np NP, Friday December 9, 2016

[Stature 96]

http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=549

It is a pretty, new and pretty new look. For starters, ruffle your hair.

Yet, it seems to me that her presto change-o powers are quite static

[Scotty 1,061]

http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=549

Yep, I think that's the rookie mistake Pandora was talking about.

[Don Edwards 548]

Catalina has a different hairdo, and either the collar of her shirt is looser or her neck is thinner. And she lost her freckles. The fur on her cat-ears may be darker in color, or that could just be a lack of illumination.

No other really obvious changes. But then we can only see her from the mid-chest up, from the front. plus part of her hands.

[Scotty 1,061]

Actually..hmmm, I'm wondering if the rookie mistake is the fact that Rhoda's stacking enchants, would that make getting back to normal more difficult?

[The Old Hack 2,448]

19 minutes ago, Scotty said:

Actually..hmmm, I'm wondering if the rookie mistake is the fact that Rhoda's stacking enchants, would that make getting back to normal more difficult?

I don't know. I don't think either of them looks any more stacked than they did before.

[mlooney 3,417]

Cat looks Rhodaish now.  Not being in color means we lose an important bit of data here, Cat's hair color.

[PSadlon 88]

If I understand Dan's rules on magic going back to normal shouldn't actually be anymore difficult as enchantments eventually expire but in the process of trying to undo it they might accidentally extend the length of the enchantment stack a bit.

[Haylo 57]

If either one of them winds up still waiting for enchantments to wear off when they absolutely have to get back to their family or trigger a panicked search, they could end up being outed to one or more parents, in a community where information about magic is rarely shared between generations.

[A.E. Pessimal 4]

7 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Catalina has a different hairdo, and either the collar of her shirt is looser or her neck is thinner. And she lost her freckles. The fur on her cat-ears may be darker in color, or that could just be a lack of illumination.

No other really obvious changes. But then we can only see her from the mid-chest up, from the front. plus part of her hands.

Her sweater/shirt has also changed color. (Specifically, inverted: dark to light and light to dark.)

[Pharaoh RutinTutin 1,586]

Did Rhoda just erase Catalina's freckles and fangs?

Not cool, Rhoda.  Not cool.

[The Old Hack 2,448]

37 minutes ago, Pharaoh RutinTutin said:

Did Rhoda just erase Catalina's freckles and fangs?

Not cool, Rhoda.  Not cool.

As if mummification were any better. Tell us, how do mummies do later on, fang- and frecklewise?

[Vorlonagent 442]

3 hours ago, The Old Hack said:

As if mummification were any better. Tell us, how do mummies do later on, fang- and frecklewise?

to say nothing of the whipped brain topping...

[Tom Sewell 268]

17 hours ago, PSadlon said:

If I understand Dan's rules on magic going back to normal shouldn't actually be anymore difficult as enchantments eventually expire but in the process of trying to undo it they might accidentally extend the length of the enchantment stack a bit.

Ah, no. The very first enchantment Rhoda cast was permanent; it only dispelled after the boar died. And then there's Vladia. So we have at least two examples of permanent enchantments. Plus the way Tedd explained Sarah's power as an enchanting herself, Sarah can basically stay in her simulated worlds as long as she likes; it's only the casting of the enchantment (which involves scanning the vicinity) that takes energy. 

[banneret 45]

Was the enchantment on the boar permanent, or merely open ended? The boar sought calories - presumably it could not merely tap into the ambient energy of Moperville, perhaps because it did not cast the spell itself - to maintain the enchantment. I suggest there is a difference between the two, a permanent enchantment would be self-sustaining, an open ended enchantment would last as long as it was fueled. As for Sarah, she's effectively creating a delusional space. People do that all the time, this one merely starts with an explicit replication of her locale.

[Vorlonagent 442]

18 minutes ago, banneret said:

Was the enchantment on the boar permanent, or merely open ended? The boar sought calories - presumably it could not merely tap into the ambient energy of Moperville, perhaps because it did not cast the spell itself - to maintain the enchantment. I suggest there is a difference between the two, a permanent enchantment would be self-sustaining, an open ended enchantment would last as long as it was fueled. As for Sarah, she's effectively creating a delusional space. People do that all the time, this one merely starts with an explicit replication of her locale.

Enchantments in EGS aren't really either option as stated.  EGS enchantments have a time limit but there's are options for shortening them and lengthening them..

The enchantment on the Boar was typical of EGS.  It had a time length after which it would end and return the boar to its normal size.  But the boar liked being larger so it ate extra to help maintain the enchantment.  Usually animals do not like enchantments and starve themselves to end an enchantment sooner. 

AFAIK it was never stated if the boar was within or outside Moperville's energy buildup.  Since the boar had no ability to sense the buildup I imagine it wandered in and out of the high magic area.  There's some tapping into ambient magic that goes with just being immersed in it, but probably not enough to sustain the enchantment on its own, which is why the boar burned calories.

At the same time, Raven was concerned that the Boar might become a reality unto itself.  I suppose that would be the closest thing EGS would have to a permanent enchantment. 

