Space Age Tippyverse

[Destro2119]

At the simplest level, greater teleport has no range limit nor do scrying or most other divinations, so there's no reason you wouldn't have colonies on other habitable planets (it's not anachronous either; speculation about life on the moon goes back to classical times). I think it's a great thing to add to any D&D setting and opens up a ton of fun.

An exploration rover is simple to make with animate objects + scrying or telepathic bond + any unliving minion with an Int score.


Edit: With instantaneous travel I don't see why you'd need spaceships though. Perhaps large swaths of space are either no-magic zones or no-teleport zones due to the influence of some magical cosmic phenomena (huge drifting titans that suck in all the magic around them, etc.), necessitating special crafts to navigate them...why? Could be to harvest valuable resources in those areas, to access natural planar portals that only appear at specific Lagrange points, etc.

Overall though I think magic is best used not to populate space with magical phenomena, but to abridge the huge empty spaces that make it so boring, an easy way to make it more interesting without losing verisimilitude (it's cheesy if there's a magic asteroid or a planet-sized magic monster in every corner).

Another magical cosmic feature I could see are "planar bleeds". They might cover a whole solar system in magical shadow or lead to the creation of negative energy infused shadowstars (born in the "Night Nebula"), create a stream of silver effluence from the astral plane, etc.

Naturally occurring no-magic zones also give an opportunity for the classic fantasy world clashes with nonmagical world scenario.

Well teleports always have the flaw of "you can't exactly send many people through them or mount weapons on them."

Which is what dedicated starships solve.

I don't deny portal or TP circles or teleport won't be important for express shipping/express missions though.

[Quertus]

Well teleports always have the flaw of "you can't exactly send many people through them or mount weapons on them."

Which is what dedicated starships solve.

I don't deny portal or TP circles or teleport won't be important for express shipping/express missions though.

If the person / group teleporting doesn't qualify as "weapons", you're doing 3e wrong.

[Elves]

Well teleports always have the flaw of "you can't exactly send many people through them or mount weapons on them."

Teleportation circle. The expensive part of that is the permanency (4500 XP), but you don't have to make it permanent until you have a good colony location.

Planar bind an outsider with at will greater teleport, have them jump around to find a good site.

[icefractal]

It depends on what rules you're operating under, but the PF spell Create Greater Demiplane can create permanent portals as one of the demiplane features.

With that, you can "stitch together" your cities across multiple planets, even multiple planes. Seamlessly, if you want - you walk under a particular bridge and you're now on an entirely different planet. You'll want some redundancy though, as a saboteur with Disjunction/Miracle/Wish can destroy one of your linking corridors. They do need to make a dispel check, so sufficiently high CL will make this much less common.

You might still need ships to find those planets in the first place, if divinations alone aren't sufficient.

[Elves]

With that, you can "stitch together" your cities across multiple planets, even multiple planes.

This is part of what I'd guess you'd call my personal setting: a discontinuous and infinite city that ranges over all environments, a megalopolis of formerly disparate cities now linked by portals.

[Destro2119]

It depends on what rules you're operating under, but the PF spell Create Greater Demiplane can create permanent portals as one of the demiplane features.

With that, you can "stitch together" your cities across multiple planets, even multiple planes. Seamlessly, if you want - you walk under a particular bridge and you're now on an entirely different planet. You'll want some redundancy though, as a saboteur with Disjunction/Miracle/Wish can destroy one of your linking corridors. They do need to make a dispel check, so sufficiently high CL will make this much less common.

You might still need ships to find those planets in the first place, if divinations alone aren't sufficient.

This is definitely something I would have.

However, I would also like for Starships to exist, and I think it would be logical because it's a way to ship a lot of things to planets that don't yet have gates, you can potentially ship in bulk more easily, and it's a way for non government affiliated places to trade, meaning the gov will probably develop them just to police them, and it'll go from there.

Also, Rule of Cool

[Destro2119]

Optimization plus space faring equals fun. I get it.

Having played in a high op space faring game or two I have some examples.

There's a thread on the forums about using magic to just make planets. So solar systems become what you make of them.

Did you know that there's no upper limit to the size of Planar portals? And conveniently planetoids just move a out on their own in predictable patterns.
Whether you're adding a sojourn through another plane to its orbit or tossing it into another solar system being able to relocate planets is a big deal.

Animation magic let's you do neat things. Like Animate portion of the surface of the sun, or a deeper part if you can magic a one way path for line of effect.
An animated thing can be Smoky Confinememted or teleported or whatever.
This video describes the fun to be had.

