Transporting building materials to another plane.

[Deathcharge01]

Hello Playground,

I've been looking around for an efficient way to move building materials to a demi plane that I've recently created, and in this I've had very little success. I'm a level 21 wizard and I know that there probably is a way, I'm just not aware of it yet. So, any ideas or suggestions from you guys who have attempted this sort of thing before have, or maybe some of you just happen to know of a spell that fits my bill, I'd be glad to hear of it.

[Phelix-Mu]

The gate spell, perhaps? The non-broken version.

[Emperor Tippy]

Stack portable holes or bags of holding. Or use a scroll of Arcane thesis: Invisible, Cooperative, Sanctum, Easy Meta: Persist, Easy Meta: Extend, Persisted, Extended gate (9th level spell). Gives you 48 hours to move things through.

[Lord Vukodlak]

Gate with a rod of greater extend and you could keep it open for a little over four minutes. But eight strong creatures could also bring in a great deal of materials during a planeshift.

I had a gnomish wizard who intended to create a demi-plane but never got around to it. It was an elder evil campaign to the pace was just to quick for that to work. He was simply going to create a stone environment and use wall of stone and other such spells to reshape the landscape rather then bring in building materials.

[Mutazoia]

Hello Playground,

I've been looking around for an efficient way to move building materials to a demi plane that I've recently created, and in this I've had very little success. I'm a level 21 wizard and I know that there probably is a way, I'm just not aware of it yet. So, any ideas or suggestions from you guys who have attempted this sort of thing before have, or maybe some of you just happen to know of a spell that fits my bill, I'd be glad to hear of it.

Not sure if anybody's done a 3.X version yet but in the 2e Tome of Magic (I think) there's a spell called "Estate Transference". You place markers around a structure (a tower or small manor house and some of the surrounding grounds for example) and then cast the spell...anything inside the boundaries of the markers are transported to any other plane you designate. (This was used my Elminster in one of the Forgotten Realms Novels to move a tower to the elemental plane of Air to serve as a prison) Said estate is protected from any harmful effects of the surrounding plane, so tower transfered to the Elemental plane of Fire, for example would be a perfectly safe "bubble" in the infinite expanse of flame.

Port this spell over to 3.X and you don't have to move building any materials...just move the finished building and the front and back yard.

Estate Transference
(Alteration)
Level: 9
Range: 0
Components: V, S, M
Duration: Permanent
Casting Time: 10 turns
Area of Effect: 1,000 square feet/level
Saving Throw: None

This powerful spell allows a caster to transfer a large area of land in the Prime Material plane to any of the elemental planes. All buildings, people, and wildlife within the area of effect are also transported. The land forms a pocket of the Prime Material plane within the elemental plane. The pocket is a sphere with a diameter equal to the diameter of the land. The surface of the pocket allows creatures to enter or exit the pocket, but prevents the elements from entering the pocket.
Inside the pocket, the land is surrounded by air of a temperature matching that of the Prime Material plane at the moment the land was moved. In addition, a source of water is created within the pocket.
Before the spell is cast, the area to be moved must be surrounded by solid markers of material from the destination plane. Thus, if a wizard wants to move his castle to the Elemental Plane of Fire, he must first surround the area with solid blocks of matter from the Elemental Plane of Fire, such as hardened magma or magically-crystallized fire. The blocks must be spaced no more than five feet apart and may be placed above ground or under the surface (at a depth of no more than three feet).
The wizard must be within the area to be moved when he casts the spell. When the land moves, a hemispherical crater is left behind in the Prime Material plane. Inside its pocket on the desired plane, the land continues its existence as if nothing changed, with the exception of occasional visits from planar creatures.
Any land that is moved in this manner can never again be moved with this spell.
The material component (in addition to the markers) is the appropriate magical device to control elementals of the desired plane (bowl commanding water elementals, brazier commanding fire elementals, censer controlling air elementals, or stone controlling earth elementals). The item must be permanently placed at the heart of the area of effect and cannot be used for any other purpose. If the device is disturbed in any way, the spell immediately fails, allowing the energies of the elemental plane to flood into the protected area.

