit - they're now as good as frozen in carbonite, with no countermeasure possible.

I used this many, many times in one of our epic campaigns.

Harlequin
2008-03-16, 03:56 PM
Tempest_Stormwind over on the Wizards boards posted this (http://forums.gleemax.com/wotc_archive/index.php/t-699067) little marvel. Shame it's been archived, but the magic of the idea remains.

Illiterate Scribe
2008-03-16, 03:59 PM
Yes, the hulking hurler in a box is a perennial favourite of mine. Some of us on the WotC boards were working out how much damage it can actually do; it is indeed slightly over the hulking hurler, but it's too heavy to move easily. That's why you get the Hurler to throw it ... :smallamused:

Squash Monster
2008-03-16, 04:24 PM
The delayed blast fireball bomb is cool, but how is it better than a explosive runes/dispel magic bomb?

CockroachTeaParty
2008-03-16, 05:05 PM
The delayed blast fireball bomb is cool, but how is it better than a explosive runes/dispel magic bomb?

Because it's a fireball nuke! None of that silly 'dispel my own runes' nonsense, just 300+ DBF's going off all at once.

Now what would be really funny is if a rogue managed to make every single reflex save against the nuke. He would emerge unscathed, having somehow avoided the heat of a thousand suns. :smallconfused:

I once made a dungeon that had an obstacle course suspended over a deep pool of quintessence. Frozen in the murk below could be seen other adventurers, monsters, and even a mind flayer, frozen forever in the position they were once in. It was awesome. The rogue botched a balance check and fell in, and then the melee tank dived in to save him. They were both frozen in time, and it took the other party members some clever tricks with ropes, mage hand, and other magics to retrieve them.

Don't forget that partial exposure to quintessence can be damaging, and in high quantities it interferes with psionic powers (and magic, too, if you want it too).