The Diamond standard

[Lukraak]

A random thought because I'm bored at work for a bit :smallsmile:

Its not clear how old exactly the OOTS world #2 is, but say its at least a millennium old, perhaps longer.
Now its implied in the last comic and some of the other comics that raise dead/resurrection are not completely uncommon.
Eugene has been raised at least several times himself, and they have a specific revolving door.
However each raise uses up 5000 gp worth of diamonds, ressurection 10000. And they poof on use. Given how many adventurers there appear to be roaming the world I dont think its unreasonable to suggest that about 50000 gp worth of diamonds will vanish from the world on a monthly basis.

I wonder, would this make diamonds increasingly valuable, thus making the spells use less actual diamonds as time progresses, or is there a form of diamond reflux running?

[Tass]

If it did, then a party would only need 5000gp and a tiny diamond with them to be able to raise. Since there is no other diamonds around and it is badly needed, the cleric will pay 5000gp for the tiny diamond carried by another party member, to be able to cast the spell.

That way they will actually save most of the money, or rather one of them will make it as a profit by having the foresight to bring a diamond to a place where it is in demand.

Of course if there are other diamonds nearby, like a market, you will have to buy whatever amount of diamonds 5000gp will get you.

[Moriarty]

as V pointed out, you can just go to the elemental plane of earth and get some there

[Omegonthesane]

There's also a lot of them coming down from the Wish economy due to efreeti.

High-level clerics can also just burn Miracles to get ~25000gp diamonds per shot, at no further cost than the use of the 9th level slot. Wizards have a harder time of it at 5000XP a pop, but they can Gate efreeti to get their diamonds.

[Le Piaf]

9th level spells should be banned.

[NerfTW]

Its not clear how old exactly the OOTS world #2 is, but say its at least a millennium old, perhaps longer.


The current year is 1184. (actually, that might be 1185 now) The world was created in year 0. So just over a millenium.
Since this world was created, so no need for evolution, plate tectonics, creation of diamonds through extreme pressure over thousands of years, etc.



I wonder, would this make diamonds increasingly valuable, thus making the spells use less actual diamonds as time progresses, or is there a form of diamond reflux running?

As noted, both plane of earth can be used, along with creating diamonds magically through a variety of means. (We can do that now with science, why not with a magic crushing force?)

[derfenrirwolv]

according to wiki, about 135 million carats or 27 metric tons of diamonds are mined annually. Most are unsuitable for use as gemstone and are destined for industrial use.

While oots doesn't have the huge population or industrial ability of earth, they have something better.. dwarves!

When you worldbuild for D&D, it can be fun to keep things like this in mind, for example, church owned diamond mines, and countries outlawing black saphires (the component for animate dead)

[Optimystik]

9th level spells should be banned.

9th level spells are the equalizer - without them, Outsiders, Constructs, Aberrations, Elementals and Undead would run roughshod over mortals. No group Astral or Ethereal travel, no precise planar travel, weak mass healing, no disjunction... the list goes on.


When you worldbuild for D&D, it can be fun to keep things like this in mind, for example, church owned diamond mines, and countries outlawing black saphires (the component for animate dead)

In both cases, the deities would throw a wrench into such plans. It's highly unlikely that Wee Jas or Velsharoon would comply with a black sapphire ban, and Pelor, Ilmater and Garl Glittergold wouldn't like any faith hoarding diamonds for its own use, even their own.

[pflare]

If diamonds were a limited resource then yes they would become more valuable and you could use smaller diamonds for the spells. But, as it has already been mentioned, diamonds are constantly being brought in from the elemental plane of earth and wish spells and other various means. All in all I think this keeps the price of diamonds pretty standard.

[NerfTW]

Also I doubt the resurrection rates are nearly that high. For starters, we know from Start of Darkness that:

clerics went a while without being able to level up before the beast races were created. So that could be anywhere from a few years to a few hundred where res wasn't possible.

And most people simply won't have the 5,000 gp for raise dead, so you're also limited by the number of adventurers out there willing to pay for it.