As far as impressing primitive civilizations, we moved resource rich asteroids and gave planets new moons with Planar portals connecting them. We were immediately worshipped.

Genesis makes natural phenomenon just find so long as you can't sell it as a gem or special material and it's not alive.
Get your demiplane big enough and generate the smallest dwarf stars, shrink object them, then Animate them as a requisite for Minute Form and bam; fine sized ridiculousness that returns to full size at a command word.


So a space tippyverse adds creation, destruction, and relocation of planetoids to its post scarcity.
And gets access to more tons of tnt of damage dice than I even own.

And this is at the bare minimum.

Imagine animating a populated planet, sending it to the mirror plane and letting it fight its mirror duplicate.
Or sending it to the past to encounter its time duplicate.
Or Minute Form ing it and stealing it like an outer space Carmen Sandiego.
Sure it takes nigh infinite CL, but you're tipoyversing through space. You can always find another basket planet of puppies to feed your consumptive field.

On the topic of this, the setting will probably be split into like two "ages": the first age being the more standard space opera/science fantasy most people are familiar with, and the second age (which will be far enough in the future ie like 300+ years it won't bother the first age too much) will be a more abstract Eclipse Phase/The Culture type of thing due to advancements in magic and tech.

[unseenmage]

On the topic of this, the setting will probably be split into like two "ages": the first age being the more standard space opera/science fantasy most people are familiar with, and the second age (which will be far enough in the future ie like 300+ years it won't bother the first age too much) will be a more abstract Eclipse Phase/The Culture type of thing due to advancements in magic and tech.

I recommend the Blame manga as a source of inspiration for super tech taken across long timelines.

Modified for D&D-verse it becomes even more impressive.

That ever expanding Dyson Sphere now also expands like a galaxy sized growth across and through any planar bleed or gateway that the automated construction bots happen across.

The super gun the MC uses could have a transdimensional enhancement that let's it obliterate material on coterminous planes as well.

Whole regions would be cursed or haunted with the angry vengeful dead at constant war with the machines that harvested them.

[Destro2119]

Some worldbuilding elements I have for a Space Age Fantasy type world:

One example I have for power is just the creation of Infinite Energy Demiplanes using a combo of the Genesis/Create Demiplane spells to provide infinite energy that is dispensed into a variety of devices using micro sized interplanar portals inking to it.

Another for the infrastructure as a whole is taking a page from this thread: https://forums.giantitp.com/showthre...D-3-5e-(PEACH) and "futurizing" it, ie thinking of ways to improve on flaws in that in-world system.

Another would be "futurizing" the settings, items, and concepts in the book "Magical Industrial Revolution" (which, despite being "agnostic", is pretty obviously meant to be based off of PF/3.X's magic system).

For manufacture, have timeless time stopped demiplanes (and lesser variants thereof) with specialized magitech devices to assemble items, whether technological, magical, or hybrid in them. Bam, manufacture of products is greatly increased.

On another note, I personally represent advances in magic and martial techniques by using the Legendary Games classes for all core classes. Also, the development of mana pools, (inspired by SF's resolve points and aforementioned Legendary Classes) which all casters have and that can be used to power a menu of generic (and class specific) effects for varying costs, like spending one to make a cantrip last all day or spending more to swap out/regain a slot.

[Destro2119]

I'd also like to note that just because you have "super-tech" in a world, doesn't mean that it immediately must be at insane levels and totally foreign to human experience. Cthulhutech has infinite energy for example, but it has situations and interactions ultimately very close to what we view as "sci-fi".

[unseenmage]

I was asked for some clarification so here they are. Apologies if it's a mess, am on mobile.

Optimization plus space faring equals fun. I get it.

Having played in a high op space faring game or two I have some examples.

Here is the thread where I posted a pseudo journal of the referenced game.
Lotta fond memories in there.

There's a thread on the forums about using magic to just make planets. So solar systems become what you make of them.

My search-fu has failed me and I cannot find the thread in question. I remember it being incredibly detailed even going so far as to recreate an Earth type mantle etc.

Did you know that there's no upper limit to the size of Planar portals? And conveniently planetoids just move a out on their own in predictable patterns.
Whether you're adding a sojourn through another plane to its orbit or tossing it into another solar system being able to relocate planets is a big deal.

