Get Rich Quick Schemes

[Tibbaerrohwen]

We've all felt that tinge of pain between adventures when we see a shiny new magic item we want and it's just a couple hundred gp out of grasp.
Adventures are obviously the go-to for gold, but what about when monsters are scarce and money is tight?
Profession and Craft skills can give you want you need to live like the wandering vagabond you are, but after all your years of hard work you want live like a king during your down time.
What are your best get rich quick schemes? The crazier the better.

[shiram]

We've all felt that tinge of pain between adventures when we see a shiny new magic item we want and it's just a couple hundred gp out of grasp.
Adventures are obviously the go-to for gold, but what about when monsters are scarce and money is tight?
Profession and Craft skills can give you want you need to live like the wandering vagabond you are, but after all your years of hard work you want live like a king during your down time.
What are your best get rich quick schemes? The crazier the better.

Bribe the DM, is the quickest I can think of!

[Tibbaerrohwen]

Bribe the DM, is the quickest I can think of!

Good call. A few snacks in the right direction and a similar boon to his charcter if you both DM on occassion is a solid idea.

I know some people who like the convenient calculation error method, where an extra zero comes out of no where, but I'm more interested in thing you would do in character to get cash.

Let's try and keep slave-running and pimping out of the equation as much as possible.

[Heatwizard]

You could always steal stuff.

[Drglenn]

If you're high enough in level and loose enough in morals then the Creation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/minorCreation.htm) spells (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/majorCreation.htm) can help:

1. Accuire small amount of the stuff you want to sell (you'll need major creation to do this with metal or stone)
2. Go to town/city/place you're not expecting to go back to but has enough money to buy at least some of what you're making.
3. Cast the creation spell of your choice to get a large amount of the stuff (this is best done on your way to where you're going so you're seen bringing the stuff into the place)
4. Set up shop and sell off the 'fake' stuff
5. Get the the heck out of dodge before the creation spell wears off.
6. Repeat as necessary (remember that you can't use stuff you've created as the material component)

[Tibbaerrohwen]

You could always steal stuff.

True, but I'm looking for inventive methods of wealth procurement.


If you're high enough in level and loose enough in morals then the Creation (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/minorCreation.htm) spells (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/majorCreation.htm) can help:

1. Accuire small amount of the stuff you want to sell (you'll need major creation to do this with metal or stone)
2. Go to town/city/place you're not expecting to go back to but has enough money to buy at least some of what you're making.
3. Cast the creation spell of your choice to get a large amount of the stuff (this is best done on your way to where you're going so you're seen bringing the stuff into the place)
4. Set up shop and sell off the 'fake' stuff
5. Get the the heck out of dodge before the creation spell wears off.
6. Repeat as necessary (remember that you can't use stuff you've created as the material component)

I like it. It reminds me of a similar sell and dash using Mount and Arcane Mark or Magic Aura.
1. Cast Mount (as many times as you like)
2. Cast Arcane Mark or Magic Aura on the horses so they either detect as magic due to the mark or don't detect as magic at all.
3. Sell the horses.
4. Get the hell out of there.

[Telonius]

With Minor Creation, a Wizard7 could create 7 cubic feet of saffron (nonliving plant matter) per day. This site (http://www.aqua-calc.com/page/density-table/substance/Spices-coma-and-blank-saffron) gives saffon's density at around 9 pounds per cubic foot, for a total of 63 pounds, or 945gp worth of saffron from a single casting. The saffron lasts for 7 hours. So, start supplying all the restaurants in the kingdom. As long as people eat it before 7 hours is up, nobody will know the difference, and you'll make close to a thousand gold per day. Best part? You never have to run.

[Biffoniacus_Furiou]

Those Creation spell tricks are 100% dependent on finding a buyer in the DM-controlled market. He could say that other casters have already done that trick, and there's such an overabundance of that stuff that it's no more valuable than dirt.

If you can cast Fabricate and Moment of Prescience, you can turn X gp worth of raw materials into 3X gp worth of currency by turning gold, silver, or platinum into coins via a Craft check by taking ten.

[Seth62]

Buy the splitting enchantment (+3) it exactly replicates a bolt into two bolts just shot them into hay recover the copy and repeat with a +10 bolt which sell for 4,000ish so 2,000 for resale. So in on hour if you get all the bolts and you fire 1 every two rounds that's 600,000 gp

[Tibbaerrohwen]

With Minor Creation, a Wizard7 could create 7 cubic feet of saffron (nonliving plant matter) per day. This site (http://www.aqua-calc.com/page/density-table/substance/Spices-coma-and-blank-saffron) gives saffon's density at around 9 pounds per cubic foot, for a total of 63 pounds, or 945gp worth of saffron from a single casting. The saffron lasts for 7 hours. So, start supplying all the restaurants in the kingdom. As long as people eat it before 7 hours is up, nobody will know the difference, and you'll make close to a thousand gold per day. Best part? You never have to run.

That's not a half-bad idea. If you sell it in a metropolis, it's bound to be used up in 7 hours, especially if you sell it for slightly under the cost of everyone else. You'd still be making a mean profit.


Those Creation spell tricks are 100% dependent on finding a buyer in the DM-controlled market. He could say that other casters have already done that trick, and there's such an overabundance of that stuff that it's no more valuable than dirt.

If you can cast Fabricate and Moment of Prescience, you can turn X gp worth of raw materials into 3X gp worth of currency by turning gold, silver, or platinum into coins via a Craft check by taking ten.

Agree. Most DM's would look at you and just say "Oh, no one here eats saffron, it's against the culture". Though your plan is also quite good. I don't have my books, but I'd like to have a look att he logistics when I do.

[Mutazoia]

Good call. A few snacks in the right direction and a similar boon to his charcter if you both DM on occassion is a solid idea.

I know some people who like the convenient calculation error method, where an extra zero comes out of no where, but I'm more interested in thing you would do in character to get cash.

Let's try and keep slave-running and pimping out of the equation as much as possible.


Well once, a while back, our party Barbar decided he was the greatest bad arse that walked the earth and was challenging people in the local tavern to UFC style matches. We got the local bookie involved and made some good cash until the bookie brought in hid ringer (or the DM got tired of the idea). Now I could see he was set up to lose, but the guy playing the Barbar was one of those types of people born every minute and took the bait. I bet all my winnings so far, plus my take of the recent dungeon loot (amounting to close to a grand in gold) on our Barbar. You see, I was playing a cleric/ thief at the time, so when the march started and out Barbar was getting his butt whipped I circled into the crowd and waited for the ringer to get knocked back into spectators. As soon as he did I shoved him back into the ring, at the same time casting "command" yelling at him to lose. The spell went off and he took a dive earning me a crap load of cash. We bugged out soon after. :smallsmile:

[Tibbaerrohwen]

Well once, a while back, our party Barbar decided he was the greatest bad arse that walked the earth and was challenging people in the local tavern to UFC style matches. We got the local bookie involved and made some good cash until the bookie brought in hid ringer (or the DM got tired of the idea). Now I could see he was set up to lose, but the guy playing the Barbar was one of those types of people born every minute and took the bait. I bet all my winnings so far, plus my take of the recent dungeon loot (amounting to close to a grand in gold) on our Barbar. You see, I was playing a cleric/ thief at the time, so when the march started and out Barbar was getting his butt whipped I circled into the crowd and waited for the ringer to get knocked back into spectators. As soon as he did I shoved him back into the ring, at the same time casting "command" yelling at him to lose. The spell went off and he took a dive earning me a crap load of cash. We bugged out soon after. :smallsmile:

I applaude you; that is an excellent save on what could have been a disasterous situation. I love Cleric/Rogue mixes. Their just so useful.

