Kaleidomantics

 

 

 

 

"The colour of truth is grey."

 

 

 

Being one of the most useful disciplines for any kind of structural engineering project, kaleidomantics allows the selective filtration of external factors from an area. By careful application and construction of a filter, many seemingly impossible projects become not only possible, but simple. Kaleidomantic filters are much like a cross between a wall of force and a mundane sieve, except that the things they filter out are much more bizarre and intriguing than spaghetti.

Kaleidomantics involves the use of various kinds of dyes and pigments to dilute and purify various hues. Cloth of vibrant colour is exceptionally useful to create a filter, as some of the essence of the colour is drawn from the fibres of the specimen to reinforce the barrier. Any such gear counts as masterwork, and thus provides a +2 circumstance bonus on the Spot check made to prepare a kaleidomantic principle. There is a legendary fabric known as the Technicolor Dreamcloth, which is exceptionally powerful for use in the construction of kaleidomantic filters.

Key Skill: Spot


KALD 101: Intro to Kaleidomantics
Grade: Baccalaureate
Prerequisites: None
Target: Spatial reference
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle creates a kaleidomantic filter, which is a magical barrier that excludes an external factor. A filter acts exactly like a wall of force, except that, well, it's not made of force. Kaleidomantic filters are typically 1/16 of an inch thick, and can take any 2D shape, oriented in space however you like. As part of this principle you make a Spot check, which determines the durability of your filter.

Every time you prepare this principle you can add area to the filter. Each preparation gives you 25 square feet, although this can be laid out however you like. However, every part of the filter must be connected, and the surface of the filter must be at least 1/16 of an inch thick at all points.

Any given filter has one particular factor which is excluded from entry, and one particular vulnerability. To that factor alone the filter acts like a full-on wall of force, while to literally everything else the filter remains completely permeable. Each filter excludes one particular factor, although you can set up more than one filter over the same area in space; they can even intersect.

A kaleidomantic filter is located in space based on a reference point that you set when you prepare this principle. You can also base it on an item or a creature, which allows it to be moved later. Once established, a filter is permanent unless it's hit by it's vulnerability. A filter can be disassembled by striking the filter with its particular vulnerability, as noted in the entry.

If a kaleidomantic filter is fixed to something which then rotates, the filter rotates through space as well. It keeps the same orientation to the reference point established at preparation. Kaleidomantic filters also can interact with other filters of the same colour; they cannot pass through each other.

If a moving kaleidomantic filter is opposed in its movement by some agent, this works exactly like trying to push a solid object (if it's moving fast enough, it can also deal damage as a projectile). If the agent is pushing against the movement of the filter, there is an opposed Strength check between the person (hereafter known as the controller) moving the filter (by moving the object it is fixed to or by having the filter fixed to themselves) and the person being pushed. If the controller succeeds, they can make an immediate bull rush check using the size category modifier of the filter and their own Strength modifier in order to push the agent in the direction they like. If the agent succeeds on the Strength check, they can move the filter based on their carrying capacity, treating the filter as weightless and moving whatever it's attached to along with it until the start of the controller's next turn.

On the other hand, a single filter fixed in space can support as much weight as an immovable rod, and can be moved in the same way. Every additional preparation beyond the first adds 2,000 pounds of support to the filter.

If you try to tether a filter to an unwilling target, they are allowed a Will saving throw to resist it at the end of the preparation. The Will DC is 10 + 5 for every KALD principle you know.

The first filters typically taught are the red and orange filters, which are useful for a broad range of applications:

• Red: A red filter excludes heat. Changes in temperature or external sources of hot or cold do not pass through the filter or have any effect on the temperature of the other side. Any physical objects which move through a red filter which are warmer than the ambient temperature on the other side have their temperature reduced to match the temperature on the other side of the filter. Living creatures cannot have their internal temperatures forcibly changed by this effect, but all inanimate material is subject to the filtration. A red filter is vulnerable to extremely low temperatures. If it absorbs a total amount of cold damage equal to the Spot check, it collapses.

• Yellow: A yellow filter excludes solid non-manufactured stone and metal. Metals dissolved in a liquid can move through, but any of these natural materials in the solid phase are blocked from passage. This filter cannot be established so that it intersects solid stone or metal; any attempt to do so fails. A yellow filter is vulnerable to disintegrating effects. Any effect which would destroy inanimate matter or which specify that they destroy a corpse can cause the filter to collapse. A yellow filter's AC against a disintegrate effect is equal to the Spot check.

