Farming Peasants for Pain and Profit?

[papr_weezl8472]

In a setting I'm developing, there is a land lorded over by a lich who uses pain extractors (BoVD 115) to gain practically unlimited reserves of liquid crafting xp. What I'm trying to figure out is how this lich should go about maximizing his production. The actual creation of the pain extractors is largely a nonissue (because unlimited crafting xp). The limiting factor seems to be the population, especially as a single person can only be harvested for 10 doses of pain (30 xp) before dying.

What I envision is a largely laissez-faire lich, who distributes these extractors around the land and then compels the locals to make sure quotas of extracted pain are met (through threats or rewards). What I'm trying to figure out is what means exactly would be effective for the lich in getting a population to keep these torture devices operating at full capacity, and how else the production could be maximized and effort minimized.

[Doc_Maynot]

On threat of wight-dom, perhaps?

[Grod_The_Giant]

Create a fast-time demiplane and set up a breeding farm there, while you hang out on the material plane. As many victims as you want, ripe for the plucking.

EDIT: Alternately, the Elation-Distilled Joy combo doesn't burn out the victims, and despite being from the BoED neither of the two spells are [good] or anything of the like.

[papr_weezl8472]

The problem with a fast-time demiplane (along with a great many other ideas) is that, while it works, it doesn't really lend itself to the kind of setting I'm aiming for. I'd like to avoid any tricks that make the rest of the world irrelevant to the lich, as they would thus tend to make the lich irrelevant to the world.

EDIT: Also, Distilled Joy specifies that "Good spellcasters can use ambrosia in magic item creation." While an evil spellcaster can produce ambrosia, they can't RAW use it for crafting. On a more general note, I'm restricting this lich to published items for the sake of sanity (or else his optimal gear loadout would be 'everything, with double cost to be slotless'), which would rule out a wondrous item/resetting trap/what-have-you of elation/distilled joy.

[mabriss lethe]

You could use Deepspawn: They have the ability eat a person and then spawn a potentially limitless army of clones that could be harvested for their suffering.

Edit: You could probably get a higher amount of XP/Gold for magic item manufacturing from sacrificing them rather than simply harvesting their pain.

[Slipperychicken]

What I envision is a largely laissez-faire lich, who distributes these extractors around the land and then compels the locals to make sure quotas of extracted pain are met (through threats or rewards). What I'm trying to figure out is what means exactly would be effective for the lich in getting a population to keep these torture devices operating at full capacity, and how else the production could be maximized and effort minimized.

You could encourage towns to use it as an execution and punishment. Work with them to create agreements/contracts which say that they'll try to give you [quantity] of pain per [interval], and you will give them [compensation*] for it. Basically, they'll let you extract pain from undesirables and criminals, in exchange for something from you. Also plan contingencies for if the towns (for whatever reason) are not able to provide the pain in a timely manner.

*Compensation can be anything from gold, to protection, to a mutual promise that the town and lich won't meddle in each others' affairs.


Alternatively, considering that the high cost and mobility of these devices, you could have your "suppliers", rather than giving you the liquid pain itself, simply provide the subjects for extraction. There are a number of ways you could do this, like maintaining a regional facility where you ship in subjects for processing, or having an agent carry the device and go from town to town "harvesting" the pain from prisoners, then moving on once he's cleared out the subjects in a given locality.

If slavery is a thing in your setting, you can simply buy weak/unsuitable slaves and drain them to death. Depends on how much the slaves cost, obviously.

Another approach is to offer cash directly to people who agree to have their pain extracted. Find some way to quickly determine peoples' Constitution scores, then drain that number minus 1 so they remain alive and mostly-healthy (they can't enjoy their cash if they're dead, and word-of-mouth will work against you if you end up killing people). You should be able to attract all manner of desperate, vulnerable people looking for a quick buck. Be sure to advertise so that these people know about your "deal", especially if you plan on having a lot of machines running at once.

[Morithias]

Wait Pain Extractors kill the person? I don't recall reading that.

[Mithril Leaf]

Replace the Pain Extractors with (Simulacra of, or Planar Bound) Kocrachon, preferably with Supernatural Transformation (Liquid Pain) as their unclaimed 6th level feat.

[Maginomicon]

You could encourage towns to use it as an execution and punishment. Work with them to create agreements/contracts which say that they'll try to give you [quantity] of pain per [interval], and you will give them [compensation*] for it. Basically, they'll let you extract pain from undesirables and criminals, in exchange for something from you. Also plan contingencies for if the towns (for whatever reason) are not able to provide the pain in a timely manner.
Isn't this how the U.S. Prison-Industrial Complex works? (Yes, I went there.) There's a reason it'd be a lich doing this. Ha ha.

In serious response to the thread, to expand on "undesirables", you've got nosy adventurers, the homeless, drug suspects, political upstarts, etc.

[Jack_Simth]

In a setting I'm developing, there is a land lorded over by a lich who uses pain extractors (BoVD 115) to gain practically unlimited reserves of liquid crafting xp. What I'm trying to figure out is how this lich should go about maximizing his production. The actual creation of the pain extractors is largely a nonissue (because unlimited crafting xp). The limiting factor seems to be the population, especially as a single person can only be harvested for 10 doses of pain (30 xp) before dying.

What I envision is a largely laissez-faire lich, who distributes these extractors around the land and then compels the locals to make sure quotas of extracted pain are met (through threats or rewards). What I'm trying to figure out is what means exactly would be effective for the lich in getting a population to keep these torture devices operating at full capacity, and how else the production could be maximized and effort minimized.

Running with the 'pain extractors kill' thing:

First: You need essentially complete control over the local government and all law enforcement.
Second: You need to structure tax law to encourage big families (women who are pregnant or nursing an infant at tax time are exempt from all taxation, as is her husband and children).
Third: You want to limit your harvesting to a) those past childbearing and b) murderers.
Fourth: You set up 'retirement communities' that people can join at 50 (when you harvest them), populated by shapeshifters under your control (Succubi controlled by way of Necroctic Domination, perhaps) who report back to 'their loved ones' that they're being very well taken care of by their generous lord and master.

There - you've got something workable for a game. It makes sense for the lich as a ruler: he doesn't touch the working/fighting population. It makes sense for the lich as a crafter: He gets a continually growing supply of his liquid pain. It's set up so most people will simply never find out, and continue along with it. There's enough holes that adventure hooks are easily available.