Help to retrieve items covered in gold

[Rolero]

Hi there, in my current campaign we are exploring an underground city where a trap covers the place in molten gold every 72 hours. Currently, we are racing to the center where we believe will be able to stop the next flood. The thing is, along the way we have found some interesting items, even though useable, are covered in gold and we were told by a powerful npc that no gold should leave the city or calamity will struck us. So, what I want to know is if there is some way or spell you could remove the gold from the objects covered to keep it once we have left the city.

This adventure by the way, is based on a module (the undead city of gold or something like that) and if someone read it and this could be resolved by plot, I don't wanna know (don't want to spoil myself) But, if there is some way mecanically that could do this, I'll really appreciate it.

Btw, the group consist in a wizard, a summoner, a paladin (me), a magus and fighter, all level 9; and 3 of our cohourts, a cleric, another wizard and a rogue, all level 7.

Right now we still have time to the next flood (around 45 hours) but have to press to the center to stop a rival party (probably the culprits of the gold trap) So we cannot stop to rest and rearrange our spells, but if there is something up to spell lv5 that could help, tell me please.

[Jack_Simth]

Metal Melt, Spell Compendium page 140, Sor/Wiz 4. Makes metal run like water briefly (as long as the gold itself is nonmagical, and the object you want is just coated with the gold).

[Segev]

If you can find a rust monster, its Rust ability works on metal. Not just metals that normally can rust.

[Sith_Happens]

Psh, "calamity will strike you?" Bring it on, do you have any idea just how much gold you're running through right now?:smallcool:

[Rolero]

Metal Melt, Spell Compendium page 140, Sor/Wiz 4. Makes metal run like water briefly (as long as the gold itself is nonmagical, and the object you want is just coated with the gold).

Is this pathfinder compatible? cause I cannot find that spell on the wiki.


Psh, "calamity will strike you?" Bring it on, do you have any idea just how much gold you're running through right now?:smallcool:

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. But I don't think my fellow players aprove ^^U


Btw, I may have found a solution. I'm reading the description of fireball and lightning bolt, and it spicifies that both can melt metals with low melting points such as gold. My plan is having the wizard blast the items and then the cleric cast make whole to repair any damage caused by the spells.

Will you rule this like a valid method?

[Sith_Happens]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. But I don't think my fellow players aprove ^^U

Obviously they just need some hypothetical shopping lists written up for them.:smallwink:

[Nibbens]

Yeah, my thoughts exactly. But I don't think my fellow players aprove ^^U

Who cares if they approve. Put one in your pocket and "forget" that it was there when you leave. lol.

[Perturbulent]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_regia

If you have any craft alchemy or anything, or a means of fabricate or similar. I see no reason why you couldn't cook this up. Of course, you'd need to quickly remove the objects once the gold is dissolved to prevent their dissolving.

But it seems a fairly simple task. I know it's not a PF item, but there may be an equivalent, and I can imagine most DM's allowing it, assuming a craft alchemy check.

[Rolero]

Who cares if they approve. Put one in your pocket and "forget" that it was there when you leave. lol.

Problem is, I'm a freaking paladin... I don't think I can pull that of without repercusions from both my party members and my DM (and putting aside the curse and the calamity and stuf) :smalltongue:

[Segev]

Okay, so here's what you do: you secure the dungeon, and make it your base of operations. Then, you set up the gold in a treasure vault with some really awe-inspiring displays. Next, you have a couple of options: take out huge loans using your gold hoard as collateral, or offer people "shares" in your hoard in return for goods and services. The latter will take a bit more fast-talking, but is the slightly better option, because you don't owe any interest on the "shares." You just have to go out and accumulate enough gold from elsewhere to be able to buy off those shares should the person decide to "cash in."

Do it right, and people will trade around the shares (think if it like paper currency backed by your gold in the vault) more than they'll come asking for their gold, and you'll have a large floating reserve that's about the size of the gold hoard you don't want to actually remove.

[Diarmuid]

Btw, I may have found a solution. I'm reading the description of fireball and lightning bolt, and it spicifies that both can melt metals with low melting points such as gold. My plan is having the wizard blast the items and then the cleric cast make whole to repair any damage caused by the spells.

Will you rule this like a valid method?