[Gavinfoxx]

A quick trip to the Elemental Plane of Earth for some mining, perhaps?

[Tibbaerrohwen]

A quick trip to the Elemental Plane of Earth for some mining, perhaps?

That's pretty expensive and would require quite a bit of time and equipment. Plus, your'e not guaranteed to actually find anything useful there. To top it all off, you might end up accidentally mining into an elemental's head. I don't think he'd take to kindly to that.
Woud be a hell of a lot of fun though.

[Tibbaerrohwen]

Buy the splitting enchantment (+3) it exactly replicates a bolt into two bolts just shot them into hay recover the copy and repeat with a +10 bolt which sell for 4,000ish so 2,000 for resale. So in on hour if you get all the bolts and you fire 1 every two rounds that's 600,000 gp

I completely missed this comment. That's a pretty interesting idea and I'll have to look into it. It does take some cash, but not too much, cause it's ammunition. What book is this enchantment from?

[Gavinfoxx]

I completely missed this comment. That's a pretty interesting idea and I'll have to look into it. It does take some cash, but not too much, cause it's ammunition. What book is this enchantment from?

Isn't ammunition destroyed when it hits anything?


That's pretty expensive and would require quite a bit of time and equipment. Plus, your'e not guaranteed to actually find anything useful there. To top it all off, you might end up accidentally mining into an elemental's head. I don't think he'd take to kindly to that.
Woud be a hell of a lot of fun though.

It works best when you have a Tier 1 caster at level 11 or so... do lots of divinations, do lots of research, cast a bunch of protective spells, do a planar ally of some sort for a powerful earth elemental, and teleport into a rich and wealthy area of the plane...

[jmelesky]

Start selling some services (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#spellcastingAndServices).

Specifically, spellcasting. Caster level * spell level * 10 gp should get you some nice coinage pretty quickly. Surely some noble out there wants some scrying under the table, or some spectacular illusions for a party he's throwing. Or the mayor could use a Wall of Stone to patch up the town defenses.

Or, heck, a gambler wants some Eagle's Splendor to nail those Bluff checks.

Just make sure you don't do anything big enough that the local guild or whatnot normally responsible for such things starts to get annoyed.

[Telonius]

Isn't ammunition destroyed when it hits anything?


Correct (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm):


Magic Ammunition and Breakage

When a magic arrow, crossbow bolt, shuriken, or sling bullet misses its target, there is a 50% chance it breaks or otherwise is rendered useless. A magic arrow, bolt, bullet, or shuriken that hits is destroyed.

So either it hits, in which case it's destroyed; or it misses, in which case you end up with (on average) the same number you started with.

[The_Jackal]

To get Rich Quiche, you need to start with at least a dozen eggs and a half-pound of butter. Otherwise, it just comes out bland.

[Gavinfoxx]

So either it hits, in which case it's destroyed; or it misses, in which case you end up with (on average) the same number you started with.

I think there are some materials that lower the chance of it breaking, though. Hardwood or something? Maybe someone could run the numbers and see if you'll end up net positive?

[Darrin]

With Minor Creation, a Wizard7 could create 7 cubic feet of saffron (nonliving plant matter) per day. This site (http://www.aqua-calc.com/page/density-table/substance/Spices-coma-and-blank-saffron) gives saffon's density at around 9 pounds per cubic foot, for a total of 63 pounds, or 945gp worth of saffron from a single casting. The saffron lasts for 7 hours. So, start supplying all the restaurants in the kingdom. As long as people eat it before 7 hours is up, nobody will know the difference, and you'll make close to a thousand gold per day. Best part? You never have to run.

Easier to start with 1 lb of saffron and pay a 13th level spellcaster to summon a djinn with summon monster VII (910 GP). Have the djinn use his major creation SLA to create 20 cubic feet of saffron (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10732292&postcount=63). Anything made out of vegetable matter has a permanent duration. As a trade good, I figured 20 cubic feet of saffron would be worth about 15420 GP. Based on the website you gave... 20 x 9 x 15 = 2700 GP, which seems pretty low, but still about 1775 GP profit.

[ThePhantasm]

Lol, who is Rich Quich and why are we trying to get him? :smallwink:

[danzibr]

Usually if you want a really rich quiche you'll have to have both high quality eggs and 2% (or greater) milk. From there you can put in what you want.

[Keld Denar]

Transmute Flesh to Salt (Sandstorm). Its an instantaneous Transmutation, meaning that it is non-magical after transmutation, and a Dispel Magic won't lift it. Your only options are Break Enchantment or Salt to Flesh.

Find a cow. Buy the cow for 10 gold. Cast Flesh to Salt on said cow until it fails the save (shouldn't be THAT hard). Break the cow into tiny pieces and sell it at 5 gp per pound. After you sell 2 pounds, you've made back your 10g, and the rest is profit. If the cow weighed 1500 lbs, you've just made 7490g assuming the density of salt is roughly similar to the density of a cow.

Rest, rinse, repeat.

[Choco]

Transmute Flesh to Salt. Its an instantaneous Transmutation, meaning that it is non-magical after transmutation, and a Dispel Magic won't lift it. Your only options are Break Enchantment or Salt to Flesh.

Find a cow. Buy the cow for a handful of gold. Cast Flesh to Salt on said cow until it fails the save (shouldn't be THAT hard). Break the cow into tiny pieces and sell it at 5 gp per pound.

Rest, rinse, repeat.

Alternatively you could use this on certain townsfolk you would like to see disappear for whatever reason :smallamused:.

[Kansaschaser]

Those Creation spell tricks are 100% dependent on finding a buyer in the DM-controlled market. He could say that other casters have already done that trick, and there's such an overabundance of that stuff that it's no more valuable than dirt.

If you can cast Fabricate and Moment of Prescience, you can turn X gp worth of raw materials into 3X gp worth of currency by turning gold, silver, or platinum into coins via a Craft check by taking ten.

My DM won't let me "mint" my own gold coins this way. He said the coins would be smaller since 50 coins equals 1 pound and people would think I had fake money. Which he is technically correct. Plus, he said I would have to make a Forgery check to make them and then a Bluff check to use them as money.

However, if you tak Craft (Painting), Craft (Sculpting), or Craft (Jewelcrafting), you can use the Fabricate spell to create works of art. Art, gems, and jewelry sell for 100% value instead of 50% value.

1) Tell the DM you're making a (painting/statue/jewlery) worth 30,000 gold.
2) Buy the materials for the (painting/statue/jewlery) for 10,000 gold.
3) Cast Fabricate and make a Craft (Painting/Sculpting/Jewelcrafting) check.
4) Sell the "Art" for the full 30,000 gold price.

Do this every day for lots and lots of money.

[Leewei]

The Trophy Collector feat can yield a decent income for PCs willing to go monster hunting.

Creating and selling magic items to fellow PCs at a 10% discount still nets you 40% of the item cost.

[Asheram]

For a social and imaginative character Confidence Scams are a fun and interesting way of making money.
"Glim drops" and "Melon drops" are a great way of conning people out of their hard-earned cash.

[Hirax]

By no means a get rich quick scheme, but leadership, coupled with the extra followers feat to double your followers, and perhaps the might makes right feat, which adds your strength mod to your leadership score. Use one or all of these to become a merchant lord. DMG2 has rules for operating businesses, and while parts of them are pretty bad, they're workable. Have all of your followers above level 1 be business owners, and all your level 1 followers be employees/apprentices. Turn all the businesses into a combine, let your cohort be the administrator for a salary, and collect a share of profits from each business.

edit: the method I'm describing could also easily net you a full +6 to your leadership score. +2 for reknown, +1 for fairness and generosity, +1 for special power, and +2 for a base of operations

[Tibbaerrohwen]

Start selling some services (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/equipment/goodsAndServices.htm#spellcastingAndServices).

