Would a 9 lb sapient spider producing 1/10 lb of silk a day suspend your disbelief?

[Ze'Manel Cunha]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

As it is, there is simply no reason to buy spider silk armor, when iron or bronze plate and chain is cheaper and offers more protection.

If you have enough spider silk it will offer greater protection than plate or mail at a lower weight, but that protection will be worth a king's ransom.

If you're just trying to drop the cost of spider silk then all you need to do is increase the population of the spiders into the millions.

http://forums.sjgames.com/showthread.php?t=30604

If you remember the webs I posted on that thread:
http://texasento.net/Social_Sp_lrg.jpg
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/.../us/web600.jpg

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Anthony

No. They're completely pointless to discuss, since if they exist we have no idea what their properties are, and cognitive science researchers aren't set up to discover new forces.

The discussion of souls is not pointless in a larger context, but I agree that it's not very useful in a purely scientific sense. The problem is not with science itself, but with those people who expect science to offer meaningful and complete answers to metaphysical questions.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by teviet

Good scientists are always open to the possibility of a complete overhaul of their models, if the evidence requires it. Currently there is no such evidence.

TeV

Oh, my issue isn't with the scientists- it's with scientism. Some people seem to believe that 'science will answer everything', which strikes me as both presumptuous and silly.

As for the OP's spiders- are these things actually arachnids, or do they just superfically resemble such?

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

I'm creating a non-physics violating species of sapient spider-like creatures.
But I can't for the life of me find out how much silk a spider produces let alone as a function of body mass.
So as a number pulled out of my spinnerets, does 1/10 lb for maximum output seem reasonable? Or would you say only 1/100 lb per day, etc.?

Short answer to the title question: No.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Short answer to the title question: No.

Oh yeah, my initial number was woefully and drastically out of touch with realism.
Back to just making cheap spider silk through sociable omnivorous milkable but more reasonably sized spiders.
Less of a breeze from all the hand-waving.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

Oh, my issue isn't with the scientists- it's with scientism. Some people seem to believe that 'science will answer everything', which strikes me as both presumptuous and silly.

As for the OP's spiders- are these things actually arachnids, or do they just superfically resemble such?

Science is based on rational study of provable theories. If that can't answer something, then the question is truly unanswerable, and therefore a matter of guesswork/opinion.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Science is based on rational study of provable theories. If that can't answer something, then the question is truly unanswerable, and therefore a matter of guesswork/opinion.

No, then the question may be just unanswerable by science. That doesn't mean that there can be no answer from other ways of understanding the universe.

[Flyndaran]

Originally Posted by combatmedic

No, then the question may be just unanswerable by science. That doesn't mean that there can be no answer from other ways of understanding the universe.

If an answer is unprovable, then it is opinion. You may consider the opinion useful, or believe it with all your heart, but that doesn't magically make it anything more than an opinion.

[combatmedic]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

Oh yeah, my initial number was woefully and drastically out of touch with realism.
Back to just making cheap spider silk through sociable omnivorous milkable but more reasonably sized spiders.
Less of a breeze from all the hand-waving.

Indeed- but would your players actually care about the nitty gritty details of these sapient spider critters and their ability to produce a relatively large quantity of silk? Or is this more of an excercise in plausible species-building for your own satisfaction? Whose SOD is in question?

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Johnny1A.2

Depends on what the spell does, and the context.

You think that working magic is somehow objectively more plausible than big smart spiders-creatures?