So that is engineering. Is this character an engineer with knowledge of magic, physics and mechanics?
It’s fine and easy for a player to think in term of game mechanics. But the actual process is not so goofy. And the character is not the player. The dice decide after that.
I dunno sounds like the only even vaguely engineering part is glueing a ring to the end of a pistol? If that’s considered out of the box clever enough to require a check I can only assume D&D takes place in the systemic lead poisoning dimension.
I would hope they put the ring on a stick so the bullet-size cannonball doesn’t enter the antimagic field until it clear the barrel - otherwise it would break the barrel open. But even if they did that I don’t think the scheme would work, because when the cannonball’s original mass is restored it would have the same momentum the gunpowder gave it when it had the mass of a bullet, which wouldn’t carry a cannonball very far.
I think the engineering part kicks in once the cannonball leaves the ring, or maybe around the mass of the shrunken ball. If the cannon ball retains it’s mass in it’s shrunken size does the gun have enough power to move it? If it does, then the gun is a ship cannon already, just a convenient size. If it doesn’t and can only shoot because the balls are as easy to fire as regular shot, then as soon as the ball exits the ring it is a cannonball being moved with the force of a small shot and likely drops to the ground an inch or so past the muzzle.
That’s my take on the cannonball as well. Being diminished reduces both its size and mass, so when restored it should have the momentum gunpowder gives a bullet. I’m guessing it might go a couple feet. But this is so interesting I’m gonna ask the player in my group who has a masters in physics how far she thinks it would go.
Many of the things we take for granted as obvious these days were anything but until recently. Take bolt cutters for example. The compound lever that let’s them function so well seems like something that would have been around for centuries, but in reality wasn’t something that was widely used/understood until the 1890s when they were marketed as a wonder tool.
On the other hand, this is a game and should be fun regardless of how anachronistic it is at times. At least as long as the witch/duck proportionality is maintained. There has to be at least some realism.
So that is engineering. Is this character an engineer with knowledge of magic, physics and mechanics?
It’s fine and easy for a player to think in term of game mechanics. But the actual process is not so goofy. And the character is not the player. The dice decide after that.
I dunno sounds like the only even vaguely engineering part is glueing a ring to the end of a pistol? If that’s considered out of the box clever enough to require a check I can only assume D&D takes place in the systemic lead poisoning dimension.
I would hope they put the ring on a stick so the bullet-size cannonball doesn’t enter the antimagic field until it clear the barrel - otherwise it would break the barrel open. But even if they did that I don’t think the scheme would work, because when the cannonball’s original mass is restored it would have the same momentum the gunpowder gave it when it had the mass of a bullet, which wouldn’t carry a cannonball very far.
I think the engineering part kicks in once the cannonball leaves the ring, or maybe around the mass of the shrunken ball. If the cannon ball retains it’s mass in it’s shrunken size does the gun have enough power to move it? If it does, then the gun is a ship cannon already, just a convenient size. If it doesn’t and can only shoot because the balls are as easy to fire as regular shot, then as soon as the ball exits the ring it is a cannonball being moved with the force of a small shot and likely drops to the ground an inch or so past the muzzle.
That’s my take on the cannonball as well. Being diminished reduces both its size and mass, so when restored it should have the momentum gunpowder gives a bullet. I’m guessing it might go a couple feet. But this is so interesting I’m gonna ask the player in my group who has a masters in physics how far she thinks it would go.
Many of the things we take for granted as obvious these days were anything but until recently. Take bolt cutters for example. The compound lever that let’s them function so well seems like something that would have been around for centuries, but in reality wasn’t something that was widely used/understood until the 1890s when they were marketed as a wonder tool.
On the other hand, this is a game and should be fun regardless of how anachronistic it is at times. At least as long as the witch/duck proportionality is maintained. There has to be at least some realism.