Specifically, spellcasting. Caster level * spell level * 10 gp should get you some nice coinage pretty quickly. Surely some noble out there wants some scrying under the table, or some spectacular illusions for a party he's throwing. Or the mayor could use a Wall of Stone to patch up the town defenses.

Or, heck, a gambler wants some Eagle's Splendor to nail those Bluff checks.

Just make sure you don't do anything big enough that the local guild or whatnot normally responsible for such things starts to get annoyed.

I had not thought of this, but it is true. If you are playing a mage of any kind this is a viable option for quick cash.


To get Rich Quiche, you need to start with at least a dozen eggs and a half-pound of butter. Otherwise, it just comes out bland.


I really didn't notice. Thanks for the save. I enjoyed all of the jokes :D


Transmute Flesh to Salt (Sandstorm). Its an instantaneous Transmutation, meaning that it is non-magical after transmutation, and a Dispel Magic won't lift it. Your only options are Break Enchantment or Salt to Flesh.

Find a cow. Buy the cow for 10 gold. Cast Flesh to Salt on said cow until it fails the save (shouldn't be THAT hard). Break the cow into tiny pieces and sell it at 5 gp per pound. After you sell 2 pounds, you've made back your 10g, and the rest is profit. If the cow weighed 1500 lbs, you've just made 7490g assuming the density of salt is roughly similar to the density of a cow.

Rest, rinse, repeat.

Cool, cool. I like this very much.


Easier to start with 1 lb of saffron and pay a 13th level spellcaster to summon a djinn with summon monster VII (910 GP). Have the djinn use his major creation SLA to create 20 cubic feet of saffron (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10732292&postcount=63). Anything made out of vegetable matter has a permanent duration. As a trade good, I figured 20 cubic feet of saffron would be worth about 15420 GP. Based on the website you gave... 20 x 9 x 15 = 2700 GP, which seems pretty low, but still about 1775 GP profit.

I did have a thread before that discussed poison. I can't find it now, but someone had brought this up and it was discredited somehow. I can't for the life of me remember now.


Correct (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm):



So either it hits, in which case it's destroyed; or it misses, in which case you end up with (on average) the same number you started with.

That's too bad. It sounded like fun.

[Darrin]

I did have a thread before that discussed poison. I can't find it now, but someone had brought this up and it was discredited somehow. I can't for the life of me remember now.


I originally proposed using the djinn/major creation trick with Black Lotus Extract (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10040483&postcount=5). Depending on what sort of market value you can get, it can net 43 to 86 million GPs, which should be enough to collapse the local economy and a few neighboring nations.

Try the same trick with some canath fruit (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10391903&postcount=21) and it only brings in about 1,224,000 GP... but you also get 34272 PP, and if you can't crack the planet in half with that, then you're just not trying hard enough.

[Jolly]

Djinn/major creation is for teh lulz, but most DM's won't allow you to for any number of (in game) reasons.

Leadership with an artificer is a good choice. Or, just buy an inn. They certainly seem popular enough in the average fantasy setting. Have your follower be a business-man and run the show for you.

Have a high Cha, get elected, be corrupt.

Marry a major nobleman's daughter.

[jmelesky]

Try the same trick with some canath fruit (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10391903&postcount=21) and it only brings in about 1,224,000 GP... but you also get 34272 PP, and if you can't crack the planet in half with that, then you're just not trying hard enough.

Unless i'm misreading, the spell creates a single object of that material, not exceeding 20 cubic feet, so i'm not sure it would work for canath fruit. Or, alternately, it would create one single, very large fruit.

Would probably work fine on the Black Lotus Extract, though.

[Natael]

On that arrow trick, if you got someone with catch arrow, is the ammunition still destroyed if they are caught instead of missed or hit?

[Mutazoia]

Ok, so you go adventuring and take all the crappy, horribly balanced long swords you get off the various monsters. Cast Continual Light on all of the blades. Go to a small town. Have one of your party members lay on a makeshift stretcher acting sick. Go to a merchant and offer to sell your "prized +2 long sword" to him for two thirds of normal value for such a weapon. When he starts to dicker, have another PC stick his head into the shop and spout a line like "Did you sell your goblin cleaver yet? Hurry we need all the money we have to pay the temple to cure Sir Humbub's mummy rot!" (or highly contagious disease nobody will get close enough to investigate). The Merchant, sensing your desperation should offer you half (or maybe two thirds, but with a good skill roll you can haggle up to half) of what a +2 long sword is worth, thinking HE is cheating YOU. The sword is OBVIOUSLY magic..everybody knows magic swords glow, and how many towns are going to have low level casters hanging out in merchant shops to identify random crap? And for those of you feeling guilty (really...are there?) the sword technically IS enchanted, and who says you can't name any sword you pick up "goblin cleaver".

Do this a few times (or have teams doing it to several merchants at once) and then scram for the next town. Rinse, Repeat...

[Telonius]

On that arrow trick, if you got someone with catch arrow, is the ammunition still destroyed if they are caught instead of missed or hit?

That actually might give you better odds. Once per round when you'd be hit, you can grab the arrow instead. One thing I'm not sure about is how those attacks would be resolved. You'd have to be hit once, then missed once, for you to get a 1.5 return. The biggest problem I'm seeing is that his attack bonus would have to exactly equal your AC in order for it to come close to doing that. Also, you'd probably be hit in the face with a few arrows, so you'd need some healing.

It might even be possible for you to double the speed of your return if both characters had snatch arrows. You toss the an arrow as a thrown weapon, it splits, you catch one and throw it back, causing it to split again, the original guy catches it, round ends, repeat the process.

[Thurbane]

Kind of surprised no one has mentioned buying ladders (5cp), disassembling them, then selling them as two 10-foot poles (2sp each, so 1sp resale value). Of course, no sane DM will let this fly - the usual reason is that the components of a typical ladder are not usable as 10-foot poles once pulled apart.

[krai]

Two Words

pyramid scheme

[Turok117]

Correct (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/magicItems/magicWeapons.htm):



So either it hits, in which case it's destroyed; or it misses, in which case you end up with (on average) the same number you started with.

Couldn't you shoot the ammo into water, so the rounds are suspended without damage?

Or use the equivalent of D&D ballistics gel or something.

[Seth62]

The enchantments in champions of ruin and I just shot mine in water and it worked. Tho the monk Idea sounds like free xp as well! for the monk that is

[Talya]

I find this talk of "Getting Rich" to be in poor taste, after he has provided this great comic and these boards for us. (It's also poor tactics to discuss how you're going to get him on his own forums.)

:smallwink:

[Jolly]

Djinn/major creation is for teh lulz, but most DM's won't allow you to for any number of (in game) reasons.

Leadership with an artificer is a good choice. Or, just buy an inn. They certainly seem popular enough in the average fantasy setting. Have your follower be a business-man and run the show for you.

Have a high Cha, get elected, be corrupt.

Marry a major nobleman's daughter.

[Tibbaerrohwen]

I originally proposed using the djinn/major creation trick with Black Lotus Extract (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10040483&postcount=5). Depending on what sort of market value you can get, it can net 43 to 86 million GPs, which should be enough to collapse the local economy and a few neighboring nations.

Try the same trick with some canath fruit (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10391903&postcount=21) and it only brings in about 1,224,000 GP... but you also get 34272 PP, and if you can't crack the planet in half with that, then you're just not trying hard enough.

I was sure there was a reason this wouldn`t fly. I can`t remember what it was, but it wasn`t simply because my DM would never allow it.