Finally, the scarcity of diamonds on Earth is overstated. We have plenty, and DeBers controls the supply so that they don't become too abundant. Diamonds have no real worth besides looking pretty in a world where magic will be a lot sharper than diamonds. So even with a few hundred raises a year, the diamond supply shouldn't run out anytime soon, if ever.

[Lukraak]

I admit that diamonds *could* be brought in trough high lvl casters, but I just wondered if that would offset the demand.
After all the amount of NPC's capable of casting said spells is usually quite low, especially 8/9th lvl spell casters and the elemental plane of earth is not free of danger.
Besides, would the plane of earth have an unlimited supply, or is that just shifting the problem? As it would then be tapped by casters from across the multiverse.
Miracle and such would circumvent that of course but again, how many casters on the world can cast those spells and would be willing.


Of course such people could also theoretically play horrible havoc with the diamond market on each world, by suddenly flooding the markets all around the world with hoarded diamonds, causing a massive drop in prices.
I wonder if a campaign about a consortium of high level casters seeking to enrich themselves by such a scheme would be fun.

[Aldrakan]

Besides, would the plane of earth have an unlimited supply, or is that just shifting the problem? As it would then be tapped by casters from across the multiverse.
Miracle and such would circumvent that of course but again, how many casters on the world can cast those spells and would be willing.

I'm not sure the earth plane can run out of minerals any more than you could the plane of fire to extinguish, although of course it would be rather more expensive to get them that way that conventional mining.

There might be easier ways to get diamonds than planar transport or Miracle though. Even if the spell doesn't exist now someone could research it. I mean creating diamonds from carbon isn't even an inherently magical process, how difficult could it be? If a mid-level wizard could create the necessary conditions you could probably find plenty of people.

Although the 5000 gp worth of diamonds could lead to some amusing situations if people did find an easier way to get them. I'm picturing a huge wagon stacked with diamonds, which people turn out so they can steal the cart. Super-inflation of diamonds.

[Optimystik]

I admit that diamonds *could* be brought in trough high lvl casters, but I just wondered if that would offset the demand.
After all the amount of NPC's capable of casting said spells is usually quite low, especially 8/9th lvl spell casters and the elemental plane of earth is not free of danger.
Besides, would the plane of earth have an unlimited supply, or is that just shifting the problem? As it would then be tapped by casters from across the multiverse.
Miracle and such would circumvent that of course but again, how many casters on the world can cast those spells and would be willing.

There are areas on the EPoE with extreme pressure - the sort of places where the long process of creating diamonds and other gems can be considerably shortened.


Of course such people could also theoretically play horrible havoc with the diamond market on each world, by suddenly flooding the markets all around the world with hoarded diamonds, causing a massive drop in prices.

Wish has a HEFTY XP cost, making it impractical for such market manipulations. Miracle doesn't, but since it is overseen by deities, you're unlikely to succeed by that route also. And the Plane of Earth isn't exactly a good place to set up a supply chain. Trying to get out with more diamonds than a small bag per visit is likely to attract some very unpleasant attention. A hit squad of Elder Earth Elementals, Tempests and other unpleasant creatures sent by Dumathoin wouldn't be beyond the realm of possibility for would-be entrepreneurs.

[SoC175]

In both cases, the deities would throw a wrench into such plans. It's highly unlikely that Wee Jas or Velsharoon would comply with a black sapphire ban, and Pelor, Ilmater and Garl Glittergold wouldn't like any faith hoarding diamonds for its own use, even their own.

You vastly overstimate the meddling of the deities, not even the Forgotten Realms deities meddle that much in mortal affairs.

There are whole countries with even stricter bans. Banning the entire whorship of specific deities or even banning all arcane-spellcasting.


PS: Beside the elemental plane of earth there's also the elemental plane of minerals at the border between the positive energy plane and the EPoE

[Kish]

You vastly overstimate the meddling of the deities, not even the Forgotten Realms deities meddle that much in mortal affairs.
Yes, but they don't have to grant resurrection spells to clerics (or for use on dead people) whose actions they don't approve of, either.

