It feels odd that we have Shortswords, longswords, short bows, daggers, and then out of nowhere: FREAKIN ANTIMATTER RIFLES.
The operative point there is that those only exist if the DM allows it. They're options if the DM wants to cross genres, not defaults. Plus they can also be pretty easily reskinned as some ancient and lost magitech weapons, if you wanted.
So I was browsing the Basic items list and I came across the Antimatter Rifle. I....don't really remember that ever being a thing? Why is this a thing? How long has this been a thing?
Basically everyone already mentioned D&D's Gama World back in the 70s about a post apocalyptic world with mutants (non Xmen) lasers etc. And also the adventure I think had to do with a crashed ship on Blackmoor filled with robots, lasers and electromagnet ray weapons etc. Pretty cool stuff. I'd like to see D&D revise those old games for current play.
So I was browsing the Basic items list and I came across the Antimatter Rifle. I....don't really remember that ever being a thing? Why is this a thing? How long has this been a thing?
Basically everyone already mentioned D&D's Gama World back in the 70s about a post apocalyptic world with mutants (non Xmen) lasers etc. And also the adventure I think had to do with a crashed ship on Blackmoor filled with robots, lasers and electromagnet ray weapons etc. Pretty cool stuff. I'd like to see D&D revise those old games for current play.
You're talking about Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Goodman Games was licensed or got the right to do "Original Adventures Reincarnated" taking D&D/AD&D classics, updating them for 5e and putting them into a big volume or multivolume work with scans of the original rules version, art, interviews with the creators etc. It's a pretty cool book, but you have to dig around a bit to find them these days as Goodman doesn't seem to keep a stock in their own warehouse.
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Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
All the rest aside, antimatter rifles are mindbogglingly stupid.
Because antimatter is really very very difficult indeed to obtain, and it doesn't do anything. Literally. Antimatter only annihilates in a massive explosion if it hits it's corresponding normal matter. So, say you have a rifle that fires anti-plutonium. Unless the target is normal plutonium, this is essentially the same as a rifle firing any other projectile.
If we're just throwing out sci-fi terms for no reason, I request this be changed to plasma rifles immediately. Those at least make ... well, slightly more sense. Or no, not really, there's no real way to keep the plasma coherent long enough for it to hit a target after it leaves the barrel. Actually most projected energy weapons are silly. Even laser. We can make laser work, but the effort required to produce enough energy to convert into light could be better spent on a mass driver.
Can we have mag rifles instead, please?
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Model 1: The antimatter is contained and isolated from the matter by some sort of magnetic shell casing. Casing breaks on impact with target, antimatter comes into contact with matter, BOOM!
Model 2: It is called an Antimatter rifle because an antimatter reaction is the initial source of energy for the plasma beam
Model 3: The beam from the rifle somehow opens a microscopic rift to an antimatter dimension. Explosion ensues.
Model Most Likely: The DM explains that it is a science fiction weapon, not a weapon of actual science. Therefore it is not expected to be reproduceable using known science. Furthermore, it is being used in a fantasy setting, in which many of the laws of physics are simply completely different. Bonus points if the DM is not the player's DM at all, but a teller at a fast food restaurant.
Model 1: That seems like a lot of effort to put into a single piece of ammo. I get that there are cannon rounds that work like that, and it's famously how you build fission and fusion weapons, but for something manportable, it seems over the top. But sure, the science checks out.
Model 2: That's just cheating. Is it an antimatter rifle, or a plasma rifle? And if it's a plasma rifle, we still need to resolve how you keep the plasma together once it leaves the barrel.
Model 3: The Tesla! But .. really, the antimatter dimension? If we're taking such freedoms, why not just the dimension of EXPLOSION? =)
Model most likely: Really, I like to explain how stuff works at least well enough to make it within a (plasma) cannon shot of believable. That's just me. Are you a teller at a fast food restaurant?
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Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
All the rest aside, antimatter rifles are mindbogglingly stupid.
Because antimatter is really very very difficult indeed to obtain, and it doesn't do anything. Literally. Antimatter only annihilates in a massive explosion if it hits it's corresponding normal matter. So, say you have a rifle that fires anti-plutonium. Unless the target is normal plutonium, this is essentially the same as a rifle firing any other projectile.
Antimatter works on the fundamental particle level. A positron annihilates if it contacts an electron, an antiproton a proton, etc. (Yes, yes, actually it's quarks) Since all normal matter is made of the same fundamental particles, it annihilates just fine.
Of course, that's real-world physics. In pulp SF physics in a magical fantasy world, beam go boom
Antimatter is definitely one of those scientific terms that just sounds cool so people slap it on stuff just to make it feel science-fiction-y. Like "Quantum", which basically just means "the smallest possible version of something", but in sci-fi it just means "magic".