Ok, so you go adventuring and take all the crappy, horribly balanced long swords you get off the various monsters. Cast Continual Light on all of the blades. Go to a small town. Have one of your party members lay on a makeshift stretcher acting sick. Go to a merchant and offer to sell your "prized +2 long sword" to him for two thirds of normal value for such a weapon. When he starts to dicker, have another PC stick his head into the shop and spout a line like "Did you sell your goblin cleaver yet? Hurry we need all the money we have to pay the temple to cure Sir Humbub's mummy rot!" (or highly contagious disease nobody will get close enough to investigate). The Merchant, sensing your desperation should offer you half (or maybe two thirds, but with a good skill roll you can haggle up to half) of what a +2 long sword is worth, thinking HE is cheating YOU. The sword is OBVIOUSLY magic..everybody knows magic swords glow, and how many towns are going to have low level casters hanging out in merchant shops to identify random crap? And for those of you feeling guilty (really...are there?) the sword technically IS enchanted, and who says you can't name any sword you pick up "goblin cleaver".

Do this a few times (or have teams doing it to several merchants at once) and then scram for the next town. Rinse, Repeat...

This is hilarious. I love it.


That actually might give you better odds. Once per round when you'd be hit, you can grab the arrow instead. One thing I'm not sure about is how those attacks would be resolved. You'd have to be hit once, then missed once, for you to get a 1.5 return. The biggest problem I'm seeing is that his attack bonus would have to exactly equal your AC in order for it to come close to doing that. Also, you'd probably be hit in the face with a few arrows, so you'd need some healing.

It might even be possible for you to double the speed of your return if both characters had snatch arrows. You toss the an arrow as a thrown weapon, it splits, you catch one and throw it back, causing it to split again, the original guy catches it, round ends, repeat the process.

An interesting idea. A lot of these plans require a wizard, so you could stack this atop other plans if you`re playing one by simply casting mirrior move and acting as the second monk.


The enchantments in champions of ruin.

Thanks. It sounds useful in combat, especially beside Rapid Shot or with double firing weapons like a double crossbow.


I find this talk of "Getting Rich" to be in poor taste, after he has provided this great comic and these boards for us. (It's also poor tactics to discuss how you're going to get him on his own forums.)

:smallwink:

You fail to understand. If we do it quick enough, he`ll never know. Hence the title of the thread. It may be in poor taste, but I`m bored and a little kidnapping with a ransom demand just feels right.

On that note, you could also kidnap a BBEG`s leading underlings and ransom them back. Alternatively, the same could be done with a rival group of adventurers, political figures, etc.
A couple counter-divination steps included and you`re good to go.


Djinn/major creation is for teh lulz, but most DM's won't allow you to for any number of (in game) reasons.

Agreed. I do no plan on using any of these, as they would complete ruin the game for everyone else. They are fun to discuss however.

[Canarr]

My brother playerd a wizard/rogue once who sold the magic Bag of Returning Throwing axes. Well, close to, at least.

They'd picked up two identical masterwork throwing axes from a treasure haul, and schemed what to do with them. After some deliberation, he and another rogue-type in the party bought a nice-looking bag for 20-30 gold or so and fixed it up to look magic with Nystul's Aura. Then, my brother'd put one of the axes inside the bag and hide the other in his sleeve.

They walked the streets until they'd hit upon a wealthy looking adventurer (fighter-type, since they figured he'd be least likely to have sense motive) and offered him the magic bag. When asked to demonstrate it, my brother threw the axe at some obvious target (behind which his crony was hiding) and used sleight of hand to slip the other axe into the bag while the mark was inevitably looking after the thrown axe. Then, a quick cantrip to produce a bit of light - bam! The axe was back - and when the mark looked towards the target again, the axe was convincingly gone.

It's not on par with some of the more magic-heavy schemes, but it did net them 2-3k gps for items they could've sold legally for less than 500.

[Tibbaerrohwen]

My brother playerd a wizard/rogue once who sold the magic Bag of Returning Throwing axes. Well, close to, at least.

They'd picked up two identical masterwork throwing axes from a treasure haul, and schemed what to do with them. After some deliberation, he and another rogue-type in the party bought a nice-looking bag for 20-30 gold or so and fixed it up to look magic with Nystul's Aura. Then, my brother'd put one of the axes inside the bag and hide the other in his sleeve.

They walked the streets until they'd hit upon a wealthy looking adventurer (fighter-type, since they figured he'd be least likely to have sense motive) and offered him the magic bag. When asked to demonstrate it, my brother threw the axe at some obvious target (behind which his crony was hiding) and used sleight of hand to slip the other axe into the bag while the mark was inevitably looking after the thrown axe. Then, a quick cantrip to produce a bit of light - bam! The axe was back - and when the mark looked towards the target again, the axe was convincingly gone.

It's not on par with some of the more magic-heavy schemes, but it did net them 2-3k gps for items they could've sold legally for less than 500.

That's a nifty idea, and uses more enginuity than magic. I approve.

[Mutazoia]

On that note, you could also kidnap a BBEG`s leading underlings and ransom them back. Alternatively, the same could be done with a rival group of adventurers, political figures, etc.
A couple counter-divination steps included and you`re good to go.

Most BBBEG's would simply figure if the underling was stupid enough to get caught like that then he doesn't want them working form him and not pay. Conversely the rival adventurers would stage a hostage rescue (wouldn't you?) and not pay,(anybody not strong enough to beat you up probably wouldn't have enough money to pay a ransom any way) and beat you up to boot. Political figures would hire said adventurers to rescue the hostage...come on have you never played D&D? That's, like, a good half of the plots involved in every D&D campaign :smallbiggrin:

EDIT: I suppose you could kidnap the princess and then try to get the job of rescuing her, pretend to beat up the villains and collect the reward. You might need to hire a patsy though; some one for the princess to see kidnap her/gloat over her/watch you kill.

[Biguds]

Wall of Salt [from sandstorm]
1 square of salt/level

[Tibbaerrohwen]

I suppose you could kidnap the princess and then try to get the job of rescuing her, pretend to beat up the villains and collect the reward. You might need to hire a patsy though; some one for the princess to see kidnap her/gloat over her/watch you kill.

Even better. That's a great idea. Maybe wait till the ransom is paid and take the loot as well, saying it was destroyed in the fight (by a fireball maybe?).


Wall of Salt [from sandstorm]
1 square of salt/level

Is this more or less profitable that the cow to salt trick listed earlier in the thread?

[faceroll]

I originally proposed using the djinn/major creation trick with Black Lotus Extract (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10040483&postcount=5). Depending on what sort of market value you can get, it can net 43 to 86 million GPs, which should be enough to collapse the local economy and a few neighboring nations.

Try the same trick with some canath fruit (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showpost.php?p=10391903&postcount=21) and it only brings in about 1,224,000 GP... but you also get 34272 PP, and if you can't crack the planet in half with that, then you're just not trying hard enough.

Assuming a perfectly inelastic demand curve, sure. I would suspect that the demand schedule for black lotus extract, and poisons in general, is quite steep.

[Canarr]

I'd agree. And, incidentally, assume the same for saffron.


That's a nifty idea, and uses more enginuity than magic. I approve.

Yeah, so did I; I GM that campaign. They didn't overdo it, either, and used magical disguise, so they came out of that scam without any problems.

Basically, you could do the same with any two identical items, one of which is more valuable than the other; that's a classic scam, I think.

[Saintheart]

Transmute Flesh to Salt (Sandstorm). Its an instantaneous Transmutation, meaning that it is non-magical after transmutation, and a Dispel Magic won't lift it. Your only options are Break Enchantment or Salt to Flesh.