[Don Edwards 548]

43 minutes ago, Tom Sewell said:

Ah, no. The very first enchantment Rhoda cast was permanent; it only dispelled after the boar died. And then there's Vladia. So we have at least two examples of permanent enchantments. Plus the way Tedd explained Sarah's power as an enchanting herself, Sarah can basically stay in her simulated worlds as long as she likes; it's only the casting of the enchantment (which involves scanning the vicinity) that takes energy. 

The boar was deliberately (although probably without understanding exactly what it was doing) feeding power to make its enlargement persist.

Vladia is a special case for approximately the same reason Grace is, so is probably similar in this regard: a shape-changing enchantment doesn't actually enchant her (so the enchantment never expires), it just changes her form. Grace does that quite freely on her own; external sources of shape-changing just grant her more forms to work with. Vladia, because of a really bad experience, chooses to not try to shapeshift on her own, and remains in the form Ellen gave her. (From the brief description she gave, I think that's a pretty reasonable choice.)

(It would be interesting to have Rhoda shrink Grace to Catalina's current size, and then see if Grace can shrink herself to the same size. It's well below her current limit.)

Sarah's power is self-limiting in duration, in the sense that her body is unresponsive (and she's unaware of what's really going on around her) while she's using it so she has to snap out of it fairly often for personal safety. The high-power-demand portion of it has an EXTREMELY brief duration - a fraction of a second. Maintaining the simulation probably takes a trickle of power.

[hkmaly 490]

19 hours ago, Scotty said:

http://www.egscomics.com/egsnp.php?id=549

Yep, I think that's the rookie mistake Pandora was talking about.

Based on Dan's commentary it's obviously related, but we still don't know WHY it's mistake ...

18 hours ago, Scotty said:

Actually..hmmm, I'm wondering if the rookie mistake is the fact that Rhoda's stacking enchants, would that make getting back to normal more difficult?

Not really. They still can just wait for the enchantments to end. I suspect the mistake would have something to do with either the enchantments interacting somehow, or ending in hijinks-causing order.

18 hours ago, Don Edwards said:

Catalina has a different hairdo, and either the collar of her shirt is looser or her neck is thinner. And she lost her freckles. The fur on her cat-ears may be darker in color, or that could just be a lack of illumination.

And she's unlikely to notice as there is likely even more dark there than depicted.

15 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

1 hour ago, Tom Sewell said:

Ah, no. The very first enchantment Rhoda cast was permanent; it only dispelled after the boar died. And then there's Vladia. So we have at least two examples of permanent enchantments. Plus the way Tedd explained Sarah's power as an enchanting herself, Sarah can basically stay in her simulated worlds as long as she likes; it's only the casting of the enchantment (which involves scanning the vicinity) that takes energy. 

The boar was deliberately (although probably without understanding exactly what it was doing) feeding power to make its enlargement persist.

It would certainly end sooner or later.

59 minutes ago, banneret said:

presumably it could not merely tap into the ambient energy of Moperville, perhaps because it did not cast the spell itself

I think it couldn't tap into ambient energy because it's animal and not person.

19 minutes ago, Vorlonagent said:

At the same time, Raven was concerned that the Boar might become a reality unto itself.  I suppose that would be the closest thing EGS would have to a permanent enchantment. 

No. Even "reality unto itself" enchantment would still expire. Only permanent thing (we know of) is the sex change Tedd can do, which changes base form.

17 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

Vladia is a special case for approximately the same reason Grace is, so is probably similar in this regard: a shape-changing enchantment doesn't actually enchant her (so the enchantment never expires), it just changes her form. Grace does that quite freely on her own; external sources of shape-changing just grant her more forms to work with. Vladia, because of a really bad experience, chooses to not try to shapeshift on her own, and remains in the form Ellen gave her. (From the brief description she gave, I think that's a pretty reasonable choice.)

Vladia is a special case for EXACTLY the same reason as Grace - namely, being Tulougol Seyunolu (greater chimera). Transformations don't enchant her, they just change her shape and give her form. (Although, without being part lespuko, she can't mix and match forms.) Vladia never TRIED to change since she got that form - it's possible she could now change freely.

23 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

(It would be interesting to have Rhoda shrink Grace to Catalina's current size, and then see if Grace can shrink herself to the same size. It's well below her current limit.)

Her full squirrel form is close, so it MAY work ...

24 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

Sarah's power is self-limiting in duration, in the sense that her body is unresponsive (and she's unaware of what's really going on around her) while she's using it so she has to snap out of it fairly often for personal safety. The high-power-demand portion of it has an EXTREMELY brief duration - a fraction of a second. Maintaining the simulation probably takes a trickle of power.

Maintaining the simulation have very small power requirements but it likely has some, and thirst will become issue after few days of real time (weeks of simulated time?).

 

[Scotty 1,061]

8 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

34 minutes ago, Don Edwards said:

(It would be interesting to have Rhoda shrink Grace to Catalina's current size, and then see if Grace can shrink herself to the same size. It's well below her current limit.)

Her full squirrel form is close, so it MAY work ...

She might already be able to, if she can get that small in full squirrel, why couldn't she get that small in any other form?

[hkmaly 490]

23 minutes ago, Scotty said:

33 minutes ago, hkmaly said:

Her full squirrel form is close, so it MAY work ...

She might already be able to, if she can get that small in full squirrel, why couldn't she get that small in any other form?

It might not be allowed kind of mixing ...