Techwright Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 I was reading old posts of mine back in the original game forums, and found a thread I'd started that, curiously, I'd been thinking about just this week, well over a decade after posting it. Weird. Anyway, I found it an interesting discussion back then so I thought I'd bring my OG post forward into the Homecoming forums just to see what people came up with this time. In-game, as well as superhero portrayals in many venues, ice powers seem to be displayed as being "pushed" from the caster to the target. Its been decades since high school science, but I seem to recall that cold was an absence of heat, that is, that heat had been drawn away. Is this correct? If so, would it not be more accurate for a ice power to create cold or ice by "pulling", parasitically drawing heat from the intended target? In essence a ice blaster would be a living, overpowered heat sink. Of course, this could cause issues if there was no easy way to dispel the received heat. An ice/fire blaster would be one solution. This is not to say that a technological solution could not push a stored, frozen mixture out. My fall in front of a snow-blower on the ski slopes taught me that much. Thoughts? 1 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roleki Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Could be a localized (extremely rapid and short-lived) reduction in pressure, but then you'd expect people caught in that to be disoriented and suffer DoT from ears popping and whatnot. Well, which is it, young feller? You want I should freeze or get down on the ground? If'n I freeze, I can't rightly drop. And if'n I drop I'll be in motion. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luminara Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermodynamics All it takes is a reduction of entropy. The more order imposed, the less heat there is. Thus, it can be best envisioned as the super-powered individual reducing entropy between the target(s) and him/herself, or at the target(s') location. A field which controls the resonance, spin or charge of particles between the icer and the target(s). A spell which does the same. A swarm of nanites forming a highly ordered envelop in which they reduce entropic activity. Lasers (yes, lasers). Manipulating the atomic and/or molecular particles in the air. Et cetera. 1 1 Get busy living... or get busy dying. That's goddamn right. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TraumaTrain Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 This is why I like TTRPGs that give more narrative agency to the players. You can describe how your powers work and look. One being's heat suck is another being's swarm of nanites. 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haijinx Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Its all just a fire extinguisher hidden up your sleeve. 2 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Snarky Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Comic book physics and effects obey their own rules. Sometimes this is consistent throughout the genre and other times very specifically odd for a given power/powerset 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Glacier Peak Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 (edited) Remember to slot the new Ice Mistral set! Or at least the Ice damage proc! Edit: when you only read the title of the thread 😄 Edited January 29, 2022 by Glacier Peak 4 1 Pocket D Zone Tour Best Post Ever.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cranebump Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 Well, for tech origin, maybe you can shoot crushed ice out a pair of gloves fed from a huge backpack. (And with power color customization? Slushees!):-) (And natural origin? He just throwin’ Cubes, baby) 2 I have done a TON of AE work, both long form and single arc. Just search the AE mish list for my sig @cranebump. For more information on my stories, head to the AE forum sub-heading and look for “Crane’s World.” Support your AE authors! We ARE the new content. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DoctorDitko Posted January 29, 2022 Share Posted January 29, 2022 (edited) Naw, your hero's just tapping into the Ice Force! Which lets us use an Ice pull to ignore inconvenient things like physics. Never underestimate the power to pull things out of your Ice at will! Edited January 29, 2022 by DoctorDitko hammerspace 5 Disclaimer: Not a medical doctor. Do not take medical advice from Doctor Ditko. Also, not a physicist. Do not take advice on consensus reality from Doctor Ditko. But games? He used to pay his bills with games. (He's recovering well, thanks for asking!) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
A Cat Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 My two ice toons are both magic origin, and the good thing about magic is that you ain't gotta explain shit. 3 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MTeague Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 5 hours ago, DoctorDitko said: Naw, your hero's just tapping into the Ice Force! Which lets us use an Ice pull to ignore inconvenient things like physics. Never underestimate the power to pull things out of your Ice at will! Clearly, this would involve the Fargin principle, resulting in Fargin Iceholes. Or possibly the descendants of Elsa, causing a Royal Pain in the Ice. 6 Roster: MTeague's characters: The Good, The Bad, and The Gold Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mekanyzer Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 But throwing icy stuff at people looks cooler... 3 1 Too many characters to count... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Haijinx Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 On 1/29/2022 at 12:11 AM, Snarky said: Comic book physics and effects obey their own rules. Sometimes this is consistent throughout the genre and other times very specifically odd for a given power/powerset This is very true. Like darkness isn't just the absense of light. Its the stuff that comes out when you break a light bulb. 3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UltraAlt Posted January 30, 2022 Share Posted January 30, 2022 On 1/28/2022 at 10:37 PM, Techwright said: If so, would it not be more accurate for a ice power to create cold or ice by "pulling", parasitically drawing heat from the intended target? In essence a ice blaster would be a living, overpowered heat sink. Of course, this could cause issues if there was no easy way to dispel the received heat. An ice/fire blaster would be one solution. This is not to say that a technological solution could not push a stored, frozen mixture out. My fall in front of a snow-blower on the ski slopes taught me that much. Thoughts? I had a character called Thermocouple back on live. Fire and ice-ice, baby. 1 If someone posts a reply quoting me and I don't reply, they may be on ignore. (It seems I'm involved with so much at this point that I may not be able to easily retrieve access to all the notifications) Some players know that I have them on ignore and are likely to make posts knowing that is the case. But the fact that I have them on ignore won't stop some of them from bullying and harassing people, because some of them love to do it. There is a group that have banded together to target forum posters they don't like. They think that this behavior is acceptable. Ignore (in the forums) and /ignore (in-game) are tools to improve your gaming experience. Don't feel bad about using them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Techwright Posted January 31, 2022 Author Share Posted January 31, 2022 On 1/29/2022 at 5:00 PM, DoctorDitko said: Never underestimate the power to pull things out of your Ice at will! "Does it just come out of your wrists or does it...come out of anywhere else?" - MCU Peter Parker Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arcane Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 OP sounds like they should just play Cold Domination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TheZag Posted January 31, 2022 Share Posted January 31, 2022 They have tiny gravity controllers in their fingers that cast wormhole to bring in ice from the north pole. Then they force the gravity controllers to use propel to move the ice. The gravity controllers are applying the slows and holds as well. This perfectly explains why ice blast has so many control powers and no snipe. In reality ice blast users are mind controllers in disguise. 2 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Techwright Posted February 2, 2022 Author Share Posted February 2, 2022 On 1/31/2022 at 9:03 AM, arcane said: OP sounds like they should just play Cold Domination. Who says that I don't? 😉 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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