[Optimystik]

You vastly overstimate the meddling of the deities, not even the Forgotten Realms deities meddle that much in mortal affairs.

That's because mortals haven't tried to monopolize the diamond market in any of the settings. That's the kind of situation where gods get involved. You basically have mortals trying to control access to a divine spell; a direct slap in the face, particularly to the gods of healing that would want resurrection available to as many as possible.


There are whole countries with even stricter bans. Banning the entire whorship of specific deities or even banning all arcane-spellcasting.

This is broader than banning specific deities. ALL deities, even the evil ones, grant the Raise Dead line - it's a staple of divine casting. All of them have reason to want raising to be an option in the world, for the reasons Roy stated in #669.

[SadisticFishing]

Erm, well it's a diamond worth 5000g. So the rarer diamonds get, the smaller ones you need for Resurrection, as someone already pointed out.

So this is mostly a self-solving problem. As more and more resurrections get cast, more people will be able to get higher level and create them from nothing.

Also, as Optimistyk said, the Elemental Plane of Earth would have places of incredible pressure to make more.

Hrm. I don't think any Gods want Resurrection to become commonplace. Any of them.

Diamond monopolies have been a staple of reality for a very long time, I'd expect the D&D world to be the same. Luckily, no matter how much they charge for diamonds, if it's a true monopoly you'll only have to spend 5,000g. So it's not as big a deal. Unless they hoard them just to keep them, which would make for a decent campaign setting or quest.

[Optimystik]

Hrm. I don't think any Gods want Resurrection to become commonplace. Any of them.

No, not commonplace - but most deities, especially good ones, want at least one cleric that can cast it.

Cleric Quintet - Cadderly is almost forcibly possessed by Deneir in order to raise a young boy that was wrongfully killed by the assassin hunting him. He hadn't even prepared the spell, and Deneir shoved it into his brain, moved his hands, etc.


Diamond monopolies have been a staple of reality for a very long time, I'd expect the D&D world to be the same. Luckily, no matter how much they charge for diamonds, if it's a true monopoly you'll only have to spend 5,000g. So it's not as big a deal. Unless they hoard them just to keep them, which would make for a decent campaign setting or quest.

The difference between reality and D&D is that diamonds can be consumed in D&D. In reality, diamonds have high resale value and are extremely hard to degrade. That is why Zales, DeBeers et al. market diamonds around the sentimental value aspect, so that people are unwilling to create a secondary market for them. In D&D, diamonds are obliterated when resurrections are cast, keeping the supply from growing too much.

[SadisticFishing]

Optimistyk, Fair enough, I suppose.

What I meant was I don't think that Pelor or any of the like would be against their religion controlling the diamonds. And Gods really do rarely directly effect anything, otherwise all plot-related things are meaningless. Yeah.

As for diamonds being consumed - as you say, that's exactly what big diamond companies make sure is happening. Even though they're not exactly "consumed", it's a similar thing.

[Optimystik]

Optimistyk, Fair enough, I suppose.

What I meant was I don't think that Pelor or any of the like would be against their religion controlling the diamonds. And Gods really do rarely directly effect anything, otherwise all plot-related things are meaningless. Yeah.

Pelor would definitely be against that. His dogma is as anti-wealth as Ilmater's. (Excessive wealth, anyway.)

Gods rarely affect anything directly... but churches controlling the diamond supply is also unheard of in D&D. Even if they don't get involved themselves, they would likely send their clerics on a quest to fix the problem, and not stop doing so until diamonds were available to all again.


As for diamonds being consumed - as you say, that's exactly what big diamond companies make sure is happening. Even though they're not exactly "consumed", it's a similar thing.

I acknowledge that, but making someone reluctant to resell their diamond isn't the same as physically poofing it. :smallsmile: After all, when they die or come upon hard times, it will certainly change hands (or when it gets nicked.)

