Earthquake = Gold in them hills!

[CaladanMoonblad]

Check out how modern science informs RPG.

So, here is a news article (http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2013/03/17/scientists-discover-earthquakes-can-create-new-economic-grade-gold-deposits/) that summarizes an academic study in Nature Geosciences that explains how earthquakes can cause gold particles to precipitate into economic grade gold deposits.

Based on this, if one of my divine caster players with access to Earthquake (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/spells/earthquake.htm) asked if they can cause a rumble in the jungle everyday for a year, would you give them 100 tonnes of gold?

So... not in the same vein as buying ladders to sell 10 ft poles... but definitely something that would be tough to rule out entirely? Maybe this could serve as a plot device for your BBEG? Thoughts? Opinions?

[Flickerdart]

The spell doesn't really behave like a regular earthquake would (for one, the area of effect is very small, and when cast on open ground, the fissures created close again). It is very explicit in what it does, and "make gold deposits" isn't one of them.

[SilverLeaf167]

Well, if I were the sort of DM who allowed crafty moneymaking schemes like this in the first place (I'm not), this isn't exactly the most powerful way to make money. Something like Wall of Salt, or alternatively Iron, would be much quicker and less destructive, for lower level spell slots. When would one even have a year to spend on something like this?

For NPC agenda, anything is technically fair game.

Also, I agree with Flickerdart.

[Unusual Muse]

While this is impractical for reasons others have stated, I could see something along these lines being used as the story arc for a whole campaign. Considering the resources and planning it would take to do something on that scale, as well as the secondary repercussions, there could be a lot of cool storylines and little side plots centered around this kind of operation that would make an interesting campaign.

To do anything like this, you'd probably have to have a lot of spellcasters working in tandem in a fairly organized fashion; and even after you'd precipitated the gold, you'd still have to collect it. Gold Rush! Working out how it would affect the local economy, and all of the stakeholders involved, would be the basis for an interesting (if slightly academic) campaign.

[Gavinfoxx]

Get something with Burrow through stone or Earthglide, and various senses that work underground, to go gold mining for you...

And there are LOTS of better ways of using spells to create wealth...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aG4P3dU6WP3pq8mW9l1qztFeNfqQHyI22oJe09i8KWw/edit

[Psyren]

If he has access to 8th-level spells, there are much better ways to make money. Heck, if he wants gold (and gems) so badly he could just pop over to the Plane of Earth and get some, place is lousy with them.

[ericgrau]

It doesn't reach deep into the earth's crust where there are liquid magma pockets, so no not a chance.

If it did, it would still only have a chance of working because there are other factors involved. But I suppose with an epic version of earthquake you could experiment on various locations until you get results.

[Lapak]

If a player brought this up in my game I'd try to start a conversation about the difference between 'player knowledge' and 'character knowledge' and how the characters in the setting have no framework for even WONDERING about, let alone actually establishing, something that was only determined in 2013 in a fully technological, scientific-research-powered society.

A cleric who suddenly decided to go out and create an earthquake every day for 300 days would be regarded as a dangerous menace, not an up-and-coming entrepreneur.

Modern science can inform gaming, and that can be fun, but this would be a jarring thing for me. Having characters spontaneously 'know' things that have no in-setting basis is just jarring to me.

[nedz]

You might be able to use it for something similar to Hush mining.
You have a vein in the side of a hill you want to mine.
Cast Earthquake above the layer of interest to abrade the overburden and reveal any veins.
Cast Earthquake on the vein to mine the ore.
You just need to have your minions sort out the ore, crush it and then smelt the metal out.

[TuggyNE]

A cleric who suddenly decided to go out and create an earthquake every day for 300 days would be regarded as a dangerous menace, not an up-and-coming entrepreneur.

Is there even a difference?

[Fates]

Is there even a difference?

When it comes to PCs? Rarely. In the real world? Depends on who you ask.

[CaladanMoonblad]

Get something with Burrow through stone or Earthglide, and various senses that work underground, to go gold mining for you...

And there are LOTS of better ways of using spells to create wealth...

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1aG4P3dU6WP3pq8mW9l1qztFeNfqQHyI22oJe09i8KWw/edit

Correct, there are better ways, but gold is fairly uniformly dispersed and small while mineral desposits of commercial grade ore is rare and limited. The earthquake methodology is a way to take the very dispersed gold particles and concentrate them. In fact, Gold Cyanidation works on this very idea by processing a lot of earth and leeching out the gold particulates (it's problematic for environmental reasons however).

The point is not to find a better get rich quick scheme in d&d 3.5, but rather, how modern science tells us new things about our world and how it may impact our games as RPG players/GMs. I would definitely use this in a future campaign based upon Unusual Muse's more drawn out logical hypothesis.

[CaladanMoonblad]

If a player brought this up in my game I'd try to start a conversation about the difference between 'player knowledge' and 'character knowledge' and how the characters in the setting have no framework for even WONDERING about, let alone actually establishing, something that was only determined in 2013 in a fully technological, scientific-research-powered society.

A cleric who suddenly decided to go out and create an earthquake every day for 300 days would be regarded as a dangerous menace, not an up-and-coming entrepreneur.

Modern science can inform gaming, and that can be fun, but this would be a jarring thing for me. Having characters spontaneously 'know' things that have no in-setting basis is just jarring to me.

I think that same player might argue that their character's divine connection and active dream life can justify a little meta knowledge. I know I'd use that justification for my BBEG figuring out how to fund his/her Army of the Night for world domination in this way.

[W3bDragon]

I'm rather certain that the deity would be served better by deploying these 300 earthquakes elsewhere, like for example, against their enemies. I would take a good long look at the deity's dogma and domains and decide whether the deity would approve something like this.

After all, I doubt something like this would remain a secret, and soon, other high priests of other deities will start doing the same. Eventually, the entire planet will go into a permanent tremble as more and more priests shake it for money. That helps no one, especially any financially-minded deity.

Perhaps a deity dedicated to Chaos above all else might find the outcomes amusing, but I doubt any other deity would be agreeable in allowing one of their followers to destroy the planet's economy in such a fashion.

And yes, I did say "priests shake it for money" without any innuendo whatsoever. :smallcool:

[Psyren]

I think that same player might argue that their character's divine connection and active dream life can justify a little meta knowledge. I know I'd use that justification for my BBEG figuring out how to fund his/her Army of the Night for world domination in this way.

And again, anybody capable of 8th-level spells has waaaaaay better ways to be making money than this. That goes for BBEGs and players alike.

[CaladanMoonblad]

I'm rather certain that the deity would be served better by deploying these 300 earthquakes elsewhere, like for example, against their enemies. I would take a good long look at the deity's dogma and domains and decide whether the deity would approve something like this.

After all, I doubt something like this would remain a secret, and soon, other high priests of other deities will start doing the same. Eventually, the entire planet will go into a permanent tremble as more and more priests shake it for money. That helps no one, especially any financially-minded deity.

Perhaps a deity dedicated to Chaos above all else might find the outcomes amusing, but I doubt any other deity would be agreeable in allowing one of their followers to destroy the planet's economy in such a fashion.

And yes, I did say "priests shake it for money" without any innuendo whatsoever. :smallcool:

I was laughing in my chair imagining a Cleric of Umberlee shaking Faerun like a piggy bank! Thank you for limiting the types of deities to Chaotic- this is exactly the kind of analysis I am looking for with this thread.

[nedz]

I can see certain Dwarf clerics doing this Non-traditional mining; but there are better methods.