AMIA ARCHIVE • View topic - Explosives/Blackpowder

Does it, or doesn't it?
Does blackpowder or explosives exist on amia?

I can't remember the ruling..

I believe it was removed at some point from the module, but there may be rare instances left but as a general thing I don't think its available.

Ask a gnome?

They're still around as far as i know...

I believe it was banned from the isle after something to do with Benwick. Thats the IC thing.

OOC, I think it was removed due to problems with abuse and such. There have been times though when someone will accidentally forget that it was removed, and it will end up being used in a plot. You know the one I'm talking about.

That one incident involving the War Knights should pretty much be considered a one time thing, strictly included due to some things happening beyond peoples control. Just ignore it and don't see it as a standard. As far as I know all traces of that one incident have since been completely removed and won't ever appear in the module again. Last I heard it wasn't allowed. (Though my data is 3 months out of date).

But was it banned or not?

There are no bombs.

TormakSaber wrote:

There are no bombs.

Somebody set us up the bomb!

TormakSaber wrote:

There are no bombs.

Are we sure? Did we check all the palaces and oilfields? I mean you never know sometimes bombs can be a sneaky lot, hiding where you least expect them.

What about the tunnel cleaners , are they still allowed or notm before i go rampaging off with a load of them, considering they sound quite bomb-ish.

name Tuneel cleaner
Bio Instructions 1.handle with care, Pplace in infested tuneel 3. light fuse. 4. run for your life
Firebomb single use
weight 50.5 (so it msut be some explosive!)

speedgrab wrote:

What about the tunnel cleaners , are they still allowed or notm before i go rampaging off with a load of them, considering they sound quite bomb-ish.

name Tuneel cleaner
Bio Instructions 1.handle with care, Pplace in infested tuneel 3. light fuse. 4. run for your life
Firebomb single use
weight 50.5 (so it msut be some explosive!)

I think its just alchemist fire, but a lot of it. Which makes lots of fire, but isn't explosive in a gunpowder sense.

Alchemist's Fire is not explosive.

Black powder kegs are not explosive (on Amia), they flash brightly and are loud with some fire effects...that's it.

That;'s because they are not blackpowder. It is smoke powder.

If you wanna make things go boom, use a spell

What of those infamous "Bags of Explosives"? It's kinda in the name.

What'd the Caravaneers load up their cannons with then?

Magic.

uhh... But cannons sorta imply that there's gunpowder ><

No it doesn't.

Fairly sure if gnomes can invent golems they can invent a powderless cannon easily.

Tormak totally pulled a "It's a weather ballon!" on us.

Just for that I'm gonna bend down and say magic is likely the more awesome option. Because everyone wants to say "My ship is loaded with ...MAGIC!"

Also.. if magic can hellball, magic can cannonball.

Gravemaskin wrote:

Tormak totally pulled a "It's a weather ballon!" on us.

Just for that I'm gonna bend down and say magic is likely the more awesome option. Because everyone wants to say "My ship is loaded with ...MAGIC!"

Also.. if magic can hellball, magic can cannonball.

I'm more inclined to say I'd be a lot happier saying "My ship is filled with magic!*Fires a fireball cannon*" than I would be saying "Shoot at my lower decks, they're filled with explosives" if I was a captain.

Problem is enchanting something like a Cannon or Siege piece wouldn't be cheap in any event. (Considering unless you're going to just enchant 1 Cannon.. which isn't near as worthwhile)

Enchanted weapons wouldn't be used on your average combat vessel in Faerun but I don't see why they couldn't be done.

Smokepowder (IIRC) is what'd have been used in what Faerunian cannons there are but how prevalant they would be, compared to Magi or other alternatives .. *nodnods*

Another thing.. with magic at one's disposal.. you've got PLENTY more options when it comes to inflicting damage on an enemy vessel or otherwise making it's day worse then it had been.

Gravemaskin wrote:

Tormak totally pulled a "It's a weather ballon!" on us.

Just for that I'm gonna bend down and say magic is likely the more awesome option. Because everyone wants to say "My ship is loaded with ...MAGIC!"

Also.. if magic can hellball, magic can cannonball.

I didn't pull anything, i'm just saying what Ron told other people and absolutely nothing about my own opinion, feel or take on t.

the magic idea does work if tryed as in the book heros of battles they have a number of seige weapons and ammunition that are magical, now I dont think it has cannons in the book at all but its not a far jump.

Self-Launching Stone: A self-launching stone provides all the benefit of a catapult, without the trouble of constructing or maintaining a machine. On command, a self-launching stone flies into the air and strikes as if fired from a light mangonel, automatically hitting the target square. A selflaunching
stone only functions once, just like other magic siege weapon ammunition.

so cannons IC could be loaded with something like a self-launching stones and the cannon is just a barrel to aim with.

Still. What the hell were the "Bags of Explosives" then? As well as those old gnomish gigaton kegs or whatever?

Dark Immolation wrote:

Still. What the hell were the "Bags of Explosives" then? As well as those old gnomish gigaton kegs or whatever?

An explosive material, also called an explosive, is a substance that contains a great amount of stored energy that can produce an explosion, a sudden expansion of the material after initiation, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An explosive charge is a measured quantity of explosive material.

everything is relative, look at baking soda and vinegar that would be viewed as explosive if sealed in a container, but view it next to TnT they are pop rocks....so yes maybe items in game might be listed as explosives but it does not really reflect thier true power to that we have in the real world, they could be no better then what you cook up in one of the chemistry sets for kids you pick up at wallmart.