Find a cow. Buy the cow for 10 gold. Cast Flesh to Salt on said cow until it fails the save (shouldn't be THAT hard). Break the cow into tiny pieces and sell it at 5 gp per pound. After you sell 2 pounds, you've made back your 10g, and the rest is profit. If the cow weighed 1500 lbs, you've just made 7490g assuming the density of salt is roughly similar to the density of a cow.

Rest, rinse, repeat.

...You couldn't just pull the old "two 10 foot poles out of one ladder" infinite riches loop? :smallbiggrin:

[profitofrage]

All I have to say is that I want a game whos sole objective was to get rich and where all the characters where con artists where the BBEG was someone trying to foil there plans constantly

[Biguds]

Even better. That's a great idea. Maybe wait till the ransom is paid and take the loot as well, saying it was destroyed in the fight (by a fireball maybe?).



Is this more or less profitable that the cow to salt trick listed earlier in the thread?

Much more... level 4 spell, a lot of free salt

[Tibbaerrohwen]

These are all awesome ideas. I am surprised I haven't heard it on this thread but, on occassion, Ihear whisperings about a broken Craft (Basketweaving) trick for great riches. Cana ny one explain this and add it to the list we have going?

[faceroll]

...You couldn't just pull the old "two 10 foot poles out of one ladder" infinite riches loop? :smallbiggrin:

That's only legit if you ignore the rules. Which is to say, it's not legit at all. Making 10 foot poles from raw materials requires a craft check, like anything else.

[Bhaakon]

Not really a rules hack, but loan sharking is fun and profitable. Actually, visiting a loan shark tends to be fun and profitable and well (silly NPCs, trying to collect from a player character).

[Randel]

Five heavily armed adventurers walk into a loan sharks place of business.

Rogue: Hello there (looks at all the items in the place as if judging their value).

Loan Shark: Umm, hello there gentlemen. What can I do for you?

Rogue: You? Do for us? Haha.

Other adventurers which include a barbarian, a souped up swordsage, a druid, and an overpowered wizard: Haha.

Rogue: Oh what a comedian. Why, we're here to help you.

Loan Shark: Help me? How?

Rogue: Why with the highly profitable venture of doing business with us of course!

Loan Shark: But that just what I...

Rogue: Listen, buddy. We're adventurers, we're heroes. We do all sorts of stuff like solve quests, save towns... protect people from danger.

Loan Shark: Well yeah I suppose.

Rogue: And to do that we need money to get equipment. You give people money and we want money. (rogue smiles) So give us some money and we make sure that nothing bad happens.

Loan Shark: Haha, oh come now. I think you're mistaken, we're not the ones who need protection from stuff.

Rogue: Oh really? Then I suppose you guys are totally protected from... hurricanes? *snaps his fingers*

The Druid casts Control Winds and creates a hurricane-level cylinder of wind inside the building, positioning it so that the group and the Loan Shark are inside the eye of the storm. Loan Sharks eyes widen as he sees his entire establishment get ripped apart by high-powered winds... along with a fair chunk of the local neighborhood.

Innocent Bystander: Oh my GOD! Everyone's DEAD!

Rogue: Oh man, what an unfortunate accident. Looks like the work of some kind of dragon or something. Too bad we don't have the funds to go look for him right now... a shame. Who knows what might happen next.

Loan Shark: AHH! Okay okay, take some gold! Take it all, just don't kill me and everyone else.

Rogue: Why your accusations wound me, Sir. But I suppose it can be forgiven due to the stress you're in. *takes all the money and valuables in the building* Bless you for your kind generosity.

Later the Loan Sharks criminal organization sends out hitmen to deal with the adventurers... but all it does is give the team more XP and loot.

[Forum Explorer]

EDIT: I suppose you could kidnap the princess and then try to get the job of rescuing her, pretend to beat up the villains and collect the reward. You might need to hire a patsy though; some one for the princess to see kidnap her/gloat over her/watch you kill.

Take Leadership, have your minions hold the princess hostage. Go beat up your minions with a merciful weapon and collect the reward afterwards. Make sure to cut your minions in on the loot and you should be fine. Fine a princess named peach and do this about once a month.

[JaronK]

Basic easy money schemes (some have already been stated):

Use Fabricate to build Susalian Chainweave armor. It costs about 10kgp in materials and can be sold for about 15k (valued at over 30k). That's 5kgp per casting. Similar uses of Fabricate involve using Wall of Iron or Stone to get materials to build Stone Plate or other armors and valuable objects.

Use Summon Monster to get Genies, then have them permanently create your choice of Black Lotus Poison, Sinmaker's Surprise Poison, Bronzewood, Soarwood, Darkwood, or various vegetable based trade goods as appropriate to the area. Sell them for insane amounts of money.

Purchase cows + Flesh to salt + sell the salt.

Use Animate Dread Warrior to reanimate any creature with a decent crafting ability (grab one from a graveyard), then give your new minion a Lyre of Building. Have them get to work 24 hours a day, producing 4800 man hours of work per day, then sell the results (new castles, suits of armor, swords, whatever).

Use rapid growth spells on some Wildwood to get more Wildwood, and craft the resulting material into something to sell.

JaronK

[Biguds]

Wall of Salt (conjuration[creation] level 4)

5-ft square/level
1 inch thick/level

Earlier than Flash to Salt, and more lucrative.


How about Acid Spash in a glass bottle, one drop of acid per casting ?

[Popertop]

Well first you'd have to find him, and then cast haste on him.

[JaronK]

Since you wanted insane methods, here's one: the city of icerazor pays for your blood to repair their palace of blood (see Frostburn). If you take 1d6 con damage, they'll give you 10gp per point of con damage. A first level binder with Naberius can heal one point of con damage every 6 seconds, so you could make 100gp per minute this way selling blood, or 6kgp per hour at first level. Go nuts!

JaronK

[Tibbaerrohwen]

Five heavily armed adventurers walk into a loan sharks place of business.

Rogue: Hello there (looks at all the items in the place as if judging their value).

Loan Shark: Umm, hello there gentlemen. What can I do for you?

Rogue: You? Do for us? Haha.

Other adventurers which include a barbarian, a souped up swordsage, a druid, and an overpowered wizard: Haha.

Rogue: Oh what a comedian. Why, we're here to help you.

Loan Shark: Help me? How?

Rogue: Why with the highly profitable venture of doing business with us of course!

Loan Shark: But that just what I...

Rogue: Listen, buddy. We're adventurers, we're heroes. We do all sorts of stuff like solve quests, save towns... protect people from danger.

Loan Shark: Well yeah I suppose.

Rogue: And to do that we need money to get equipment. You give people money and we want money. (rogue smiles) So give us some money and we make sure that nothing bad happens.

Loan Shark: Haha, oh come now. I think you're mistaken, we're not the ones who need protection from stuff.

Rogue: Oh really? Then I suppose you guys are totally protected from... hurricanes? *snaps his fingers*

The Druid casts Control Winds and creates a hurricane-level cylinder of wind inside the building, positioning it so that the group and the Loan Shark are inside the eye of the storm. Loan Sharks eyes widen as he sees his entire establishment get ripped apart by high-powered winds... along with a fair chunk of the local neighborhood.

Innocent Bystander: Oh my GOD! Everyone's DEAD!

Rogue: Oh man, what an unfortunate accident. Looks like the work of some kind of dragon or something. Too bad we don't have the funds to go look for him right now... a shame. Who knows what might happen next.

Loan Shark: AHH! Okay okay, take some gold! Take it all, just don't kill me and everyone else.

Rogue: Why your accusations wound me, Sir. But I suppose it can be forgiven due to the stress you're in. *takes all the money and valuables in the building* Bless you for your kind generosity.

Later the Loan Sharks criminal organization sends out hitmen to deal with the adventurers... but all it does is give the team more XP and loot.