This would work to some degree, but the items that are covered in gold would also be susceptible to the fireball/lightining damage. I wouldnt assume that the gold would be the only thing impacted. Make Whole will fix the mundane aspects of an item, but if you destroy a magical item that way, the magic will not be repaired.

[Rolero]

This would work to some degree, but the items that are covered in gold would also be susceptible to the fireball/lightining damage. I wouldnt assume that the gold would be the only thing impacted. Make Whole will fix the mundane aspects of an item, but if you destroy a magical item that way, the magic will not be repaired.

According to the spell the magic items are repaired as well: make-whole (http://www.d20pfsrd.com/magic/all-spells/m/make-whole) "Make whole can fix destroyed magic items (at 0 hit points or less), and restores the magic properties of the item if your caster level is at least twice that of the item."

I think it should do the job properly. The only problem I see is that it may not clear all the gold perfectly, but with a few more blasts...

[Segev]

Drill a pinky-sized hole down to the item, and cast Protection from Fire on it. Do not so protect the gold. Then fireball.

[Diarmuid]

If your CL is twice that of the item. So at best you're looking at repairing items with CL 4 that are probably eaiser to just make/buy than go through all this effort to free from their golden prison.

[Rolero]

If your CL is twice that of the item. So at best you're looking at repairing items with CL 4 that are probably eaiser to just make/buy than go through all this effort to free from their golden prison.

Eing... Our cleric is lv7, that means salvage up to lv14 caster level.

[Mr Adventurer]

No it doesn't.

A scroll of Fabricate, in 3.5 at least, could be used to turn the gold into something else.

[PaintByBlood]

Gold is pretty malleable. You could do Fireball, or possibly Heat Metal, but you could honestly just take chisel to it as well. Gold can even be hacked at. If you are really concerned about little flecks staying around, chisel it some, put protection of fire on the item, then fireball off the rest, as was suggested above.
True gold is not that hard to mess with.

[Sloshman997]

Eing... Our cleric is lv7, that means salvage up to lv14 caster level.


You're doing the math backwards, the players CL has to be twice the CL of the item you are fixing. So as 7th level you could repair an item with CL 3 or less.

I second/third the manual labor removal of the gold.

[Nibbens]

PaintByBlood;17755252]Gold is pretty malleable.

yup. A rawhide mallet is enough to bend most rings out of shape. A the application of an iron chisel or the like should do the trick.


True gold is not that hard to mess with.

Interesting enough, gold's melting point is just shy of 2000 degrees Fahrenheit. (or just a smidgen over 1000 Celsius) - which means a fireball generates enough heat to instantly get the metal up to 2000 degrees (for how long is another point beyond the evidence given to us).

I hate to be the one to bring raw physics into d&d, but i'll be that guy... Human skin starts to burn at 130ish degrees Fahrenheit. It's considered fully cooked at 212.

212 compared to a flash/melt point minimum of 2000 - fireball/lightning bolt should be the most destructive spell in d&d with way more d6's than we get to roll, but it's not. lmao!

I know mixing d&d and physics is dumb, but I couldn't help myself. Don't stone me, please. XD

[PaintByBlood]

Well, the minimum Fireball should actually always be enough to kill the "normal" people of the D&D world - level 1 commoners. Everyone else just starts having magical defenses and other nonsense that gold doesn't get to enjoy.

[Rolero]

You're doing the math backwards, the players CL has to be twice the CL of the item you are fixing. So as 7th level you could repair an item with CL 3 or less.

I second/third the manual labor removal of the gold.

Ok, after re-reading it I got it (failed my Int check there ^^U)

We can try the fireball way as a last resort. The wizard is pretty good with alchemy so maybe our DM will allows some method to remove the gold with some chemestry.

[Diarmuid]

The problem with the fireball method is exactly what Nibbens pointed out. Melt yes, how long will it stay "melty" for is not accounted for in any way shape or form.

I think the intention is simply some fluff that if you fireballed in a room with a bunch of gold pieces on the floor, you'd end up with a bunch of bigger, amorphous gold puddles that would quickly cool.

[Arbane]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aqua_regia




I'd be careful with this - any acid that can dissolve gold will also dissolve practically anything else.