To my knowledge the Create Portal (Forgotten Realms Campaign Setting, p. 34) feat does not specify a limit to how large the portal can be.
For my purposes infinite money, resources, and manpower shenanigans meant I could generate these portals almost instantaneously in the one game that was mad enough to allow such. One might also be able to Wish an exceedingly massive portal into existence.

Animation magic let's you do neat things. Like Animate portion of the surface of the sun, or a deeper part if you can magic a one way path for line of effect.
An animated thing can be Smoky Confinememted or teleported or whatever.
This video describes the fun to be had.

There are stats for the damage dice tnt deals in the DMG iirc. If not PF probably has them. Using that you can convert the tnt equivalencies in the video to damage dice.
Turns out to be quite a lot.

As far as impressing primitive civilizations, we moved resource rich asteroids and gave planets new moons with Planar portals connecting them. We were immediately worshipped.

We used a tech artifact from PF but the oversized gates or animation then shrinking work too. All of these aren't viable in a less than epic/mythic game though.

Genesis makes natural phenomenon just find so long as you can't sell it as a gem or special material and it's not alive.
Get your demiplane big enough and generate the smallest dwarf stars, shrink object them, then Animate them as a requisite for Minute Form and bam; fine sized ridiculousness that returns to full size at a command word.

In case it wasn't obvious this is serious cheese and probably should never be allowed.
On the other hand - pocket sand made of stars? *shrugs*

So a space tippyverse adds creation, destruction, and relocation of planetoids to its post scarcity.
And gets access to more tons of tnt of damage dice than I even own.

And this is at the bare minimum.

Imagine animating a populated planet, sending it to the mirror plane and letting it fight its mirror duplicate.
Or sending it to the past to encounter its time duplicate.
Or Minute Form ing it and stealing it like an outer space Carmen Sandiego.
Sure it takes nigh infinite CL, but you're tipoyversing through space. You can always find another basket planet of puppies to feed your consumptive field.

Upon further reflection. A world that occasionally passes through the Mirror Plane or a time portal every few decades so the resident creatures have to fight to the death with their mirror duplicates and/or time duplicates is.. interesting.

Scale that down to a city wide effect and it's almost usable in a real game.

[Destro2119]

"Quote Originally Posted by unseenmage View Post
Animation magic let's you do neat things. Like Animate portion of the surface of the sun, or a deeper part if you can magic a one way path for line of effect.
An animated thing can be Smoky Confinememted or teleported or whatever.
This video describes the fun to be had.
There are stats for the damage dice tnt deals in the DMG iirc. If not PF probably has them. Using that you can convert the tnt equivalencies in the video to damage dice.
Turns out to be quite a lot.

Quote Originally Posted by unseenmage View Post
As far as impressing primitive civilizations, we moved resource rich asteroids and gave planets new moons with Planar portals connecting them. We were immediately worshipped.
We used a tech artifact from PF but the oversized gates or animation then shrinking work too. All of these aren't viable in a less than epic/mythic game though.

Quote Originally Posted by unseenmage View Post
Genesis makes natural phenomenon just find so long as you can't sell it as a gem or special material and it's not alive.
Get your demiplane big enough and generate the smallest dwarf stars, shrink object them, then Animate them as a requisite for Minute Form and bam; fine sized ridiculousness that returns to full size at a command word.
In case it wasn't obvious this is serious cheese and probably should never be allowed.
On the other hand - pocket sand made of stars? *shrugs*"


Ok yeah but how can you animate those things? What is the shrink/minute form thing exactly? How does it work?

Also any insight on the other things I asked about? Since it seems like you know a lot about spacefaring/space stations/constructs in game, just going on that thread you linked. It also seems that you are super into magitech and that sort of thing. I would love to hear more, since I'm working on homebrew in that vein too (hopefully to be posted in homebrew later).

EDIT: I was reading the thread you linked, and I'm confused about how exactly you can animate the buildings as counting as one object. An explanation please? Also, what are the templates (amalgam, miniature, simple wizard etc) you reference? Also, what are your starship's stats?

[unseenmage]

...

Ok yeah but how can you animate those things? What is the shrink/minute form thing exactly? How does it work?

Also any insight on the other things I asked about? Since it seems like you know a lot about spacefaring/space stations/constructs in game, just going on that thread you linked. It also seems that you are super into magitech and that sort of thing. I would love to hear more, since I'm working on homebrew in that vein too (hopefully to be posted in homebrew later).

