Industrial Wizard

[RickAllison]

Okay, my character's backstory revolves around being from another realm (Spelljammer shenanigans, etc.) and so I want to create an industrialist taking advantage of the local resources. He is a wizard, so what spells should I prioritize to make a profit or automate a factory?

Fabricate: My capital-raiser. Buy 2 chain-mail armors for 150 gp, Fabricate into plate to sell for at least 750 gp. Get a wagon so I can transport my wares.

Simulacrum+Wish: And cue the audible groans. I don't anticipate this being a fantastic option due to cheese, but it is effective. Endless clones who (since I am an Artificer) will be able to spend a week to make Bags of Holding, Mithral armor, and other low-level magic items. Comes online too far along for my tastes, but it is an undesirable option. On the other hand, Simulacrum on its own gives me a devoted, intelligent factory supervisor, so that's something.

Other spells? I will be able to get two tool proficiencies from background, so as of now I am thinking smith's tools (for Fabricate) and tinker's tools (for making clockwork automatons). Thoughts?

[RulesJD]

Depending on your morals, the absolute best Capitalist spell is Animate Dead. You have a 24/7 workforce that can accomplish decently menial tasks ad nauseum.

If you find an ancient evil in a mine that dug too deep blah blah just kill the ancient evil and then Animate Dead on all the workers. They will continue to mine even after you've left, so just hire a few security guards and let the skeletons do their thing. Boom, vertical integration.

[RickAllison]

Depending on your morals, the absolute best Capitalist spell is Animate Dead. You have a 24/7 workforce that can accomplish decently menial tasks ad nauseum.

If you find an ancient evil in a mine that dug too deep blah blah just kill the ancient evil and then Animate Dead on all the workers. They will continue to mine even after you've left, so just hire a few security guards and let the skeletons do their thing. Boom, vertical integration.

Animate Dead only affects the body and not the soul, right? My person is heavily against keeping anyone bound to the material plane when their designated time of death has come (so not a fan of lichs, for example), but I don't think he would have any particular scruples about skeletons.

[GorinichSerpant]

Animate Dead only affects the body and not the soul, right? My person is heavily against keeping anyone bound to the material plane when their designated time of death has come (so not a fan of lichs, for example), but I don't think he would have any particular scruples about skeletons.

This depends on setting specifics. Make sure everyone at the table has agreed on the nature of undeath before the game.

[SharkForce]

don't buy chainmail. buy iron spikes. or a pot. much better ratio. you will of course have to provide some carbon to make steel rather than iron, but it isn't like stuff you can cannibalize for carbon is hard to find...

(of course, if you're just getting chainmail from killing monsters that are wearing it, by all means carry on turning chainmail into platemail).

as an added advantage, the exceptionally low cost per iron will allow you to make money on smaller things, which is important because the market for platemail is going to be fairly limited (naturally, you can't sell platemail to more people than need platemail and have the money to be able to afford it).

[RickAllison]

don't buy chainmail. buy iron spikes. or a pot. much better ratio. you will of course have to provide some carbon to make steel rather than iron, but it isn't like stuff you can cannibalize for carbon is hard to find...

(of course, if you're just getting chainmail from killing monsters that are wearing it, by all means carry on turning chainmail into platemail).

as an added advantage, the exceptionally low cost per iron will allow you to make money on smaller things, which is important because the market for platemail is going to be fairly limited (naturally, you can't sell platemail to more people than need platemail and have the money to be able to afford it).

I had considered that (specifically with the pots), but what makes me think it won't work is this line:


The quality of objects made by the spell is
commensurate with the quality o f the raw materials.

Chainmail has a better chance to be of the quality I am searching for.

On this topic, however, we have a revival of the old split-ladders-into-poles trick!!! Ladders have 3.5X the mass of 10 foot poles but only twice the cost. It's not much, but with a good Persuasion skill it is technically profitable!

Can this be used with baking with a source of heat to leach energy from? If not, I'm disappointed; I can't declare that "The secrets of my arcane cupcakes are too terrible for your mind to comprehend!"

Caltrops and chains would be good for this process. Even with only selling it for half price, I can still make a profit on those if I make it using pots or cheaper.

With my tinker's tools, locks would actually be a fantastic choice for this! I can make 10 locks per pot, which if they sell for half price still means I make a profit of 48 gp per pot.

Glassblower's tools proficiency would actually mean fantastic profits. Buy glass bottles worth 1 gp/lb, sell spyglasses worth 1000 gp/lb, or magnifying glasses worth 100 gp per an undetermined, but smaller than 1/8 amount. If we follow the convention they set and peg it at 1/16 pounds, the magnifying glasses would be worth 1600 gp/lb. Why would anyone Wish for 25000 gold?

[SharkForce]

so you use the iron (which so far as we can tell is perfectly adequate quality for iron) and charcoal (which you should be able to create easily with spells such as create bonfire, firebolt, etc on wood) to make good quality steel.

[Joe dirt]

yes fabricate is the most broken 4th level spell

[RickAllison]

yes fabricate is the most broken 4th level spell

Only when it comes to commerce. It's applications outside of driving more traditional artisans out of business are... rarer.

[Joe dirt]

Only when it comes to commerce. It's applications outside of driving more traditional artisans out of business are... rarer.

even when it comes to adventuring. i once played a wizard assassin that would be hired to kill high profile targets using fabricate.... to kill the target

1 use scry to find your target

2 use arcane eye once you get near targets hang out and to study the targets habits... in one of my cases a castle and heir to the throne

3 get inside the latrine area of said target at opportune time using magic like invisibility, and spider climb

4 create killer trap that activates when toilet is used via fabricate spell, along with skills like poison making for making poison gas, and stone cutting for making the ceiling collapse

5 leave long before subject wakes up to take morning constitutional

[JoeJ]

Simulacrum+Wish: And cue the audible groans. I don't anticipate this being a fantastic option due to cheese, but it is effective. Endless clones who (since I am an Artificer) will be able to spend a week to make Bags of Holding, Mithral armor, and other low-level magic items. Comes online too far along for my tastes, but it is an undesirable option. On the other hand, Simulacrum on its own gives me a devoted, intelligent factory supervisor, so that's something.

Better check with your DM before you spend too much time thinking about this one. It's unlikely it will be allowed to work at all.

[krugaan]

Hmmmmmmm, mass suggestion maybe?

Any "mass" spell that affects a bunch of things would be pretty useful.

Arcane gate could probably move massive amounts of material. I don't subscribe to the theory that teleportation circle allows free teleports.

[JoeJ]

As written Teleportation Circle only works with creatures, but if you can get a house rule that it also teleports non-carried objects it's an insanely good way to transport liquids or bulk material such as grain or metal ore across long distances.

[RickAllison]

I included the disclaimer that I doubted the Sinulacrum chain was a good idea. However, I included it because it is the most efficient method if it works.

My character tends to stay on the LG side of things, so hypnotizing the masses to work for him probably isn't his style... Although he would pay well!

Does a cart count as a carried object? Because if so, my wizard can just chug one of his Potions of Grwoth and he is stronger than a draft horse...