[King of Nowhere]

I find the idea that the size of the damond needed for a resurrection varies according to the market price to be just ridiculous.

I prefer the explanation that there are spells that can make diamonds, but they cost xp (miracle, wish, some other that still has an xp cost). So if the diamond's price increase due to short supply, those few high level casters in the world will cram out diamonds because it will be a good gain. That would drop the diamonds price, and in turn the casters will stop using magic to produce diamonds.
I figure that should make the diamond's price stable enough.

[TheBigChulupa]

Besides, certain gods might be swimming in diamonds by now from all their clerics resurrecting--and may have to send some back down to the material plane to clean house (diamonds cant be comfortable to step on).

[Studoku]

I find the idea that the size of the damond needed for a resurrection varies according to the market price to be just ridiculous.
I also genuinely believed that this idea was only a joke. I fail to see how anyone can seriously consider this to be how the spell works.

[Rin_Hunter]

I find the idea that the size of the damond needed for a resurrection varies according to the market price to be just ridiculous.

Agreed. I think the price of something may be a way of saying the weight of the material component while still getting the players to pay for the spell. It makes sense to me that way: a balancing factor of sorts by the creators.

While I'm here: Big fan of necromancy and I want to correct it as Black Onyx that is the material component for Animate and Create Undead spells, not Black Sapphires. Just me being picky.

[Lupy]

I think that the availbility of diamionds to none Dwarves in most (very poor) D&D settings is nonexistent.

Thus, almost no demand for them except from very rare, powerful adventurers. Who probably know dwarves.

[Aldrakan]

I find the idea that the size of the damond needed for a resurrection varies according to the market price to be just ridiculous.

I consider it, like many of the things in the guides, to be for player convenience. So you can say:
Q: How big a diamond do I need?
A: The kind that costs 5000 gp.

Taken to it's furthest conclusion it becomes absurd. If diamonds are cheaper in one country can you go there and suddenly you need a bigger diamond to resurrect someone?
What determines how big a diamond is required: where you are, where you died, where you were born, what your nationality is, where the diamond was mined, where you bought it, what it would cost to buy it today?

The only way it makes sense is if it's a standard size of diamond that for convenience sake costs 5000 gp. If you were doing a campaign that for some reason revolved around the diamond market then the cost of the diamond should fluctuate to reflect the changes.

[kpenguin]

I wonder if gemcutting comes into play with these diamonds.

[King of Nowhere]

The only way it makes sense is if it's a standard size of diamond that for convenience sake costs 5000 gp. If you were doing a campaign that for some reason revolved around the diamond market then the cost of the diamond should fluctuate to reflect the changes.


In fact, if in my campaign there was at some point some massive use of resurrection, I'd probably heighten the diamonds price for a while to reflect the increased ddemand.
You just gave me an idea for a plot hook where someone is collecting all the diamonds to have the price grow, and churches are running out of supplies...

[rewinn]

There are areas on the EPoE with extreme pressure - the sort of places where the long process of creating diamonds and other gems can be considerably shortened.
Such as under MitD's feet.

Which is why MitD has to stay out of coalmines. Imagine the potential for economic havoc!

[Kish]

The Player's Handbook always lists the cost of spell components with non-negligible cost (that is, spell components which aren't supposed to be treated as automatically included with a spell component pouch). It doesn't list any other information about them. So, listing the spell components for Raise Dead and Resurrection, it says "5000 GP worth of diamonds," and not, "Two pounds of diamonds, which will cost an average of 5000 gold pieces."

[Aldrakan]

It doesn't list any other information about them. So, listing the spell components for Raise Dead and Resurrection, it says "5000 GP worth of diamonds," and not, "Two pounds of diamonds, which will cost an average of 5000 gold pieces."

Yes, but that's because for most campaigns extra information is irrelevant. Most of the time people play they assume that prices are constant, currency is the same wherever you go, and things have the same cost everywhere.
It's a break from reality that most people are happy to accept because it would make things more complicated to account for it and wouldn't normally be worth the bother. But if your campaign has more emphasis on these matters then it's only sensible to examine how these things would actually work.
And having it literally be 5000 gp worth of diamonds makes little sense in a variable market.