I love this! It sounds like so many rogues I've played in the past.


Basic easy money schemes (some have already been stated):

Use Fabricate to build Susalian Chainweave armor. It costs about 10kgp in materials and can be sold for about 15k (valued at over 30k). That's 5kgp per casting. Similar uses of Fabricate involve using Wall of Iron or Stone to get materials to build Stone Plate or other armors and valuable objects.

Use Summon Monster to get Genies, then have them permanently create your choice of Black Lotus Poison, Sinmaker's Surprise Poison, Bronzewood, Soarwood, Darkwood, or various vegetable based trade goods as appropriate to the area. Sell them for insane amounts of money.

Purchase cows + Flesh to salt + sell the salt.

Use Animate Dread Warrior to reanimate any creature with a decent crafting ability (grab one from a graveyard), then give your new minion a Lyre of Building. Have them get to work 24 hours a day, producing 4800 man hours of work per day, then sell the results (new castles, suits of armor, swords, whatever).

Use rapid growth spells on some Wildwood to get more Wildwood, and craft the resulting material into something to sell.

JaronK

This is a pretty solid list of things. I like the animated dead slave workers, so many uses and you never really cap because you can change what their making whenever the market crashes from previous goods.



Since you wanted insane methods, here's one: the city of icerazor pays for your blood to repair their palace of blood (see Frostburn). If you take 1d6 con damage, they'll give you 10gp per point of con damage. A first level binder with Naberius can heal one point of con damage every 6 seconds, so you could make 100gp per minute this way selling blood, or 6kgp per hour at first level. Go nuts!

JaronK

This is just...wow. It's sad when you think we sell our blood for cookies and juice.

[Darth Stabber]

The Trophy Collector feat can yield a decent income for PCs willing to go monster hunting.

That feat is made of fun. It's not exactly an optimal feat for any build, but taxidermy is a fun flavor addition to any character.

[HalfDragonCube]

Pretty much any of the wall-making spells can be sold for profit.

[Jolly]

It should be noted that all the "millions of gold from Creation spells" abuses ignore economic reality. If Substance X is expensive because it's scarce, producing massive quantities severely lowers the price. And when demand is low, it both lowers the price, and renders selling it next to impossible.

I also note that if you presume that such exploits are possible, someone else would already have done it, so the price and market for the items would already be shot.

[JaronK]

It should be noted that all the "millions of gold from Creation spells" abuses ignore economic reality. If Substance X is expensive because it's scarce, producing massive quantities severely lowers the price. And when demand is low, it both lowers the price, and renders selling it next to impossible.

Ah, but here's the thing: you don't just sell one product. If you were doing the genie trick, you'd get one pile of saffron, one pool of Black Lotus Poison, enough Bronzewood for one house, etc. No need to flood any markets.

In fact, in some cases you could contract with a city or state to be their sole supplier at a slightly discounted rate. An army would LOVE Wildwood and Bronzewood weaponry with poison on it. A city would love having a Wildwood infrastructure system built for them.


I also note that if you presume that such exploits are possible, someone else would already have done it, so the price and market for the items would already be shot.

Depends on how often high enough level Wizards still hang around these parts. Really D&D only makes sense if the high level Wizards leave the material plane the moment they get Plane Shift and never look back... kind of like MMORPG players leaving the newbie zones instead of instantly slaughtering all the pesky goblins with high level spells.

JaronK

[faceroll]

In fact, in some cases you could contract with a city or state to be their sole supplier at a slightly discounted rate. An army would LOVE Wildwood and Bronzewood weaponry with poison on it. A city would love having a Wildwood infrastructure system built for them.

If they loved it so much, why wouldn't they already have it?

[JaronK]

One assumes they hadn't gotten the offer yet. There's not THAT many high level Wizards out there. Not to mention if you can Plane Shift you can just look around for an army that hasn't been given such an offer yet. Plus, perhaps the last time somebody offered, they didn't have enough money. Timing is everything, but the fact is you can produce all kinds of goods of your choice, so you can match their needs perfectly. Surely you could match somebody's needs... somebody with enough money to pay.

Also, remember that high level Wizards have tons of ways of making plenty of money, so they may have just not bothered yet.

JaronK

[faceroll]

One assumes they hadn't gotten the offer yet. There's not THAT many high level Wizards out there. Not to mention if you can Plane Shift you can just look around for an army that hasn't been given such an offer yet. Plus, perhaps the last time somebody offered, they didn't have enough money. Timing is everything, but the fact is you can produce all kinds of goods of your choice, so you can match their needs perfectly. Surely you could match somebody's needs... somebody with enough money to pay.

Also, remember that high level Wizards have tons of ways of making plenty of money, so they may have just not bothered yet.

JaronK

I would imagine an army wouldn't outfit itself with 10,000,000 in kit when 10,000 would do, is because the 1000-fold increase in cost simply isn't worth it. Seriously, check out any of the advantages special materials give you over mundane stuff, and their relative cost, on an army scale. I'd rather spend the gold on more griffon heavy cavalry, not a +1 bonus.

You're ignoring the opportunity costs of charging full market price for crap like bronzewood.

[JaronK]

...Wildwood doesn't cost all that much, and repairs itself so you never have to worry about that. An army might be quite happy to buy enough Wildwood full plate to equip their heavy infantry at half normal price (remember, PCs tend to sell at half price... and half normal Wildwood is just the cost of Masterwork Full Plate). And equipping just the heavy infantry might be quite profitable indeed.

You really think an army wouldn't prefer auto repairing armor that allows their troops to move faster for about the same total price?

Seriously, remember that a high level Wizard (or, in this case, Binder) has access to a LOT of options. They can find the perfect products for your army! Wildwood Full Plate for your heavy infantry, Forest Camouflage Muffling Wildwood Breastplates for your scouts, Wildwood Breastplate Barding for your horses, and if you buy all that now, we'll throw in 500 Bronzewood Spears at no extra charge! Regular customers get better discounts, call now!

JaronK

[That_guy_there]

I've participated in quite a number of money making schemes... some of my favorites:

1} Step one: buy a rod of Metal and Mineral detection (10,500).
Step Two: enter mountain and use that sucker to find veins of desired metals (gold, silver, whatever).
Step Three: Cast Transmute Rock to mud. The spell only affects the stone and not the metals (if a DM decides to ruin yur metals go nuts witht he spell in combat!)
Step Four: Pick out your metals for forging, selling, crafting.

This works best if you have minions (followers) who set up a trough under/ at where you want to cast the spell in order to speed up the carting things away. Having a decent amount of craft ranks would allow you to make usable stuff.

2} Buy/ take over/ Steal a tavern. Buy the absolute cheapest swill you can (2sp per pitcher of common wine) use a wand of Prestidigitation (or just cast it yourself) to flavor the wine in the back room and make it taste like fine wine. Now sell that fine wine tasting swill for 10gp per bottle. This trick works ever better when used in conjunction with the Stronghold Builder's Guide. (more choices).

3} Play a druid with good charisma and choose a bear or crocodile animal companion. Max out Handle Animal. Taking the leadership feat (and attract Druids as your followers), it helps later.

Purchase a couple of monkeys, a pair of tigers, a pair of lions and an elephant. Also buy a few birds of prey. [If you cannt buy them, use the rearing animal rules, and with some time (not the quickest way true) you can domesticate three of these animals at a time.] Take the time to teach each of these animals the Preform trick. Now buy a tent.

You now have a traveling circus. A Bard helps sell out the show and your animals preform tricks for the various crowds. You, as a high charisma character, "sell" the danger by doing a lion taming act, having a preforming bear, ect... Add other acts as you wish.