[Deathcharge01]

Thanks for the responses guys. I probably should have said in the opening post that gate was banned, but given my intentions I guess I could petition for a licence to cast gate if only it's going to be used for this purpose. Failing this, I think I may very well have to work up a 3.5 version of Estate Transference, because damn, that's one beautiful spell.

[Lightlawbliss]

is shapechange banned? if not, a colossal creature or two with str as buffed as you can get it can carry A LOT in one planeshift. You may also want to consider construction.

also, you should really talk with your dm (if you haven't) about if they are ok with u using a 2.0 spell in 3.x. (not to mention that spell only works with elemental planes)

[Mutazoia]

is shapechange banned? if not, a colossal creature or two with str as buffed as you can get it can carry A LOT in one planeshift. You may also want to consider construction.

also, you should really talk with your dm (if you haven't) about if they are ok with u using a 2.0 spell in 3.x. (not to mention that spell only works with elemental planes)

Well as long as you are working up a version for 3.x you might as well change a bit of wording to allow you to also transport to a demi plane that you have created.

Also...as I thought about random stuff at work, I came up with what could be the most simple resolution to your problem of all time.

A Bard with a 25+ perform skill and a Lyre of building (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Lyre_of_Building)...

[Lord Vukodlak]

A Bard with a 25+ perform skill and a Lyre of building (http://www.dandwiki.com/wiki/SRD:Lyre_of_Building)...

That doesn't really solve anything I don't see anything to indicate the Lyre of Building provides the materials needed to construct it.

[Krobar]

Get yourself a ship large enough to carry everything you need. Outfit it with either Planar Sails or a Planar Helm. It doesn't even need to be that big if you add an extradimensional space to the cargo hold.

Problem solved.

Maybe add a Cloud Keel, Everfull Sails (assuming you go with the Planar Helm and not Planar Sails) and Fharlanghn's Lines to really make it special.

[Mutazoia]

That doesn't really solve anything I don't see anything to indicate the Lyre of Building provides the materials needed to construct it.

Well if the Lyre can construct mines, I assume it can use the raw resources at hand to fashion what it constructs...so the bedrock of your Demi-plane becomes building blocks, any trees in your Demi-plane (in the area of effect) become beams and planks....

[Lord Vukodlak]

Well if the Lyre can construct mines, I assume it can use the raw resources at hand to fashion what it constructs...so the bedrock of your Demi-plane becomes building blocks, any trees in your Demi-plane (in the area of effect) become beams and planks....

If his demi-plane had trees and bedrock I don't think he'd be asking how transport construction materials into the demiplane as he'd already have them.

[Mutazoia]

If his demi-plane had trees and bedrock I don't think he'd be asking how transport construction materials into the demiplane as he'd already have them.

I assume the trouble was getting the resourses in because he doesn't have a small army to quary and clear cut to produce the materials.... The spell prohibits spell being used to creat precious minerals, but raw stone and wooded areas are not prohibited :)

[Phelix-Mu]

Wood can be acquired via tree tokens, which make a pretty good quantity of wood, and make actual trees (meaning you could easily use cuttings or seeds from one to start new trees growing).

Self-resetting traps of wall of stone could be used to fuel the lyre of building. Not cheap, but saves some spells, allows construction to continue in the absence of the owner of the demiplane.

There's that spell in Races of the Dragon that lets a creature hold a large volume of stuff in an extradimensional space in it's gullet/stomach. Can't recall the name atm. Maybe polymorph a familiar into something large and then cast the spell on the familiar.

Body of war on a familiar could carry or drag a whole lot. You can share the spell with the familiar and then dismiss it on yourself so you can cast the spell to get to the demiplane. Might work.

[TuggyNE]

There's that spell in Races of the Dragon that lets a creature hold a large volume of stuff in an extradimensional space in it's gullet/stomach. Can't recall the name atm. Maybe polymorph a familiar into something large and then cast the spell on the familiar.

Hoard gullet.

[Lord Vukodlak]

I assume the trouble was getting the resourses in because he doesn't have a small army to quary and clear cut to produce the materials.... The spell prohibits spell being used to creat precious minerals, but raw stone and wooded areas are not prohibited :)

No the issue he mentioned was how to get it the materials into another into another plane. Not how to acquire the materials to begin with. Wooded areas are prohibited as genesis spell can't create vegetation and we don't know the conditions of the demi-plane he created. If its simply a dirt field then obviously he'd need to haul in stone.