[ericgrau]

Right. I mean do we assume that the diamonds have a copy of the wall street journal and check the latest market price of diamonds to determine the amount of them that is required? A price that may be fluctuating up and down on a regular basis?

Not to mention that De Beers extremely overinflates the real world price of diamonds; a gem that highschool sweethearts used to play with to scratch their names into windows and various cultures used to collect from beaches for fun before the De Beers monopoly.

Ya, how about this is a game and it's easier to say "Okay I bought 5,000 gp worth of diamonds let's rez this guy"?

As for whether or not adventurers would raise the price of diamonds through constant rezzing: no, not really. This question is in line with "Why hasn't magic solved all the D&D world's problems yet" or other questions involving adventurers. The answer is because heroes are rare, and there aren't enough of them to have such an impact. And you're already making your big mark on the world by what you do in dungeon X or by foiling plot Y.

[Lukraak]

Ya, how about this is a game and it's easier to say "Okay I bought 5,000 gp worth of diamonds let's rez this guy"?

As for whether or not adventurers would raise the price of diamonds through constant rezzing: no, not really. This question is in line with "Why hasn't magic solved all the D&D world's problems yet" or other questions involving adventurers. The answer is because heroes are rare, and there aren't enough of them to have such an impact. And you're already making your big mark on the world by what you do in dungeon X or by foiling plot Y.

Ah yes, but that was sorta what I was groping at to start with. Adventurers occasionally doing this might not make that much of an impact, so prices would theoretically remain stable. But how much is this limiting for a kingdom, like say Azure city, after a war. What if they decide to raise/ressurect their entire army? Spellwise there is no reason NOT to do this, as they have the clerics to do so. It makes good tactical sense too, as in that case soldiers can learn from fatal mistakes.
So diamond availability has to be the limiting factor somehow.

(and yes, I do realize this is just a game and this is just a totally irrellevant concept to start with as each GM/storyteller will come up with his/her own solution. But come on arguing about pointless details when we're bored is what the internet is FOR :smallsmile:)

[Vaarsuvius4181]

9th level spells should be banned.

Have fun with that.

[ericgrau]

But how much is this limiting for a kingdom, like say Azure city, after a war. What if they decide to raise/ressurect their entire army?

Can't afford it. Not even close. The life savings of each person is maybe a couple hundred gp. And the city treasury divided by the number of people in the city is going to be less than that. That's yet another issue with adventurers vs. regular people. Adventurers are crazy rich. If everyone was so rich you wouldn't need magic or etc. to solve problems like hunger or (start-of-darkness spoiler) The poverty of goblin-kind b/c everyone would live in a mansion and be eating caviar or something similar.

[Snake-Aes]

Thus comes my love for Arton again. Clerics of Thyatis never pay anything other than a spell slot to raise/resurrect others, and there is no penalty to being raised by them.
HOWEVER
Thyatis is not the phoenix god of resurrection. Thyatis is the Phoenix God of Resurrection and Prophecy.

O HAI SIDE QUEST>!

[Ozymandias9]

And having it literally be 5000 gp worth of diamonds makes little sense in a variable market.

Maybe, and maybe not. If you view the diamond as having, in itself, some objective quality that is used in the spell, you are correct: a fixed price in a variable market makes no sense.

However, diamonds have another set of qualities: they are expensive and hard to get. 5000 gp represents a significant material sacrifice-- it could literally bring whole villages out of poverty permanently. And 5000 gp worth of diamonds isn't likely to be easily obtainable: We're talking buying out the jeweler here at best. It will take some time and effort just to collect the diamonds. This speaks to a willingness to sacrifice to raise the person in question. Seeing as this is a divine spell, its entirely reasonable to assume that the divine force in question is requiring such sacrifice rather than some aspect of the diamond's carbon-ness.