Because antimatter is really very very difficult indeed to obtain, and it doesn't do anything. Literally. Antimatter only annihilates in a massive explosion if it hits it's corresponding normal matter. So, say you have a rifle that fires anti-plutonium. Unless the target is normal plutonium, this is essentially the same as a rifle firing any other projectile.
Uh... no. Corresponding normal matter means you need leptons to annihilate anti-leptons, and baryons to annihilate anti-baryons. If an anti-plutonium-239 nucleus hits a carbon-12 nucleus, the prompt result will be anti-radium-227 with enough leftover energy to blow the nucleus apart, with the remainder going on to interact with and annihilate other normal matter. This doesn't mean it's a good weapon, there are a number of problems with antimatter weapons, but it will certainly annihilate.
Antimatter is definitely one of those scientific terms that just sounds cool so people slap it on stuff just to make it feel science-fiction-y. Like "Quantum", which basically just means "the smallest possible version of something", but in sci-fi it just means "magic".
Antimatter is actually a concept that's reasonably well-known to most casual science fiction fans. It's used to let the audience know "this civilization is so incredibly advanced that they can make use of this incredibly dangerous and hard to produce substance."
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Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Most Likely: Do you give similarly detailed explanations as to how magic works?
To my mind, this is the subject matter of another thread. But ... basically? Yes. It's much easier, though. Because magic doesn't work, so suspension of disbelief works in our favor. There's no real world hump to overcome.
Antimatter is definitely one of those scientific terms that just sounds cool so people slap it on stuff just to make it feel science-fiction-y. Like "Quantum", which basically just means "the smallest possible version of something", but in sci-fi it just means "magic".
Because antimatter is really very very difficult indeed to obtain, and it doesn't do anything. Literally. Antimatter only annihilates in a massive explosion if it hits it's corresponding normal matter. So, say you have a rifle that fires anti-plutonium. Unless the target is normal plutonium, this is essentially the same as a rifle firing any other projectile.
Uh... no. Corresponding normal matter means you need leptons to annihilate anti-leptons, and baryons to annihilate anti-baryons. If an anti-plutonium-239 nucleus hits a carbon-12 nucleus, the prompt result will be anti-radium-227 with enough leftover energy to blow the nucleus apart, with the remainder going on to interact with and annihilate other normal matter. This doesn't mean it's a good weapon, there are a number of problems with antimatter weapons, but it will certainly annihilate.
See, that's just cheating. Knowing more about the topic than me. I just know what Wiki tells me: In order to annihilate, antimatter needs to collide with it's corresponding normal matter particle.
But it doesn't matter if I'm wrong. I was trying to be funny, not trying to sunder the faulty science =)
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Antimatter is definitely one of those scientific terms that just sounds cool so people slap it on stuff just to make it feel science-fiction-y. Like "Quantum", which basically just means "the smallest possible version of something", but in sci-fi it just means "magic".
Antimatter is actually a concept that's reasonably well-known to most casual science fiction fans. It's used to let the audience know "this civilization is so incredibly advanced that they can make use of this incredibly dangerous and hard to produce substance."
I think I can say with confidence that, even if it's a well-known scientific concept, that 100% will not slow down some writers from misusing the phrase.
Antimatter is definitely one of those scientific terms that just sounds cool so people slap it on stuff just to make it feel science-fiction-y. Like "Quantum", which basically just means "the smallest possible version of something", but in sci-fi it just means "magic".
Antimatter is actually a concept that's reasonably well-known to most casual science fiction fans. It's used to let the audience know "this civilization is so incredibly advanced that they can make use of this incredibly dangerous and hard to produce substance."
I think I can say with confidence that, even if it's a well-known scientific concept, that 100% will not slow down some writers from misusing the phrase.
All being a well-known scientific concept really means is you can expect people to say "I've heard of that! It's science!", instead of "huh?"
Antimatter is definitely one of those scientific terms that just sounds cool so people slap it on stuff just to make it feel science-fiction-y. Like "Quantum", which basically just means "the smallest possible version of something", but in sci-fi it just means "magic".
Antimatter is actually a concept that's reasonably well-known to most casual science fiction fans. It's used to let the audience know "this civilization is so incredibly advanced that they can make use of this incredibly dangerous and hard to produce substance."
I think I can say with confidence that, even if it's a well-known scientific concept, that 100% will not slow down some writers from misusing the phrase.
All being a well-known scientific concept really means is you can expect people to say "I've heard of that! It's science!", instead of "huh?"
Antimatter still gets subject to significantly less blatant misuse in fiction than, say, quantum physics or evolution.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
The operative point there is that those only exist if the DM allows it. They're options if the DM wants to cross genres, not defaults. Plus they can also be pretty easily reskinned as some ancient and lost magitech weapons, if you wanted.
Basically everyone already mentioned D&D's Gama World back in the 70s about a post apocalyptic world with mutants (non Xmen) lasers etc. And also the adventure I think had to do with a crashed ship on Blackmoor filled with robots, lasers and electromagnet ray weapons etc. Pretty cool stuff. I'd like to see D&D revise those old games for current play.
