lvl 8 druid in need of 5th-level spell

[vortic]

I'm currently playing an 8th-level druid, and I'm trying to make him as invincible as I can (any amount of cheesing is acceptable).

I would like to have the heavy fortification benefit of the Heart of XX series, but unfortunately, I am missing Heart of Fire (pesky level cap…).

The only thing I can think of is taking Versatile Spellcaster, but that would effectively tie up all of my 4th-level spells (yes, I know, I know, huge debate about whether or not I can use that feat in the first place).

So to those min/maxers out there, how else can I get access to this spell? On a regular basis, that is--I can't spend 1125gp every day on a 5th-level scroll.

Thanks in advance!

[holywhippet]

How much can you afford? You could craft or buy a custom magical item to cast the spell if you have the right feats. I think you'd either need scrolls of the spell or someone to cast the spell in order to make it as I think you have to cast the spell once per day during construction.

[Darrin]

Hmm. Best I can come up with is UMD a Candle of Invocation (using a potion of guidance of the avatar (http://www.wizards.com/dnd/article.asp?x=dnd/sb/sb20010504a) for +20) to emulate being a cleric. Slap on some Unguent of Timelessness so the candle burns for 60 days. However, that will likely get books thrown at your head, not to mention put you on the pooplist of whatever deity the candle was created for and whatever Nature deity your druid worships.

[vortic]

@holywhippet

How much gold would it cost to craft said item? And what feats would I need?

@Darrin

Guidance of the Avatar is a Cleric Spell, so I'm not sure how I would get access to it.
EDIT: nevermind, saw the potion part.

[holywhippet]

If I understand the crafting rules correctly it works like this:

base cost = spell level X caster level X 1800 X (charges per day / 5)

Heart of fire is a fifth level spell which means you must be level nine to cast the spell. I'll assume you only want it once per day so that gives a total of:

base cost = 5 X 9 X 1800 X 0.2 = 16200

That is the value of the item (well, you could add a gold piece for the item you are enchanting but the examples in the PHB skip that). So if you wanted to buy such an item that would be the cost.

If you wanted to craft it yourself you'd need the craft wonderous item feat. Crafting time is 1 day per 1000 gold in the cost of the item so 17 days. It would only cost you half the actual value in gold (8100) and 1/25 of the base price in XP (648). The spell has to be cast once per day when crafting though if I understand correctly. If you were casting it from scrolls it would cost 17 X 1125 = 19125 gold. If you hired someone to cast the spell each day it would cost only 450 X 17 = 7650 gold.

Yes, it would cost nearly as much to make it yourself but only because you can't cast the spell yourself.