The problem is that if that's the intent, it's done poorly in the context of increasing wealth of the adventuring system. I do actually like the idea, so I tend to house-rule Raise Dead and such. to require reasonable temporal sacrifice rather than a set monetary cost. Either that, or I make it even more difficult-- it a cosmology where there is a God of Death, I make it so that they have to find a way to get him to agree to part with one of his treasured subjects. Essentially, it becomes a side adventure in itself.

[Aldrakan]

True, I was looking at the diamond in terms of its physical properties - its hardness, purity (well supposedly), structure. If it were an arcane spell I'd be sure it was the diamond itself that's important, but for divine magic personal sacrifice does make sense as well. Although the implementation could indeed be improved.

I like the idea of resurrection involving an actual debt to the god in question rather than a cash-for-life system. Given that they're restoring someone to life to do whatever they want from then on, it's a little weird that they're so unconcerned about how they give it out. The "death as a status effect" has always bothered me.

[Snake-Aes]

True, I was looking at the diamond in terms of its physical properties - its hardness, purity (well supposedly), structure. If it were an arcane spell I'd be sure it was the diamond itself that's important, but for divine magic personal sacrifice does make sense as well. Although the implementation could indeed be improved.

I like the idea of resurrection involving an actual debt to the god in question rather than a cash-for-life system. Given that they're restoring someone to life to do whatever they want from then on, it's a little weird that they're so unconcerned about how they give it out. The "death as a status effect" has always bothered me.http://www.koboldquarterly.com/k/article692.php

[Thrar]

Except for increasing scarcity of diamonds, how about gp inflation to further increase diamond to gp value?

I'd take gp as literal gold pieces, a currency tied to gold, which isn't affected by the kind of inflation we're used to see. However, as more and more gold is mined, the relative value of gold compared to pretty much anything else (such as items/services of daily life) will decrease.
In turn, after a couple of centuries, the 5000gp in diamonds you need for a resurrection will start being affordable by middle-class commoners, and after a few millennia it might just be the change you get when buying a cup of coffee.

So, will the gods raise the price of diamonds required for a resurrection just like the supermarket around the corner does for milk? Will there be gods that break the price cartel by offering bargain prices for resurrection in order to become more powerful as surely lots of people (=followers) will be interested?

I'm looking forward to seeing an official publication on D&D realm economics...

[Souhiro]

Well, I think about it.

You can use Major Creation, a Wizzard Lv5 Spell, to create Gems and crystals, and a diamond would qualify as one of these two. And create it of 1 cubic foot per caster level

If you have a few ranks, you can make a beautiful statue of diamond, and since it is a Lv5 spell, a 10 Cubic Foot Diamond statue will be worth of 5000 GP and MORE.

Yeath

[Rhoni]

Diamonds, like oil, are a finite resource. What happens when they're all gone? Does that mean no more rezzes?

[Optimystik]

Diamonds, like oil, are a finite resource. What happens when they're all gone? Does that mean no more rezzes?

There's an entire plane where gems are spontaneously generated. In D&D, diamonds are not finite.

They remain rare and valuable, however, because they are still very difficult to acquire, many people want them, and unlike the real world they can be consumed entirely.


Well, I think about it.

You can use Major Creation, a Wizzard Lv5 Spell, to create Gems and crystals, and a diamond would qualify as one of these two. And create it of 1 cubic foot per caster level

If you have a few ranks, you can make a beautiful statue of diamond, and since it is a Lv5 spell, a 10 Cubic Foot Diamond statue will be worth of 5000 GP and MORE.

Yeath

Gems (or any other created item) with a limited duration cannot be used as spell components. (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/minorCreation.htm) You're supposed to use them to fool the merchant or similar.

I'm reminded of the Fullmetal Alchemist episode where Edward transmuted a room full of coal into gold coins in exchange for the deed to a town, but put a limited duration on them so that they went back to being coal after the transaction was complete to avoid breaking the law.

I digress... Only True Creation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/spells/trueCreation.htm) can create spell components, and only certain clerics can cast it (domain spell.)

