fun with fabricate +wall of stone spells

[Joe dirt]

no real questions here, just thought this deserved its own post and marvel at what a wizard with the right spells (fabricate and wall of stone to be specific ) could do...


assuming you was an adventuring wizard and had a 4th level spell to spare at the end of the day rather than a wizard dedicated to building a full castle with the right skills and some sand you could cast right before heading off to bed and gaining new spells a spyglass per night worth 1000 gp per 4th level spell slot...

but now some fun with math to see if a wizard with the right skills and this spell if he could in fact build a castle on his own and how long would it take and how much would it be worth. so lets do that

assuming you wanted to make hogwarts article here... you would need the land rights but assuming u did that... the square ft ends up being 414,000 square ft
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/femail/article-2303541/Want-buy-Hogwarts-Thatll-wizard-204million-How-real-estate-agent-conjured-value-Harry-Potters-fictional-school.html

so how long would it take an 8th level wizard with wall of stone, fabricate to make the walls and doorways for a castle of this size. also assuming you focus on interior walls which could be only 3" thick then according to the spell you can create 20 panels that are 10 x 10... so the calculation for 1 spell comes to
50 X 50= 2500 square ft. now since you can cast the spell 2 times per day thats 5000 square ft per day... now divide that original number of 414,000 and you get 82.8 days!!! now i know your not impressed but lets say the party had some downtime and considering entire towns worked on castles for decades this is amazing!!!

especially if you could also combine skeletons and elementals and move earth spells to build the moats and other tiring labor intense jobs....

so next rhetorical question if u sold this castle that u built on your own.... what is it worth in gold pieces??? (got this off the googles)
Additional info: Today (May 12, 2015) gold is selling for $1190 per ounce. 12 Troy Ounces to a pound would yield about $14,280 for a pound of Gold. Using the standard D&D weight of 50GP to a pound, we find that each GP would be worth about $285, assuming that the gold is commodity quality.May 11, 2015

so now is just a little division math on the original value of $204,102,000 this is the value of a hogwarts style castle

so $204,102,000/285= 716,147 gold pieces worth of work... done in roughly 82 days with no labor cost... not bad profits

[Biggstick]

I mean, how much does this theoretical wizard know about building castles? How many has s/he built? Do you they know to build a foundation? How to put in proper supports for a multiple story castle?

You're still going to need to hire some field professionals to put everything together correctly and to make everything look nice. You have though removed one of the biggest costs in building the castle by being able to provide all of the material without purchasing it or shipping it and you can shape it into the basic shape needed already.

[Joe dirt]

I mean, how much does this theoretical wizard know about building castles? How many has s/he built? Do you they know to build a foundation? How to put in proper supports for a multiple story castle?

You're still going to need to hire some field professionals to put everything together correctly and to make everything look nice. You have though removed one of the biggest costs in building the castle by being able to provide all of the material without purchasing it or shipping it and you can shape it into the basic shape needed already.

this thread is making some assumption, 1 ur wizard is working alone and 2 u need land preferably with trees and water source, and 3 u need the right skills, stone mason, carpentry, smithing

[ClintACK]

A two level dip into Knowledge Cleric is helpful here.

Notice:
1) Channel Divinity: Knowledge of the Ages gives full proficiency for 10 minutes.
2) Fabricate takes 10 minutes to cast.
3) Channel Divinity recharges on a short rest.
4) The 10th level Wiz8/KC2 can cast Fabricate 5 times per day.
5) And use it to make *everything* -- walls, stained glass windows, tapestries, furniture, silverware, catapults... *everything*.

Nitpicks: an 8th level wizard can't cast Wall of Stone. It's a 5th level spell. Also... if the wizard *does* have 5th level spells, and access to a bunch of dirt and water... (Mold Earth and Shape Water might help...) Transmute Rock will make a 40'x40'x10' volume of stone -- more than thirty times as much rock as Wall of Stone.

[Joe dirt]

My bad u need 9th level wizard and enough skill prof.... I am also assuming minimal level for this kind of cheese... also wall of stone is still more efficient for castle building as u dont even need a source of the correct soil and it does 50 x 50 x 10

[RickAllison]

A two level dip into Knowledge Cleric is helpful here.

Notice:
1) Channel Divinity: Knowledge of the Ages gives full proficiency for 10 minutes.
2) Fabricate takes 10 minutes to cast.
3) Channel Divinity recharges on a short rest.
4) The 10th level Wiz8/KC2 can cast Fabricate 5 times per day.
5) And use it to make *everything* -- walls, stained glass windows, tapestries, furniture, silverware, catapults... *everything*.

Nitpicks: an 8th level wizard can't cast Wall of Stone. It's a 5th level spell. Also... if the wizard *does* have 5th level spells, and access to a bunch of dirt and water... (Mold Earth and Shape Water might help...) Transmute Rock will make a 40'x40'x10' volume of stone -- more than thirty times as much rock as Wall of Stone.

Excellent. So WoS can be used to make the mold for Transmute Rock, which provides the thick walls that can stand up to siege weapons. Meanwhile, WoS can provide weaker, but more numerous and detailed walls that make infantry flooding through the gaps far less effective.

[Joe dirt]

Mold earth is 6th level

[RickAllison]

Mold earth is 6th level

Move Earth is 6th-level. Mold Earth is its theoretically-weaker-but-stronger-in-practice, cantrip brother from EEPC. Move Earth moves up to 40'X40'X20' sections over ten minutes, while Mold Earh moves 5' cubes every round.

[Sigreid]

I'd just pick up the 3e Strongholds book. They actually do a pretty good job of going into all this and I think most of it would work for 5e.

Anywho, yes, a wizard with the right spells and skills could make a castle himself.

[Quintessence]

But the real question is would it actually be more effective to buy a castle already made? I don't think they are even that expensive this edition..


However as a DM, I would totally allow a wizard or anyone really to make their own castle because that is just badass.

[RickAllison]

But the real question is would it actually be more effective to buy a castle already made? I don't think they are even that expensive this edition..


However as a DM, I would totally allow a wizard or anyone really to make their own castle because that is just badass.

"Sir, you could have used those slots to Fabricate enough to buy this castle, and then more aside!"
"But then my castle wouldn't be in the shape of a mongoose!"
"You are a little mad, aren't you?"
"Completely!!!"