Don't be a smartass, Cory. That was more or less directed towards our DM's. "Firebombs" and such effects still on the island are described merely as flaming substances, while "Bag of Explosives" are still rather unsure. Yes, they had "firebomb" effects, but they were removed from the module because they were being overused as actual explosives during plots, from what I understood.

So it still stands as a question, should any still be left on the island, do they still have their granddaddy'ed firepower, did they never have such, or are the ones still present just poofy poofer poofs of poof now.

Dark Immolation wrote:

So it still stands as a question, should any still be left on the island, do they still have their granddaddy'ed firepower, did they never have such, or are the ones still present just poofy poofer poofs of poof now.

That's the question, Indeed

The Oakmist Vale has five nukes stored in a secret location on the Sword Coast, ready to launch at a moments notice. Don't F with us... O.O

o0GuNz_N_RoSeZ0o wrote:

The Oakmist Vale has five nukes stored in a secret location on the Sword Coast, ready to launch at a moments notice. Don't F with us... O.O

I knew it!! You bunch of fakers!

o0GuNz_N_RoSeZ0o wrote:

The Oakmist Vale has five nukes stored in a secret location on the Sword Coast, ready to launch at a moments notice. Don't F with us... O.O

If that is so I envoke M.A.D.

TormakSaber wrote:

That;'s because they are not blackpowder. It is smoke powder.

Yep. Which is the FR equivalent of black powder, given to the gnomes by Gond. The dwarves use it as powder in dwarven arquebusses.

Whether or not smokepowder is available ingame, well. Another story entirely.

Source please.

"Gond gave the secret of smoke powder to the Lantanese, and arquebuses, stamped at the base by the symbol of Gond, are appearing at western ports."
Grubb, Jeff, and Ed Greenwood. Forgotten Realms Adventures. Cambridge: TSR, Inc., 1990. 20. Print.

Mind, that's 2nd edition, not 3rd, so...

That quote doesn't prove anything about smoke powder being the FR gun powder.

Izzzt wrote:

TormakSaber wrote:

That;'s because they are not blackpowder. It is smoke powder.

Yep. Which is the FR equivalent of black powder, given to the gnomes by Gond. The dwarves use it as powder in dwarven arquebusses.

Whether or not smokepowder is available ingame, well. Another story entirely.

No. It is not the FR equivalent of blackpowder. And if it is, I am saying it is not, because I am the DM and i can say that if I feel like it.

*nods* Fair enough then.

o0GuNz_N_RoSeZ0o wrote:

That quote doesn't prove anything about smoke powder being the FR gun powder.

...I'm not sure if you're serious.

Anyway, Tormak invoked rule zero, so all's cool.

Ah, I missed the part about the arquebuses.

In any case, it was ruled by the DM's a good while ago that there was no gun powder on Amia. And now you hear the ruling again.

Basically: If you think it will explode in a fashion that you would consider a real life bomb or explosive, it doesn't. There are no guns. The small Caravan cannons were a mix of smokepowder and magic. In theory smokepowder could be created for said arquebuses, it is extremely unlikely Amia will see them outside that one event with the Caravan.

Ctapults are cooler anyways.

Trebuchet as well.

I'm pretty sure it's said in the material that smokepowder physically differs from gun/black powder anyway. Like that it doesn't involve combustion or something ridiculous like that. Only in FR, right? I'm afraid I don't have a source for you though, just what my DM told me (in the context of "ridiculous things in the FR setting") so could be misinformed.

And you people are crazy, it's all about the ballistae.

Drop it guys.

No Gunpowder, magic did it. How does a fireball explode?

Right, right. Good plan.

Selvec Darkon wrote:

How does a fireball explode?

Technically it doesn't explode at all...

We ruled before that smokepowder/black powder/whatever you call it isn't sufficiently powerful to be used as demolition-style explosives. It burns, yes, but it doesn't explode on Amia. Two reasons behind this: one, early gunpowder wasn't all that powerful, and two, too many people were going "OMGWTFBBQ we got bombs!" and requesting they be allowed to blow various places, people, animals, etc. into tiny bits. IIRC, we even had a couple people wanting to pull suicide bombings ><

No.

Just get a few thousand pounds of whatever you can get your hands on and the fact that it doesn't go BOOM matters less.

Ludicrously large amounts of fire are more fun anyway.

Gers wrote:

We ruled before that smokepowder/black powder/whatever you call it isn't sufficiently powerful to be used as demolition-style explosives. It burns, yes, but it doesn't explode on Amia. Two reasons behind this: one, early gunpowder wasn't all that powerful, and two, too many people were going "OMGWTFBBQ we got bombs!" and requesting they be allowed to blow various places, people, animals, etc. into tiny bits. IIRC, we even had a couple people wanting to pull suicide bombings ><

No.

If they want to end their chars in a blast, what's the big deal? =D

If they want to end their characters in a blast, they can come to me as Willow and I'll gladly GR them so they blow up when they die.

Because its Amia so they magically recompile/recombobulate/raisespell/insert inane reason why they can do actions without any form of repercussion.

Explosives/Blackpowder - Does it, or doesn't it?

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