[Benly]

The issue with get rich quick Creation/Fabricate/Whatever schemes isn't that you'll flood the market, as such. The problem comes with what you want to buy.

Above the low levels, what you want all that money for is usually magic items - specifically, magic items made (as a general rule) by spellcasters the same level as or higher than yourself. The thing is, such a person more or less by definition has access to the same get-rich-quick spell tricks you do, so he has absolutely no reason to trade his hard-earned XP in magic item form for your GP. He can just do the Creation tricks himself if he wants gold for some reason.

In other words, you're free to try these tricks to pile up as much gold as you want - but as soon as you do so, you've established that spellcasters of your level already have as much gold as they want and have no interest in selling you magic items for gold, so you'll need to trade favors or other magic items for them instead.

Of course, this isn't an issue if what you want the gold for is to hire an army of low-level soldiers, or get a castle built, or even just get a Wand of Cure Light Wounds for a rainy day, but it does cut into the biggest problems.

[JaronK]

That depends. Factotums can often make very nice magic items long before they can do such tricks. Sorcerers and Clerics and Favored Souls can craft items without being clever enough to do such things, too.

But yes, it's one reason why mundane gear probably shouldn't be on the same currency system as magical gear... much like how Diablo II had gold for mundane stuff and SoJs for magical stuff.

JaronK

[Benly]

That depends. Factotums can often make very nice magic items long before they can do such tricks. Sorcerers and Clerics and Favored Souls can craft items without being clever enough to do such things, too.

The former, possibly due to having unusually high caster level compared to the spells they know. As far as "not clever enough", though, as much as we like to think highly of ourselves on the Internet, this is not an idea that requires an 18 intelligence to come up with. A spellcaster of average intelligence or slightly above average can quite reasonably come up with infinite-gold shenanigans, and once one person's thought of it the others just have to copy him for all the gold they want.

[JaronK]

Yes, but that's why I'm saying it's possible they're not clever enough... as opposed to Wizards and Archivists, who are ALWAYS clever enough.

JaronK

[Benly]

Yes, but that's why I'm saying it's possible they're not clever enough... as opposed to Wizards and Archivists, who are ALWAYS clever enough.

JaronK

Well, even if you're pretty dim, it's not hard to get piles of gold selling spellcasting services without trading away your actual lifeforce in the form of magical items.

I think it's best just to assume, as a general rule, that if spellcasters can make themselves unlimited wealth, that money is worthless for buying magic items from spellcasters of equal or higher level.

[Jaraak]

One game, myself (Wild Mage) and the party rogue, turned our party into a corporate entity and floated it on the market. Roughly translated: We sold shares in 'Thor Enterprises' promising high returns and dividends. Then skipped town and did it again.

Of course we sold shares to some parties who we couldnt escape, but with the current economy and flooding of the market their shares were so diluted we just sent them a few hundred gold and promises of a better return next quarter. A few Red Wizards were in this list.

We even sold shares to our party cleric and fighter, at greatly discounted prices, thereby funnelling their spare adventuring income into the accounts of the CEO's. (Myself and the Rogue).

By level 6 I had a +6 con item and the rogue had some +1 level damage rapiers. Our Tank and Cleric were poor as hell however. So we promoted them to Cheif Security Officer and Cheif Medical Advisor, thereby garunteeing them first pick of Options on a whole new release of shares (hence diluting their own portfolio further).

[TroubleBrewing]

Our party once had our Wizard cast Mordenkainen's Magnificent Mansion and sell seats at the feast table to wealthy nobles. We hosted parties there once a week, and had our resident Joker Bard go around dispelling the mansions of any other enterprising Wizards, while our Cleric watched and acted as a bouncer/dispeller.

Our Monk drank a lot and really regretted being immune to poison.

[Coidzor]

Marry a major nobleman's daughter.

I'm not so sure about that. That's seems to be a great way to get quest hooks and to get sponged off of for cash (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P27r-DERSRo&feature=related)and adventurer-muscle (http://dungeons.wikia.com/wiki/Races_of_War_%283.5e_Sourcebook%29).

But if you're trying to marry a little honey whose daddy got dough (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yZAY-78zhmw), this is going to be a rather large risk for at least another year or two.


Well, even if you're pretty dim, it's not hard to get piles of gold selling spellcasting services without trading away your actual lifeforce in the form of magical items.

So Experience is lifeforce now?

[FreakyCheeseMan]

I'm trying to figure out a rough table for how much a wizard/cleric/sorcerer of level X could get per day, assuming they found a full range of customers. Pretty sure it's gonna be a lot, though, even if you assume that for low-level spells, you have to cut your prices in order to cast them (people might not care about the benefits of having a 1st-level spell cast by a 7-th level wizard enough to pay 7X as much for it).

It should come out to be a lot, though, and there are plenty of spells that people would *want* cast. (ghoul glyph, plant growth, resurrection)\

The real question is... how would non-casters bring in some money?

[Mutazoia]

I suppose if you wanted to to a non-world economy shattering version of the Fabricate trick, you could turn caltrops (1 gp, 2 lbs) into a Rapier (20 gp , 2 lbs) all day long.

(i.e. turning 20 gp worth of Caltrops into 400 gp worth of Rapiers.)

[jmelesky]

The real question is... how would non-casters bring in some money?

Rogues steal or con, of course.

Bards sing for their supper, or offer voice/instrument/oratory lessons to the children of nobility.

Monks don't need money, being all superior and mystical and stuff. Paladins, too. Barbarians don't need money because picking people up and shaking them is a valid form of negotiation.

Fighters, well, they're Tier 4, and making money isn't what they do.

...

More seriously, some of the schemes mentioned can do fine with a single casting, which means a non-caster can hire someone to do the casting for them (or buy a scroll and make use of UMD).

And finally, getting rich slow is something available to all classes through the Craft and Profession skills.

[ubergeek63]

I suppose if you wanted to to a non-world economy shattering version of the Fabricate trick, you could turn caltrops (1 gp, 2 lbs) into a Rapier (20 gp , 2 lbs) all day long.

(i.e. turning 20 gp worth of Caltrops into 400 gp worth of Rapiers.)

don't forget you still need ranks in weapon smithing unless you have a generous GM...

at 9th lvl (min for fabricate), you can do 4400lbs of caltrops but the problem is that caltrops are iron but Rapiers are steel, unless I am mistaken.

even if they are the same, a stickler GM can say ok but up the DC of the craft check a point for every ten you do at once.

you still have the quality of materials stipulation as well...

hmmm ...

buy 1000 quivers of arrows at 1GP each.

"remanufacture" them with fabricate applying your skill to make them masterwork arrows.

Sell them for 300GP each!

[Canarr]

Not to mention: who would want to buy all those rapiers?

Personally, I believe that all those "generate infinite money" ploys would shatter against the wall of market realities. How would the PCs go about moving tons of saffron, not to mention some poison? Who would buy that, not to mention at the full list price? And, even at a greatly reduced price, who really needs that much saffron?

Personally I believe that a certain degree of non-adventuring ways to make quick money are a good thing - for rogue-oriented characters, since it kinda complements their mind set very nicely. However, for the most part, I find that the PCs' activities should involve around, well, adventuring. After all, that's what the players are meeting for, and thus, what the characters should be wanting, right? I mean, why would I roll up a fighter just to help the wizard get rich by moving a cow's worth of salt around, when there's dungeons to be looted and monsters to be slain? Sure, it's easy money, but boring as hell!

The occasional get-rich-quick scheme is an entertaining way for a change of pace between adventuring, some extra roleplaying opportunities, and the roguish characters to shine a bit. But if it starts overshadowing the game itself, or just turns into wizards abusing spells in order to help themselves break WBL, then something's going wrong. YMMV, of course.

