Reverse Gravity Question

[jguy]

The spell itself says that when you cast it, anyone who fails their reflex save is sent upwards to the limit of the room. What happens if you cast it outside? Did they just reach the stratosphere or launched into outer space?

If they are that high, what then? The spell is 1/round per level but how long would it take them to start suffocating? Or risk damage from exposure? And when the spell ends, how long does it take them to get back down to ground? 1 round or just normal falling damage? That could take minutes. Also, what happens if I hold a spear in the anti-gravity tunnel and let go? Did I just rail-gun whoever is up there since I just sent an item from the ground to near outer space in the span of 6 seconds? Peasant Rail-gun just got beat by my gravity cannon I think.

[Kaww]

I think that spell description is pretty clear:

If an object or creature reaches the top of the area without striking anything, it remains there, oscillating slightly, until the spell ends. At the end of the spell duration, affected objects and creatures fall downward.

So anything caught in it falls up for 10*[your caster level/2]/[base of the cuboid]ft.

[jguy]

how do you get that equation?

[Curmudgeon]

Area: Up to one 10-ft. cube per two levels (S)

(S) Shapeable

If an Area or Effect entry ends with "(S)," you can shape the spell. A shaped effect or area can have no dimension smaller than 10 feet. Many effects or areas are given as cubes to make it easy to model irregular shapes.

The maximum height you can make with Reverse Gravity is if you stack all of the cubes vertically. So if your caster level is 17, you can stack 17/2 = 8 cubes. That's a total of 80', in 8 10' cubes.

[jguy]

Ooooooh. I had always read it as in that particular area, gravity went upward, like just a flat square on the ground. Never really clicked with the "Cubes" part. Okay, then this spell is a lot less powerful than I originally thought, but still fun

[Curmudgeon]

Yeah, it's confusing that they use "Area" when they're really referring to volumes.

[AslanCross]

For offensive use, Reverse Grav is best used indoors. Smash them against the ceiling, then dismiss. (Glabrezu can do this forever, having At-Will Reverse Gravity.)

[El Dorado]

Ooooooh. I had always read it as in that particular area, gravity went upward, like just a flat square on the ground. Never really clicked with the "Cubes" part. Okay, then this spell is a lot less powerful than I originally thought, but still fun

The 2E version of the spell was like this. Great fun.

[Tyndmyr]

Now, if you DO manage to send people to space, spelljammer does have rules for exposure to space.

Actually, Elder Evils does too, in the Atropheus(sp?) section, but they're remarkably harsh.

[Lysander]

For offensive use, Reverse Grav is best used indoors. Smash them against the ceiling, then dismiss. (Glabrezu can do this forever, having At-Will Reverse Gravity.)

I don't know. Casting it outdoors and leaving an enemy without flight bobbing helplessly in midair for your spells and arrows is pretty nifty too.

[Curmudgeon]

I don't know. Casting it outdoors and leaving an enemy without flight bobbing helplessly in midair for your spells and arrows is pretty nifty too.

Who says they're helpless? They can use spells and arrows, too!

[jiriku]

Ideally you don't use reverse gravity against those sorts of enemies.

[Forged Fury]

Casting it outdoors and leaving an enemy without flight bobbing helplessly in midair for your spells and arrows is pretty nifty too.

One of the main reason I was extremely disappointed that Levitate was made into a "friendlies-only" spell (either from 3.0 to 3.5 or 2nd Edition to 3.0).

[AslanCross]

I don't know. Casting it outdoors and leaving an enemy without flight bobbing helplessly in midair for your spells and arrows is pretty nifty too.

They can actually move---and even move out of the square, as far as I can tell. (They fall, though)

[The Big Dice]

Now, if you DO manage to send people to space, spelljammer does have rules for exposure to space.

Actually, Elder Evils does too, in the Atropheus(sp?) section, but they're remarkably harsh.

To be fair, hard vacuum will kill you pretty quick. And with some gross things going on, too.

[Zaq]

Yeah, it's confusing that they use "Area" when they're really referring to volumes.

It's not that much worse than "ranged touch attacks." It took me months to get comfortable with that particular bit of nomenclature. It's just another entry in the endless litany of times when specific game definitions stop matching their original referent.

[Zhalath]

To be fair, hard vacuum will kill you pretty quick. And with some gross things going on, too.

I believe that the thing that'll kill you first in vacuum is suffocation, which is a minute or two. Pressure hurts, but all you get is a bad case of the bends. Heat and cold can't move through a lack of stuff well, so suddenly burning or freezing, not gonna happen anytime soon. Provided you can cast teleport without verbal components, and you don't look straight at the sun, you'll be ok.
I don't know what the actual statistics are, but that's what I know about vacuum.

You talk about "area=volume" giving you confusion. Meanwhile, there are two words that give my inner physicist an aneurysm:
"Acid energy"

Is there a spell for sideways gravity?

[Curmudgeon]

Meanwhile, there are two words that give my inner physicist an aneurysm:
"Acid energy"

"Cold energy" (i.e. the lack of energy being an energy type) doesn't come in at # 1?

[Tetrasodium]

Now, if you DO manage to send people to space, spelljammer does have rules for exposure to space.

Actually, Elder Evils does too, in the Atropheus(sp?) section, but they're remarkably harsh.

epic level handbook in the description for nailed to the sky spell as well.

[ericgrau]

They can actually move---and even move out of the square, as far as I can tell. (They fall, though)

I don't think you can walk without a floor.

I believe that the thing that'll kill you first in vacuum is suffocation, which is a minute or two. Pressure hurts, but all you get is a bad case of the bends.

I dunno -14.7 psi seems like a lot. The moisture on your skin and lungs boils rapidly, as you are unable to hold your moth closed. I'll have to look it up to be sure, but my vote is for instant explosive death by pressure. EDIT: Drat, Discovery says it's 2 minutes of suffocation. But in fairness your eyes, tongue and nose instantly boil.

[Shade Kerrin]

Is there a spell for sideways gravity?

I want to know this one too...I'd use it as a fly spell

[Kelb_Panthera]

Depending on your dm, you may be able to orient your spells as you wish. Put the base of your Reverse Gravity on a wall. Again this is DM dependent, but I can't think of anything in the rules to contradict this notion.

[Curmudgeon]

Depending on your dm, you may be able to orient your spells as you wish. Put the base of your Reverse Gravity on a wall. Again this is DM dependent, but I can't think of anything in the rules to contradict this notion.

Perhaps you should read the spell more carefully.

This spell reverses gravity in an area, causing all unattached objects and creatures within that area to fall upward and reach the top of the area in 1 round.

Reverse is never rotate 90 degress.
Sideways is never upward.

[The Big Dice]

I believe that the thing that'll kill you first in vacuum is suffocation, which is a minute or two. Pressure hurts, but all you get is a bad case of the bends. Heat and cold can't move through a lack of stuff well, so suddenly burning or freezing, not gonna happen anytime soon. Provided you can cast teleport without verbal components, and you don't look straight at the sun, you'll be ok.
I don't know what the actual statistics are, but that's what I know about vacuum.

/derail

There's an article on expsosure to space here. There's some pretty nasty symptoms going on there, with suffocation being the least of your worries.

Still, in D&D terms, a character could probably survive anywhere from 2 turns at the ultra hard SF end of the scale all the way to about 15 turns at the don'y sweat the details end of things.

[AslanCross]

I don't think you can walk without a floor.

I meant if they have a ceiling to stand on upside down.

[Malbordeus]

in our groups games , space tends to happen as a result of miscast teleports...