[Gildedragon]

Fireball explicitly melts gold, and since it does not have LoE to the items inside the gold the items take no damage.
If they are considered the same item (and thus take damage) the gold ought be cleanable away, in comes prestidigitation

[PaintByBlood]

Fireball explicitly states that it continues past any barriers if it destroys them, so it would not have line of effect at first, but it would gain it by melting the gold.
I maintain that chipping, cutting, or mallet-ing off the gold is really not that difficult in the first place. Gold is a soft metal.

[Gildedragon]

Fireball explicitly states that it continues past any barriers if it destroys them, so it would not have line of effect at first, but it would gain it by melting the gold.
I maintain that chipping, cutting, or mallet-ing off the gold is really not that difficult in the first place. Gold is a soft metal.

Put items at the edge of the blast radius... Or non lethal fireball. Iirc objects are immune to non lethal damage, but the melting isn't damage, just an effect of the spell

[Segev]

Melting gold can mean just softening/liquifying a thin outer later. To do the kind of damage we're talking about (minimum 5d6), a fireball has to be EXTREMELY hot for its brief contact with the creatures it's hurting. 5d6 damage is second and third degree burns all over a human body, enough to kill your average person 5x or 6x over. "Average" people tend to be first level commoners, experts, and aristocrats, after all. 1d4 to 1d6 hp. They, like the band of kobolds or goblins the 5th level wizard might have just wiped out, crisp through and through in an instant.

[Twilightwyrm]

Keep in mind that, unless there is some other mitigating existential crisis, you can stay at this underground city basically until food and water runs out once you've deactivated the trap. So re-preparing spells, chiseling away the gold, etc, need not be done quickly. The cantrip Jolt does 1d3 electricity damage, so depending on your DM's interpretation, you could use repeated applications of this to slowly melt away the gold. The plus side is, it does so little damage that once you get down to the object, even if you accidentally damage it, it will take so little damage as to be practically negligible, and easily repaired if necessary.

[firebrandtoluc]

If the heat of the molten gold didn't destroy the stuff, just take it to the city's smelter and remelt it.

[magwaaf]

no kidding, i would just mine and loot the gold and then go buy whatever i want. id set up shop here and and just continue to mine it out ever 80 hours lol

[magwaaf]

forgot to add in "risk the calamity and just be good at winning"

[Slipperychicken]

Psh, "calamity will strike you?" Bring it on, do you have any idea just how much gold you're running through right now?:smallcool:

Besides, you're adventurers. Calamity is going to strike you either way.

[With a box]

Dosen't your party bring money in gp('Gold' piece)? I think you will get it anywhy

[Grollub]

id be wondering where all this gold is coming from within this trap? is it magically created, or is there a "gold lake" somewhere?? technically till the trap springs and the gold river washes over everything.. that gold isn't part of the city yet.

also.. if this trap is recurring, how is the city not just a blob of gold, with no features?

[Oneris]

If your DM rules the gold as being a separate object from the magic items, use Shrink Object to shrink and reduce only the (non-magical) gold to a smaller and cloth-like composition, thus leaving the formerly-gold-covered magic item now just covered with a thin layer of gold-cloth, which can be peeled off.

[Slipperychicken]

So these items can survive repeated, frequent exposure to molten gold, right? That means you can melt the gold without hurting the items. And gold is also pretty soft, so you should be able to break it easily too.

So just mine out a segment of gold containing the desired item, then set up a grill (or magically suspend the gold in the air) and melt the gold off. Once the majority of the gold is off from melting, you can use chemicals or magic or tools to scrape off any that remains.


If your DM rules the gold as being a separate object from the magic items, use Shrink Object to shrink and reduce only the (non-magical) gold to a smaller and cloth-like composition, thus leaving the formerly-gold-covered magic item now just covered with a thin layer of gold-cloth, which can be peeled off.

I would scrape off enough gold to touch the item, then cast shrink item on the item itself and pick it out of its item-shaped hole.

[Oneris]

I would scrape off enough gold to touch the item, then cast shrink item on the item itself and pick it out of its item-shaped hole.

Shrink Item (Pathfinder) only works on nonmagical objects, which is why I said shrink the gold and not the item.

[Jack_Simth]

Shrink Item (Pathfinder) only works on nonmagical objects, which is why I said shrink the gold and not the item.
Dispel Magic can fix that in both games.

[Socksy]

Nah, don't use magic. Get a power stone of Retrieve. Get out the biggest item you don't want using the power stone, and sell it. Use the money to buy a dorje of Retrieve.