I remembered another occasion, when the rogue cohort of my character and the party's PC rogue teamed up to make some money out of a Staff of Creation the party had looted in an encounter. They travelled into a larger citiy nearby, where they used their Gather Information skills to identify several merchants who were a bit on the shady side and known for cheating in negotiations. Then, they used the staff and the rogue's Profession: Gemcutter skill to make a few loads of uncut gemstones that they pawned off on the greedy merchants, accompanied by an appropriate sob story, of course. The 90 minutes that the gems lasted were just time enough to sell the stones and get out; in a matter of hours, they made some 30K gold and then got the hell out of there.

[ubergeek63]

I remembered another occasion, when the rogue cohort of my character and the party's PC rogue teamed up to make some money out of a Staff of Creation the party had looted in an encounter. They travelled into a larger citiy nearby, where they used their Gather Information skills to identify several merchants who were a bit on the shady side and known for cheating in negotiations. Then, they used the staff and the rogue's Profession: Gemcutter skill to make a few loads of uncut gemstones that they pawned off on the greedy merchants, accompanied by an appropriate sob story, of course. The 90 minutes that the gems lasted were just time enough to sell the stones and get out; in a matter of hours, they made some 30K gold and then got the hell out of there.

Like i said, buy up a crap ton of 1GP standard weapons. cast fabricate on them applying your craft skill to master work them. and run from city to city flooding the market with masterwork weapons at 100GP each to the merchants. (you could normally walk in from a dungeon with a MW and sell it for 150GP)

100,000GP profit in a few days!

[sovin_ndore]

A low level option from Being Batman: the Logic Ninja's Guide to Wizards


-Mount: utility. Situational--sometimes, you need a horse to get somewhere quickly. The real use of Mount, though, is to combine it with Disguise Self and Magic Aura, get rid of the mount's magic aura, disguise yourself as someone else... and sell the horse to someone.

[Coidzor]

Personally I believe that a certain degree of non-adventuring ways to make quick money are a good thing - for rogue-oriented characters, since it kinda complements their mind set very nicely.

So it's alright for the Rogue to have adventures during downtime making money for himself alone that breaks WBL and gives him an advantage over the rest of the party but not for the party as a whole to have side adventures to make an extra couple hundred or K. Right. :smallannoyed:

[FreakyCheeseMan]

So it's alright for the Rogue to have adventures during downtime making money for himself alone that breaks WBL and gives him an advantage over the rest of the party but not for the party as a whole to have side adventures to make an extra couple hundred or K. Right. :smallannoyed:

No, no, it's just that everyone has to have looting quests appropriate to their class. So, during their downtime:

Rogues pull scams.

Barbarians mug people.

Fighters stop the barbarian from mugging people.

Bards hold concerts.

Monks... beg?

Wizards do honest work as assistant librarians. Haha. No, really, they kill people.

Archivists burgle the local museum.

Artificers Artifice.

Clerics hold telethons.

Sorcerers mug a *lot* of people.

Druids, of course, just level the entire city with blizzards and animated plants, then take whatever gold happens to be lying around.

And Kender, as always, are killed on sight.

[Canarr]

So it's alright for the Rogue to have adventures during downtime making money for himself alone that breaks WBL and gives him an advantage over the rest of the party but not for the party as a whole to have side adventures to make an extra couple hundred or K. Right. :smallannoyed:

:smallannoyed: *sigh* No, that's not what I meant. Although I did phrase that a bit badly, admittedly. While I wrote "non-adventuring" in the part you quote, I meant to refer to the thread topic, as I did further down in my post:



The occasional get-rich-quick scheme is an entertaining way for a change of pace between adventuring, some extra roleplaying opportunities, and the roguish characters to shine a bit. But if it starts overshadowing the game itself, or just turns into wizards abusing spells in order to help themselves break WBL, then something's going wrong. YMMV, of course.


To me, a get-rich-quick scheme is (by nature of a scheme) something roguish types do. They have the mindset, and they have the skills. Casters can just make magic items or hire themselves out to cast spells and churn out money that way; they don't need to stoop to scams like that. Not to mention, what wizard has enough ranks in Bluff to successfully pull off a scam against anyone with even a modicum of suspicion?

Just to confirm: sidequests, personal quests, downtime activities or whatever else PCs wanna do between adventures are fine for any character of any class. But it should fit the character, and to me, con games are something for con artists - rogues and their ilk.

[Bhaakon]

So it's alright for the Rogue to have adventures during downtime making money for himself alone that breaks WBL and gives him an advantage over the rest of the party but not for the party as a whole to have side adventures to make an extra couple hundred or K. Right.


You mean going on a high-profile crime spree isn't an adventure? The fighter can drive the getaway horse, and the paladin or monk can be the patsy.

[TroubleBrewing]

and the paladin or monk can be the patsy.

Emphasis mine. Why settle for or when you could have and?

Lawful stupid does have a purpose, after all. Fall guy.

The public loves to hate a former ally.

[Drglenn]

You could start a mining/tunneling operation using Stone to Flesh. Get paid to make a tunnel or mine, carve it out with Stone to Flesh, sell the excavated flesh as meat (what would stone-meat even taste like?) or salt (using Flesh to Salt)

[TroubleBrewing]

You could start a mining/tunneling operation using Stone to Flesh. Get paid to make a tunnel or mine, carve it out with Stone to Flesh, sell the excavated flesh as meat (what would stone-meat even taste like?) or salt (using Flesh to Salt)

... :smalleek:

[Thurbane]

(what would stone-meat even taste like?)
Chicken, of course! :smallbiggrin:

[Asheram]

Chicken, of course! :smallbiggrin:

"Excuse me waiter, this meat tastes funny. What spices have you been using?"
"Ah, my apologies Sir, it's from the Arabel chicken mines. The stone composition makes it take on a quite special flavor and I do hope it's still to your pleasing?"
"I see. Now don't worry, it's quite good. My compliments to the chef."
"Thank you, Sir."

[Allanimal]

1} Step one: buy a rod of Metal and Mineral detection (10,500).
Step Two: enter mountain and use that sucker to find veins of desired metals (gold, silver, whatever).
Step Three: Cast Transmute Rock to mud. The spell only affects the stone and not the metals (if a DM decides to ruin yur metals go nuts witht he spell in combat!)
Step Four: Pick out your metals for forging, selling, crafting.

A good idea, but usually mined metals are in an ore form, and must be smelted in order to get the actual metal from the ore. Ores are usually chemical compounds that contain the metal + other elements, and a chemical reaction has to occur to separate the actual pure metal from those other elements. I personally would call the ore closer to stone than metal, and thus the transmutation would make a mud of a prettier color than the base stone around it.

I'm no geologist or miner so I may be way off, but I am fairly certain there aren't just blobs of pure silver or iron suspended in rock. Or, if there is, it is much rarer than the ore form.

[Bhaakon]

A good idea, but usually mined metals are in an ore form, and must be smelted in order to get the actual metal from the ore. Ores are usually chemical compounds that contain the metal + other elements, and a chemical reaction has to occur to separate the actual pure metal from those other elements. I personally would call the ore closer to stone than metal, and thus the transmutation would make a mud of a prettier color than the base stone around it.

I'm no geologist or miner so I may be way off, but I am fairly certain there aren't just blobs of pure silver or iron suspended in rock. Or, if there is, it is much rarer than the ore form.

Generally true, but with the (in this case hugely important) exception of gold. As for the various fictional metals in D&D, who knows?

[Sims]

My characters once killed the Wondrous Item store owner, and jacked a whole bunch of stuff Thank you Natural 20 on my 17-20 x5 Critical Scythe! (I was able to take the Weapon Master class even though it isn't part of D and D)