EDIT: I was reading the thread you linked, and I'm confused about how exactly you can animate the buildings as counting as one object. An explanation please? Also, what are the templates (amalgam, miniature, simple wizard etc) you reference? Also, what are your starship's stats?

Animate Objects animates objects. If it's notna creature or a magic item then it can be animated as an object.

As for how one animates multiple objects as one object, just stick, chain, tie, or even Sovereign Glue them together. (Sovereign Glue is a magic item)

The Shrink Item spell applied to an object won't just stop working when that object is affected by the Animate Objects spell.
So you can now shrink item your Animated thing.

Minute Form is a spell from Complete Arcane, p. 114. It makes the affected creature Fine size. Getting Personal range spells on another creature can be done via a few ways. I prefer the Runecaster PrC.

So first you cast the shrink item. Then you cast animate objects. Then you cast Minute Form. Then you command word activate Shrink Item.
It is cheesey and most GMs will not allow it but its also very very funny/powerful.

As for getting one's Caster Level high enough to affect very large things with shrink item and animate objects there are very cheesey exploits for that too. I do not recall their specifics off the top of my head but they're out there.

The game in the linked thread was a Pathfinder game so un familiar stuff can likely be found on the Archives of Nethys site. Hey have virtually all of PF's material hosted there with Paizo's blessing.

The starship stats were extrapolated and ad hock ed by our GM from the Pathfinder Iron Gods adventure path. The crashed starship IS the final dungeon in the AP.

I used PFs Salvage Ship spell to raise and repair the thing enough that it could be worked on by repair robots. Again a cheesey but amusing mis use of a spell.

The Amalgam and Miniature templates are 3rd party material from Green Ronin's book of templates Advanced Bestiary. They put out PF versions on the PFSRD site so we used those.
Amalgam I recommend, the rest of the book is basically crap. And even Amalgam has some serious issues if your GM isn't skilled.

The Simple Wizard template is a Pathfinder template not meant for player use. (Our GM let's us play with a lot of fun toys, what can I say.)
It adds wizard superpowers to a monster. There are simple class templates for most PF classes.

EDIT
Also check out thee Aethera campaign Setting. Its got some pretty neat ideas and some flavorful fluff for its space opera style games.

[Destro2119]

Animate Objects animates objects. If it's notna creature or a magic item then it can be animated as an object.

As for how one animates multiple objects as one object, just stick, chain, tie, or even Sovereign Glue them together. (Sovereign Glue is a magic item)

The Shrink Item spell applied to an object won't just stop working when that object is affected by the Animate Objects spell.
So you can now shrink item your Animated thing.

Minute Form is a spell from Complete Arcane, p. 114. It makes the affected creature Fine size. Getting Personal range spells on another creature can be done via a few ways. I prefer the Runecaster PrC.

So first you cast the shrink item. Then you cast animate objects. Then you cast Minute Form. Then you command word activate Shrink Item.
It is cheesey and most GMs will not allow it but its also very very funny/powerful.

As for getting one's Caster Level high enough to affect very large things with shrink item and animate objects there are very cheesey exploits for that too. I do not recall their specifics off the top of my head but they're out there.

The game in the linked thread was a Pathfinder game so un familiar stuff can likely be found on the Archives of Nethys site. Hey have virtually all of PF's material hosted there with Paizo's blessing.

The starship stats were extrapolated and ad hock ed by our GM from the Pathfinder Iron Gods adventure path. The crashed starship IS the final dungeon in the AP.

I used PFs Salvage Ship spell to raise and repair the thing enough that it could be worked on by repair robots. Again a cheesey but amusing mis use of a spell.

The Amalgam and Miniature templates are 3rd party material from Green Ronin's book of templates Advanced Bestiary. They put out PF versions on the PFSRD site so we used those.
Amalgam I recommend, the rest of the book is basically crap. And even Amalgam has some serious issues if your GM isn't skilled.

The Simple Wizard template is a Pathfinder template not meant for player use. (Our GM let's us play with a lot of fun toys, what can I say.)
It adds wizard superpowers to a monster. There are simple class templates for most PF classes.

EDIT
Also check out thee Aethera campaign Setting. Its got some pretty neat ideas and some flavorful fluff for its space opera style games.

On a final note, when creating the world, I will probably incorporate a lot of these concepts (interplanar gate portals, animated buildings, starships, etc.) and just clean them all up to be less a huge patchwork of templates and more consolidated mechanical concepts in their own right.

Thanks for all the input!