[Deathcharge01]

No the issue he mentioned was how to get it the materials into another into another plane. Not how to acquire the materials to begin with. Wooded areas are prohibited as genesis spell can't create vegetation and we don't know the conditions of the demi-plane he created. If its simply a dirt field then obviously he'd need to haul in stone.

Precisely. Cheese was not going to be tolerated when using this spell, so I couldn't conveniently have slabs of rock lying around when I created the demi plane. Everything that I'm going to need to build, I'm going to have to transport it there. (all that even after burning up 5k xp:smallannoyed:)

I'm loving the idea of tree tokens tho, this will help lots. Thank you Phelix-Mu.:smallcool:

[Mutazoia]

No the issue he mentioned was how to get it the materials into another into another plane. Not how to acquire the materials to begin with. Wooded areas are prohibited as genesis spell can't create vegetation and we don't know the conditions of the demi-plane he created. If its simply a dirt field then obviously he'd need to haul in stone.

Well even a dirt field sits on top of bead rock....otherwise you wouldn't be able to build anything that would stay up for mor than a few days (think the leaning tower of Piza which had to be shored up shortly after completetion) and walking around would be really hard (kind of like walking on sand).

[Kudaku]

What resources do you have available to you? Especially, what is the rest of your party playing?


The following assumes you have Planeshift and a bloke who can carry things.
Any kind of beatstick is going to have an excellent strength. Throw on some muleback cords and an Anthaul spell and you're looking at a heavy load measured in metric tons. Make that character Large (or better yet, Huge) and you're looking at a heavy load measured in tens of metric tons. Polymorph him into anything with four legs...

Actually... Hm.
You'll need:
7 sets of Muleback Cords (7000 GP)
7 18 strength commoners (700 GP)
7 castings of Ant Haul
7 castings of Extended Bull's Strength
7 Castings of Extended Greater Polymorph
2 castings of Plane Shift

Step 1: Planeshift works on up to eight people. Round up 7 commoners with 18 strength (a high score, but go to a metropolis and ask for the eight strongest men with a 1 000 GP reward and they'll show up mighty fast).

Step 2: Give each commoner muleback cords. Cast Ant Haul on each commoner. Cast Extended Bull's Strength on each commoner.

Step 3: Cast Extended Greater Polymorph 7 times, morph each commoner into an elephant. Each commoner gets a +8 size bonus to strength, but only for 42 minutes - same duration as the Bull's Strength. That will burn most of your 8th and 9th level spells for the day, so try and keep a profile.

Step 4: Cast planeshift on yourself and your seven commoners-turned-elephant. Unload.

18 strength baseline, Muleback gives +8, Greater Polymorph adds another +8, Bull's Strength adds +4. So the baseline strength is 38. Giving us a heavy load of... 4800 lb. Well, it's a start.

Then we multiply that by four because each commoner is huge, then we double that since elephants are quadrupeds, then we triple it because of Ant Haul.

That brings us up to 1 115 200 lb.

But there are seven commoners, so we can multiply that by seven. 7 806 400 lb.

So in theory you can move approximately 3540 metric tons as long as you can get each commoner loaded and unloaded in the 42 minutes Polymorph lasts.

The cost will be about 7000 GP for the muleback cords and another 7000 gp for each commoner (who is going to have one hell of a story to tell back at the local drinking hole).

There are some issues here though:
1. Plane Shift requires participants to link hands in a circle. Personally I think the idea of seven elephants carrying a destroyer on their backs standing in a circle, trunk to trail is hilarious bur your GM might rule that the forms need to have "hands". If that doesn't work you can still do this by casting Plane Shift as an offensive spell, but then you're only moving one elephant at a time so you'll need more castings.
2. I believe I got the weight multiplications right but there might be an error with how the multipliers interact. Feel free to go over it.
3. Finally, this is a fairly quick assessment of the problem. I'm sure there are ways to optimize this further.

[gomipile]

If you have access to a demi plane, then the following method should be easy:

1.) Get access to a lot of level 5+ arcane casters who can cast Shrink Item.
2.) Fill portable holes with shrunken building materials.
3.) Profit!