Questions about the spell Hardening

[Balyano]

Does the spell stack with itself?

Could I make a obsidian sharp glass sword and cast hardening a bunch of times so it wont break, never dull, and would being sharper than steel can be make it more potent?

Cast it on a window or a paper wall so when someone tries to jump through it action hero style its like hitting a steel wall?

Make a glider or plane from paper, light as paper, durable as steel?

Since it only works on objects, flay a minion alive so his skin is now an object, cast it on the skin, sew him back into it, cast some curatives. What would be the effect of this on the minion?

[Fouredged Sword]

No. Spell effects don't stack with each other. Note the duration is Permanent not instantaneous. The effect is dispel-able and magical in nature.

As for your follow up questions

1 - One casting can basically do that. A CL20 casting makes something with hardness 0 as hard as steel.

2 - Yep, that works with 1 casting.

3 - Maybe, DM rulings required

4 - Nothing in the rules allows this. The skin is no longer an object when you heal it back onto them, and thus there is nothing for the spell to target.

[Balyano]

The skin is no longer an object when you heal it back onto them, and thus there is nothing for the spell to target.

In that case what is the effect of casting it on an outfit of full body spandex? The spandex should offer some protection against slashing and piercing attacks. Perhaps DR/bludgeoning? Like the clothing that Blankman used for his superhero adventures.

[Fouredged Sword]

No rules for that. The spandex would be hard to damage, but it wouldn't provide any protection to the user unless it would normally do so. Imagine it as a superhero suit. It survives things spandex shouldn't survive, but it doesn't protect the hero.

[Balyano]

No rules for that. The spandex would be hard to damage, but it wouldn't provide any protection to the user unless it would normally do so. Imagine it as a superhero suit. It survives things spandex shouldn't survive, but it doesn't protect the hero.

If someone tries to slash me and they fail to cut the clothes I'm wearing the cut wont do much. It might hurt, but it wont cut me. So I would think it would be protective against non-blunt force trama.

[Fouredged Sword]

Someone can ram a battleax through someone with platemail 50 times without dealing a single point of damage to his armor.

At a point you have to accept that the rules are a little funny sometimes. You ether accept that, or attempt to alter the rules to make it fir what you expect to happen. If you do that more than a little, you find yourself playing a game that isn't dnd 3.5.

[TuggyNE]

Does the spell stack with itself?

Unfortunately, yes. Stacking is not defined quite right.
In most cases, modifiers to a given check or roll stack (combine for a cumulative effect) if they come from different sources and have different types (or no type at all), but do not stack if they have the same type or come from the same source (such as the same spell cast twice in succession). If the modifiers to a particular roll do not stack, only the best bonus and worst penalty applies. Dodge bonuses and circumstance bonuses however, do stack with one another unless otherwise specified.
Spells that provide bonuses or penalties on attack rolls, damage rolls, saving throws, and other attributes usually do not stack with themselves. More generally, two bonuses of the same type don’t stack even if they come from different spells (or from effects other than spells; see Bonus Types, above).

Different Bonus Names
The bonuses or penalties from two different spells stack if the modifiers are of different types. A bonus that isn’t named stacks with any bonus.

Same Effect More than Once in Different Strengths
In cases when two or more identical spells are operating in the same area or on the same target, but at different strengths, only the best one applies.

Same Effect with Differing Results
The same spell can sometimes produce varying effects if applied to the same recipient more than once. Usually the last spell in the series trumps the others. None of the previous spells are actually removed or dispelled, but their effects become irrelevant while the final spell in the series lasts.

One Effect Makes Another Irrelevant
Sometimes, one spell can render a later spell irrelevant. Both spells are still active, but one has rendered the other useless in some fashion.

Multiple Mental Control Effects
Sometimes magical effects that establish mental control render each other irrelevant, such as a spell that removes the subjects ability to act. Mental controls that don’t remove the recipient’s ability to act usually do not interfere with each other. If a creature is under the mental control of two or more creatures, it tends to obey each to the best of its ability, and to the extent of the control each effect allows. If the controlled creature receives conflicting orders simultaneously, the competing controllers must make opposed Charisma checks to determine which one the creature obeys.

As you can see, stacking only applies to modifiers, in general. Now, compare to hardening:
This spell increases the hardness of materials. For every two caster levels, increase by 1 the hardness of the material targeted by the spell.

That's not a modifier, it's not even typed, and it certainly doesn't affect a roll. So, as far as I can tell, no stacking rule applies, and the spell's text simply takes effect.

[Uskardx42]

Unfortunately, yes. Stacking is not defined quite right.

As you can see, stacking only applies to modifiers, in general. Now, compare to hardening:

That's not a modifier, it's not even typed, and it certainly doesn't affect a roll. So, as far as I can tell, no stacking rule applies, and the spell's text simply takes effect.

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So.... was it determined that yes, the spell can stack with itself?
Could a 12th level wizard cast this on their shirt that was made from cloth once and make the hardness 6?
Then cast it again and make the hardness 12.
And again and make the hardness 18
And so on an so forth?


Granted, this does not change the HP of the item, only the hardness as per the text describing the Hardening spell.

http://www.d20srd.org/srd/divine/spells/hardening.htm


Which then begs the question, is there a RAW mechanic for increasing the HP of an object/item?

[Ashtagon]

If someone tries to slash me and they fail to cut the clothes I'm wearing the cut wont do much. It might hurt, but it wont cut me. So I would think it would be protective against non-blunt force trama.

Popular legend has it that the Mongols would wear silk shirts as armour. When they were struck by an arrow, the arrow would still penetrate and cut skin. But it would not cut the silk itself, making the arrows much easier to remove from the wound, and generally leaving a much cleaner wound.

The hardened spandex would probably function much the same way.