KALD 207: Unearthly Colours
Grade: Magisterial
Prerequisites: KALD 101, Spot 8 ranks
Target: Spatial reference
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle works like KALD 101, except that you learn two new colours which are important for large-scale civil engineering projects:

• Blue: A blue filter excludes water. Water which is contained in some other container or body can be carried through, but freeflowing water cannot pass through the filter. If the water is mixed with something else or has something dissolved in it, it is still blocked by the filter up until it has 1000 parts per million of impurities (that is, 1 part other agent for every 1000 parts water). A blue filter is vulnerable to force effects. The filter collapses if it sustains a total amount of damage equal to the Spot check from effects that are specifically made of force or which specifically strike incorporeal creatures.

• Orange: An orange filter excludes loose gases. Gases which are inside of something else can be carried through the filter (such as the oxygen in someone's lungs), but anything in the gaseous phase cannot of its own accord pass through the barrier. An orange filter is vulnerable to strong winds. Whenever it is struck by winds with a speed in mph exceeding the Spot check, it collapses.

KALD 238: Extrareal Hues [Specialist]
Grade: Magisterial
Prerequisites: KALD 101, Spot 8 ranks
Target: Spatial reference
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle works like KALD 101, except that you learn two new colours which are especially useful for handling dangerous substances:

• Green: A green filter excludes poisons. Poisonous vapours and the like cannot pass through the filter, and liquid poisons which are carried through are purified of toxins and poisons. Agents which are eliminated in this way typically leave a harmless gritty residue on the surface of the filter. Poisons inside of creatures which are vital for survival are unaffected, but all natural poisons which are used as part of a special attack or attack routine are rendered harmless until the body replaces them (typically half an hour or more). A green filter is vulnerable to extradimensional effects. It collapses if an extradimensional space with a volume in cubic-ft. of at least the Spot check is established inside of, or moved through, the filter.

• Indigo: An indigo filter excludes acids and bases. Any agent with a pH of lower than 6 or greater than 8 cannot of its own accord pass through the filter. Again, an exception is made for acids or bases which are inside of a living creature and necessary for survival. However, acids and bases inside of an artificial container which are carried through have the pH pushed to 6 or 8, whichever is closer to its current acidity (this typically leaves the substance incapable of causing acid damage). An indigo filter is vulnerable to sunlight. It collapses in an area of full daylight, or when it sustains a total amount of damage from effects which specifically mention sunlight or radiance equal to the Spot check.

KALD 347: Superlunar Pigments
Grade: Doctorate
Prerequisites: Any two KALD principles, Spot 15 ranks
Target: Spatial reference
Preparation Time: 1 hour

This principle works like KALD 101, except that you learn the final filter, which has some rather obscure applications:

• Violet: A violet filter excludes living things. Anything which is alive cannot pass through the filter, although things which were previously alive pass through with no problem. This blocks the undead, but allows the passage of artificial constructs such as golems, which has led to some interesting ethical, legal, and theological debates. This filter cannot be established to intersect a living creature; any attempt to do so fails. A violet filter is vulnerable to antitheurgical effects. If any dispelling or antimagic effect is used against the filter, the caster level is tested against a DC of 5 + 5 for every KALD principle you knew when you prepared this principle (you can prepare this principle again later to update the DC). Success for the dispeller indicates that the filter collapses.

KALD 379: Imperceptible Shades [Specialist]
Grade: Doctorate
Prerequisites: Any three KALD principles, Spot 15 ranks
Target: Spatial reference
Preparation Time: 1 hour

When I said that was the final filter, I was lying. This is the super-secret actual final filter. This principle otherwise works like KALD 101.

• Black: A black filter excludes information. For all intents and purposes, whatever happens on one side of the filter is literally unknowable from the other side. It blocks every traditional sense, as well as any other means of gaining information about what's going on on the other side of it. Supernatural senses, magical attempts to perceive, scry, or otherwise circumvent the barrier, all fail. Effects that rely on retrieving information from the other side of filter, such as a summon monster effect, also fail if the caster is enclosed by black filters. Even deities attempting to pierce the veil with a salient divine ability must make a Will save against the key skill check roll of the filter in order to perceive beyond it. Essentially, all sensory information of any kind is blocked from passage. Physical means of passing through the filter still work perfectly well, and brains can pass through a Black filter with no ill effects. However, sensory information cannot pass beyond the boundary of the effect. The quantum mechanical ramifications of this I'll leave up to your group to decide. A black filter is vulnerable to certain prismatic effects. It collapses if a prismatic effect is used on it when the result rolled for the colour of the effect results in 'roll twice more'.