[Snowyowl]

Diamonds, like oil, are a finite resource. What happens when they're all gone? Does that mean no more rezzes?

That was the original point of this topic. The consensus was: 9th level spells like Wish and Miracle can be used to create new diamonds, or they can be brought over from the Plane Of Elemental Earth, or perhaps created with Major Creation or True Creation.

So the XP cost of casting Wish to bring diamonds into existence usually means that it's easier to just buy them, UNTIL diamonds start to run out. Then high-level casters start to make a fortune by cojouring diamonds, until the price is stable again. So the price of diamonds is relatively constant. Hence the wording in the spell description of Raise Dead: "5000 gp worth of diamonds" makes sense, because the price of diamonds is pretty much constant.

Also, Raise Dead is a divine spell, so, as Ozymandias9 pointed out, the idea is that the cleric should make some personal sacrifice to his god by scraping together a small fortune and buying a diamond with it. It's not the diamond that matters, it's the sacrifice. So if the universe ran out of diamonds, the gods would probably agree on some other way to make Raise Dead work.


There, I've just summarised this entire topic. Next time, read it first.

[Rhoni]

I suppose it's easier to say, "5000 g worth of diamonds" than to say, "18 oz. worth of diamonds" and then have the players say, "How much is that in gold?"

[Optimystik]

That was the original point of this topic. The consensus was: 9th level spells like Wish and Miracle can be used to create new diamonds, or they can be brought over from the Plane Of Elemental Earth, or perhaps created with Major Creation or True Creation.

As I said earlier, Major Creation diamonds are useless for anything except tricking people. They can't be used in crafting (or rather, they can, but they'll poof) or as spell components.


So the XP cost of casting Wish to bring diamonds into existence usually means that it's easier to just buy them, UNTIL diamonds start to run out. Then high-level casters start to make a fortune by cojouring diamonds, until the price is stable again. So the price of diamonds is relatively constant. Hence the wording in the spell description of Raise Dead: "5000 gp worth of diamonds" makes sense, because the price of diamonds is pretty much constant.

Casters that can stabilize the economy via Wishes are quite rare, and True Creation clerics even moreso. Miracle is subject to divine approval. A far more likely scenario is simply praying to an appropriate deity (Moradin comes to mind) for a new diamond lode to be discovered. As a shortage of diamonds affects the entire setting, deities could be reasonably expected to intercede; if they cannot, there's probably an underlying adventure hook.


Also, Raise Dead is a divine spell, so, as Ozymandias9 pointed out, the idea is that the cleric should make some personal sacrifice to his god by scraping together a small fortune and buying a diamond with it. It's not the diamond that matters, it's the sacrifice. So if the universe ran out of diamonds, the gods would probably agree on some other way to make Raise Dead work.

Alternatively, the cleric can go on a quest to get some more, even to the point of planeshifting to the EPoE to do battle for some. The option you take depends on your deity - Tempus and Lathander might prefer the quest approach, while Waukeen would advocate raising money like you said, and Mask would prefer his clerics to "acquire" diamonds by other means.


There, I've just summarised this entire topic. Next time, read it first.

Hey now, take it easy. It's just a game...

[Souhiro]

I had a combo, and a friend of mine copied it, and a friend of that friend copied it as well...

My cleric took a few levels into sorcerer, and then, he got the prestige class blood magus. That class give you the hability "Blood component": you use your blood (HP) in order to use it as a material component. So, you make yourself 23 HP, and can use whatever component is needed.

http://www.rolroyce.com/rol/DnD3/Clases/MagusSangre.htm

The party was able to be not only raised, but resurrected, and eventually, true-resurrected, without any cost; because as myself being a cleric, I was able to cast AID, bleed the 23 PV, resurrect the party, cast CMW to heal myself, and keep going into the adventures!

No diamonds were damaged on this spell-combo
Only a "Blood-Cleric" was damaged, and wasn't anything serious
In fact, a fallen ally was un-damaged.