Gems & Light

[Glorelendil]

I just noticed this in Rivendell, which I had apparently not noticed before.

"Many crystals and white or green gems of surpassing beauty were not dug from the earth, but created by the cunning hands of Elven craftsmen and gem-smiths, and filled magically with flaming light."(emphasis added)

Does that mean that Precious Objects of crystal, 'white gem', or 'green gem' give off light? Might give off light? The characteristic is not mentioned again.

I could see ruling that they do, and the brightness of the light scales with the value of the gem.

[Stormcrow]

I'd say might. If they were made by High Elves, then yes.

[Morgoth]

It certainly fits. The Silmarils, Phial of Galadriel, and Elfstone all have light within them. I would think precious objects that do have light within them would be to a much lesser extent... perhaps just a faint glow that can be seen when it's dark.

[Glorelendil]

How about luminance based on value:
value:equivalence
20T : faint flicker
40T : match
60T : candle
80T : torch (and counts as starlight)
100T : lantern (and counts as moonlight)
120T : sunlight through a small window (and counts as actual sunlight)

[zedturtle]

How about luminance based on value:
value:equivalence
20T : faint flicker
40T : match
60T : candle
80T : torch (and counts as starlight)
100T : lantern (and counts as moonlight)
120T : sunlight through a small window (and counts as actual sunlight)

Works for me... and makes those higher end gems quite precious.

[Morgoth]

I would say that's probably a bit much. I would do something more along these lines:

20-60T: no light
80T: a warm glow that can be seen only in the dark
100T: light of a match
120T: light of a candle

[Glorelendil]

Edited: upon re-reading, I suppose there's room to interpret it that only some of the elvish ones give off light. But I wouldn't object to that scale. The odds of any one precious object being a single gem of the right type made by Beleriand elves is 4/330.

Although I'd probably go with a Wondrous Artefact if I wanted my players to have a glowing gem, anyway.

[Glorelendil]

Speaking of which, some ideas for Wondrous Artefacts:

1) A white gem that glows with starlight, bright enough to read by. Adds a Blessing to Inspire.

2) A curious ring that seems to be made of three bands fit snugly together, each of which can be turned independently of the other two, but with no discernible gaps between them. Each ring is engraved with numerous tiny runes of unrecognizable scripts. Blessing to Riddle.

3) A pipe for smoking, carved from the tusk of some animal and covered with a delicate tracery of engraved figures. Blessings to Lore and Riddle, but must be smoked to work its magic.

4) A round disk of glass, about the width of a palm, flat on one side and slightly convex on the other, with a band of metal around the perimeter. Blessing to Search.

5) A beautiful map of (pick region), illustrated and illuminated on soft vellum, stored inside a mithril cylinder with an ivory cap. Greater Blessing to Travel, but only in the region shown by the map.

[Corvo]

Glowing elven gems... Interesting.
I didn't have the books with me at the moment, but was the Arkenstone gleaming/glowing/emitting light?
I'm pretty sure I remember it reflecting the outside light, but I was wondering if it was glowing of inner light

[Otaku-sempai]

Glowing elven gems... Interesting.
I didn't have the books with me at the moment, but was the Arkenstone gleaming/glowing/emitting light?
I'm pretty sure I remember it reflecting the outside light, but I was wondering if it was glowing of inner light

Let us ask Professor Tolkien about the Arkenstone:

At last [Bilbo] looked down upon it, and he caught his breath. The great jewel shone before his feet of its own inner light, and yet, cut and fashioned by the dwarves, who had dug it from the heart of the mountain long ago, it took all light that fell upon it and changed it into ten thousand sparks of white radiance shot with glints of the rainbow.

So I would say, yes.