You're talking about Expedition to the Barrier Peaks. Goodman Games was licensed or got the right to do "Original Adventures Reincarnated" taking D&D/AD&D classics, updating them for 5e and putting them into a big volume or multivolume work with scans of the original rules version, art, interviews with the creators etc. It's a pretty cool book, but you have to dig around a bit to find them these days as Goodman doesn't seem to keep a stock in their own warehouse.
Jander Sunstar is the thinking person's Drizzt, fight me.
Which isn't a Gamma World reference, it's a Metamorphosis Alpha reference.
All the rest aside, antimatter rifles are mindbogglingly stupid.
Because antimatter is really very very difficult indeed to obtain, and it doesn't do anything. Literally. Antimatter only annihilates in a massive explosion if it hits it's corresponding normal matter. So, say you have a rifle that fires anti-plutonium. Unless the target is normal plutonium, this is essentially the same as a rifle firing any other projectile.
If we're just throwing out sci-fi terms for no reason, I request this be changed to plasma rifles immediately. Those at least make ... well, slightly more sense. Or no, not really, there's no real way to keep the plasma coherent long enough for it to hit a target after it leaves the barrel. Actually most projected energy weapons are silly. Even laser. We can make laser work, but the effort required to produce enough energy to convert into light could be better spent on a mass driver.
Can we have mag rifles instead, please?
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Model 1: That seems like a lot of effort to put into a single piece of ammo. I get that there are cannon rounds that work like that, and it's famously how you build fission and fusion weapons, but for something manportable, it seems over the top. But sure, the science checks out.
Model 2: That's just cheating. Is it an antimatter rifle, or a plasma rifle? And if it's a plasma rifle, we still need to resolve how you keep the plasma together once it leaves the barrel.
Model 3: The Tesla! But .. really, the antimatter dimension? If we're taking such freedoms, why not just the dimension of EXPLOSION? =)
Model most likely: Really, I like to explain how stuff works at least well enough to make it within a (plasma) cannon shot of believable. That's just me. Are you a teller at a fast food restaurant?
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
Antimatter works on the fundamental particle level. A positron annihilates if it contacts an electron, an antiproton a proton, etc. (Yes, yes, actually it's quarks) Since all normal matter is made of the same fundamental particles, it annihilates just fine.
Of course, that's real-world physics. In pulp SF physics in a magical fantasy world, beam go boom
Antimatter is definitely one of those scientific terms that just sounds cool so people slap it on stuff just to make it feel science-fiction-y. Like "Quantum", which basically just means "the smallest possible version of something", but in sci-fi it just means "magic".
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Uh... no. Corresponding normal matter means you need leptons to annihilate anti-leptons, and baryons to annihilate anti-baryons. If an anti-plutonium-239 nucleus hits a carbon-12 nucleus, the prompt result will be anti-radium-227 with enough leftover energy to blow the nucleus apart, with the remainder going on to interact with and annihilate other normal matter. This doesn't mean it's a good weapon, there are a number of problems with antimatter weapons, but it will certainly annihilate.
Antimatter is actually a concept that's reasonably well-known to most casual science fiction fans. It's used to let the audience know "this civilization is so incredibly advanced that they can make use of this incredibly dangerous and hard to produce substance."
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
To my mind, this is the subject matter of another thread. But ... basically? Yes. It's much easier, though. Because magic doesn't work, so suspension of disbelief works in our favor. There's no real world hump to overcome.
This made me laugh =)
See, that's just cheating. Knowing more about the topic than me. I just know what Wiki tells me: In order to annihilate, antimatter needs to collide with it's corresponding normal matter particle.
But it doesn't matter if I'm wrong. I was trying to be funny, not trying to sunder the faulty science =)
Blanket disclaimer: I only ever state opinion. But I can sound terribly dogmatic - so if you feel I'm trying to tell you what to think, I'm really not, I swear. I'm telling you what I think, that's all.
I think I can say with confidence that, even if it's a well-known scientific concept, that 100% will not slow down some writers from misusing the phrase.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
All being a well-known scientific concept really means is you can expect people to say "I've heard of that! It's science!", instead of "huh?"
Antimatter still gets subject to significantly less blatant misuse in fiction than, say, quantum physics or evolution.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
I honestly did not expect this thread to be necro'd now five times.....
This is dungeons and dragons, no one lets anything just die.
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There we go, first post edited. We'll see if that helps let it finally rest....
Who reads the first post?
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale
I look forward to seeing all the new posts in 2027.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
Playing the long game.
Maybe we'll have real directed energy weapons by then.
"Sooner or later, your Players are going to smash your railroad into a sandbox."
-Vedexent
"real life is a super high CR."
-OboeLauren
"............anybody got any potatoes? We could drop a potato in each hole an' see which ones get viciously mauled by horrible monsters?"
-Ilyara Thundertale